Clouds of noxious gas, stink bombs and purple smokescreens may sound like schoolboy pranks, but the animal world is just as capable of executing arresting chemical warfare, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee

W hen a peacock mantis shrimp strikes, it generates the heat of a star. The crustacean retracts a spring-loaded mouthpart known as a dactyl club and puts it on a latch, like a cowboy cocking the hamme

Amazing answers to your curious questions

There’s something very relaxing about watching a bee busying about its work on a warm summer’s day… the gentle buzz as it meanders from bloom to bloom. However, there’s more at play here than just gar

Make a simple box around 20cm deep, or cut the top off a plastic squash bottle and use the remaining bottom, applying masking tape to cover the sharp cut edge. Add a hole at the back to fix it to a sh

Adrian Thomas looks to the skies for three special birds that you may see over your garden or might even attract into your space to breed