Year in Review Animals

These are our favorite animal stories of 2022

Skydiving salamanders and spiders dodging postcoital death are among the critters that most impressed us

image of male and female orb spiders mating

After mating, a male Philoponella prominens orb weaver spider (reddish brown) will use its front legs to catapult backward and escape becoming lunch for the female (dark brown).

S. Zhang

By Deborah Balthazar

- More than 2 years ago

From spiders that catapult their way to safety to sea sponges that sneeze themselves clean, here are the creature features that most impressed us in 2022.