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Most Unusual, Really!
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Unusual items from around the world!
Using webs to catch prey is all well and good, but it almost seems tame compared to what spitting spiders do to their victims. To subdue a target, the killers take aim and fire twin streams of venom-drenched silk out of their fangs. At a top speed of 62 miles per hour, the fibers move in a wide-arced, zig-zag pattern. In addition to being coated with poison, this silk drips with a super-sticky glue. Once victims are enmeshed, the glue-covered fibers will shrink, constricting the unfortunate prey. Eventually, the spitting spider will administer a venomous bite and put the trapped entrée out of its misery.
Diving bell spiders (Argyroneta aquatica) can use air bubbles to breathe underwater, essentially treating them like mini scuba-diving tanks. The spiders are tiny, measuring just 0.4 to 0.6 inches (10 to 15 millimeters) long, so one bubble can supply more than a day's worth of air. German scientists mimicked extreme low-oxygen conditions in a lab and watched the clever critters construct webs between pondweeds and aquarium sides, and then collect large air bubbles on their abdomen and rear legs.
The two-tailed spider doesn’t spin a web but lies in wait on a tree or a rock. It sits perfectly still until prey comes along; when it’s in range, it swiftly attacks. If something larger than it approaches, it’ll scurry away faster than you can blink.
These sneaky spiders look just like an ant to confuse their prey. Even in the animal kingdom, you can trust no one.
These brightly colored arachnids are very tiny, capable of sitting perfectly on your fingernail. Male Peacock Spiders do a mating dance to attract the females. While 20 known species exist, only 8 have been formally identified.
This genius spider has incredible camouflage that makes it look like a twig. Even if you were around one in its native India, you likely wouldn’t even see it. It also spins a Y shaped web rather than the typical kind.
Most spiders are assassins in their own way, hiding and waiting patiently until the right moment. But the Assassin Spider truly earns its name. Uniquely, this spider hunts other spiders and is really good at it with huge jaws and venom that decimate its opponents. So, if you were a spider, this would be your worst nightmare.
No one wants to know a spider can jump. They can already run fast, hide, and build intricate webs. But, jumping? No, thank you. Well, unfortunately, the Heavy Jumping Spider does exactly what no one wants. It can leap up to 50 times its size.
One kind of many trapdoor spiders, this beast builds a hideout with leaves, grass, brush, and webs to create an elaborate trap for his prey. When they walk by, he appears like a demon, snatching them into his den.
If it comes from Australia, it’s likely bizarre. That rule of thumb goes double for the Wrap-Around Spider. To camouflage itself from the prey, it’ll literally wrap around a twig and hide, looking incredibly flat. Fortunately, it’s not really dangerous to humans, but it’ll probably give you the creeps thinking about it.
Found on the islands of Hawaii, this spider looks like it has a grinning face on its abdomen. There are many variations of this kind of spider, and some don’t have a smiling face at all but a frown.
Now we’re getting into the truly weird stuff. Not surprisingly, this spider is found in Australia and Tasmania and has a very long tail. Its body shape is the only of its kind. No other spider looks like it.
The Ladybird Mimic Spider has a body that looks just like a ladybug. Looking harmless is exactly what it wants. Prey will get near it and before it knows what will happen, the prey will be within its grasp.
Weaving webs large enough to catch its prey, these spiders go big or they go home. How big? Try bat-sized. Bats will fly into their webs, getting caught, and then the large spider will climb down and eat it.
Many animals have interesting ways of disguising themselves from predators, but orb-web spiders (Cyclosa ginnaga) are true masters of camouflaging themselves in ways that wouldn't warrant a second look. Silver bodies and white decorations on their webs make orb-web spiders look just like bird droppings. Not exactly appetizing! The white areas are called stabilimenta, and are made from prey carcasses, egg sacs, plant matter or silk.
There have been several people who’ve gone through multiple surgeries and body modifications in order to gain a resemblance to an animal. For example, an American man known as the “Stalking Cat” underwent 14 different surgical procedures to look like a female tiger.
Skin stretching is a common practice in some African tribes but this body modification has become popular among young people in many Western countries as well. Stretching of the ears, nose and lips are the most common areas to stretch.
As the name implies, a uvula piercing is a body piercing through the uvula, the projection of the soft palate between the tonsils. Unlike most other types of piercing, this one can hardly be seen by other people but the procedure is very painful and difficult.
Another unusual lip alternation, lip sewing is considered to be a ritualistic modification, with much symbolism connected to the idea of closing the lips. There have also been several cases when lip sewing was used as a means of political protest.
While eyes are said to be the windows to the soul, your lip can be a window as well. Lip piercing is one of the most common types of piercing and to make this piercing even more striking, some people stick a transparent pyrex plug in the hole instead of a ring or stud.
While subdermal implants are completely burrowed under the skin, transdermal implants are partially exposed. This type of body modification is done through a process known as dermal punching.
Originating in 1994, a subdermal implant is a method of body modification in which little objects, usually made from silicon or Teflon, are implanted under the skin, creating impressions upon the skin. This process is also known as a 3-D implant or pocketing.
In the process of body scarification, scars are formed by cutting the skin by varying methods to purposely influence wound healing. The resulting scars – usually designed in pictures or words – create a permanent body modification.
While most of us hate when something gets into our eye, there are people out there who pay big money to have little decorative objects implanted right into their eyeballs.
Suspension is the act of suspending a human body via hooks implanted through body piercing. There are several basic types of suspension such as the coma suspension, the suicide suspension or the superman suspension.
Pioneered in Canada and now practiced mainly in Japan, bagel head is a body modification in which saline is injected into a person´s forehead, creating a temporary swelling distortion of the head that resembles a bagel or a doughnut.
But the cornea is not the only part of an eye that can get tattooed. The white of the eye can also be modified. Some people have ornaments tattooed right on their eyeballs while others choose to change the color entirely.
Corneal tattooing is a body modification in which the cornea, is permanently tattooed.
Also known as stigmatizing, human branding is the process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes a permanent decoration.
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