Tokyo, 21 December, /AJMEDIA/
From spiders that catapult their way to safety to sea sponges that sneeze themselves clean, here are the creature features that most impressed us in 2022.
Fishing fox
Pics or it didn’t happen. In the first recorded instance of a fox fishing, a team from Spain filmed a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) catching 10 carp over a couple hours (SN: 11/5/22, p. 4). This makes foxes only the second type of canid — wolves can do it too — that are known to fish for a feast.
Skydiving salamander
Flying squirrels, yes, but a skydiving salamander? This bold amphibian, native to northwestern California, can jump and glide among the tops of towering redwood trees. By extending its front and hind legs like a skydiver, the wandering salamander (Aneides vagrans) can control and adjust its speed and direction while in the air (SN: 6/18/22, p. 12).
Crafty cockatoos
In an interspecies battle for the ages, people in Sydney have had to up their defenses to stop cockatoos from rifling through outdoor trash bins (SN: 10/8/22 & 10/22/22, p. 10). The birds have learned to push bricks off the bin covers using brute force, while sneakers jammed through a bin’s handles are a better deterrent. But these trash thieves may eventually find a way around that blockade too.
