While nature usually speaks of intelligent design, that isn’t a hard rule it adheres to in all situations. Sometimes nature, much like all things that live in it, can be a bit odd and quirky.
We’re not talking Sharknado-level oddities, but there are a few strange things nature has done over the ages that really make us look twice. Let’s take a look into some of the quirkiest things Mother Nature has done.
A Blue-Eyed Coyote
I know, this doesn’t sound like much, but it is when you know that purebred coyotes always have golden brown eyes. Somehow five turned up in California with the most adorable blue eyes you’d ever seen, and apparently, they weren’t crossbred with dogs. The only reason they can give for the blue eyes is that some generations back there was probably a genetic mutation in a single coyote, and these fine specimen were its offspring.
A Three-Eyed Snake
At first it was thought that somehow they captured footage of a snake with two heads that had fused together in development, but that was not the case. It was an actual live snake with one head that had three eyes in it. As impressive as that was, all the eyes worked. Sadly the snake perished after only two months, but that’s a pretty long time for an animal with bone deformities.
A Tree on Top of a Tree
While trees growing on top of trees – called “epiphytes” – happen all the time, this one is quite a looker. Usually they look like, well, a tree that has to share nutrients with another tree. They’re stunted, underdeveloped and quite often short-lived. Not this one though. This is a proud tree.
Square Waves
This phenomenon might look spectacular, but it is in fact quite dangerous. The waves can be very disorienting when you get slammed by them, and they can appear in literal minutes. That said, this is pretty much the only situation where you could play a proper game of real-life Battleship.
Ambered Up Sea Life
If you’ve seen Jurassic Park, you know what amber means. It can contain life forms of millions of years ago, preserved like they’ve only been caught in amber for mere hours. Usually the organisms found in amber are land-based, but in 2019 some sea life was actually found in amber. Since tree resin doesn’t solidify in water and can’t form amber, this means that these sea creatures were actually caught on land.
A Blonde Zebra
Zebras that suffer from albinism have long been a mystery to science. No one quite knew how they’d look, and now we know that they look a pale-ish yellow. There haven’t been too many albino zebras spotted in the wild, nor do we currently have an explanation for their blonde manes. Heck, we’re not even sure why zebras have stripes in the first place.
Beluga-Narwhal Hybrid
These animals were first discovered in the 1980’s when no one quite knew what they were. DNA testing in more recent years had proven that the animal in question had a narwhal mother and a beluga father. Sadly, this also led to the loss of the unicorn-tusk narwhals are most known for.
