This series was originally conceived with the idea that we've all been normalized to nature and only by looking deeply can we see how truly bizarre it is. To this end, the intention was to digitally illustrate one undisclosed animal every week, and trickle scientific facts about the animal throughout the week before revealing the species and portrait at the end of the week. To this end, I've been behind on the series but continue the releases anyway. Enjoy!

Varanus komodoensis (Komodo Dragon)

The first entry to the series, the Komodo Dragon had the following three accompanying facts:

1. In spite of high dental stress this animal experiences as a function of its diet, it only has a thin layer of enamel. However, its teeth sequester iron at the cutting edge, resulting in greater strength and durability during use. (LeBlanc, 2024)

   

2. This creature has a parietal eye: an organ on top of its head with photoreceptors containing an array of ancient non-visual opsins that are conserved across many groups of animals. This third eye is implicated in spatial awareness, circadian regulation, metabolic rate, and more. (Romero, 2024)

3. This creature's blood has passive antimicrobial properties conferred by a set of innately-expressed short (< 100 aa) peptides. Scientists have engineered these peptides to increase the observed antimicrobial properties, resulting in higher predicted killing of bacterial pathogens (Bishop, 2017)

Glaucus atlanticus (Glaucus sea slug)

1. This creature targets Portuguese man-o-wars (blue bottles) as its primary prey. In fact, scientists have found it in the stomach of loggerhead sea turtles, leading them to conclude that individuals were incidentally caught by the turtles as they were feeding on blue bottles. (Helm, 2021)

2. Because this creature is not highly motile, it cannot seek out its prey. To overcome this challenge, it crawls onto its prey when found and attaches its embryos to the prey, ensuring localization for its offspring when they mature. (Helm, 2021)

3. When preying on bluebottles, this creature consumes its stinging cells (called nematocysts). From within its digestive system, specialized cells called "cnidophages" transport the nematocysts to organs called cnidosacs which are located at the tips of its "fingers". These cnidosacs can be expelled when the creature is threatened, levying the stinging powers of its prey against potential predators. Namatocysts are shown in figure (e) below, indicated by the ▼. cp = cnidophage, mf = muscle fibers (Yamamoto, 2025)

   

Horror Frog

1. This creature lacks apparent ability to physically defend itself, but when threatened, it breaks the bones in its fingers, allowing it to pierce its own skin and use the exposed bones as a claws in a defense against predation (Blackburn, 2008)

2. During breeding season, the male grows long hair-like structures made of vascularized filaments. In times of high metabolic activity, this allows him to capture more oxygen from the surrounding aquatic environment. This is accomplished because the surface area to volume ratio of the filaments is very high, so they allow for oxygen to diffuse directly out of the water. (Robischon, 2017)

3. The males of this species are thought of as mystical by the local people. It's believed these creatures fell from the sky and childless couples who eat them will have increased fertility (Salamandra, 2008)