World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/nutria): Nutria — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The nutria or coypu (Myocastor coypus) is a large semiaquatic rodent Least Concern in native South America but listed among the world's worst invasive species after fur-farm escapes — it destroys wetlands, undermines banks and was eradicated from Britain by 1989.

## Introduction
The nutria, also called coypu, is a large semiaquatic rodent from South America — beaver-sized, with coarse brown fur, bright orange incisors and a long round tail. In its native range it is common and Least Concern. Everywhere fur farmers took it, the story worsened.

Nutria were farmed for pelts from the late nineteenth century onwards. Escapes and deliberate releases established feral populations in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. They eat wetland vegetation aggressively, stripping reed beds and marsh plants that support nesting birds and fish. Burrows undermine river banks, irrigation structures and flood defences. The IUCN Global Invasive Species Database lists coypu among the 100 of the world's worst invasive alien species.

Britain's coypu eradication is a rare success: a ten-year campaign from 1981 removed roughly 35,000 animals, and the last wild coypu was killed in East Anglia in 1989. No confirmed wild sightings have followed. Continental Europe, Louisiana and the Chesapeake Bay were not all so fortunate — some regions still spend millions annually on trapping and bounty programmes. The nutria joins American mink and muskrat in the fur-trade introduction hall of fame — animals secure at home and destructive abroad.

## Takeaway
Nutria are Least Concern in South America but among the 100 worst invasive species globally.

## Takeaway
Fur-farm escapes and releases established populations across North America, Europe and Asia.

## Takeaway
Feeding and burrowing destroy reed beds, river banks and flood infrastructure.

## Takeaway
Britain eradicated coypu by 1989 after a ten-year trapping campaign removing roughly 35,000 animals.

## Takeaway
Louisiana and Maryland run ongoing control programmes costing millions — Maryland declared eradication in 2022.

## Takeaway
EU invasive species of Union concern since 2016 — import and release banned.

## Takeaway
Same fur-trade introduction pattern as American mink and muskrat.

## Native rodent, global invader
In the wetlands of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and southern Brazil, coypu are a normal part of the food web — prey for caimans, jaguars and raptors, grazing aquatic vegetation in balance with the ecosystem. The IUCN lists Myocastor coypus as Least Concern because populations remain secure across native range.

Outside South America the same animal destroys habitat. Nutria consume roughly a quarter of their body weight in vegetation daily, preferring roots and stems of marsh plants. Reed beds that took years to establish can be stripped in a season. Burrows in river banks and levees cause collapses and flooding. The damage pattern matches what island ecosystems suffered from introduced mammals — a theme WARN covers in extinct profiles such as the dodo, where introduced pigs and rats did to nesting birds what nutria do to wetlands.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/nutria): Nutria — wildlife guide.

## Fur farms and the escape epidemic
Nutria fur was fashionable in the early twentieth century. Farms across North America, Europe and Japan held captive breeding stock; when fur prices collapsed — notably in the 1940s in Louisiana — ranchers released animals they could no longer afford to feed. Each release seeded a population with high reproductive output: females can produce two litters a year with four to six young, and reach breeding age within months.

Spread followed river systems and coastal marshes with suitable vegetation. In East Anglia, coypu established after 1920s farm escapes and took decades to remove. In Louisiana, nutria became so abundant that wetland loss accelerated coastal land subsidence — vegetation that held marsh soil together was eaten faster than it could regenerate.

## Britain's eradication — a completed campaign
Coypu damaged sugar beet, cereals and reed beds across Norfolk and Suffolk and burrowed into flood defences. Early trapping in the 1960s failed because effort was misdirected; a cold winter in 1962–63 reduced numbers temporarily but did not eliminate them. The final campaign from 1981 deployed 24 trappers full-time for ten years, using cage traps and population modelling to work inward from range edges.

An incentive scheme paid trappers a bonus for early eradication — addressing the problem that successful trappers would otherwise work themselves out of employment. The last wild coypu was caught in 1989. Britain remains coypu-free, demonstrating that mainland eradication is possible with sustained resources, accurate population biology and political commitment — conditions rarely replicated elsewhere.

## Ongoing battles in Louisiana and the Chesapeake
Louisiana runs one of the largest nutria control programmes in the world, paying bounties for tails during open seasons and linking harvest to wetland restoration funding. The Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project removed the last nutria from Maryland by 2022 — a milestone for Atlantic coastal marsh recovery. Other US states and European countries continue control without eradication as the goal.

Japan's nutria population, introduced in 1939 for food and fur, persists despite decades of control — a contrast with Britain's success that reflects different geography, climate and programme duration. The EU banned coypu as an invasive species of Union concern in 2016. Where nutria remain, management is permanent rather than a one-time fix.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced species education for invasive-species cases where global IUCN status misleads. Nutria are Least Concern in the Pantanal and a wetland crisis in Louisiana — fur farming moved the problem, and control costs persist decades later.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/nutria): Nutria — wildlife guide.

## What do nutria eat?
Aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation — roots, stems and leaves of reeds, rushes and marsh plants. They consume roughly a quarter of their body weight daily and can strip reed beds that support nesting birds and fish.

## Where do nutria live?
Native to subtropical and temperate South America. Introduced populations occupy wetlands across North America, Europe, Asia and parts of Africa — anywhere with slow water, banks to burrow and vegetation to graze.

## Are nutria dangerous to humans?
Nutria are shy and usually flee. They can bite if cornered and may carry parasites transmissible through contaminated water, but unprovoked attacks on people are not documented. The main harm is ecological and infrastructural.

## How long do nutria live?
About six to eight years in the wild where predators and control allow; up to about ten years in captivity. High reproduction means populations turn over quickly.

## How big is a nutria?
Body length about 40–65 cm, tail about 30–45 cm. Adults typically weigh about 5–9 kg — beaver-sized, though the tail is round rather than flat.

## Are nutria still in Britain?
No. The last wild coypu was removed from East Anglia in 1989 after a ten-year eradication campaign. There have been no confirmed wild populations since, though occasional escapees are reported and investigated.

## What is the difference between nutria and muskrat?
Both are semiaquatic rodents introduced for fur, but nutria are much larger — up to about 9 kg versus roughly 1.8 kg for muskrats — with round tails and orange incisors. Both burrow into banks; nutria graze vegetation more destructively at scale.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/frigatebird): Frigatebird — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) is a large tropical seabird with the greatest wing-loading ratio of any bird, able to stay continuously airborne for weeks; males inflate a scarlet throat pouch in display, and the birds steal much of their food from other seabirds in flight.

## Introduction
Frigatebirds are among the most aerial birds alive. They have the largest wing area relative to body weight of any bird, fly with barely a flap for hours, and roost on trees or cliffs only to sleep and breed. Tracking studies on great frigatebirds found individuals remaining continuously aloft for more than two months while crossing the Indian Ocean, sleeping on the wing and riding thermals with almost no energy cost.

Magnificent frigatebirds are the species most people mean when they search the name: long, angular black wings, a deeply forked tail and, in breeding males, a scarlet throat pouch inflated like a balloon to attract females. They are kleptoparasites — specialists at harassing other seabirds until they regurgitate food — and they also pick fish and squid from the surface without landing on water, because their feathers are not waterproof and a soaked bird could not take off again.

## Takeaway
Frigatebirds have the largest wing area relative to body mass of any bird and spend most of their lives in the air.

## Takeaway
Tracking data show great frigatebirds can remain continuously aloft for more than two months, sleeping on the wing.

## Takeaway
Magnificent frigatebirds cannot safely land on water because their plumage lacks waterproofing — wet birds would sink.

## Takeaway
They feed by snatching prey from the surface, catching airborne fish flushed by tuna, and kleptoparasitism — forcing other seabirds to disgorge meals.

## Takeaway
Breeding males inflate a scarlet throat pouch for display; females choose mates partly on pouch size and display vigour.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists the magnificent frigatebird as Least Concern, but seabirds as a group face among the highest extinction risk of any bird category.

## How can a bird fly for two months without landing?
The answer is wing design and wind. Frigatebird wings are extraordinarily long and narrow, with a span up to roughly 2.3 metres on a body weighing around 1.5 kilograms in the magnificent species. That ratio lets the bird stay aloft on minimal flapping, riding thermals and wind gradients the way an albatross does, but in tropical air rather than Southern Ocean gales.

GPS and accelerometer tracking published in 2016 followed great frigatebirds crossing the Indian Ocean from Mozambique to Indonesia. Birds remained airborne for up to 63 days without touching down. They gained altitude in daytime thermals, glided downward at night, and entered brief sleep episodes on the wing — one hemisphere of the brain at a time, as in other birds. The flight cost was low enough that fat reserves built before departure could sustain the journey. Frigatebirds are not unique in long flights — albatrosses also spend years at sea — but the documented multi-week non-stop tropical crossing is among the longest continuous flights verified for any bird.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/frigatebird): Frigatebird — wildlife guide.

## Kleptoparasitism and why frigatebirds chase gulls
Frigatebirds are nicknamed 'man-o'-war birds' because they harass other species until food is surrendered. A frigatebird will dive at a gull, tern or booby carrying a fish, grabbing the victim's tail or wing and forcing it to regurgitate or drop the catch. Aerial chases can last minutes. Kleptoparasitism supplies a substantial share of diet in some populations, though frigatebirds also hunt directly.

