11 The ‘Mimic Octopus’ can transform into more than 15 different shapes – including snake, stingray, lionfish, and furry turkey. 

The Mimic Octopus was discovered in 1998 and continues to dazzle scientists, today. While mimicry is a common survival strategy to escape predators, the Mimic Octopus takes things to a whole other level.

Not only can it assume the characteristics of multiple species, it can also discern which sea creature to impersonate, so as to pose the greatest possible threat to its predator.(source)

My mind has been blown.

12 Scorpions can survive up to a year, without eating anything.

This happens because of three things. Firstly, scorpions have the ability to slow their metabolic rates. In addition to this, these nifty little creatures have an organ called the ‘hepatopancreas’ which takes on the responsibility of a liver and pancreas. Lastly, scorpions have the ability to eat A LOT.(source)

And there you have it – the evolutionary benefit of surviving 12 months without any food.

13 There is a magical creature, called the Opossum, which has the ability to neutralize almost all poisons, even from creatures it has never encountered. 

The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins has found that the American Opossum produces a protein called the Lethal Toxin-Neutralizing Factor(LTNF) and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

The protein seeks out lethal poisons and neutralizes them. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but this could mean wondrous possibilities for human beings.(source)

14  A Hungarian breed of domestic pig called ‘Mangalitsa’ has a thick hairy coat, giving it the appearance of a sheep.

You can thank science for this one. The ‘Mangalitsa’, also spelled ‘Mangalica’, was developed in the 19th century by cross-breeding the traditional Hungarian Bakonyi and Szalontai breeds with imported Sumadia pigs from Serbia.(source)

The only other sheep-like pig is the, now extinct, Lincolnshire Curly Coat of England.

15 Galloping crocodiles lived a 100 million years ago and hunted dinosaurs! 

Fossil hunters have unearthed the remains of ‘galloping’ crocodiles that roamed the Earth with – and hunted – dinosaurs. According to The Guardian, the skeletons of five such creatures were found in remote and rocky regions of, what are now, Morocco and Niger.(source)