Caterpillars of which butterfly genus can inflate their thorax to mimic a snake's head, complete with false eyes and fangs, when threatened?

Nature

Female fireflies in which genus are known to mimic the flash patterns of other firefly species in order to lure and eat the males?

Fireflies flash in species-specific patterns—wrong timing or color means no mate. Some predatory fireflies mimic other species to lure and eat them.

Nature

What effect does a stick insect's foul-smelling chemical secretion have on predators after it plays dead?

Stick insects can play dead while oozing a foul-smelling chemical from their legs—predators often reject them as rotten food.

Nature

Which animal produces silk strong enough that NASA has researched it as a potential material for lightweight body armour?

Golden silk orb-weaver spider silk has been woven into an actual golden-coloured textile — a full cape displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum took over a million spiders to produce.

Nature

Which of an octopus's three hearts stops beating while it swims, explaining why it prefers crawling instead?

Octopuses have three hearts: two pump blood to the gills, while the third stops beating when they swim, explaining why they prefer crawling.

Nature

After coral polyps expel their symbiotic algae during a heatwave, why do they typically begin to starve?

Coral polyps expel their algae partners during heat stress, then starve without them—bleaching is essentially a symbiotic breakup caused by warming oceans.

Nature

Which small songbird is famous for flying nonstop for about 86 hours over the open Atlantic Ocean during fall migration?

Blackpoll warblers fly nonstop for 86 hours across the Atlantic Ocean, burning half their body weight in fuel.