It's no big secret that many superheroes are inspired by real-life animals.
And while an actual spider isn't likely to be as good of
a crime-fighter as Spiderman, and there isn't
a bat on the planet with a cave as nice as
Batman's, the animal kingdom is home to super powers much more impressive and strange than
just flight or super speed.
So if you want to stay savvy of the weird and
interesting, or you're just looking for some superpowered inspiration, make sure to hit
that subscribe button and join our notification
squad.
The Dung Beetle We're starting out strong - literally.
The dung beetle is best known for its unfortunate food
source, but don't let its questionable palate fool you: the dung beetle is, with no
competition, the strongest animal in the world.
There are plenty of insects that can lift more
than their weight: most famously, ants, which can lift up to fifty times their weight.
That may be impressive, but a dung beetle is said
to be able to move more than one thousand times
its own body weight.
This is the equivalent of a 180 pound adult human pushing the space shuttle
- fuel tanks not included.
No other animal even comes close to a dung beetle's raw strength.
A gorilla may be incredibly strong, but they
can only lift about ten times their body weight.
So why, then, are they so strong?
Small hint: it's the male dung beetles that are the strongest.
That's right: they use their super strength in
order to get a mate.
The male of the species owes its incredible strength to the difficult
mating rituals that the species practice.
When two males compete over two females, they take
part in an intense, tunnel-shaking shoving match.
The stronger male will then forcibly shove his rival away.
Love's never easy, even for beetles.
These loved up beetles may have been the inspiration for quite a few superheroes
and maybe even villains.
You think I’m kidding?
Okay, let’s take a few examples, Superman, Hulk,
Thor, Juggernaut, Wolverine…
We think you get the point.
The Electric Eel Sometimes, the dramatic names we give to animals
are just that: names.
A fire ant, for example, can't actually create fire, as cool as that
would be.
But everyone's favourite ugly sea monster, the electric eel, lives up to its
name, and then some.
If you ever watch a realistic superhero movie, they usually leave out the
more outlandish powers, like the ability to shoot
electric bolts, like Storm from the X-Men movies.
Even the Star Wars movies limit the amount of force lightning they attack with.
Not only does this limit these heroes’ cool
factor, it really isn’t all that realistic at all.
The electric eel naturally evolved the ability
to discharge huge amounts of electricity.
An electric eel (technically not a type of eel,
but a large knife fish) can discharge around five
hundred volts of electricity.
For comparison, one hundred volts is enough to stop a human's
heart.
Luckily for us, electric eels stick to the ocean and, for the most part, don't bother
humans.
Their 500 volt charge only lasts a short fraction of a second, meaning that they're
not usually fatal in themselves.
That being said, if you don't want to know what it feels like
to lick a car battery, give these guys their
space.
And for the love of all that is good, can we
please give directors permission to show the cooler powers on screen right now?
Because, so help us, if Storm isn’t badass in the X-men:
Dark Phoenix saga, heads will roll.
Do not test the collective might of superhero fans.
Also, and this is totally unrelated, but could we
see an awesome Dark Phoenix Jean Grey?
Just asking.
Thanks.
The Tardigrade Now, this is a strange one.
Also called a water bear, the tardigrade is too small to be seen
with the naked eye, but that's not what's impressive about them.
The tardigrade is one of the toughest animals on the planet.
And they're one of the toughest animals off the planet,
too, since they've been shown to survive in the
cold vacuum of space.
When it comes to toughness and survivability, tardigrades make the Hulk look
as fragile as a dandelion.
Most animals can only live in certain habitats.
Even humans, with all our temperature-controlling technology, can
only survive for long amounts of time in certain
places on the planet.
The humble tardigrade, however, seems to have no restrictions
whatsoever.
From the highest mountains to the deepest depths of the sea, tardigrades not
only live: they thrive.
They can survive in temperatures as low as -458 degrees Fahrenheit
- that's just a few degrees colder than outer
space.
And it can survive heat up to 300 degrees, meaning that boiling water is little
more than a nice bath for a tardigrade.
While radiation may give people superpowers in movies,
in real life, all it's likely to do is kill you.
So, you know, please stay away from radioactive material.
Tardigrades, for reasons scientists are just starting to understand, can withstand
even the cellular damage of high radiation levels.
If you can think of a way to kill something, chances are, it won't work on a
tardigrade.
They can't be starved in under thirty years, and the pressure of the deep
sea, the kind that can crack human bones, doesn't
have any effect on these little guys.
Just for fun, we have decided that if tardigrades had
personalities, they would probably be like Deadpool.
Come on, tell us you don’t see it.
These little grey guys look like they have a
mouth on them.
And if you can’t see them talking the like Merc with a mouth, you’re wrong.