Direct feeding includes snatching flying fish flushed by tuna schools, picking squid and fish from the surface in calm conditions, and taking chicks from unattended seabird colonies — behaviour that makes them unpopular on breeding islands shared with terns. Because they cannot land on water, every meal must be reachable from the air or stolen from a bird that can float. That constraint shapes the entire ecology: frigatebirds follow fishing boats, tuna schools and other seabirds because those are the events that concentrate food at the surface or in the air.

## The scarlet pouch and colonial breeding
Breeding males of the magnificent frigatebird inflate a gular pouch to a scarlet balloon larger than the head, drumming the bill against the pouch to produce a sound females can hear across the colony. Females are black with a white breast band and choose among displaying males; the pouch is honest advertising of condition because only a well-fed male can sustain the display through a breeding season.

Colonies nest in mangroves or low coastal vegetation on islands — the Galápagos, Caribbean cays and Pacific coast rookeries hold thousands of pairs. Nests are platforms of sticks; one egg is typical. Both parents feed the chick by regurgitation for several months, one of the longest chick-rearing periods relative to body size among seabirds. Frigatebird colonies are sensitive to disturbance, introduced predators on nesting islands, and overfishing of the surface schools they depend on.

## Seabird pressures that reach frigatebirds too
The magnificent frigatebird is listed as Least Concern with a large range across tropical oceans. That listing describes the species today, not the trajectory of seabirds generally. Around a third of seabird species are threatened — the highest proportion of any major bird group — and the causes are well documented: longline bycatch, invasive predators on breeding islands, overfishing of prey and plastic ingestion.

Frigatebirds are less vulnerable to longline hooks than albatrosses because they rarely dive on baited lines, but they still ingest plastic at sea and lose nesting habitat when mangroves are cleared. Kleptoparasitism ties their fortunes to other seabirds and to tuna fisheries; when those food chains weaken, frigatebirds feel it indirectly. A secure listing for one species should not be read as seabird security overall.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced seabird education because the group is the most threatened bird category on Earth and the fixes — streamer lines, island predator removal — are known and inexpensive. Frigatebirds illustrate extreme aerial adaptation and the food-web links that make seabird conservation a system problem, not a single-species problem.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/frigatebird): Frigatebird — wildlife guide.

## What do frigatebirds eat?
Magnificent Frigatebirds eat Fish, squid; much obtained by kleptoparasitism. The magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) is a large tropical seabird with the greatest wing-loading ratio of any bird, able to stay continuously airborne for weeks; males inflate a scarlet throat pouch in display, and the birds steal much of their food from other seabirds in flight.

## Where do frigatebirds live?
Tropical and subtropical coasts and islands on both sides of the Americas and across the Pacific and Atlantic. Magnificent frigatebirds breed in mangroves and coastal scrub on islands from the Caribbean to the Galápagos and Pacific coasts of the Americas.

## Are frigatebirds dangerous to humans?
No. They do not attack people. Kleptoparasitism is directed at other birds. At nesting colonies they may dive at intruders, but they are not a meaningful bite or injury risk to humans.

## How long do frigatebirds live?
Exact lifespans are poorly documented for wild birds, but frigatebirds are long-lived seabirds like albatrosses, with breeding deferred for several years and chick-rearing lasting many months. Captive records suggest lifespans of several decades are plausible, though wild data are sparse.

## How big are frigatebirds?
The magnificent frigatebird has a wingspan of about 2.3 m and a body length of roughly 89–114 cm including the tail, on a body mass around 1.2–1.9 kg. Females are larger than males — reverse sexual dimorphism typical of seabirds.

## Why can't frigatebirds land on water?
Their feathers are not fully waterproof. A frigatebird that lands on the sea becomes waterlogged and cannot take off again. All feeding and drinking must happen from the air or on land.

## Are frigatebirds endangered?
The magnificent frigatebird is listed as Least Concern. Seabirds as a group are among the most threatened birds on Earth, but this species remains widespread. Local colony losses from habitat change and disturbance still occur.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/hoatzin): Hoatzin — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) is a pheasant-sized bird of Amazon and Orinoco wetlands that digests leaves through foregut fermentation like a ruminant; chicks bear functional wing claws for climbing, and adults are weak fliers tied to riverside forest.

## Introduction
The hoatzin is one of the strangest birds in the Neotropics. It eats almost nothing but leaves, ferments them in an enlarged crop using bacteria in the same way cattle ferment grass in a rumen, and smells strongly enough that local names translate as 'stinkbird'. Adults are poor fliers with small wings relative to body size; they clamber through riverside vegetation like arboreal chickens.

Chicks hatch with two functional claws on each wing — not the reduced vestigial spurs some birds carry, but hooks strong enough to climb back into the nest after dropping into the water to escape predators. The claws are lost as the wings develop for flight. Taxonomists have argued over the hoatzin's relationships for decades; it sits alone in its own family and order, a living puzzle with no close modern relatives agreed upon.

## Takeaway
Hoatzins ferment leaves in an enlarged crop using symbiotic bacteria — foregut fermentation rare among birds and convergent with ruminant mammals.

## Takeaway
Chicks have two claws on each wing used to climb back to the nest after escaping into water; the claws disappear as adult flight feathers develop.

## Takeaway
The species is the only living member of the family Opisthocomidae and order Opisthocomiformes — its evolutionary relationships remain disputed.

## Takeaway
Adults smell strongly of fermented vegetation; local names such as 'stinkbird' reflect the odour.

## Takeaway
Hoatzins are weak fliers and spend most of their time clambering through vegetation along slow rivers and oxbow lakes.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists the hoatzin as Least Concern, but range is tied to riparian forest being cleared across the Amazon basin.

## Foregut fermentation in a bird
Leaf-eating is a difficult diet. Leaves are abundant but low in digestible energy and rich in toxins and fibre. Mammals that specialise on them — sloths, koalas, howler monkeys — use extended gut fermentation. The hoatzin is the only bird known to rely on the same strategy at scale.

Food sits in an enlarged crop where bacterial fermentation breaks down plant material before it reaches the stomach. The process produces the hoatzin's characteristic smell and requires the bird to rest for long periods while digestion proceeds — which partly explains the poor flight performance. A leaf diet also limits how far hoatzins can range: they are tied to riverside trees with accessible foliage, and they are almost never found far from water.

## Wing claws and the chick that swims
Hoatzin nests are platforms of sticks over water. When a predator approaches, chicks may drop deliberately into the river below — they can swim short distances using their wings and feet — and hide among vegetation until the threat passes. The wing claws then function as grappling hooks: the chick climbs back through riverside branches to the nest, using bill and feet as well.

The claws are real digits with keratin tips, not the vestigial spurs found on some ratites. They are lost during development as the wing skeleton reorganises for flight. The behaviour is reminiscent of Archaeopteryx and other early birds reconstructed with clawed wings, which is why the hoatzin is often cited in discussions of avian evolution — though the claws almost certainly evolved independently rather than being a direct ancestral holdover.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/hoatzin): Hoatzin — wildlife guide.

## Why taxonomists cannot place the hoatzin
The hoatzin has been proposed as related to turacos, to cuckoos, to pheasants and to the extinct dodo lineage within Columbiformes. Modern genetic studies have not settled the question cleanly; the bird appears to branch early in Neoaves on its own long stem. What is agreed is that it is not close to any single living family enough to merge with them.

That isolation matters for conservation framing: the hoatzin is not a variant of something common — it is the sole representative of an entire order. Losing riparian forest across the Amazon does not just reduce a population; it eliminates the only habitat of the only species in Opisthocomiformes.

## Wetland loss across the hoatzin's range
The IUCN assesses Opisthocomus hoazin as Least Concern because it remains widespread and locally common along slow rivers, swamps and oxbow lakes from Colombia to Brazil. That assessment describes present abundance, not future security.

Amazonian riparian forest is cleared for cattle pasture, drowned by dams and fragmented by roads. Hoatzins rarely cross open ground and depend on continuous riverside vegetation. In areas where gallery forest has been removed, the bird disappears even when surrounding terra firme forest remains. Because the species is conspicuous and noisy, local absence is easy to notice — a useful but sobering indicator of wetland degradation.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education for species tied to habitats under active clearance. The hoatzin is a riparian specialist across the Amazon and Orinoco — basins where wetland forest loss proceeds faster than most English-language references update their range maps.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/hoatzin): Hoatzin — wildlife guide.

## What do hoatzins eat?
Almost exclusively leaves, with occasional flowers and fruit. Leaves are fermented in an enlarged crop by symbiotic bacteria before further digestion — the same basic strategy ruminant mammals use in the stomach.

## Where do hoatzins live?
Riverside forest, swamps and oxbow lakes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, from Colombia and Venezuela through the Guianas to the Brazilian Amazon. They are rarely far from water.

## Are hoatzins dangerous?
No. They are docile, weak fliers and not aggressive toward humans. The main defence of chicks is dropping into water and hiding; adults rely on vegetation and group alarm calls.

## How long do hoatzins live?
Wild lifespan data are limited. Hoatzins are slow-growing leaf-eaters with extended digestion; they likely live several years, but precise longevity figures for wild birds are not well established in published sources.

## How big are hoatzins?
About 61–66 cm long including a long tail, with a body mass around 700–900 g. They are roughly pheasant-sized but with a smaller wing area relative to body weight.

## Why do hoatzin chicks have claws on their wings?
To climb back to the nest after dropping into water to escape predators. Each wing bears two functional claws lost as the bird matures and flight feathers develop.

## Are hoatzins endangered?
The IUCN lists them as Least Concern because they remain widespread. Riparian forest clearance across the Amazon is the main long-term threat, and local disappearances occur where gallery forest is removed.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/nightingale): Nightingale — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is a small brown migratory songbird of European and western Asian scrub, famous for one of the richest avian songs; it winters in sub-Saharan Africa and is steeply declining in Britain despite a Least Concern global listing.

