in july of 2018, russian scientists thawed some worms that had been frozen in the permafrost between 32,000 and 47,000 years. as of the time of this writing, the worms are still alive.

if you cut an earthworm in half, only the front half grows back into a complete worm. the back half dies. cut a planaria worm in half, though, and both halves grow into a complete worm.

the average snail has 14,000 teeth.

the world's most venomous jellyfish, the irukandji, is smaller than one of your fingernails.

ragworms intentionally plant seeds and eat the plants when they sprout.

octopoteuthis deletron is a species of squid that has only 1 eye. they are unique in another respect, as well. when they attach prey or are attacked by a predator, their arms break off, but neither the arms nor the squid die. instead, the squid swims off and the left-behind arms kill whatever they're attached to, after which the squid comes back and eats it.

cave crayfish can live to be 175 years old.

a planarian flat worm can regrow any part of its body. if you cut off its head, you have 2 planaria - and both have the same memories.

the 'sea hare' is a hermaphroditic, venomous sea slug that reproduces via orgies where a single animal acts as both male and female at the same time.

we find 'new' species every single day. here's a recent headcount:

• plants - 321,212
• vertebrates - 62,305
• invertebrates - 1,305,250

the cone snail has a harpoon in its mouth, kind of like the creature from 'alien'. it likes to hide under the sand and harpoon whatever happens by. if that's you, you're done for: the snail injects you with a complex poison that has more than 100 different toxins in it, which makes coming up with an anti-venom pretty much impossible.

an octopus is the smartest animal without a backbone. they are as intelligent as a bright dog.

slugs leave a continuous slime trail, and snails leave a dotted line.