I used to often go through lists, google searches, and so on looking for funny/weird animal names. I have made quite a few lists already, and I thought I would make a post here to see if some of you know some good ones. plants and fungi also welcome :) Here are some of my favorites that I can fin…

It is the 94th element on the periodic table, and is very radioactive. Is the centipede radioactive?

Probably no more than a kiwifruit, not that I’ve ever Geiger counted kiwifruits. Lanthanidia deliciosa: What the kiwifruit would be if it weren’t so radioactive.

You just inspired me to look up a whole range of facts about kiwis.

[image] phma: Plutoniumidae So I was inspired to look up the origins of the genus name and it was first erected in Cavanna 1881. Plutonium the element wasn’t named until 1941 so the centipede was named after Pluto, Roman god of the underworld, not the radioactive element. This makes sense as …

Anyone heard of the cyanide millipedes?(and they had to add an cyanide into an insects name?)

We’ve generated this long-running thread, and somehow nobody’s yet mentioned the Vampire Squid from Hell ?

yeah but eh still phylum arthropoada so im gonna call anything there insects even tho its not right

The poetry moth is a noctuid. Doesn’t look at all like poetry. Without looking it up, can you guess what a white baby ear is?

Funny, long, or just plain weird animal names

Nature Talk

oksanaetal November 23, 2025, 1:57pm 861

Millipedes aren’t insects (sorry I had to be pedantic).

Also, could it be that they do contain cyanide? Because I know a lot of millipedes are in fact poisonous.

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Funny, long, or just plain weird animal names

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