## Introduction
The common nightingale is a small, unobtrusive brown bird that would attract little attention on appearance alone. Its song is another matter: a loud, varied, rapid series of whistles, trills and flutes delivered day and night from dense scrub, carrying far enough that poets, composers and field naturalists have treated it as the sound of European spring for centuries.

That cultural prominence sits awkwardly beside its conservation status in Britain, where the breeding range has contracted sharply eastward and the population has fallen by more than half since the 1960s. Globally the IUCN lists the species as Least Concern across a wide range from Iberia to Central Asia, but the British decline is severe enough to earn red-list status — a reminder that a secure global category can hide a local collapse.

## Takeaway
The nightingale is a plain brown songbird whose extraordinary vocal repertoire — whistles, trills and flutes — has shaped European literature and music for centuries.

## Takeaway
Males sing to defend territory and attract females, often through the night; each male may know more than 200 phrase types.

## Takeaway
The species breeds in dense scrub and coppice from southern England east to Central Asia and winters in sub-Saharan Africa.

## Takeaway
British breeding numbers have fallen by more than half since the 1960s, with range contracting eastward; the species is UK red-listed.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists Luscinia megarhynchos as Least Concern globally because it remains widespread on the continent.

## Takeaway
Proposed drivers of UK decline include reduced coppice management, deer browsing of understory, drying of wet scrub and habitat loss on African wintering grounds.

## Why the song matters more than the bird
Nightingales are Luscinia megarhynchos — the species name means 'large song' — and the name is deserved. Males assemble long, varied sequences from a repertoire that can exceed 200 distinct phrase types, repeating some phrases and improvising others. The song is loud relative to body size and carries through dense vegetation where visual display would be useless.

Females choose mates partly on song complexity, which makes the vocal performance a direct measure of male quality. The bird itself is cryptically coloured: warm brown above, buff below, with a ruftail tail — easy to overlook until it sings. That mismatch between visual anonymity and acoustic fame is why the nightingale became a cultural symbol while remaining taxonomically obscure to most people who know the name.

## Migration and the two-continent life
Nightingales are long-distance migrants. Birds breeding in Britain and western Europe cross the Mediterranean and Sahara to winter in the scrub and woodland belt south of the desert, from Senegal east to Kenya. The journey is hazardous: habitat loss at stopover sites, drought on the Sahel edge and hunting in some regions all extract a toll that a short-lived passerine cannot easily absorb.

Arrival on breeding grounds is tightly timed to spring leaf-out and the peak of invertebrate food for chicks. A male establishes territory in dense thicket — traditionally coppiced woodland, overgrown hedgerow or riverside scrub — and sings from within cover rather than exposed perches. Nest is a cup low in vegetation; clutch size is typically four or five eggs. Both parents feed chicks on insects and other invertebrates.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/nightingale): Nightingale — wildlife guide.

## The British decline
The nightingale was once widespread across southern England. Breeding Bird Survey and historical atlas data show range contraction eastward and a population fall exceeding 50% since the 1960s. The species is now largely confined to the south and east — Kent, Sussex, Suffolk and Norfolk hold most remaining pairs — and is absent from much of its former western range including Wales and most of south-west England.

No single cause is proven. Leading hypotheses include loss of dense low scrub through cessation of coppicing, overgrazing and deer browsing that removes the understory nightingales nest in, drying of wet woodland edges, and problems on African wintering grounds including habitat change. Climate mismatch — springs advancing faster than arrival dates — has also been discussed. What is clear is that a globally 'secure' listing does not describe the British situation.

## What 'Least Concern' hides
The IUCN assesses the common nightingale as Least Concern with a large European and Asian range and no global population estimate showing a decline steep enough to meet Red List thresholds at the species level. Continental populations remain substantial in Spain, France, Germany and eastward.

Conservation status is scale-dependent. Britain has lost most of its nightingales while the species remains common in parts of France and Spain. That pattern — local red-list crisis, global green listing — appears repeatedly among migrant songbirds. Effective action requires both breeding habitat management — restoring coppice and thicket structure — and wintering-ground protection, neither of which is captured by a single IUCN category.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education for species whose public profile outruns their protection. The nightingale's song is embedded in European culture while British breeding numbers halve — a gap between recognition and conservation action that accurate local status reporting is meant to close.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/nightingale): Nightingale — wildlife guide.

## What do nightingales eat?
Mainly insects and other invertebrates — beetles, ants, worms and similar prey — taken from leaf litter and vegetation. Chicks are fed entirely on invertebrates during the breeding season.

## Where do nightingales live?
Dense scrub, coppiced woodland and overgrown hedgerows in Europe and western Asia for breeding; sub-Saharan African scrub and woodland in winter. In Britain they are now mostly in the south and east.

## Are nightingales dangerous?
No. They are small insectivorous songbirds with no defence against humans beyond hiding in cover. They are not aggressive and pose no bite or injury risk.

## How long do nightingales live?
Typical wild lifespan is a few years. The oldest recorded individual in ringing data reached about eight years, but most adults survive only two to three breeding seasons.

## How big are nightingales?
About 16–17 cm long with a wingspan near 21–24 cm and body mass around 16–21 g — slightly larger than a robin but similarly plain in appearance.

## Why are nightingales declining in the UK?
Range and numbers have fallen by more than half since the 1960s. Likely factors include loss of dense scrub through changed woodland management, deer browsing, drying habitats and pressures on African wintering grounds. No single cause is settled.

## Are nightingales endangered?
Globally the IUCN lists them as Least Concern. In Britain they are red-listed with steep decline and a contracting breeding range — a local crisis not reflected in the global category.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/archerfish): Archerfish — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The banded archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix) is a brackish-water fish of Indo-Pacific mangroves that knocks down aerial prey by spitting a targeted water jet, compensating for optical refraction at the surface; it grows to about 20–30 cm and is listed as Least Concern.

## Introduction
Archerfish solve a problem no other fish is famous for: hitting terrestrial prey above the waterline. The banded archerfish spits a jet of water from its mouth with enough force to knock insects, spiders and small lizards from overhanging vegetation into the water, where they are swallowed immediately. The jet is not a random splash — the fish adjusts aim for the bending of light at the air–water interface, so the strike lands where the prey actually sits rather than where it appears from below.

Archerfish are mangrove and estuary specialists, living in brackish shallow water where overhanging roots and leaves concentrate prey. Several Toxotes species share the spitting behaviour; Toxotes jaculatrix is the best-studied and the one most often kept in aquaria. Schools sometimes shoot at the same target, though the first successful knock-down usually wins the meal.

## Takeaway
Archerfish knock aerial prey into the water by spitting a forceful jet from the mouth, then swallow the item as it falls or floats.

## Takeaway
The banded archerfish compensates for refraction — the prey is not where it appears from underwater — and learns to hit targets at varying heights.

## Takeaway
Toxotes jaculatrix lives in mangrove estuaries and coastal streams from India through Southeast Asia to northern Australia.

## Takeaway
Multiple archerfish may shoot at one prey item; the fish that causes the knock-down usually captures the food.

## Takeaway
The jet is produced by compressing the tongue against a groove in the roof of the mouth, with precise muscular control of mouth opening.

## Takeaway
Mangrove clearance across Southeast Asia is the main habitat threat despite a Least Concern listing for this species.

## How the water jet works
An archerfish does not simply expel water. It places its lips at the surface, forms a tube with the tongue against a groove in the palate, and drives water out in a series of pulses that merge into a focused jet travelling above the surface. High-speed video shows the jet narrowing as it travels — a fluid-dynamic trick that concentrates force on impact.

Experiments with Toxotes jaculatrix and related species demonstrate that fish can hit targets up to several body lengths above the water, with accuracy improving through experience. Young fish miss more often; adults that hunt daily from fixed positions under overhangs learn the geometry of their patch. The behaviour is innate but refined by learning, which is why aquaria display archerfish shooting at insects on sticks placed above the tank.

## Aiming through refraction
Light bends where air meets water. A grasshopper on a leaf above the surface is not located along the straight line the fish sees from below — it sits higher than the apparent position. Archerfish consistently aim above the apparent image, which means they compensate for refraction rather than shooting at what their eyes first report.

Laboratory work suggests they use learning and stereoscopic vision from their position at the surface rather than a fixed innate correction angle. Different heights and distances require different offsets. That flexibility matters because mangrove prey sits at unpredictable heights on roots, leaves and trunks. A fish that could only hit at one distance would waste most shots.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/archerfish): Archerfish — wildlife guide.

## Life in mangrove estuaries
Archerfish tolerate a wide salinity range — pure freshwater to full seawater — but are most associated with mangrove edges, brackish lagoons and lower river reaches where overhanging vegetation meets shallow water. They hunt in daylight, often in small groups, and take insects, spiders, small crustaceans and fallen fruit as well as shot prey.

Breeding occurs in estuaries; eggs and larvae drift in coastal water. Mangrove roots provide cover from larger fish predators and concentrate the aerial invertebrates archerfish exploit. Where mangroves are cleared for aquaculture ponds and coastal development, archerfish lose both cover and the overhanging foraging substrate their hunting method requires.

## Status and aquarium trade
Toxotes jaculatrix is listed as Least Concern with a wide Indo-Pacific range. No global population estimate exists; the species remains common in intact mangrove systems. Local declines track habitat loss rather than targeted fishery pressure — archerfish are not a major food fish, though they appear in the aquarium trade.

