Just in time for pool season, scientists have discovered a new species of centipede — the first known to hunt in water. It's called Scolopendra cataracta and it can grow to be up to 8 inches long, National Geographic reports. Also, a bite from its venomous fangs is powerful enough to cause torturous pain in an entire human limb for several days.
A new giant centipede has been discovered — also it can swim
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
summer!!!!
S. cataracta was discovered by the Natural History Museum's George Beccaloni while on his honeymoon in Thailand in 2001. When he turned over a rock in a stream, the little monster scurried out and tried to swim away. "It was pretty horrific-looking," he told National Geographic, "with long legs and a horrible dark, greenish-black color."
Honestly, the world is so beautiful.
When he brought the cutie patootie back to London, a centipede expert was a little suspicious of his story, as there were no known species of centipedes with the ability to swim, or even the proclivity to live near water. Becalloni’s centipede sat in storage, even while some of his colleagues just happened to be studying two other specimens that they had snapped up near a waterfall in Laos.
Using DNA analysis, the team confirmed that it was a new species. There are only four specimens of S. cataracta available to scientists in the whole world — the three mentioned above, and a fourth that had been mislabelled in the Natural History Museum since 1928. Whoops!
Here’s a video of a fox playing peekaboo with a person, because I searched for a video of a giant centipede and all the results were for giant centipedes fighting bats, cats, ants, tarantulas, vinegaroons, mice, frogs, snakes, scorpions, and baby lizards.
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