December 24, 2008
A vampire moth, a gremlin-like primate, and an "alien" squid were among the discoveries that haunted the animal kingdom in the most read stories about creatures covered by National Geographic News in 2008.
 | 10. Wildlife Park Official Arrested in Gorilla Killings In March Congolese authorities arrested a senior park official in connection with the 2007 execution-style killings of several endangered mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. |
SHARE
RELATED
 | 9. Colossal Squid Thawing; Hints at Even Bigger Beasts A 1,091-pound (495-kilogram) colossal squid, caught near Antarctica in 2007 and frozen for later study, began its big thaw in April in a salty bath at a New Zealand museum. |
 | 8. PHOTO IN THE NEWS: "Extinct" Primate Found in Indonesia A summer expedition in Indonesia turned up three pygmy tarsiers, tiny carnivorous primates that had not been seen alive since the 1920s, scientists announced in November. |
 | 7. Colossal Squid Has Glowing "Cloaking Device," Huge Eyes A colossal squid defrosted in May at a New Zealand museum has soccer ball-size eyes—the world's biggest—rimmed with light-emitting organs that may help the species cloak itself from prey. |
 | 6. Largest Squid Ever Caught Is "Giant, Gelatinous Blob" The August dissection of a colossal squid snagged off Antarctica in 2007 revealed that the half-ton female was carrying partially developed eggs and was sluggish and highly vulnerable to predators. |
 | 5. FIRST PHOTO: "Lost" Deer Species Rediscovered in Trap In October conservationists released the first ever photograph of a live Sumatran muntjac, a dog-size deer that had been largely forgotten by science for some 60 years. |
 | 4. Heavy Metal-Eating "Superworms" Unearthed in U.K. Newly evolved "superworms" that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse polluted industrial land, according to an October report. |
 | 3. Lizards Rapidly Evolve After Introduction to Island A paper released in April suggested that Italian wall lizards introduced to a tiny island off the coast of Croatia are evolving in ways that would normally take millions of years to play out. |
 | 2. Vampire Moth Discovered—Evolution at Work A previously unknown population of vampire moths found in Siberia may have evolved from a purely fruit-eating species, researchers reported in October. |
 | 1. Alien-like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Drilling Site At an extremely deep oil-drilling site, a remote control submersible's camera captured an eerie surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and "elbowed" Magnapinna squid, scientists said in November. |
