11 Extremely Impressive Bird Nests Share Flipboard Email

Animals don't particularly care if they smell bad—and if that stink happens to keep away hungry predators or curious humans, so much the better. On the following slides, you'll discover the 11 smelliest species in the animal kingdom, ranging from the appropriately named stinkbird to the ocean-dwelling sea hare.

The Stinkbird

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Also known as the hoatzin, the stinkbird has one of the most unusual digestive systems in the avian kingdom: the food this bird eats is digested by bacteria in its fore gut rather than its hind gut, which makes it broadly similar in anatomy to ruminant mammals like cows. The rotting food in its two-chambered crop emits a manure-like odor, which makes the stinkbird a food of last resort among the indigenous human settlers of South America. You might imagine a bird this stinky would subsist on slimy frogs and poisonous snakes, but in fact the hoatzin is a confirmed vegetarian, feeding exclusively on leaves, flowers and fruits.

The Southern Tamandua

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Also known as the lesser anteater--to distinguish it from its better-known cousin, the greater anteater—the southern tamandua is every bit as stinky as a skunk, and (depending on your inclinations) a lot less pleasant to look at, too. Normally, an animal the size of a tamandua would make a quick meal for a hungry jaguar, but when attacked, this South American mammal releases a horrible odor from its anal gland at the base of its tail. As if that weren't repellent enough, the southern tamandua is also equipped with a prehensile tail, and its muscular arms, capped with long claws, can bat a hungry margay clear over to the next tree.

The Bombardier Beetle

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One can imagine a bombardier beetle rubbing its forelimbs together and delivering the villain's monologue in an action movie: "Do you see these two flasks I'm holding? One of them contains a chemical called hydroquinone. The other is filled with hydrogen peroxide, the same stuff you use to dye your pretty blonde hair. If I mix these flasks together, they will quickly attain the boiling point of water and you will dissolve in a pile of sticky, stinky goo." Fortunately, the bombardier beetle's chemical arsenal is only fatal to other insects, not humans. (And curiously, the evolution of this beetle's defense mechanism has been a subject of enduring interest to believers in "intelligent design.")

The Wolverine

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Here's the part they left out of all those Hugh Jackman movies: real-life wolverines are some of the world's smelliest animals, to the extent that they're occasionally called "skunk bears" or "nasty cats." Wolverines are not at all related to wolves, but are technically mustelids, which puts them in the same family as weasels, badgers, ferrets, and other stinky, slinky mammals. Unlike the case with some of the other animals on this list, the wolverine doesn't deploy its acrid scent to defend itself from other mammals; rather, it uses the strong secretions from its anal gland to mark its territory and signal sexual availability during mating season.

The King Ratsnake

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One doesn't normally associate snakes with bad smells--poisonous bites, yes, and chokeholds that slowly squeeze the life out of their victims, but not bad smells. Well, the king ratsnake of Asia is the exception: also known as the "stink snake" or the "stinking goddess," it's equipped with post-anal glands that it quickly empties when threatened, with the expected results. You might think such a feature would evolve in a tiny, otherwise defenseless snake, but in fact, the king ratsnake can attain lengths of up to eight feet—and its favorite prey consists of other snakes, including the almost-as-unpleasant Chinese cobra.

The Hoopoe

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A widespread bird of Africa and Eurasia, the hoopoe isn't stinky 24-7, but only enough to make you never want to see one ever again for the rest of your life. When a female hoopoe is breeding or incubating her eggs, her "preen gland" is chemically modified to produce a liquid that smells like rotting meat, which she promptly spreads all over her feathers. Newly hatched hoopoes of both sexes are also equipped with these modified glands, and to make matters worse, they have a habit of defecating explosively (and stinkily) all over unwanted visitors. It remains an enduring mystery why hoopoes are almost never sold in pet shops!

The Tasmanian Devil

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If you're of a certain age, you may remember the Tasmanian devil as the whirling, slobbering nemesis of Bugs Bunny. In fact, this is a meat-eating marsupial native to the Australian island of Tasmania, and while it doesn't like to spin around, it does like to stink things up: when it's stressed out, a Tasmanian devil releases a smell so strong that a predator will think twice about turning it into a meal. Usually, though, most people never get close enough to a Tasmanian devil to activate its stink instinct; they're usually repelled well in advance by this marsupial's loud, unpleasant screech and its habit of loudly and sloppily eating its freshly killed food.

