Perhaps you can understand why this tiny sea slug is sometimes called the ‘sea sheep’ or ‘leaf sheep’? It grazes on algae just as a sheep grazes on grass, and it bears more than a little resemblance to an actual sheep. Sea sheep don’t digest the chloroplasts in the algae they eat—instead, they absorb the energy-producing cells. As a result, the leaf-like fins all over the sea sheep’s back are loaded with working chloroplasts, making the sea sheep one of the only non-plant life forms on Earth with the ability to photosynthesize—that is, produce its own energy using sunlight and water. Who knew an evolutionary advancement could be so cute?
Adorably evolutionary sea sheep
Today in History
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Make way for robots
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Happy Bee Day to you
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Does this shark have an Irish accent?
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Invisible no longer
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International Rock Day
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Making it work—in Norway
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A rest stop for the birds
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Feelin groovy on Record Store Day
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A river runs through it
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Staring down winter
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Mercury in retrograde
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Crown Fountain by Jume Plensa at Millennium Park in Chicago
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The owl that loved football
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Okavango Delta, Botswana
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Cetacean Saturday
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Fish River Canyon, Namibia
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San Francisco’s City Hall illuminated by the iconic colors of Pride
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Watch your step
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Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
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A different kind of dive
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National Lighthouse Day
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The last thing seen by Wile E. Coyote
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Light show in the forest
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Happy birthday to the Peak!
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Wild garlic in bloom at Hainich National Park, Germany
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Winter Olympics in Beijing
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Shark Awareness Day
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Hawai i Volcanoes National Park at 106
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Mexican giant cardon cactus
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Azaleas blooming on Hwangmaesan Mountain, South Korea