Invertebrates

Invertebrates are animals without a backbone: insects, spiders, crustaceans, molluscs, corals, worms, jellyfish and more. They make up the overwhelming majority of animal life and run the planet’s pollination, decomposition, and ocean food webs.

12 guides in this group

Invertebrates NE Box Jellyfish Chironex fleckeri The Australian box jellyfish carries enough venom to kill a person in minutes, hunts actively with 24 eyes, and swims rather than drifts. Learn what makes this cube-shaped animal so deadly. Read the guide →

Invertebrates LC Chambered Nautilus Nautilus pompilius The chambered nautilus is a shelled relative of the octopus and squid whose body plan has survived roughly 500 million years. It jets backward, has up to 90 tentacles, and pinhole eyes with no lens. Read the guide →

Invertebrates VU Coconut Crab Birgus latro The coconut crab is the largest land invertebrate on Earth, a 4-kilogram hermit crab relative that climbs trees, husks coconuts with the strongest pinch ever measured, and drowns if held underwater. Read the guide →

Invertebrates LC Cuttlefish Sepia officinalis The common cuttlefish is a colour-blind master of camouflage that changes its skin pattern in a heartbeat, hypnotises prey with moving stripes, and floats using a chambered internal shell. Read the guide →

Invertebrates LC Emperor Scorpion Pandinus imperator The emperor scorpion is one of the largest scorpions on Earth, yet its sting is milder than a bee's — it kills with its massive pincers instead. Learn why it glows under UV and carries its young. Read the guide →

Invertebrates LC Giant Squid Architeuthis dux The giant squid is a deep-sea predator up to 12–13 metres long with eyes the size of dinner plates. It was never filmed alive until 2012, and much of its life remains unknown. Read the guide →

Invertebrates NE Honeybee Apis mellifera The honeybee runs a colony of tens of thousands, navigates by the sun, and tells hivemates where to find flowers with a dance. Learn how the hive works and what's behind the decline in bee health. Read the guide →

Invertebrates LC Peacock Mantis Shrimp Odontodactylus scyllarus The peacock mantis shrimp throws the fastest punch in the animal kingdom, boiling the water around it, and sees with the most complex eyes known — 12 to 16 colour channels against a human's three. Read the guide →

Invertebrates NE Praying Mantis Mantis religiosa The praying mantis is an ambush hunter that strikes in under 70 milliseconds, turns its head 180 degrees, and hears bats with a single ear. Learn how it hunts and the truth about sexual cannibalism. Read the guide →

Invertebrates LC Common Octopus Octopus vulgaris The common octopus has three hearts, blue blood, and two-thirds of its neurons in its arms. Learn how it changes colour in a heartbeat, solves puzzles, and lives just one to two years. Read the guide →

Invertebrates NE Goliath Birdeater Theraphosa blondi The goliath birdeater is the heaviest spider in the world, with 2-centimetre fangs and a coat of barbed defensive hairs. Learn what it actually eats, how it hisses, and why it rarely bites people. Read the guide →

Invertebrates VU Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus The monarch butterfly makes a 4,000 km migration that takes several generations, guided by a sun compass. Learn how milkweed makes it toxic and why monarch numbers have crashed. Read the guide →