We all wish to have superpower of any kind. Although humans can be considered super-intelligent on earth, but most of us would love to have super-strength like Superman, superhealing like deadpool or superspeed like flash.
Did you know that most of the characters in superhero comics took inspiration from the animals that are already roaming the lands, oceans and sky of this planet? Keep reading the list to know about 10 animals with incredible superpowers.
10. Froghopper – (Super-jump)
Adult froghopper jump from plant to plant; some species are capable of jumping up to 70 cm vertically: which is a more impressive performance relative to body weight than another super jumpers “Fleas”, and froghopper are considerably heavier than them.
The froghopper can accelerate at 4,000 m/s square over 2mm as it jumps (experiencing over 400 gs of acceleration). They can jump up to 100 times their own length. That means, if an average man could jump this long he would be able to cover about 177 meters distance in a single jump.
9. Peregrine Falcon – (Superspeed)
Peregrine falcon are some of the most widespread birds in the world. They have a body length of 34-58 cm and wingspan from 74 to 120 cm. Their diet consists of small to medium sized birds. They’re are very well respected falconry birds due to their strong hunting ability and high trainability. The most amazing thing about this breed of birds is its dazzling speed, it has frequently been seen flying at the speed of whopping 320 km/h (200 mph), the highest recorded speed of Peregrine falcon is 389km/h (242 mph).
8. Mimic Octopus – (Shapeshifting)
As the name suggests this breed of octopus can mimic different animal species by changing skin color and adjusting the shape of its body. Although mimicry is quite common survival strategy in nature, there are several flies that have black-yellow stripes as bees, some animal species can change their skin color (chameleon) and sometimes alter their body shapes to make them look something else or bigger than their actual version (pufferfish).
But this animal is something else, it can mimic number of different sea creatures with the tiniest possible detail. It’s not known how many different animal species it can imitate, but it’s reported to mimic up to 15 different species, and all of them are poisonous. That further explain that its mimicking ability is just a way to avoid vicious predators. Some of the animals that it has been seen mimicking are lion fish, sea snake, flatfish, jellyfish, crab and gulper Eal
7. The Electric Eal – (Electric Shocks)
Despite its given name they’re more closely related to knifefish, which is itself related to catfish. Electric eel have three pairs of abdominal organs responsible for producing electricity, and these glands make up 80 percent of its entire body. The result is its ability to generate two types of electric organ discharge: high voltage and low voltage.
When eel finds a prey, its brain sends a signal through nervous system to electrolyte. This opens the ion channels, allowing sodium to flow through, reversing the polarity momentarily. By causing a sudden difference in electric potential, it works in pretty much in similar manner to a battery. It can generate shock up to 860 volts that can last for mere two milliseconds. But you don’t have to be scared of them, to kill something as big as human, it needs to generate electric shock of much higher voltage that should last for at least 30 milliseconds.
6. Dung Beetle – (Super-Strength)
Dung Beatles are quite interesting animals, they navigate by polarization pattern of moonlight, currently they are only known animals (except humans) that can navigate themselves using cluster of bright stars or Milky Way. In other words, they navigate themselves with help of galaxy.
But they landed on this list for their ability to pull the weight 1,141 times heavier than their own body weight, that makes them strongest animal on the planet earth. For instance, if an average man wants to challenge them in weight pulling competition, he would be required to pull 45 large trucks that weighs around 2.4 tons each (isn’t that astonishingly impressive?).
5. Tardigrade – (Indestructibility)
The thing that makes these micro-animals so incredible is that they are virtually indestructible. The can survive everywhere and anywhere, from mountain peaks to deepest oceans, from the driest deserts to the coldest Antarctic. They perhaps are the most durable animals known to mankind.
They can survive extreme conditions that would be fetal to nearly all life forms on earth. They can withstand temperature ranging from -272 to 150 degree Celsius. They can tolerate pressure 6 times greater than that found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation 100 times greater than lethal dose for humans, and even the vacuum of outer space.
As if that wasn’t enough, they can live without food for more than 30 years, and dry themselves to level when 3 percent water left, only to rehydrate, forage and reproduce. They are just invincible.
4. The Platypus – (Electro-location)
The platypus baffled the 18th century Europeans when they first discovered this creature. We mean, how would you react seeing an egg-laying venomous mammal that lives in water and has duckbill, beaver-tail and otter-foot. For a very long time the existence of this animal was declared to be an hoax due to its weird appearance.
But they possess even more unusual features than previously thought, and one of them is their ability to sense electric field generated by muscular contraction. They’re the only known mammals who find their prey using electrolocation. Their sixth sense is so powerful and reliable that they close their eyes, nose and ears every time they dive, and go on hunt.
3. Mantis Shrimp – (Supervision)
Although mantis shrimp have many kind of abilities that are considered beyond anything on the earth. But the most impressive organs that these animals possess are their eyes. They are believed to have one of the most elaborate visual system ever discovered.
Their eyes carry 16 different types of color receptive cones, if you compare that to humans, we only have three. They not only can detect ultraviolet light but can also differentiate between multiple frequency bands. The vision of mantis shrimp can perceive both polarized light and multi-spectral images. Their eyes capable of moving independently, and are considered to be the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom.
2. The Axolotl – (Superhealing)
There are several known animals that can heal fetal wounds and sometimes regenerate their damaged body parts, (lizards regrow tails, sharks continuously regrow lost teeth and spiders can restore lost legs).
But Axolotl is above all else, it’s capable of regenerating entire lost appendages and vital structures in a period of months. They can regrow lost limbs, tail and several internal organs. They have been found restoring damaged parts of their brains. More amazingly, they can also transplant their body parts from other Axolotl. They not only transplant their limbs from other individuals, but also alien organs like eyes to full functionality.
1. Jellyfish – (Immortality)
Jellyfish is roaming oceans for possibly more than 700 million years, making them oldest living multi-organ animals. They are mostly transparent to human eyes, and their body contains 95 to 98 percent water.
But the most extraordinary quality in these marvelous deep oceanic animals is immorality. There are 3 known species of jellyfish that can perhaps live forever. Jellyfish have discovered a way to reverse their aging process by making some modifications in the DNA.
While it’s not understood how they do it, but some researchers believe that they may hold a key to immortality for human beings, as genetically they aren’t much different from us. But obviously it’s too early to hold breath, we still have a very long way to go.
