One Asian bamboo species, Phyllostachys bambusoides, flowers only about once every 120 years. When it does, plants from the same lineage bloom at roughly the same time, even those transplanted to other continents, and then die. They seem to follow an internal clock. The sudden glut of seeds can also trigger rodent population explosions.
In 2022, a young tagged bar-tailed godwit flew from Alaska to Tasmania in about 11 days of nonstop flight, covering 13,560 km without eating, drinking or landing. Before departure, these birds pile on huge fat reserves and shrink their digestive organs, which are useless during the journey.
To escape rivals, a dung beetle rolls its ball of dung in a straight line. At night, it holds its course using the glowing band of the Milky Way. In a planetarium, researchers showed that beetles rolled straight under a starry sky but wandered aimlessly when the galaxy was switched off. It was the first animal known to navigate this way.