It was a rough year for Homo sapiens.
It was a rough year for Homo sapiens.
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
It was a rough year for Homo sapiens. But what creature from the animal kingdom most embodies this pandemic year?
We asked journalists from The Times science and climate departments for their take.
Here are their picks →
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
Danish “zombie” minkThey became infected with coronavirus from another species (humans). Many got very sick and suffered and eventually died, others were slaughtered and buried. Then, as will happen in the New Year with 2020, politically and pandemically, the buried mink failed to decompose properly and rose from the dead to the sorrow and horror of us all.
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
BearWhen not hibernating, a bear lumbers around, mostly doing bear things. But in today’s world, it stumbles upon people, filling itself with our garbage. The bear would cause no problems without us, as 2020 would just be another year. But here we are, and in our presence and our stories, a year or a bear becomes something else, and we don’t always like it.
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
PlatypusThe platypus seems like a ridiculous animal, but it can also poison you with a venomous spike on the back of its foot. Researchers recently discovered that platypuses glow under UV light. They don’t know why. These duck-billed mammals’ fluorescence is just another thing to be baffled by, and that’s how I feel about the year as a whole.
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
Sea cucumbersAt first glance, sea cucumbers are about as sluggish and benign as they come. But rub one the wrong way, and it might just unleash a horrifying defense: expelling its internal organs through its cloaca to entangle enemies. The organs eventually grow back where they belong on the inside — but much like this year, they’re the shocking gift that keeps on giving.
Which Animal Best Embodies 2020?
TardigradesThe unlovely but weirdly adorable tardigrade is tiny but mighty, and can survive incredible abuse. Bubbling hot springs? They live there. Antarctic ice? Oh, hi. Some “water bears” have even survived the cold vacuum and radiation of space. The tardigrade: as tough as we all need to be after a year like 2020.
It was truly a unique and wild year.Revisit some of the storiesabout animals and the humans who study them that shocked and delighted Times readers the most.