Spikes, claws and stingers have no single best shape
Cataloging nature’s pokey bits reveals a trade-off between durability and effective piercing
Cactus spines, shark teeth and porcupine quills are among the many and varied puncture tools that living things sport.
From left: Gwenvidig/iStock/Getty Images Plus; Matt Dirksen/Moment/Getty Images Plus; Philip Thurston/E+/Getty Images Plus; Vicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography/Moment/Getty Images Plus
This is a human-written story voiced by AI.