Captive archerfish need brackish water, overhead cover and floating or suspended prey to express natural shooting behaviour. Wild collection for aquaria is a minor pressure relative to mangrove clearance, but provenance matters for any species tied to threatened coastal habitat.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education for mangrove-linked species because coastal wetland loss proceeds faster than most reference sites update. Archerfish depend on the exact mangrove edge habitat being converted for aquaculture across Southeast Asia.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/archerfish): Archerfish — wildlife guide.

## What do archerfish eat?
Insects, spiders and other small animals knocked from vegetation with water jets, plus crustaceans, fallen fruit and surface prey taken directly. Shooting is the specialised method for aerial prey above the waterline.

## Where do archerfish live?
Mangrove estuaries, brackish lagoons and coastal streams in the Indo-Pacific from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to northern Australia and Melanesia.

## Are archerfish dangerous to humans?
No. They are small fish with no venom or meaningful bite risk to people. The water jet is directed at insect prey above the surface.

## How long do archerfish live?
Captive archerfish can live roughly five to ten years with good care. Wild lifespan is not precisely documented but is likely several years in intact estuary habitat.

## How big do archerfish get?
The banded archerfish typically reaches about 20–30 cm in length. Females may grow slightly larger than males.

## How do archerfish aim correctly?
They compensate for refraction at the air–water boundary so the jet hits the prey's true position, not its apparent position from below. Accuracy improves with experience and varies with target height and distance.

## Are archerfish endangered?
Toxotes jaculatrix is listed as Least Concern. Mangrove habitat loss across Southeast Asia is the main threat, and local declines occur where estuaries are cleared or polluted.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/mudskipper): Mudskipper — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Mudskippers (Periophthalmus and related genera) are intertidal fish that walk on pectoral fins, breathe air through skin and mouth lining, and live on mangrove mudflats in the Indo-Pacific; they spend most of active life out of water and are not assessed as a group on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
Mudskippers are gobies that reversed the usual fish contract. They live on intertidal mudflats and mangrove edges, leave the water for hours at a time, walk on their pectoral fins, climb roots, and breathe air through the skin, mouth lining and enlarged gill chambers they keep moist. At low tide they are the dominant vertebrate on the flat; at high tide they retreat to burrows or shallow pools.

The genus Periophthalmus contains most of the species people mean by 'mudskipper' — name means 'around the eye', referring to the bulging, independently movable eyes perched on the head for scanning above and below the waterline simultaneously. They are territorial, visually communicative — males flash fins and jump in display — and tightly bound to mangrove mud that is being cleared across much of their range.

## Takeaway
Mudskippers are fish that spend most of their active time on land, walking on modified pectoral fins and breathing air through skin, mouth lining and moist gill chambers.

## Takeaway
Eyes sit on top of the head and can move independently, giving simultaneous view above and below the waterline.

## Takeaway
They live on intertidal mudflats and mangrove edges, retreating to water-filled burrows when threatened or when gills need rewetting.

## Takeaway
Territorial males display with fin flashes, jumps and mouth opening; some species leap vertically in rival contests.

## Takeaway
Most Periophthalmus species have not been individually assessed on the IUCN Red List; habitat is mangrove and estuary mud under heavy clearance pressure.

## Takeaway
Mudskippers feed on small invertebrates, algae and organic film on the mud surface during low tide.

## Breathing air without lungs
Mudskippers do not have lungs. They exchange gases through cutaneous respiration — across moist skin — and through the lining of the mouth and pharynx, which they ventilate by swallowing air and holding it. Enlarged gill chambers sealed with opercular flaps store an air bubble that keeps gill filaments moist when the fish is on land.

If a mudskipper dries out, air exchange stops and gills fail. That is why mudskippers remain tied to tide and wet mud: they can roam the flat for hours but must return to water or a burrow to rewet. The physiology is an amphibious compromise — not as free on land as a frog, but far more terrestrial than any typical fish.

## Walking on fins and climbing roots
Pectoral fins are muscular and shaped to act as props and crutches. A mudskipper moves in a series of skips and crawls, pulling the body forward and using the tail for thrust in faster motion. Some species climb mangrove prop roots and low branches in pursuit of insects and shelter.

The tail stores water for brief periods, helping maintain moisture during movement. Pelvic fins anchor the fish on steep mud. The overall effect is an animal that reads as half-frog, half-fish on the flat — which is exactly how early naturalists described them, and why mudskippers remain a standard example of extreme amphibious adaptation in textbooks.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/mudskipper): Mudskipper — wildlife guide.

## Burrows, territory and display
Mudskippers excavate burrows in soft sediment — U-shaped or vertical shafts that reach the water table so the chamber stays moist at low tide. Burrows serve as refuge from predators, heat and desiccation, and as nest sites. Males defend territories around a burrow entrance and court females with visual displays: dorsal fin erection, lateral posturing and jumps that can reach several body lengths.

Some species feed by skimming the mud surface for diatoms, algae and small crustaceans; others take insects and worms. The eyes rotate and retract independently, scanning for rivals and for kingfishers, herons and other predators that hunt the flats at low tide.

## Mangrove loss and unassessed status
Most mudskipper species have not received individual IUCN assessments. They are not targeted by commercial fisheries and are locally abundant on intact flats. That absence of Red List data does not mean security: it means nobody has prioritised assessment for small intertidal fish.

Mangrove clearance for shrimp ponds, coastal development and logging removes the exact mud-and-root interface mudskippers require. Pollution and sedimentation smother feeding surfaces. Because mudskippers are visible and charismatic on flats tourists visit, local disappearance is often noticed before formal status updates catch up — a pattern common among mangrove specialists without high-profile listings.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education for mangrove-dependent species that rarely receive individual Red List assessments. Mudskippers are indicators of intertidal health on flats being converted to aquaculture across the Indo-Pacific.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/mudskipper): Mudskipper — wildlife guide.

## What do mudskippers eat?
Mudskippers eat Algae, small invertebrates and surface organic film. Mudskippers (Periophthalmus and related genera) are intertidal fish that walk on pectoral fins, breathe air through skin and mouth lining, and live on mangrove mudflats in the Indo-Pacific; they spend most of active life out of water and are not assessed as a group on the IUCN Red List.

## Where do mudskippers live?
Intertidal mudflats, mangrove edges and estuarine shores in the Indo-Pacific, with some species in tropical west Africa. They need soft sediment for burrows and regular tidal flooding.

## Are mudskippers dangerous?
No. They are small fish with no venom and no bite capable of injuring humans. Territorial displays are directed at other mudskippers.

## How long do mudskippers live?
Wild lifespan is poorly documented for most species. Captive individuals of related gobies often live several years; mudskippers likely survive multiple years on stable flats, but precise figures are not established in major sources.

## How big are mudskippers?
Most Periophthalmus species reach roughly 10–20 cm in length, depending on species. Atlantic mudskipper (Periophthalmus barbarus) can approach the upper end of that range.

## How do mudskippers breathe on land?
Through moist skin, the lining of the mouth and throat, and air held in enlarged gill chambers. They must keep tissues wet and periodically return to water or burrows to avoid desiccation.

## Are mudskippers endangered?
Most species lack IUCN assessments. They are locally abundant where mangrove flats remain intact but decline where intertidal habitat is cleared, polluted or converted to aquaculture ponds.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/stag-beetle): Stag Beetle — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) is Europe's largest lucanid beetle at up to about 75 mm, with males bearing branched mandibles for wrestling; larvae live for years in rotting wood, adults emerge briefly in summer, and the species is Near Threatened.

## Introduction
The stag beetle is Britain's largest land insect. Males carry enlarged mandibles branched like antlers — used in wrestling matches on tree trunks, not for biting people — and can reach roughly 75 millimetres in total length. Females are smaller, with shorter, stronger jaws used for digging.

The life cycle explains the conservation problem. Adults live only a few weeks in summer; larvae spend three to seven years feeding on rotting wood underground and in decaying tree roots. Remove dead wood from parks and gardens, pave over old orchards, and the next generation has nowhere to grow. The IUCN lists Lucanus cervus as Near Threatened in Europe, and it is a priority species in Britain.

## Takeaway
Lucanus cervus is Britain's largest beetle; males use branched mandibles for territorial wrestling, not for biting people.

## Takeaway
Larvae feed on rotting wood in tree roots and stumps for three to seven years before pupating.

## Takeaway
Adults live only a few weeks in late spring and summer, feeding on tree sap and fruit.

## Takeaway
Loss of dead wood in parks, gardens and woodland is the main threat — tidiness removes the larval habitat.

## Takeaway
The IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened in Europe; it is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species.

## Takeaway
Females are smaller with stronger jaws and are often mistaken for a different species entirely.

## Why the jaws are for wrestling, not hunting
Male stag beetles look formidable. The branched mandibles can exceed half the body length and are used to lift and push rival males off tree trunks and sap runs where females gather. Matches are slow shoving contests; the loser is flipped or driven away, rarely injured.

Females have shorter, much stronger mandibles suited to excavating rotting wood for egg-laying. Neither sex hunts with the jaws — adults drink sap and eat fallen fruit. The mandible size difference is classic sexual selection: males invest in weapons for mating access, females in tools for reproduction.

## Years underground in rotting wood
A stag beetle larva is a white grub feeding on decaying heartwood and root material, usually of broadleaved trees — oak, beech, ash and similar. Development takes three to seven years depending on food quality and temperature. The larva moults repeatedly, growing until it pupates in a soil chamber adjacent to the wood.

