/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_BRF7FKbB_23d5187304f1ecdc21e4e1e9fee39fcf.jpeg)
Coconut octopuses are among the most intelligent invertebrates around: They use tools, carry their shelters around for when they need them
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_hFLKc9Wt_52f7938f930730ee4ab337b2f86506d7.jpeg)
While the carnivorous cravings of most flesh-eating plants are limited to small insects, one exception is the pitcher plant
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_GxJQkCsV_49d553ac5823b779f705f34465fd0342.jpeg)
A puff adder has just bitten a rat, injecting it with enough venom to finish it off. The next step is to swallow it whole
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_jEPksTpL_ca035d3e5b449cb4817a120515f28551.jpeg)
A Komodo dragon's strongest sensory organ is its deeply forked tongue. It acts as a meal detector that samples the air for dead or dying animals
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_NOl81LrQ_305bf408d842f0d64cfe558760e2833b.jpeg)
Gaboon vipers don't have the fastest strike in the snake world--but they don't need to be faster than other snakes, just their prey
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_ZqbzjmZf_bf248d89fbbbdb05c685b3e270bf5796.jpeg)
As a nectar feeder, the lesser long-nosed bat follows the trail of cactus blooms between Mexico and the U.S.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_1DcNjEE1_9d0193c6b2137e174c407825a794c727.jpeg)
From spitting on the Christian cross to strange sexual acts, the Knights Templar's secret rituals were controversial
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_5NHXvBl3_26a30ae01c00219e9d31a61d454f72ed.jpeg)
A puff adder's bite can do serious damage, even to an animal with skin as thick as a rhino's. The photographic evidence we have is not pretty
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_9zI9QyGd_27d64f3a92a1de7c185ed2ae11fbfdfc.jpeg)
Not only is the Komodo dragon the largest lizard in the world, its powerful claws, tail, and bite make it one of the deadliest
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_WLtJcxaX_2e4eaee090b6d945e6c6b26b4873475d.jpeg)
It's unclear if the Knights Templar created the secret tunnel in Acre, Israel, as an escape route or a way to secretly export valuable items
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_l1NRyoAN_4563bac8af1ce070c8ee0fdcd96b2455.jpeg)
The scuba spider is the only arachnid to live exclusively underwater, despite lacking gills. Its secret is a makeshift oxygen supply
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_ni3IFhdw_21433be1c55041f6ecaf248dde94ff26.jpeg)
After a group of pilgrims were murdered in 1119, nine crusaders formed a pact to protect any others like them from harm
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_5lvFIfJl_d99ccbba039dcdc77f7c0eeb9c2bfaaa.jpeg)
After a long winter in their den, a polar bear mother and her cubs emerge at the first signs of spring.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_Zswlaw1u_509cd31ec96988ca5f249bb2b939da6f.jpeg)
The relationship between some Native American tribes and the American buffalo was a sacred one
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_6NXfRykC_c898f51fe66739ca45a1bb53f2278068.jpeg)
For Erin Greene, walking up to a polar bear requires even more courage than most of us can imagine
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_gSjCPeSp_723b98e53afcd6b600677987216631b2.jpeg)
After mating takes place, a female polar bear will prepare for her impending pregnancy by eating voraciously. In all, she will pack on more than 400 pounds
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_SV1Hupow_083c8ce2eac71e91a7f174ebe0ae4e0a.jpeg)
In 1882, General Philip Sheridan's expedition to the protected buffalo haven in Yellowstone National Park revealed a gruesome reality
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_NMLSpH23_676584a19307bb66d085017cb1f3848f.jpeg)
A car horn outside Churchill, Manitoba, causes a curious polar bear mom and her cub to scurry in opposite directions
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_3r87u8Oj_4ea4347fbaf41bc49d93de37893f30ab.jpeg)
Saint Pete, as he's known by locals in nearby Churchill, Manitoba, is an elderly polar bear who's been visiting the town for decades
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/videos/video/preview_image_vohs6eu2_9007d4656cac82ed89f4301764869e0c.jpeg)
A lion ventures into an area of the river that's part of a hippo bull's territory. The enraged hippo wastes no time in asserting his dominance
Page 19 of 25
