The hoatzin, a bird of flooded South American forests, nests above the water. When threatened, the chick drops into the river, swims, then climbs back up into the branches using two claws on each wing. These claws disappear in adulthood. They are a striking reminder of the clawed fingers of the feathered dinosaurs from which birds descend.
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.