- [Narrator] The world is full
of weird and wacky things. Some even seem too crazy to be real. From lightning volcanoes to
forests underwater and rocks that are alive, here are some of the most bizarre things
proving nature's full of surprises. (fun loopy music) - Amazing. - [Narrator] Now I know
what you might be thinking, and no, this isn't a brain
growing from the ground but a type of fungus
called gyromitra esculenta. These can be found
during spring and summer across North America and Europe, most often underneath coniferous trees. Despite its weird appearance, it's considered a delicacy. But be warned, they're
poisonous and can be deadly if eaten raw. These colorful trees grow
incredibly quick, being able to double in size every year before finally reaching
a diameter of two meters and reaching heights of up to 61 meters. The rainbow eucalyptus
sheds its flaky bark in strips, revealing a green layer which then changes color,
contrasting beautifully against the other vibrant
hues of its trunk. Considered by some as the
most spectacular sight on earth, dirty lightning
is an unusual phenomenon associated with significant
volcanic eruptions. The term dirty lightning
means lightning that happens in an eruption cloud from a volcano. In these eruptions, cloud
ash particles collide, producing an electric charge instead of a typical thunderstorm where ice crystals collide. Now for something a little
bit cute, the royal antelope. These little guys are the
smallest antelope species in the world. You may think that this
is a baby, but oh no. This is them fully grown. Native to West Africa, they share very similar
physical traits to the hare, with overdeveloped hind quarters twice as long as their fore
limbs and a short tail. They can stand at 25 centimeters
in height and can weigh up to three kilograms. No, these aren't some
bird skulls or things used for witches' potions, they're
just snapdragon seed pods that happen to look like skulls. The popular garden plant receives its name from its resemblance to a
dragon and due to the fact that they snap open
and shut when squeezed. But once the flower dies, the pod takes on a more
sinister appearance. Found in the rainforest of
Central and South America, these flowers replicate juicy
pairs of lips quite well. Sadly, they're becoming endangered due to uncontrolled deforestation, and they're only kissable
for a short while before they spread open to
reveal the plant's real flowers. Interestingly, the lips are
not the plant's real flowers but modified leaves known as bracts. Now this guy looks more
like an alien hybrid instead of a moth. This species of moth is native to Southeast Asia and Australia. And I know what you're thinking, what on earth are those
weird appendages used for? Those are a male's scent glands
that produce pheromones used to attract a female. Whatever floats a lady
moth's boat, I guess. Now, this caterpillar may be
unlike any you've seen before, and for a good reason. This poor spiny oak
caterpillar has succumbed to quite a brutal fate. Unfortunately for this guy, it's been chosen as the unsuspecting home to a nest of parasitic
wasps who have decided it'd be a great place
to bring up its babies. The braconid wasp lays its eggs underneath the caterpillar's skin, and once hatched, the braconid larvae eat through the poor caterpillar
to then spin up these cocoons. This here isn't an egg yolk
casually basking in the sun, but is in fact a marine
creature called a sea pork with each one being made up of a group of organism called zooids, meaning they're an individual animal
that can also be a part of a colonial animal. The pork name for this creature
stems from its resemblance to meat, which I must admit
I'm not really seeing. It looks more like a satsuma. It's supposedly quite
the delicacy in Japan. These may look like rocks, but they are in fact a sea creature. These guys are completely
immobile like a rock but eat by sucking in water. They have clear blood and secrete a rare
element called vanadium. Not only that, but they're born male and become hermaphroditic at puberty. They reproduce by emitting
a cloud of sperm and eggs into the surrounding water to breed. They're also eaten by
locals raw or in stews. This could very well be
mistaken for some sort of undiscovered Pokemon, but it's a creature called a siphonophore that was discovered on
a beach in New Zealand with thousands of them
littering the beach. There are about 188
species of siphonophores, and although each one looks
like an individual creature, they, like the colonial tunicate, are also made up of zooids. They're very jellyfish-like
and have been known to sting people with it
sometimes being lethal. They are also the longest
animal in the world, with some being found to
be as long as 40 meters. Something that looks similar to the siphonophore is
the pterotracheoidea. Its long name makes up for its small size. This sea slug is commonly
known as the water ghost due to it having camouflaged
organs, making them transparent. Its other nickname is water elephant for obvious reasons. So we've all heard about
aliens making crop circles in fields, but what
about ones under water? These crop circles are built by these cute little guys,
a few inch long puffer fish. The males can spend up to six
weeks creating the circles to attract a mate. And if the female is satisfied
with this creativity, she'll lay eggs in the center. The ripples you see work as a
shield against ocean currents. The more ripples the male fish
makes, the more chance he has of getting some action
with the opposite sex. These two crystal looking
oddities fell from the sky during a hailstorm in the UK. A resident described them as
almost impossible to pick up with them being very jelly-like. According to one scientist
who looked into the case, they could very well be eggs
from a marine invertebrate. However, that still doesn't
