SAT: Animals

With the help of the wind and swinging its head, the Komodo's long yellow deeply-forked tongue can discern carrion up to 6 miles (9.5 km) away.

Skunks are legendary for their powerful deterrent --a hard-to-remove, foul smelling spray. They simply lift their tail and blast their foe.

Efforts to drain marshlands in Syria to eradicate malaria may have been responsible for the disappearance of this species.

Magpies are careful and fastidious builders, adding to old nests and layering twigs to make deep inverted domes.

By December 1971, Pinta Island's vegetation was devastated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous tortoise population was reduced to just one, Lonesome George.

go incognito
Once in a while it's nice to change things up and go incognito -- like this poodle who is undergoing a Halloween transformation in Tokyo.

Spider monkeys swing in the upper layers of the rainforest with their disproportionately long limbs and prehensile tail.

Tougher than steel and intricately woven, spiders webs are resilient enough to withstand the force of hurricanes and could help design fail-safe buildings and even a new generation of unbreakable materials.

If scientists can identify the salient features of dolphin communication, it will be a big step towards decoding the rudiments of dolphins' natural language.

Pulling out a porcupine quill is painful and slow, as many a dog discovers to its dismay after tangling with the big rodent. But those tenacious quills are inspiring efforts to develop better medical devices.