Adult emergence is synchronised to warm evenings in May to August. Males patrol territories on trunks and fly at dusk with a low buzzing flight. Within weeks they mate, females lay eggs in wood, and the adults die. The visible beetle is the brief final stage of a multi-year life almost entirely spent hidden in decay.

## Dead wood as a deliberate habitat choice
Modern woodland management often removes standing dead timber and fallen logs for safety and tidiness. Stag beetles need that material left in place — not necessarily ancient forest, but gardens with old stumps, parks with decaying trees, and hedgerows with buried root wood.

Log piles, leaving old tree stumps in situ, and avoiding compaction over root zones are practical measures that cost nothing and benefit other saproxylic insects too. Stag beetles are a flagship for a whole community of dead-wood specialists that disappear quietly when every fallen branch is cleared.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/stag-beetle): Stag Beetle — wildlife guide.

## Near Threatened and still declining locally
Lucanus cervus is listed as Near Threatened on the European Red List. Britain holds a significant western outpost; numbers are highest in the south-east, with scattered records elsewhere. Local extinctions follow suburbanisation of old orchards and sterilisation of park woodland.

Recording schemes rely on public sightings of adults at dusk — the beetles are conspicuous when they fly but easy to miss in larval form. A Near Threatened listing means the species is not yet Endangered but is moving in that direction without habitat reversal.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education for species whose habitat is removed by everyday land management. Stag beetles need rotting wood left in place — a requirement that costs nothing to provide and disappears when gardens and parks are over-tidied.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/stag-beetle): Stag Beetle — wildlife guide.

## What do stag beetles eat?
Larvae feed on rotting wood inside tree roots and stumps for several years. Adults drink tree sap and eat fallen fruit; they do not eat living wood or leaves.

## Where do stag beetles live?
Deciduous woodland, parks, gardens and hedgerows with rotting wood and old tree roots, mainly in southern and central Europe. Britain's strongest populations are in the south-east.

## Are stag beetles dangerous?
No. Males cannot bite with force through the branched mandibles; females can nip if handled but are not dangerous. Mandibles are for wrestling other males.

## How long do stag beetles live?
Adults live a few weeks in summer. The full life cycle is much longer because larvae spend three to seven years in rotting wood before emerging.

## How big are stag beetles?
Males reach up to about 75 mm including mandibles; females are smaller at roughly 30–45 mm. They are Britain's largest beetle.

## Why are stag beetles declining?
Loss of dead wood in gardens, parks and woodland removes larval habitat. Tidying away stumps, logs and rotting roots eliminates the years-long larval stage the species requires.

## Are stag beetles endangered?
The IUCN lists Lucanus cervus as Near Threatened in Europe. It is a priority species in Britain with local declines, though adults remain visible in stronghold areas each summer.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/goliath-beetle): Goliath Beetle — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The goliath beetle (Goliathus goliatus) is a large African scarab among the heaviest insects alive at up to about 100 g and 10 cm, with larvae developing in rotting wood; most Goliathus species are not individually assessed on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
Goliath beetles belong to the genus Goliathus, a group of African scarabs famous for size. Adults of Goliathus goliatus can exceed 10 centimetres in length and weigh on the order of 100 grams in the largest males — placing them among the heaviest insects alive, though the heaviest stage is the larva, which can weigh more while feeding in rotting wood.

The patterned wing covers — white spots on dark elytra in goliatus — and the Y-shaped horn on the male thorax make the beetle a standard museum drawer specimen. In life they feed on fruit and sap as adults; larvae spend months to a year or more in decaying wood. Most Goliathus species lack IUCN assessments, but range overlaps rainforest under logging pressure.

## Takeaway
Goliathus beetles are among the heaviest insects; large males can approach 100 g and 10 cm in length.

## Takeaway
Larvae feed in rotting wood and can outweigh adults; development takes many months before pupation.

## Takeaway
Adults eat fruit, sap and decaying plant matter; males may use thoracic horns in contests.

## Takeaway
The genus Goliathus contains several species across tropical African rainforest.

## Takeaway
Most species have not received individual IUCN Red List assessments.

## Takeaway
Collection for the insect trade and rainforest logging are the main documented pressures.

## What 'largest insect' actually measures
Heaviest insect claims require careful definitions. Goliath beetles compete with certain rhinoceros beetles and giant weta for the title depending on whether larvae or adults are measured and which species is included. Published masses for large male Goliathus goliatus around 90–100 g appear in entomological literature; females are typically smaller.

Length up to roughly 10 cm for the body excludes the legs and antennae, which extend further. The bulk comes from powerful flight muscles and thick cuticle. Impressive as adults are, the larval stage in rotting wood often accumulates more mass — a white grub with a hardened head capsule chewing through decay for months before metamorphosis.

## From rotting wood to fruit-feeding adult
Female goliath beetles lay eggs in soil near rotting wood. Larvae tunnel into the substrate, feeding on decay until ready to pupate in an underground cell. The adult emerges with soft wing covers that harden and darken over days.

Adult goliath beetles are short-lived in the wild — weeks to a few months — and feed on sugary fruit, tree sap and decaying plant material. In captivity they take banana, apple and proprietary beetle diets. Males of some species use the thoracic horn to lever rivals off territory on logs; the horn is not a weapon against predators in the way stag beetle mandibles are used in shoving matches.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/goliath-beetle): Goliath Beetle — wildlife guide.

## Trade and rainforest overlap
Goliath beetles are collected for the live insect trade and for specimen collections. Sustainable captive breeding exists, but wild-caught adults still enter markets. Because larvae depend on rotting wood in forest, logging that removes dead timber and mature trees reduces breeding sites even when canopy remains.

Most Goliathus species have not been individually assessed by the IUCN. That gap does not imply security — it reflects low assessment priority for African forest beetles with limited economic profile beyond the hobby trade.

## Several species under one common name
Goliathus goliatus, G. regius, G. orientalis and other species share the goliath name with different spot patterns and ranges. G. goliatus is widespread in central African rainforest; G. regius is among the largest and most sought after in trade.

Identification to species requires pattern detail on the elytra and thorax. Guides at genus level risk conflating status across species with different ranges and pressures — worth stating when exact species-level data are missing.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education for rainforest species that attract trade attention without corresponding assessment coverage. Goliath beetles are emblematic of African forest invertebrates whose habitat and collection pressure outrun Red List documentation.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/goliath-beetle): Goliath Beetle — wildlife guide.

## What do goliath beetles eat?
Larvae feed on rotting wood in soil. Adults eat fruit, tree sap and decaying plant matter — sugary and fermenting foods in the wild, or banana and similar items in captivity.

## Where do goliath beetles live?
Tropical African rainforest from West Africa through the Congo basin to East Africa, depending on species. Larvae need rotting wood in forest soil; adults roam the understorey and canopy edges.

## Are goliath beetles dangerous?
No. They can grip with legs and mandibles if handled roughly but do not sting and are not venomous. Thoracic horns on males are for pushing rivals, not attacking people.

## How long do goliath beetles live?
Adults typically live weeks to a few months. Larvae spend many months to over a year in rotting wood before pupating — most of the life cycle is underground.

## How big are goliath beetles?
Large males can reach about 10 cm in body length and roughly 90–100 g — among the heaviest insects. Females are usually smaller and less horned.

## Are goliath beetles the heaviest insect?
They are among the heaviest. Exact ranking depends on species and whether larvae or adults are compared; giant weta and large rhinoceros beetle larvae also reach very high masses.

## Are goliath beetles endangered?
Most Goliathus species lack IUCN assessments. Rainforest logging and collection for the insect trade are documented pressures, but formal status data are incomplete.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bombardier-beetle): Bombardier Beetle — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Bombardier beetles (Brachinus and related carabids) spray predators with a hot, irritating benzoquinone jet produced by an instantaneous chemical reaction in a specialised abdominal chamber, reaching temperatures near 100 °C; they are ground beetles found worldwide and mostly unassessed on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
Bombardier beetles defend themselves with one of the most extreme chemical weapons in the animal kingdom. When threatened, they discharge a pulsed jet from the abdomen tip by mixing hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide in a reaction chamber, catalysed by enzymes to produce benzoquinone and enough heat to bring the spray close to 100 °C. The pulse can be aimed with surprising accuracy.

The mechanism is not metaphorical boiling — high-speed video and thermography confirm a hot, noxious spray that deters frogs, ants and other predators. Brachinus is the best-known genus in Europe and North America; hundreds of carabid species share variants of the apparatus. Creationist misuse of bombardier beetles as 'too complex to evolve' makes accurate biology particularly worth publishing.

## Takeaway
Bombardier beetles mix hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide with catalytic enzymes to produce a hot benzoquinone spray at the abdomen tip.

## Takeaway
The reaction chamber and valve system delivers pulsed jets that can be aimed at predators.

## Takeaway
Measured discharge temperatures approach 100 °C in studied Brachinus species — hot enough to hurt and chemically irritating.

## Takeaway
Adult bombardier beetles are predatory ground beetles, often found near water or in moist habitats.

## Takeaway
The apparatus varies across carabid lineages; not all ground beetles are bombardiers, but many share modified abdominal glands.

## Takeaway
Most species lack individual IUCN assessments; they are widespread but locally affected by wetland drainage and pesticide use.

## How the reaction chamber works
Two compartments store precursor chemicals — hydroquinones and hydrogen peroxide — separately until a predator triggers discharge. On firing, they enter a thick-walled reaction chamber lined with catalytic enzymes including catalase and peroxidase. The mixture reaches high temperature and pressure within milliseconds; a valve at the abdomen tip opens and closes rapidly, producing the audible pops and pulsed jet.

