Demagogue

Biologists have discovered a new species of Fairy Shrimp living in the "oft-dry lake beds" in the desert region of Idaho.

Though they look delicate enough to match their name, they are strong enough to survive, unhatched, for years in the baking heat of summer and the frozen tundra of winter until enough rain falls and the pools return. Once they awaken they live a few frenzied weeks, mating and leaving behind tiny cyst-like offspring, and die.

The idea that there are carnivorous, predatory shrimp living in the bottom of a dry desert lake in Idaho? How beautiful and bizarre.