Insects & Invertebrates
It’s up to 40 miles wide, contains billions of creatures and can take 20 years to form – is this nature’s most destructive swarm?
In astonishing footage from Planet Earth, swarms of desert locusts decimate vegetation
Dance, pluck… then paralyse: the riskiest date night in nature
When it comes to surviving a potentially deadly mating, it helps to have a plan
It has hairy legs and flies with its tongue poking out – and it could be in a garden near you
Meet the well-named hairy-footed flower bee.
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It’s the size of a small apartment, contains hundreds of rooms growing crops, and is home to more than a million farmers
We’re not the only animals that farm; ants do it too, cultivating vast quantities of fungus to feed their growing colonies…
It glows like a fire, looks like an autumn leaf and has just awoken from its winter slumber. Now it's on the hunt for food
Meet the eye-catching comma – one of the UK's first butterfly species to appear in spring.
It's a metre across and laced with tunnels and chambers – yet built entirely from a million individuals who spend their lives constantly on the move...
Few species of ants are more well-drilled than army ants; these disciplined drones live and die at the behest of their female leaders…
The adorable tree bumblebee is stirring from its winter slumber – and it's hungry
The tree bumblebee is one of the first bumblebee species to appear in spring.
This tiny carnivorous bug produces an astonishing natural spectacle in New Zealand and has an ingenious way of catching its prey
An incredible spectacle in New Zealand is the result of a tiny creature with a devious way of catching prey.
9 ruthless insect assassins – including one that chops the heads of its victims before removing their limbs
From venomous ants to zombie wasps, these insect predators deploy some of the grisliest hunting strategies in the natural world.
Devouring prey alive and biting off a mate’s head – these 9 praying mantis photos are jaw-dropping
When it strikes, the praying mantis moves with explosive speed...
It can grow over 2m long, is made up of 400 body segments and makes a strange gurgling sound as it moves underground
It can grow over 2m long, is made up of 400 body segments and makes a strange gurgling sound as it moves beneath the ground.
It's round and furry, has a huge tube-like mouth sticking out of its face – and it sucks the life out of bee grubs
Meet the extraordinary bee-fly – one of nature's greatest mimics.
Can beetles really be beautiful? Oh yes... Meet 12 incredible-looking beetles that will make you rethink what a creepy crawly looks like
Discover some of the world's most amazing-looking beetles, from the giraffe beetle to the tortoise beetle
It looks like a twig and a couple of dead leaves - but this is no ordinary twig. It's a master of disguise and a ruthless killer
Its one of the most brutal insects on the planet...
Kidnapped, brainwashed, enslaved: the animal that steals the young and forces them to work
The enslaved ants have no chance of escaping
Plants play techno, chimps drum and one creature uses its minuscule penis as a bow – why music isn’t just for humans
It’s not just the hills that are alive with the sound of music – ponds and oceans thrum with tunes, too
A rapidly melting ‘Doomsday Glacier’ and a monstrous deep-sea fish: 6 of nature’s doomsday signals that could warn of the end of the world
Whether these signs are rooted in science (like the Doomsday Glacier) or simply popular myth, they have been associated with the end of the world – or at least life as we know it
Why can't humans regrow legs like spiders can?
As super powers go regrowing limbs is pretty cool...
It's nearly a gigantic one metre long and weighs the same as a three-year-old child – now that's one big snail...!
Ever wondered what the largest snail is? We take a look at the record-breaking answer.
It floats, it's larger than a dinner plate and it's made up of more than 100,000 individuals
If you saw this circular raft floating down a river you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a discarded deep-dish pizza…
“Torture. You are chained in the flow of an active volcano.” One scientist was stung by over 150 insects over 35 years. Why?
Entomologist Justin Schmidt decided to find out just how painful the stings of venomous insects were
It might look like it's dressed in an inflatable space suit, but this body armour allows it to survive in a deadly, caustic lake
A magic bubble ensures it can withstand a hostile environment
It's the size of a frying pan – with an enormous appendage to match – and swings from tree to tree to mate
This tree-climbing giant is one of the largest land slugs on Earth – and its bizarre mating ritual is unlike anything else in the natural world
Deadly, bird-eating bug kills and devours thousands of seabird chicks a year
On this remote island there is a deadly and hungry centipede...