The spray contains oxidised benzoquinones that burn mucous membranes and skin of small predators. Frogs that attempt to eat bombardier beetles often reject them violently. The system is refined enough that the beetle itself is protected by the chamber walls and directional aim away from its own body.

## Predatory beetles, not just chemical tanks
Bombardier beetles are carabids — ground beetles — and most are active hunters of small invertebrates. Brachinus species often live near water margins and run quickly when disturbed. By day they hide under stones and leaf litter; the chemical defence is a last resort when pursuit fails.

Life cycles are typical for beetles: eggs, predatory larvae, pupation in soil, and short-lived adults. Larvae also have glands in some lineages, though the most famous spray belongs to adults. The beetle's ecological role is predation on other small arthropods as much as defence chemistry.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bombardier-beetle): Bombardier Beetle — wildlife guide.

## Evolution of a contested system
The bombardier apparatus has been misused in arguments that complex organs cannot evolve gradually. Comparative anatomy across Carabidae shows intermediate stages — species with partial separation of precursors and weaker reactions — which is exactly what evolutionary biology predicts. The full system is a refinement, not a single-step invention.

For field naturalists the point is simpler: if a small dark beetle near a stream pops and smells sharply when picked up, it is likely a bombardier. Wash hands afterwards; the spray irritates human skin and eyes.

## Status and habitat
No global IUCN assessment covers 'bombardier beetles' as a group; individual Brachinus species are generally widespread and not assessed. Local losses follow wetland drainage, riparian development and broad insecticide use that hits ground-beetle communities broadly.

Because carabids are sensitive indicators of habitat quality, declines in bombardier beetles on a stream margin often signal wider invertebrate loss before charismatic species are affected.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free, sourced education that separates accurate biology from myth — including misuse of bombardier beetles in anti-evolution arguments. The spray is real, measured and explainable; the conservation story is the wider loss of moist ground-beetle habitat.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/bombardier-beetle): Bombardier Beetle — wildlife guide.

## What do bombardier beetles eat?
Adults and larvae are predatory, feeding on small invertebrates — insect larvae, springtails and similar prey — captured on the ground. They are active hunters, not herbivores.

## Where do bombardier beetles live?
Moist habitats worldwide — stream margins, wetlands, forest leaf litter and grassland — depending on species. Brachinus is common near water in Europe and North America.

## Are bombardier beetles dangerous to humans?
The spray irritates skin and eyes and should be avoided. It is not life-threatening to healthy adults but causes a burning sensation. Handling beetles near the abdomen tip risks being sprayed.

## How long do bombardier beetles live?
Adults typically live months to roughly a year depending on species and climate. Full life cycle from egg through larval stages to adult spans one to two years in temperate species.

## How big are bombardier beetles?
Most are small ground beetles — roughly 5–15 mm in length depending on species. They are not large beetles; the defence is chemical, not size.

## How hot is the bombardier beetle spray?
Studies of Brachinus species measure discharge temperatures approaching 100 °C, driven by exothermic chemical reaction in the abdominal chamber, combined with irritating benzoquinones.

## Are bombardier beetles endangered?
Most species are not individually assessed on the IUCN Red List and remain locally common in suitable habitat. Wetland loss and pesticides reduce ground-beetle communities broadly.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/camel-spider): Camel Spider — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Camel spiders are solifugids (order Solifugae) — arachnids that are not true spiders, lack venom glands comparable to spiders, and live in deserts worldwide; internet legends about giant size, extreme speed and deadly venom are false.

## Introduction
Camel spider is a common name for solifugids — an order of arachnids separate from true spiders. They have eight legs plus a pair of leg-like pedipalps that make them look ten-legged in photographs. They run fast for arthropods, have large chelicerae and no venom glands like those of spiders. The name 'camel spider' reflects desert habitat, not any association with camels.

Deployed soldiers' photos from Iraq and Afghanistan, with forced perspective making animals look table-sized, fuelled myths about sprinting at human speed, screaming, and venom that liquefies flesh. None of that is accurate. Solifugids can bite if handled, and chelicerae can break skin, but they are not medically significant like widow or recluse spiders. For identification context, compare the site's spider and daddy-longlegs guides — three different arachnid groups people conflate.

## Takeaway
Camel spiders are solifugids — arachnids in order Solifugae, not spiders in order Araneae.

## Takeaway
They lack the venom glands spiders use; defence and feeding rely on powerful chelicerae that tear prey.

## Takeaway
Internet photos use forced perspective to exaggerate size; leg span up to roughly 15 cm in large species, body much smaller.

## Takeaway
They are fast runners for arthropods but do not match human sprinting speed — claims otherwise are myth.

## Takeaway
The name refers to desert habitat, not camels; solifugids do not eat camel stomachs or scream.

## Takeaway
Most species are Not Evaluated on the IUCN Red List; they are not a unified medical or conservation priority.

## Not a spider — and not a camel
True spiders belong to order Araneae and produce silk from spinnerets; almost all use venom from glands to subdue prey. Solifugids produce no silk and no spider-style venom. They sit in class Arachnida alongside spiders, scorpions, harvestmen and mites, but on a separate evolutionary branch.

Pedipalps in solifugids are leg-like and large, which adds to the confusion in photos — what looks like a fifth pair of legs near the head is not a walking leg. Chelicerae are disproportionately big and work like combined jaws and cutters. If the animal on your wall has spinnerets, it is a spider; if it runs without silk and lacks venom glands, it may be a solifugid. Daddy longlegs — whether harvestmen or cellar spiders — are a third group again; see those guides for the three-way confusion.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/camel-spider): Camel Spider — wildlife guide.

## Debunking the deployment photos
Circulating images from Middle Eastern deployments show solifugids held close to the camera while the holder stands far back — classic forced perspective. The animal appears forearm-length; in reality body length for most species is a few centimetres, with leg span larger but not dinner-plate size.

Stories about camel spiders chasing soldiers, screaming, and feeding under camel bellies are folklore amplified by email chains. Solifugids are nocturnal or crepuscular hunters of insects and small vertebrates in desert burrows. They can run quickly relative to their size — estimates in scientific sources are on the order of a few metres per second for short bursts, not 30 mph. Bites happen if an animal is trapped against skin; they are painful but not the necrotic medical events wrongly attributed online.

## How solifugids actually hunt
Solifugids are voracious predators. Chelicerae slice prey — insects, other arachnids, small lizards — and masticate tissue with internal cutting surfaces. Some species have rows of teeth on the chelicerae. Sensory organs on the pedipalps help detect vibration and chemical cues in sand.

Reproduction involves spermatophore transfer; females lay eggs in burrows. Lifespan is typically one year or less in many species — fast-lived desert arthropods. They are ecologically normal desert predators, not aberrations. Fear comes from appearance and myth, not from documented human mortality.

## When to worry — and when not to
Solifugids are not a substitute for spider medical risk assessment. Widow spiders, recluse spiders and funnel-web spiders have documented venom syndromes; solifugids do not. Handling any wild arachnid can produce a bite; wash the wound and watch for infection as with any break in skin.

Conservation data are sparse — most solifugid species are Not Evaluated. Desert habitat disturbance affects them locally, but they are not a high-profile trade or persecution target. The practical need is accurate identification so people do not kill harmless arachnids while believing they removed a 'deadly spider'.

## WARN work
WARN publishes myth-correction guides where the popular story is wrong. Camel spider photos from military deployments created a false monster; solifugids are real arachnids with a separate biology from spiders and daddy longlegs — and venom is not part of it.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/camel-spider): Camel Spider — wildlife guide.

## What do camel spiders eat?
Camel Spiders eat Insects and small desert animals. Camel spiders are solifugids (order Solifugae) — arachnids that are not true spiders, lack venom glands comparable to spiders, and live in deserts worldwide; internet legends about giant size, extreme speed and deadly venom are false.

## Where do camel spiders live?
Arid and semi-arid regions worldwide — deserts of the Middle East, North Africa, south-western United States, Mexico and Central Asia. They shelter in burrows or under stones by day.

## Are camel spiders dangerous to humans?
They can bite if handled and chelicerae may break skin, but they lack spider-style venom glands and are not medically significant like widow or recluse spiders. Internet venom myths are false.

## How long do camel spiders live?
Many species complete their life cycle in about a year or less. Exact longevity varies by species; solifugids are generally short-lived compared with large spiders.

## How big are camel spiders?
Body length is typically a few centimetres; leg span in large species can reach roughly 15 cm. Forced-perspective photos exaggerate size — they are not forearm-length animals.

## Are camel spiders actually spiders?
No. They are solifugids (order Solifugae), arachnids related to but distinct from true spiders (order Araneae). They do not spin silk and lack spider venom glands.

## Why are they called camel spiders?
Because they live in desert regions associated with camels, not because they attack camels or live on them. The name is geographic folklore, not biology.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/orb-weaver): Orb-Weaver — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Orb-weaver spiders (family Araneidae) build the classic circular wagon-wheel webs, include the European garden spider Araneus diadematus, rebuild webs frequently, and are harmless to humans — over 3,000 species worldwide, most not individually assessed on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
Orb-weavers are the spiders behind the circular webs people picture when they think 'spider web'. Family Araneidae contains more than 3,000 species worldwide, including the European garden spider Araneus diadematus — the cross-shaped spider on a dewy wheel web in autumn hedgerows. Orb-weavers sit head-down in the hub or in a retreat off to the side, running out when vibration signals prey.

