Author: Dr. Helena Riverside, Wildlife Biologist and Conservation Researcher

I used to think frogs were just, you know, frogs—smooth, wet, unremarkable. Then I learned about Trichobatrachus robustus, the hairy frog from Cameroon

Coyotes are everywhere now, and I mean everywhere. When I moved to Los Angeles five years ago, I expected traffic and wildfires and maybe the occasional

I used to think dolphins were just perpetually cheerful marine acrobats. Then I spent three weeks off the coast of South Africa watching a pod of bottlenose

I used to think peregrine falcons were just about speed—those 240 mph dives everyone obsesses over in nature documentaries. Turns out, when you’

I used to think pistol shrimp were just loud crustaceans with anger management issues. Turns out, they’re nearly blind—which is a pretty significant

I used to think helping your parents raise your siblings was just something humans guilted each other into doing. Turns out, Florida scrub jays have been

I used to think poison dart frogs were just, you know, pretty. Turns out their colors—those electric blues and screaming yellows and reds that look like

I used to think fish were, you know, kind of basic. Then I watched an archerfish nail a beetle from nearly two meters away, and honestly, it changed something in my brain.

I used to think crocodiles were just big, mean lizards lurking in swamps. Turns out, they’re so much stranger than that—and way more successful at

I used to think hyenas were just the cleanup crew of the savanna, waiting around for lions to finish their meals. Turns out, I had it pretty much backwards.