The Striped Polecat

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Yet another member of the mustelid family (like the skunk and the wolverine, seen elsewhere on this list), the striped polecat is known far and wide for its unpleasant smell. (Here's an interesting historical fact: when the cowboys of the Old West referenced dirty-dealing "polecats," they were actually talking about striped skunks, not this African mammal of which they would have been completely unaware.) The striped polecat uses its odoriferous anal gland to mark its territory, and also directs blinding chemical sprays to predators' eyes after first adopting the classic "threat stance" (back arched, tail straight up in the air, and rear end facing you-know-who).

The Musk Ox

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Being in a herd of rutting musk oxen is kind of like being in the locker room of an NFL team after an overtime game—you will notice a, how shall we put it, piquant odor that (depending on your proclivities) you will find either enticing or nauseating. During mating season, in early summer, the male musk ox secretes a smelly liquid from special glands near its eyes, which it then proceeds to rub into its fur. This unique stink attracts receptive females, who wait patiently nearby while the males battle one another for dominance, lowering their heads and slamming into each other at high speeds. (Not to judge other animals by human standards, but dominant male musk oxen have been known to keep females captive within the herd, and also to kick them, hard, when they're not cooperative.)

These Bird Nests Make Your Vacation House Look Like a Hole in the Ground

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We're all familiar with the nests of blackbirds and sparrows, rough, round, monochrome structures that do an excellent job of protecting these birds' young but don't display much in the way of pizzazz. Fortunately, though, birds have a wide range of nesting styles, utilizing various odd shapes and materials as diverse as shells, spider webs, saliva, and even small bits of plastic. On the followings slides, you'll discover the 11 most impressive bird nests, ranging from the fruit-like structures of the Montezuma oropendola to the colorful patterned displays of the male bowerbird.

The Montezuma Oropendola

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From a distance, the nests of the Montezuma oropendola look like low-hanging fruit—a cruel illusion if you happen to find yourself shipwrecked and starving on a Caribbean island. During breeding season, the coastal trees of the oropendola's habitat are decorated with anywhere from 30 to 40 nests, though some larger specimens can host over a hundred. These nests are built by different females out of sticks and twigs, but there's only one dominant (and much larger) male per tree, who mates in turn with each of the soon-to-be-moms. Females lay two eggs at a time, which hatch after 15 days, and the hatchlings leave the nest about 15 days after that.

The Malleefowl

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Contrary to what most people think, a nest isn't necessarily a structure built in a tree. For example, malleefowls—chicken-sized birds indigenous to Australia—create huge nests on the ground, some of which can measure over 150 feet in circumference and two feet high. The male mallefowl digs an enormous hole and fills it with sticks, leaves and other organic matter; after the female deposits her eggs, the breeding pair adds a thin layer of sand for insulation. As the organic matter below decays, its heat incubates the eggs; the only downside is that baby malleefowls have to dig their way out of these huge mounds after they hatch, an arduous process that can take as long as 15 hours!

The African Jacana

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What would happen if you crossed a bird with a frog? Well, you might wind up with something like the African jacana, which lays its eggs on floating nests only a bit more advanced than lily pads. During breeding season, the male jacana constructs two or three of these nests, and the female lays four eggs on (or near) her favorite; the nest can be pushed to safety during floods, but it can also capsize if the eggs aren't properly weighted. Somewhat unusually, it's up to male jacanas to incubate the eggs, while the moms are free to mate with other males and/or defend the nests from other aggressive females; after the eggs hatch, the males also provide the bulk of parental care (though feeding is the responsibility of the females).

The Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl

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It's hard to imagine a more uncomfortable place to build a nest than inside a saguaro cactus, but the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl somehow manages to pull off this trick. To be fair, this owl doesn't carve out the hole itself—it either avails itself of naturally occurring cavities, or ones that have already been bored out by woodpeckers—and its feathers provide adequate protection against painful needle sticks. Perhaps because of its odd nesting choice, the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl is seriously endangered; no more than a few dozen individuals are spotted each year in Arizona, and saguaro cactuses are themselves under environmental pressure, often succumbing to fires caused by invasive buffel grass.

The Sociable Weaver

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Some birds build single nests; others erect entire apartment complexes. The sociable weaver of southern Africa builds the largest communal nests of any bird species; the biggest structures house over a hundred breeding pairs, and provide refuge (after breeding season) for finches, lovebirds and falcons. The nests of sociable weavers are semi-permanent structures, used by multiple generations over the course of three or four decades, and like termite nests they incorporate advanced ventilation and insulation systems that keep the interior of the nest cool in the blazing African sun. Still, sociable weaver nests are far from predator-proof; as many as three-quarters of this bird's eggs are eaten by snakes or other animals before they have the chance to hatch.