Many species rebuild the web daily, eating the old silk to recycle protein before spinning a fresh spiral overnight. Orb-weavers are not medically significant to humans; bites are rare and comparable to a mild bee sting when they occur. They are among the most visible spider family in temperate gardens and a useful counterweight to undifferentiated spider fear.

## Takeaway
Orb-weavers (Araneidae) construct the stereotypical circular orb web with radiating spokes and a sticky capture spiral.

## Takeaway
The European garden spider Araneus diadematus is a familiar British orb-weaver with a white cross on the abdomen.

## Takeaway
Many species eat the old web and spin a new one daily, recycling silk protein.

## Takeaway
Orb-weavers sit in the web hub or a nearby retreat and run out when prey vibrates the silk.

## Takeaway
Bites to humans are uncommon and not medically significant for healthy adults in temperate species.

## Takeaway
They are major aerial insect predators in gardens, reducing flies, moths and other flying prey.

## Engineering the orb web
Construction follows a stereotyped sequence: a bridge line, radii like spokes, a temporary spiral scaffold, then replacement with sticky capture silk in the final spiral. Non-sticky radii support the structure; the capture spiral holds glue droplets that snare flying insects.

Different orb-weaver genera modify the plan — some add stabilimenta, visible zigzag bands whose function is debated (camouflage, prey attraction or bird avoidance). Web orientation catches prevailing insect drift; many garden orb-weavers rebuild at dusk because day webs accumulate damage and debris.

## Garden spider life cycle
Araneus diadematus illustrates the temperate pattern. Spiderlings balloon on silk threads in spring, grow through summer moults, and mature in autumn when webs appear across hedgerows. Males seek females cautiously — females are larger and may cannibalise mates. Females lay hundreds of eggs in a silk cocoon attached to vegetation; adults die with frost, eggs overwinter.

The visible autumn females are the life stage people photograph. They are feeding heavily before egg production, which is why webs seem suddenly everywhere in September and October.

## Orb-weavers versus other web types
Not every circular-looking web is an orb. Cobwebs of house spiders (Theridiidae) are tangle webs without radial geometry. Funnel webs and sheet webs belong to other families. Orb-weavers are defined by the orb architecture and Araneidae membership — though a few related families build similar webs.

For the site's broader spider guide, orb-weavers are one architecture among many. They happen to be the most photogenic and the least dangerous large spider most Europeans encounter regularly.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/orb-weaver): Orb-Weaver — wildlife guide.

## Conservation and the value of garden webs
No family-level IUCN assessment exists for Araneidae; individual rare species on islands or in caves may be threatened while garden orb-weavers remain abundant. Pesticide spraying and habitat simplification reduce spider biomass broadly.

Leaving hedgerows, avoiding indiscriminate garden spraying, and tolerating autumn webs supports free pest control. Orb-weavers remove large numbers of flying insects that would otherwise enter homes and crops.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free arachnid education that separates harmless garden orb-weavers from the small set of species warranting caution. Visible autumn webs are a sign of functioning garden predation, not a hygiene failure.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/orb-weaver): Orb-Weaver — wildlife guide.

## What do orb-weaver spiders eat?
Flying insects caught in the web — flies, moths, beetles, wasps and similar prey. The spider wraps captured items in silk and injects venom to digest them.

## Where do orb-weaver spiders live?
Worldwide in gardens, woodland edges, meadows and buildings. In Britain the garden spider Araneus diadematus is common in hedgerows and shrubs, especially in autumn.

## Are orb-weaver spiders dangerous?
No for practical purposes. Bites are rare and usually result from handling; effects are mild local pain comparable to a bee sting for most temperate species. They are not widow or recluse spiders.

## How long do orb-weaver spiders live?
One season is typical for temperate garden orb-weavers — hatch in spring, mature and reproduce in autumn, die before winter. Eggs overwinter in a silk cocoon.

## How big are orb-weaver spiders?
Araneus diadematus females reach roughly 14–20 mm body length; males are much smaller. Leg span is larger than the body. Size varies by species worldwide.

## Why do orb-weavers rebuild their webs?
Webs accumulate damage, debris and depleted stickiness. Many species consume the old silk to recycle protein and spin a fresh orb, often overnight.

## Are orb-weaver spiders endangered?
Garden orb-weavers are widespread and abundant. The family as a whole is not assessed; rare island or cave species may be threatened locally while common garden species remain secure.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/mayfly): Mayfly — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Mayflies (order Ephemeroptera) are freshwater insects whose nymphs live underwater for months to years and whose winged adults typically survive only hours to a few days; they are the only insects that moult after gaining wings and are indicators of clean rivers.

## Introduction
Mayflies are aquatic insects whose adult stage exists only to mate and die. Nymphs live months to years underwater in rivers and lakes, then emerge, moult one final time into a winged adult — the only insects that moult after developing functional wings — and often survive just hours to a day or two. Mouthparts are reduced; many adults do not feed at all.

Their presence indicates clean, oxygenated water. Anglers imitate mayflies closely because trout and other fish feed heavily on emergences. Pollution, dams and sedimentation remove mayfly nymphs long before most people notice the river has changed.

## Takeaway
Mayfly nymphs are aquatic for months to years; winged adults often live only hours to a couple of days.

## Takeaway
Adults undergo a final moult from subimago to imago after wings develop — unique among insects.

## Takeaway
Many adult mayflies do not feed; mouthparts are vestigial and the stage exists for reproduction.

## Takeaway
Upright wings and two or three long tail filaments (cerci) help identification.

## Takeaway
Nymphs are sensitive to pollution, low oxygen and sediment — their absence signals river degradation.

## Takeaway
Mass emergences synchronise mating and overwhelm fish predators — a key event for anglers and ecologists.

## Two lives in one animal
Mayfly ecology splits sharply between nymph and adult. Nymphs have gills and live on stones, vegetation or burrowed in silt, feeding on algae and detritus or filtering particles. They moult repeatedly underwater until ready to emerge.

The winged subimago climbs out, flies weakly, then moults again into the sexually mature imago with clearer wings and fuller colour. That post-wing moult is unknown elsewhere in insects. Adult mayflies swarm over water, mate in flight or on the surface, females lay eggs, and both sexes die — often within 24 hours for many species.

## Why rivers without mayflies are sick
Ephemeroptera nymphs need oxygen-rich water and stable substrates. Agricultural runoff, sewage, dam fluctuation and fine sediment smother gills and food. When mayflies disappear from a reach that once had them, the change usually predates visible algal blooms or fish kills.

Biomonitoring programmes index mayfly abundance alongside stoneflies and caddisflies as clean-water signals. Restoration that brings mayflies back — reduced pollution, natural flow regimes — is measurable success.

## The angler's hatch
Fly fishers name mayfly species and stages precisely because trout rise to emergences predictably. The dun (subimago) and spinner (imago) stages have different silhouettes on the water. Mass hatches can bring every fish in a pool to the surface simultaneously.

That cultural visibility belies fragility. The same river prized for fishing may lose hatches silently when water quality slips. Mayflies connect sport, ecology and water policy more directly than most insects.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/mayfly): Mayfly — wildlife guide.

## Status and assessment gaps
Most mayfly species are Not Evaluated individually on the IUCN Red List. Extinction risk concentrates on endemic species tied to single streams or lakes — isolated spring runs, mountain torrents — rather than on common river species still abundant where water is clean.

Climate change alters flow timing, which can desynchronise emergence from fish feeding peaks. Dams block drift and alter temperature downstream. The order-level story is water quality and hydrology, not a single species trade.

## WARN work
WARN publishes free education for indicator species whose disappearance signals environmental damage before most people notice. Mayflies are standard river-health witnesses — when they vanish, the problem is already in the water.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/mayfly): Mayfly — wildlife guide.

## What do mayflies eat?
Nymphs feed on algae, detritus and organic material underwater. Many adult mayflies do not eat at all — mouthparts are reduced and the adult stage is devoted to mating.

## Where do mayflies live?
Clean rivers, streams and lakes worldwide. Nymphs live underwater on stones, plants or in sediment; adults swarm over water surfaces during emergence.

## Are mayflies dangerous?
No. They cannot bite or sting people meaningfully. Swarms can be a nuisance when attracted to lights near rivers, but they pose no health risk.

## How long do mayflies live?
Nymphs live months to years underwater. Winged adults of many species survive only hours to about two days — among the shortest adult lives of any insect.

## How big are mayflies?
Most adults are small to medium insects — roughly 5–30 mm body length depending on species, plus long tail filaments and wings held upright like a sail.

## Why do mayflies die so quickly?
Evolution has compressed the adult stage into a mating window. They emerge, reproduce and die; extended adult feeding is unnecessary for many species.

## Are mayflies endangered?
Most species are not individually assessed. Pollution and habitat alteration remove them locally; endemic stream species face higher extinction risk than widespread river mayflies.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/leech): Leech — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
The medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) is a freshwater annelid worm used clinically to restore venous flow after reattachment surgery, listed as Near Threatened in Europe; leeches are segmented worms related to earthworms, not insects.

## Introduction
Leeches are segmented annelid worms, relatives of earthworms, not insects or molluscs. The medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis fed European medicine for centuries and returned to modern surgery when clinicians rediscovered its value for relieving venous congestion after reattachment operations — finger, ear and flap surgeries where blood must drain but veins are damaged.

Leech saliva contains hirudin and other anticoagulants that keep blood flowing during feeding and after detachment. Wild medicinal leeches are Near Threatened in Europe from habitat drainage and historic over-collection; farmed leeches supply most clinical demand today. Not all leeches feed on blood — many are predatory on invertebrates in freshwater.