Turritopsis Jellyfish Okay, we are going to keep to Deadpool for
a minute.
You may have noticed a trend, but this guy has a lot more going for him than you
might think.
Seriously, this is one complex character.
Don’t believe us?
Get this - once upon a time, Deadpool fell in love with Death, cool, it
happens.
The problem was that the big baddie, Thanos, was also in love with Death.
As in the entity - they weren’t suicidal, you guys.
Anyway, Thanos, being the upstanding fellow that
he is, granted Wade Wilson immortality.
Aw, what a nice thing to do.
Except no, you’re wrong.
That was a terrible thing to do.
Thanos did this because now Wade Wilson could never die and
never truly be with death.
Wow, weird.
Turns out, that this might be based on true life,
not the whole falling in love with death thing,
unless you’re into that - but rather the immortality thing.
The story goes that a couple of years ago, a German marine biologist by
the name of Christian Sommer was doing research
on the Italian Riviera.
He wasn’t just sipping martinis with a Bond girl though, he was
actually working.
Unbeknownst to him, he had discovered something strange.
His Turritopsis jellyfish were not aging.
In fact, they seemed to be getting younger and younger until they
achieved their simplest form, and then they continued the whole living process as normal.
In this way they are believed to be immortal.
And if that isn’t the coolest thing you hear
all day, you obviously haven’t finished this
list.
Mimic Octopus Okay, hands up if you like Raven.
You know, the sort of anti-hero in the X-men who can’t
decide if she’s a good guy or a bad guy? Unless
you watched X-men: Apocalypse in which she is
a good guy again unlike in most of the other X-men
movies and comics in which she is a villain.
But seriously, she does some very bad stuff,
however, as Mystique, her superhero name.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with this
incredibly fascinating character, let’s do a
quick recap.
She is a mutant of undefined age who can shapeshift into any form.
Mostly human.
She uses this to her advantage, and in the newer
X-Men movies we learn that she is insecure and
does not prefer her natural form.
It’s all very heart-breaking.
Anyway, turns out there is a type of octopus that has the same superpower.
Now, we know what you’re thinking.
And yes, chameleons camouflage themselves too.
But what the Mimic Octopus does is more complicated
than simple camouflage.
Due to its lack of a hard exoskeleton, this octopus can effectively
merge into its background.
Whereas a chameleon or similar species simply changes colour, this
octopus can literally merge into cracks and crevices, becoming part of the environment.
So, like Mystique becomes an exact replica (minus
the personality and memories) of the person she
wants to imitate, the Mimic octopus becomes like
the surrounding environment.
So, technically, this species could render the entire plot
of X-men: Days Of Future Past redundant.
Regal Horned Lizard Buckle up kids, this next one is going to
be weird.
We are looking at the Regal Horned Lizard.
In the desert, there is a very clear chain of command.
For example, while feeding on Saguaro fruit, a bird will drop what it does
not eat.
Ants will then come out to begin taking the leftovers back into their home.
But before they can complete the task, they are
attacked by a Regal Horned Lizard, who has a
sticky tongue and deadly accurate aim.
The ants cannot win, and soon they flee.
That’s not so strange, right?
Well, what is strange, is what comes next.
The lizard is being stalked by a coyote, who wants breakfast.
The coyote is bigger, stronger and very agile.
So, how will the lizard survive?
Put simply, the lizard has a build up of blood in one eye, and squirts
it at the coyote.
Yep, that’s right, it squirts blood out of its eye at the coyote with the
aim of an expert marksman.
Of course, the coyote bolts, because who wants to eat something
that squirts blood at you?
All of this reminded us of another expert marksman with a red eye.
Yes, that’s right, we’re talking about Deadshot.
Deadshot is a lethal assassin (because if you’re not a lethal assassin, you are not
very good at your job).
Deadshot claims to never miss.
This sometimes hero is known for his accurate aim and complete disregard for life.
Which sounds a lot like the Regal Horned Lizard.
Think about it, to those ants he is a supervillain, and to that coyote as well.
Yeah, he is probably only a hero to himself.
And any other animals the coyote runs past to go wash
that blood off him.
Seriously, Deadshot and Regal Horned Lizards, there is not much of
a difference.
Alpine Swifts How long can you run for before getting tired?
A minute?
Two minutes?
Fifteen minutes?
How about days?
Of course not!
Humans do not have that kind of stamina!
But that type of endurance is possible.
It was recently discovered that Alpine Swifts have this
quality.
Scientists say that it is possible that three of them flew for 200 days straight
without stopping.
Now that is incredible.
Can you imagine doing anything non-stop for 200
days straight?
