Atlantic Horseshoe Crab

Invertebrates > Horseshoe Crabs

The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus) is an extraordinary, armored marine chelicerate arthropod belonging to the ancient order Xiphosura, native to the shallow coastal waters and estuaries of eastern North America and the Gulf of Mexico. Despite its common...

Quiver Tree

Plants > Aloes & Succulents

The Quiver Tree (Aloidendron dichotomum, historically Aloe dichotoma), known locally in Afrikaans as the ‘kokerboom’, is an iconic, giant arborescent succulent belonging to the asphodel family Asphodelaceae, endemic to the stark, sun-bleached desert...

Greenland Shark

Fish > Sleeper Sharks

The Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus), also known in circumpolar lore as the gurry shark or grey shark, is a massive, slow-moving cartilaginous apex predator belonging to the sleeper shark family Somniosidae. Inhabiting the perpetual darkness of subzero Arctic...

Southern Brown Kiwi

Birds > Kiwis & Ratites

The Southern Brown Kiwi (Apteryx australis), known historically by its indigenous Māori name ‘tokoeka’, is a legendary, flightless nocturnal ratite belonging to the family Apterygidae, endemic to the remote temperate rainforests and windswept coastlines of...

Chambered Nautilus

Invertebrates > Cephalopods

The Chambered Nautilus (Nautilus pompilius), revered by naturalists and mathematicians as nature’s perfect logarithmic spiral, is one of the most celebrated ‘living fossils’ in the marine world. Belonging to the ancient subclass Nautiloidea, which...