“What is it?” – This is the question people asked themselves in the following 10 examples when they saw these strange things for the first time and photographed them directly. They then posted the photos online so that other users could answer their question.
Let yourself be surprised what strange and puzzling finds and phenomena one can come across in everyday life and what they are actually about.
The strangest videos. (Scroll down to the article.)
1. “What’s that fluffy, fluffy thing in my basement?”
This is a spider that has been attacked by a fungus. The infected animals move extremely slowly and only react to light or touch. The entire body is covered with the parasitic fuzz – including eyes and mouth.
Fungi are definitely active parasites: there are specimens that attack the brain of insects, e.g. ants, and can then control this animal. It then moves to a place that provides ideal conditions for the mushroom. Once there, the insect remains dead still, so that the fungus can grow in and out of it in peace.
Found this white fuzzy thing in my basement, mother freaked out. Someone please tell me what the heck it is from r / whatisthisthing
2. “This is what my sister found when she gutted a fish. It was in his mouth. “
That’s an underwater parasite called Cymothoa exiguawhich replaces the tongue of fish and is native to the eastern Pacific between the Gulf of California and Ecuador.
It penetrates a fish via its gills or mouth and hooks its claws to the base of the tongue, where it feeds on the blood of the artery there. As the parasite continues to grow, the tongue dies due to anemia.
The parasite then takes the place and function of the tongue. The fish eats food as usual, but the parasite feeds on it.
My sister found this when cleaning out a fish. This was in the mouth and there was a smaller one in the stomach. It kinda freaked us out, does anyone know what it is ?? from r / whatisthisthing
3. “Found this in one of the exam rooms at work. Inside there is a large, round battery. “
This is the handle including the rechargeable battery from an old otoscope. An otoscope is the ENT doctor’s instrument with which he examines the ear canal and the eardrum.
With the battery inside the handle, the light source on the funnel is of course operated, which the doctor inserts into the ear to take a look inside.
Found this in one of the exam rooms at my work. It’s has a big round battery inside. Does a flashlight end screw onto the pronged end? from r / whatisthisthing
4. “Bathroom hooks that can be moved up and down. Why should someone want hooks that point downwards? “
This wardrobe is a so-called anti-ligature product. Anti-ligature products are intended to prevent people at risk from deliberately or accidentally harming themselves or others, and are used in psychiatric hospitals and prison hospitals, for example.
In this case, the hooks give way so that nobody can strangle themselves on them. In general, anti-ligature products, such as coat hooks, lamps or door handles, have rounded corners or slightly yielding elements so that they cannot be used as a strangulation aid or as a weapon against other people.
Bathroom coat hangers that can move up or down. Why would you want them downward? from r / whatisthisthing
5. “That was floating around in the river yesterday.”
This is a colony of bog animals. The individual animals are microscopic, but when they group together on a branch or some seaweed to form such a colony, they can easily be recognized as flat structures.
Within the colony, bog animals take on special tasks for the benefit of the entire organism: Some serve only to hold on to the floating object, others take on the function of sex cells and still others take on defense tasks so that no foreign objects attach themselves to the colony.
Found this kayaking in the Mississippi river yesterday, I think it’s some kind of exact fungus but I’ve never seen this in my life. from r / whatisthisthing
6. “It’s installed in my dorm room.”
The horizontal rail on the ceiling extends through the entire room, the rod with the handle hanging vertically downwards can be moved from left to right within the rail.
This is a mobility aid that physically impaired people use to heave themselves out of bed and hold on to when they want to go to the other side of the room. Apparently an old hospital was converted into a dormitory here.
Found this in my dorm room. The dangling thing slides across the rail that spans the entire room. It can support my weight (average human weight) with minimal creaking. from r / whatisthisthing
7. “My friend found that in her food. Are these seeds? “
These are insect eggs. The mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus and kale served here were accompanied by stink bug eggs.
My girlfriend found these in her dinner? Are they seeds? from r / whatisthisthing
8. “A find from a thrift shop. The pearls are all loose. “
It’s kind of a 3D variant of Four wins, a game for two. It is made entirely of wood; the game pieces with the hole in the middle can be placed on the bars, which are attached to a square plate.
As with the two-dimensional Four wins, the first player to form a row of four stones wins. In addition to four stones next to each other or diagonally on a flat level, rows can also be formed on a higher level, vertically on a stick or diagonally from top to bottom.
What is this? Got it at a thrift store. Beads come loose from r / whatist history
9. “That was in the piece of meat I ate today.”
A friendly greeting from our modern food production department: Such microchips are implanted in cattle, sheep or pigs, for example to monitor the location of the animal or to be able to trace the meat.
However, the chips should no longer be found in the end product. If you find such a thing, you should inform the restaurant or supermarket about it.
I found this thing in my food. It was just stuck to a piece of meat; it wasn’t lodged into it or anything. Anyone know what it is? from r / whatisthisthing
10. “That grows on my porch. What’s this?”
Here someone can look forward to new roommates, because this structure is the caterpillar cocoon of a certain species of butterfly (Malacosoma americanum).
Where on Cocoon is found, there are usually many more to be found.
WITT growing on my back porch? from r / whatisthisthing
Now we know what that is. So we learned something new again! The natural phenomena in particular are terrifying and fascinating at the same time.
But if you’d rather guess the sense of a few unfamiliar household items, here are 10 old-fashioned everyday items and what they do. For example, do you know what a coconut scraper looks like or what a pusher is used for?
Source: boredpanda
Thumbnails: © reddit / unknown © reddit / oJHzgzUHu