To have that sort of single-minded focus and endurance, you would
need superpowers, right?
Wrong!
We’re going to pull the Batman card.
Yeah, that’s right, we love Batman.
And no, he did not run for 200 days straight, but if he wanted to, he probably
could.
Because Batman!
All throughout the comics, it becomes increasingly apparent that
Batman can do anything he sets his mind to.
There are countless incidents where he completes a task with near inhuman stamina.
For example, in one of the comics, he performs
one arm pull-ups on a helipad for an unspecified
amount of time, and only stops because he has
been interrupted.
He has been known to do workouts that would kill an ordinary man,
but they only leave him wanting more.
Besides that, he fights crime day after day, night after
night for years while still maintaining his life as Bruce Wayne.
That’s as close to flying non-stop for 200 days as we’re going to
get.
Lyrebirds Move aside peacocks, it is time for Lyrebirds
to shine.
Lyrebirds are known for their beautiful plummage that is supposed to help
them get mates and win beauty pageants.
Now, excessive beauty has been known to be a
superpower, but that’s not what we will be
looking at today.
Lyrebirds can also mimic any sound that they hear.
This is not limited to camera shutters, jangling keys and basically
anything else that they hear.
Now, this is known as mimicking but has been transformed
into a superpower in the comic book world.
Mainly, sound manipulation.
Take Black Canary for example.
You may know her as the butt kicking vigilante on The CW Network’s Arrow,
and you are right because she is all that.
But she also has one amazing voice.
True, she usually fights using martial arts and has
a gifted tactical mind, but her scream attack
is what separates her from other superheroes.
The Canary Cry, as it is known as, is when she
forms vibrations with her mouth that are so powerful they can destroy organic and inorganic
objects.
Let’s be grateful that the Lyrebird cannot do that, otherwise Australia would
be even more deadly than it is now.
No joke, these birds would probably destroy everything and
everyone.
Then again, if they could do that then Black Canary would be real, and that
might just make up for the fact that there were
more killer birds on a rampage in Australia.
Salamanders What do Salamanders and Wade Wilson have in
common?
They can both bounce back pretty quickly after losing a limb.
(Or in the case of Deadpool, his actual body, which has happened
before by the way.)
But enough about Deadpool, let’s look at the fact that regenerative
healing powers exist.
That is pretty cool.
Imagine how different the world would be if we
could have the same powers.
How many superheroes and villains can you name who have these powers?
Our top three are the Flash, Wolverine and Deadpool.
And if you want to know who our top three villains are, all you have
to do is ask in the comment section down below.
And don’t forget to tell us your favourite ones
as well.
Most of us are familiar with the Flash’s healing powers, but let’s dwell
on them for a second anyway.
Most of us would kill for superspeed, and we don’t want to talk about
what we would do with them.
Okay fine, rob a bank.
These student loans are crazy.
But most of us don’t consider how awesome healing
powers would be.
You would be virtually unstoppable, think about Claire Bennet from Heroes for
example.
That girl could withstand just about anything.
We would prefer super healing over most superpowers and if we could share those
powers, then that would be even better.
See, we are good people - most of the time except
for that whole robbing a bank thing.
The world would be a very different place if we had
random people running around who could stick their hand in a garbage dispenser and pull
it out to watch it heal.
We’re looking at you, Claire Bennet.
Fleas Don’t scoff.
Fleas are more than little nuisances.
In fact, if fleas were the size of humans (heaven forbid) they would be able
to jump over a building roughly the size of two
football fields in a single bound.
As it is, fleas can already jump more than 100 times
their own body length, which is impressive.
Also, that vague itchy feeling you’re experiencing is not a flea.
Also, try not to think about the fact that fleas are responsible
for spreading the black plague.
Too soon, you guys, too soon.
The flea’s superpower can be compared to the enhanced leaping ability of
Spiderman.
True, he mostly relies on webs to get around, but Peter Parker has quite the
jump too.
In fact, he has been known to leap several stories and the width of a city street.
Spiderman has been known to use his webs as a
slingshot, which means that he and fleas have a
lot more in common that you originally thought.
Scientists are just now starting to figure out
that the flea owes its jumping prowess to the
same physics behind a catapult or a crossbow.
It is also a good thing that he has other powers, because we don’t think that Flea
Man would be a good idea for a superhero.
Spiderman is Spiderman, it’s just that he can jump
almost as well as a flea.
Man, if there was a flea the size of a human, you guys realize that
superheroes would have their hands full, right?
Well, on that comforting note…
And there you have it!
We might not live in a world full of superheroes, but let’s be
glad we live in a world where animals don’t use
their superpowers on us.
Don’t forget to like, comment and subscribe.
Until next time, fellow nerds!