The Edible-Nest Swiftlet

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If you're an adventurous diner, you may be familiar with bird's nest soup, a name that refers not to this meal's appearance but to its actual ingredients, in particular the nest of the edible-nest swiftlet of southeast Asia. This strange bird constructs its nest out of its own hardened saliva, which it deposits in layers on rocks or (in areas where bird's nest soup is especially popular) in specialized bird houses equipped with electronic "tweeters" to attract tenants. Like many other odd foods prized in Asia—such as sea cucumbers and tiger penises—the nest of the edible-nest swiftlet is valued for its supposed aphrodisiac qualities, though it's hard to imagine how a meal of congealed bird saliva could get anyone in the mood.

The Bowerbird

If there was an avian equivalent of HGTV, its star would be the bowerbird, the males of which decorate their elaborate nests with any colorful items near to hand—either naturally occurring (leaves, rocks, shells, feathers, berries) or man-made (coins, nails, rifle shells, small bits of plastic). Male bowerbirds spend a great deal of time getting their nests just so, and females spend a comparable amount of time inspecting and appraising the completed nests, just like those picky couples featured on House Hunters. The males with the most attractive nests get to mate with females; those whose bowers don't come up to snuff presumably tuck their tails between their legs and rent out their subpar properties to beetles or snakes.

The Ovenbird

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Yes, many birds wind up in human ovens, but the ovenbird earns its name because the nests of some species resemble primitive cooking pots, complete with lids. The red ovenbird—also known as the rufous hornero—has the most characteristic nest, a thick, round, sturdy structure assembled by breeding couples out of clay over the course of about six weeks. Unlike most birds, the rufous hornero thrives in urban habitats and adapts quickly to human encroachment—with the result that many red ovenbirds now prefer to use man-made structures to shelter their young, freeing up their durable nests for use by other bird species, such as the saffron finch.

The Penduline Tit

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Penduline tits could teach Burlington a thing or two about textiles. The nests of these birds are so elaborately conceived (one species incorporates a false entrance on the top, the real interior being accessed by a sticky flap hidden underneath) and expertly woven (out of a combination of animal hair, wool, soft plants and even spider webs) that they have been used by humans throughout history as handbags and children's slippers. When they're not actively breeding in their pendulous (i.e., hanging) nests, penduline tits can be often be seen perching on small branches and digging into their favorite meal of wriggling insects.

The Bee-Eater

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Besides their habit of eating bees and other flying insects, bee-eaters are known for their characteristic nests: stark holes dug into the ground, or into the sides of cliffs, where these birds raise their young. Nests are laboriously dug out by breeding pairs, which jab the hard surface with their bills and kick out the loosened sand or dirt with their feet; this process usually involves plenty of false starts, until the bee-eaters have carved out a hole capacious enough to hold a clutch of four or five eggs. Some bee-eater colonies are comprised of thousands of nests, which are often utilized by snakes, bats, and other bird species after the hatchlings have fledged.

The Southern Masked Weaver

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Remember those lanyards you used to make in summer camp? Well, that's the essential gimmick of the southern masked weaver of Africa, which constructs its intricate nests out of wide strips of grass, reeds, and/or palm blades. Male weavers build as many as two dozen nests each breeding season, completing each structure in anywhere from 9 to 14 hours, then proudly display their wares to available females. If a female is sufficiently impressed, the male builds an entrance tunnel to the nest, whereupon his mate adds her characteristic touch by lining the inside with feathers or soft grass. What happens next? You'll have to subscribe to the avian version of late-night HBO to find out.

The Skunk

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The skunk is the most well-known smelly animal in the world--so why is it so far down on this list? Well, unless you've been living in an isolation chamber since birth, you already know that it's never a good idea to go near a skunk, which won't hesitate to spray predatory animals (and inquisitive humans) whenever it's feeling threatened. Contrary to popular belief, you can't really get rid of that deep-drenched skunk smell by bathing in tomato juice; instead, the Humane Society of the United States recommends a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dishwashing soap. (By the way, there are about a dozen skunk species, ranging from the familiar striped skunk to the slightly more exotic Palawan stink badger.)

The Sea Hare

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"Smell" carries a very different connotation under the water than it does on land or in the air. Still, there's no doubt that fish, sharks, and crustaceans react negatively to toxic squirts, and no marine invertebrate squirts more toxically than the sea hare, a species of soft-shelled mollusk. When threatened, the sea hare emits a cloud of crazy purple knockout gas, which quickly overwhelms and then short-circuits a predator's olfactory nerves. As if that weren't enough, this mollusk is also poisonous to eat, and is covered with a clear, unappetizing, mildly irritating slime. (Believe it or not, but the sea hare is a

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11 Extremely Impressive Bird Nests Share Flipboard Email