Up Next
Back to Show
Deep Look
Australian Walking Stick Insects Are Three Times Weirder Than You Think
Season 9
Episode 1
The Australian walking stick is a master of deception, but a twig is just one of its many disguises. Before it’s even born, it mimics a seed. In its youth it looks and acts like an ant. Only when it has grown up does it settle into its final, leafy form. Along the way, it fools predators at every turn.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By
3:22
Bird’s nest fungi look just like a tiny bird's nest. But those little eggs have no yolks.
3:36
How are frogs so amazing at catching bugs? It’s their supersoft tongue and special spit.
4:00
Mussels create byssal threads to attach themselves to rocks and each other.
4:10
Earthworms cozy up with a mate inside tubes of slime to make cocoons full of baby worms.
3:52
What keeps the boneless, jawless hagfish thriving after more than 300 million years? SLIME
5:04
Researchers use invisible lasers, ghastly wasps and more trickery to protect orange groves
4:20
As they gorge, oblique streaktail hoverflies help keep orange trees safe from disease.
3:37
Why is that yellowjacket crashing your BBQ? She’s gathering food for the nest’s larvae.
5:04
Explore the parasite Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) and ways to help monarch butterflies.
4:14
Floating colonies of red fire ants are a risk for people wading through floodwater.
3:57
These voracious predators cruise belly up below the surface of a pond or gentle stream.
4:55
Barn owls turn mice, gophers and voles into balls of fur and bones known as pellets.