## Takeaway
Leeches are annelid worms — segmented like earthworms — not insects or flatworms.

## Takeaway
Hirudo medicinalis is used in modern hospitals to relieve venous congestion after finger, ear and flap reattachment surgery.

## Takeaway
Leech saliva contains hirudin, an anticoagulant that keeps blood flowing during and after feeding.

## Takeaway
The medicinal leech is Near Threatened in Europe from wetland drainage and past over-collection.

## Takeaway
Not all leeches are blood-feeders; many freshwater species hunt invertebrate prey.

## Takeaway
Farm-raised leeches supply most clinical use; wild populations remain depleted in parts of the range.

## Why surgeons still order leeches
Reattached tissues need arterial inflow and venous outflow. When veins are crushed and cannot drain, blood pools in the digit or flap and the tissue dies. A leech removes congested blood and injects anticoagulants that prolong local bleeding slightly — paradoxically saving the graft by preventing clot backup.

Treatment uses sterile farmed Hirudo medicinalis under supervision. Several leeches may be applied over days. The practice is not medieval relic; it is standard in reconstructive microsurgery units. Synthetic anticoagulants cannot fully replicate the combination of effects in leech saliva.

## Feeding and anatomy
Blood-feeding leeches detect hosts by movement and chemical cues, attach with suckers at both ends, and slice the skin with three jaw blades. Saliva delivers anaesthetic and anticoagulant compounds. A full meal can last the leech months; medicinal leeches take a single large blood meal then digest slowly.

Predatory leeches swallow whole prey — chironomid larvae, snails — without the blood-feeding specialisation. Identification requires habitat and mouthpart detail; the name 'leech' covers hundreds of species with different diets.

## Wetland loss and Near Threatened status
Hirudo medicinalis lived in grazing marshes, fens and ponds across Europe. Drainage for agriculture, eutrophication and historic collection for medicine reduced wild populations sharply. The IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened.

Conservation combines habitat restoration — seasonal grazing marshes with cattle poaching — with regulated farming for medical supply so wild collection pressure stays low. A species can be clinically indispensable and ecologically depleted at the same time.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/leech): Leech — wildlife guide.

## Separating leeches from myths
Leeches do not invade human bodies routinely; they attach externally and drop off when full. Tropical land leeches in rainforest leaf litter are a different experience for walkers but still external feeders. Leech therapy in unregulated settings risks infection and is not the same as hospital use of farmed Hirudo.

Earthworms are also annelids but lack suckers and blood-feeding jaws. Medicinal leech identification uses banding pattern, size and habitat — specialist knowledge matters because not every pond leech is Hirudo medicinalis.

## WARN work
WARN publishes sourced education for species whose wild populations decline while clinical demand continues. Medicinal leeches illustrate how wetland loss removes organisms that modern medicine still relies on — often from farms descended from wild stock.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/leech): Leech — wildlife guide.

## What do leeches eat?
Medicinal leeches take blood meals from mammals including humans when feeding. Many other leech species are predators eating invertebrates. A full blood meal can sustain a medicinal leech for months.

## Where do leeches live?
Medicinal leeches in freshwater wetlands, grazing marshes, ponds and ditches across Europe. Tropical leeches occur in rainforest streams and leaf litter on other continents.

## Are leeches dangerous?
Medicinal leeches used clinically are controlled for infection risk. Wild leeches can carry bacteria; bites cause bleeding that is usually manageable. Leech therapy outside hospitals carries infection risk.

## How long do leeches live?
Medicinal leeches can live several years in good conditions, feeding periodically. Exact wild lifespan varies; farmed leeches used clinically are discarded after controlled feeding for safety.

## How big are medicinal leeches?
Roughly 6–20 cm extended when mature. They are flattened, segmented, and olive-green to brown with orange banding in Hirudo medicinalis.

## Why are leeches used in hospitals?
To relieve venous congestion after microsurgery when veins are damaged. Leech saliva anticoagulants keep blood flowing through reattached tissue until veins heal.

## Are leeches endangered?
Hirudo medicinalis is Near Threatened in Europe due to wetland loss and historic collection. Farmed populations supply clinical demand; wild recovery depends on marsh habitat restoration.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/assassin-bug): Assassin Bug — wildlife guide.

## One-line answer
Assassin bugs (family Reduviidae) are predatory true bugs that stab prey with a curved rostrum and inject digestive saliva; over 7,000 species exist worldwide, some stacking ant corpses on their backs for camouflage, and most are not individually assessed on the IUCN Red List.

## Introduction
Assassin bugs are predatory true bugs in family Reduviidae — hemipterans with piercing mouthparts used to inject digestive saliva and suck liquefied prey tissue. The name is earned: they hunt insects and other arthropods, often ambushing from vegetation. Some species in genus Acanthaspis stack the empty exoskeletons of ant victims on their backs, wearing a carcass coat that may confuse predators or prey.

Most assassin bugs are harmless if left alone. A few — including triatomines ('kissing bugs') in the Americas — feed on vertebrate blood and can transmit Chagas disease; those species are not the garden predators most people encounter in Britain and Europe. Wheel bugs and masked hunters are familiar temperate examples.

## Takeaway
Assassin bugs (Reduviidae) are predatory true bugs with a curved rostrum used to stab and digest prey.

## Takeaway
Some Acanthaspis species stack empty ant exoskeletons on their backs — possible camouflage against jumping spiders.

## Takeaway
Most garden assassin bugs are beneficial predators of pest insects.

## Takeaway
Triatomine 'kissing bugs' are reduviids that feed on vertebrate blood and transmit Chagas disease in the Americas — a distinct medical subgroup.

## Takeaway
Bites from large temperate species such as wheel bugs are painful but not usually dangerous to healthy adults.

## Takeaway
Most species lack IUCN assessments; family is widespread and ecologically important as invertebrate predators.

## Stab, inject, suck
Reduviids are hemipterans — true bugs with sucking mouthparts. The rostrum folds into a groove on the ventral head and extends forward to pierce prey. Saliva contains enzymes that predigest tissue; the bug then sucks the liquefied meal. Forelegs are often thickened for grasping.

Ambush species wait on flowers or leaves; active hunters track prey through vegetation. Assassin bugs are slow compared with wasps but overpower insects their own size or larger through grip and venomous saliva. Garden species reduce caterpillars, beetles and other plant pests without pesticide.

## The ant corpse backpack
Researchers documented Acanthaspis species pinning ants, feeding, and gluing the drained exoskeletons onto the dorsal surface with sticky secretions. The stack grows with each kill. Experiments suggest jumping spiders — visual hunters — hesitate to attack bugs wearing ant armour, while unadorned assassin bugs are taken more readily.

Whether the stack mimics ants chemically, visually or both remains debated. The behaviour is one of the more macabre examples of invertebrate tool use and remains a standard teaching case in entomology courses.

## Kissing bugs versus garden assassins
Triatominae are blood-feeding reduviids of the Americas that bite sleeping humans near the mouth — hence 'kissing bug'. They transmit Trypanosoma cruzi, causing Chagas disease. That medical story applies to a specific subfamily, not to European garden reduviids.

Conflating all assassin bugs with kissing bugs produces unnecessary fear in regions where triatomines do not occur. Identification matters: triatomines are often flattened, kinked at the rostrum, and associated with rural housing in Latin America.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/assassin-bug): Assassin Bug — wildlife guide.

## Bites, handling and status
Large species such as the North American wheel bug bite defensively if grabbed. Pain can be sharp and persist for days but is not equivalent to venomous spider envenomation for most people. Avoid handling; observe in situ.

Reduviidae as a whole is Not Evaluated at family level. Pesticide use and habitat loss reduce predatory bug communities alongside other invertebrates. Assassin bugs are net beneficial in gardens — indiscriminate spraying removes them with pests.

## WARN work
WARN publishes accurate invertebrate education that separates beneficial garden predators from medically significant subgroups. Assassin bugs reduce pest insects; only a blood-feeding lineage in the Americas carries Chagas risk.

## Donation hook
If this guide helps you understand wildlife and the pressures it faces, a gift to WARN supports habitat protection and free public education in our partner countries.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/wildlife-guides/assassin-bug): Assassin Bug — wildlife guide.

## What do assassin bugs eat?
Other insects and arthropods — caterpillars, beetles, flies, ants and similar prey — stabbed with the rostrum and digested with injected saliva. Blood-feeding triatomines are an exception in the Americas.

## Where do assassin bugs live?
Worldwide in gardens, woodland, scrub and tropical forest. They hunt on vegetation, flowers and ground litter depending on species.

## Are assassin bugs dangerous?
Most garden species bite only if handled and cause local pain. Triatomine kissing bugs in the Americas feed on blood and can transmit Chagas disease — a different subgroup from typical European predators.

## How long do assassin bugs live?
Typically one season to about a year depending on species and climate — egg, nymph stages through several moults, then adult. Exact lifespan varies widely across 7,000+ species.

## How big are assassin bugs?
From a few millimetres to roughly 4 cm in large species such as wheel bugs. Body is usually elongated with long legs; rostrum visible folded under head.

## Why do some assassin bugs carry ant corpses?
Some Acanthaspis species stack drained ant exoskeletons on their backs, possibly camouflaging them against visual predators such as jumping spiders.

## Are assassin bugs endangered?
Most species are not assessed on the IUCN Red List. They remain common in suitable habitat; pesticide use reduces populations locally alongside other predatory insects.