explain how they came to fall from the sky. Maybe a tornado picked them up and they traveled in the air for miles? Lemme know what you think. With how enormous our oceans
are, it's no surprise that to this day, we're still
discovering new species. This guy is called the garra
glavirostris and was only found in 2017 in India. At first glance it looks like
it has some sort of infection on its nose, but this is entirely normal as it uses the nodules
for breathing purposes. To me, this looks like someone
dropped a piece of raw mince on the ground. But it's a fungus
nicknamed purple jellydisc and is commonly found
in North America, Asia, and Europe growing on dead
trees during the autumn season. It may also serve a more
useful function than looking like a piece of meat as
scientists have discovered it could potentially
be a source of biofuel. The ocean seems to be filled with many bizarre looking creatures, including these, the melibe leonine. These strange looking sea
critters were discovered on the shore of the Pacific Northwest. The person who found them
inquired about their origins on Reddit where it was concluded that they are in fact a kind of sea
slug called melibe leonine, also known as lion's mane nudibranch, which sounds far cooler. There are a variety of interesting transparent sea
dwellers found in the ocean. You have your standard
jellyfish and shrimp, but there are also breeds
such as the crocodile ice fish with its ghostly appearance
and colorless blood. Even more bizarre is
the sea sap, an organism that pumps water through its
gelatinous body, chomping down on phytoplankton. These guys are unique as they
exist both as individuals and also as part of a larger organism, with some making luminous
chains of up to 15 feet long. Now I know what you're thinking, and yes, this does look a bit phallic. But get your mind out of the gutter. This is nothing more than a
pandora sphinx moth caterpillar. They're a North American
moth, grayish green in color with patches of pink around
their eye spots and edges. Its wingspan can be between
three to four inches in length. When they're in their caterpillar form, they like to drill into
the earth to pupate. Nope, this isn't an alien come to invade but a crinoid called a feather star that someone accidentally
hooked while fishing. They're marine animals
that live in shallow water and up to depths of
just over 9,000 meters. Crinoids have a u-shaped
gut, and their bum is located next to the mouth. Yup, by their mouth. They come in a range of
forms that attach themselves to the sea bottom by
stalks known as sea lilies, but they can also be seen swimming freely. This isn't just a rock,
but in fact a fossil made from tube worms. They have a fantastic mechanism where they excrete calcium
carbonate to form a tube as a means of defense. The worms can adhere to any
surfaces such as clams, rocks, or even other worm tubes. Two worm fossils go as far
back as 443 million years ago and are very rare. The worms that live in the
tube are called feather dusters or fan worms and use
their fluffy tentacles to strain food out of the water. This may seem like a
terrifying thing to stumble on at the beach, but it's
not as scary as it looks. It's just a bluefin tuna skull from above. From the side of a tuna's head, you can see how it slots into place. Bluefin tuna describes four
different types of tuna fish. These include the Southern,
Pacific, Atlantic, and the Longtail tuna. The Pacific tuna is the largest
of these fish, growing up to almost three meters long. Sometime dubbed as jelly
sausages or horseshoe sausages, these eggs are a clear
kidney-shaped jelly laid by the conical snail. The eggs aren't harmful, but
the conical snail is venomous with stings like that of
a bee that can be fatal to some people. If you come across a jelly sausage, you'll see hundreds of tiny black dots that look similar to grains of sand. But those are individual baby
snails getting ready to hatch. Now for a few more amazing
deep sea creatures. Pelican flounders are strange fish, but their larvae are some of
the most alien looking entities of the deep. Like a mosquito, pelican
flounder larvae are enveloped within their transparent flesh, only growing into their
normal opaque brown color as they grow. In fact, the pelican flounder
looks similar to cusk eels. They come in a variety
of forms and are wrapped within an almost extraterrestrial
looking transparent form. This is to be expected though as at 8,200 meters deep, the
cusk eel is officially one of the deepest ocean
dwelling creatures on record. Away from creatures now, Abraham
Lake is an artificial lake that lies in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies in Canada. It was created in 1972
with the construction of the Bighorn Dam. What's surprising about this lake is that the plants within
it release methane gas. And as the lake gets
colder, the methane freezes and creates columns of frozen bubbles. Though it looks gorgeous,
Abraham Lake isn't for the faint hearted as if you go there, you'll be able to see
all the cracks in the ice and the deep boom of ice breaking underneath the lake's surface. Here's another amazing lake. Kaindy Lake is a 400-meter-long lake in Kazakhstan made famous for
its otherworldly landscape and limestone blue water. It attracts a multitude of
visitors each year who go there to see its immersed forest with branches that protrude through the water's surface. The forest formed after an earthquake
hit the region in 1911. As well as destroying over 700 buildings, the 7.7 magnitude earthquake
also caused a massive landslide of limestone that formed a natural levy and created the underwater effect. The temperature of the water is freezing, which has helped to preserve
the Schrenk's spruce trees that are immersed in it. So which oddity from nature
surprised you the most, and do you know of one that
should've made it on the list? Let me know in the comments
section down below, and thanks for watching. (rhythmic music)
