• Question: What is the most interesting species you have come across?

    Asked by harryisbetterthanyou to Christine, Nicolas on 17 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by elenxx.
    • Photo: Christine Switzer

      Christine Switzer answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I think weeds and fungii are amazing in how they adapt. I have had both show up in the strangest of experiments, unintentionally. In some of the work I do with combustion in soils, the leftover soil should be sterile and uninteresting to them. But somehow, both seem to find their way in.

    • Photo: Nicolas Biber

      Nicolas Biber answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Again, I think it’s really hard to pick one. I think the Platypus is really interesting, because it is so unique, so remotely related to anything else. They also have the strangest way of life, they are mammals yet they lay eggs. Another one is the lancelet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancelet). It has been fooling scientists for quite a while. It looks like a fish, and it is also quite closely related, but it is in fact not, and it’s really hard to tell. How could you tell? 😉
      what’s the most interesting species you have come across?

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