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We humans have an innate urge to lay our hands on things. And while it's not just reasonable, but advisable with cats and dogs, there are plenty of objects—living and inanimate—that we should approach only with our eyes.
However, as the subreddit r/WhyWouldYouTouchThat shows, not everyone is that careful. Whether they're fearless or just completely clueless, some of us just cannot resist poking, pinching, and prodding everything from venomous critters to radioactive waste.
Mandatory "don't try this at home!"
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Oooh, That’s Going To Sting
This is the Hooded Pitohui. These adorable little orioles are poisonous to touch because of the malarid beetles that they eat, exhibiting feathers which, when touched, can cause burning and irritation. If the toxin is ingested, it causes respiratory paralysis, similarly to cobra venom.
RELATED:
#2
Can You Tell Me What Is This Little Shiny One?
BigOlPenDisorder: Half life of cobalt 60 is ~5 years so it should be practically non-radioactive (manufactured in '63)
But still, why
#3
Does This Count?
Riley Quinn 1 day ago
If you want honey in the future, go to the grocery store, because you're too clueless to know honey is stored in the hive, not in their bvtts.
#4
That's A Yellow Bellied Sea Snake Brother
#5
This Is Some Nonsense
#6
Look At This Beautiful Baby Girl I Found On My Plants Today 🥰
#7
Found On A Beach In Ireland
Frog_enjoyer123: That’s unfortunately a human mandible
Riley Quinn 1 day ago
Given the number of humans who have di3d at sea over the last few thousand years, I'm surprised more body parts aren't washing up. Most decay or eaten, of course, but not all.
#8
Scientific Name Put-Itus Downus
Riley Quinn 1 day ago
Okay, this could easily be my hand. Before I was a house painter coming across wasps' nests and sleeping bats, I had friends in the construction trade who brought me Little Brown bats to care for until I could release them in a specific area. Bats are known to carry rabies, and some species have teeth that can easily puncture flesh, so I wouldn't advise others to do what I've done.
#9
What This?
that is a man o' war! it's kind of like a jellyfish, though it isn't actually one. the "balloon"/sail is safe to touch, but please don't, in the future! if any tentacles are still attached/wrapped around the balloon, they can hurt you VERY badly. the stinging cells remain active after passing and can cause some very severe pain, and worse in some rare circumstances!
Upstaged75 19 hours ago
Millions of people in Australia get stung by Blue Bottles every year. It's not fun at all, but the pain only lasts for about 30 minutes. Unless you have some sort of rare allergy to it you'll be fine. We have similar jellyfish on the East coast of the US and they're super annoying when they get pushed close to the shore. I think they're called Sea Nettles or something else "pointy" like that. 😁
#10
A Pregnant Black Widow. Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope Nope
#11
Hmmm
#12
A Tiny Alligator Snapping Turtle
#13
Absolute Unit Of A Wasp
#14
Swimming With An Absolutely Massive Great White Shark
#15
The Chinese Giant Salamander Is The Largest Amphibian In The World And Can Reach A Length Of Almost 2 Meters (6 Ft) And A Weight Of 60 Kilograms (130 Lb)
#16
Does Anyone Know What These Are? Hundreds Washed Up On The Beach Today Miami Beach, Florida
most-perplex9811: By-the-wind sailors (Velella vellela)/Blue sail Jellyfish
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
This critter has come up in a BP article before and I mentioned this then: these aren't jellyfish XD They are colony animals that are made up of tons of tiny individual hydrozoa. They do possess stinging nematocysts, but their sting is fairly mild and benign to humans since it's designed to k!ll plankton XD So you'd probably only get mild irritation from picking one up. But yeah, that's not an individual jellyfish, it's a colonial animal, in the same Class as the man-of-war, which is also a colonial animal and not a jellyfish!
#18
Tiny Shiny Black Things On Patch Of Driveway, Maybe Some Kind Of Seed?
Upstaged75 18 hours ago
Dude, those are tick eggs! People need to stop touching stuff without knowing what it is.
#19
What On Earth Is This?
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
Female orb-weaver spider, specifically the species Macracantha arcuata! (The males have much smaller "horns".) Completely harmless and (in practicality) non-venomous.
#20
Juvenile Eastern Brown Snake, Second Most Venomous In The World
#21
Cow Killer Ant
#23
A Prickly “Stick” Insect
Sara Frazer 1 day ago
I've held one of these! At the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) years ago
#24
What Is This Fish? Found In Australia Great Barrier Reef
Baby flying fish
Riley Quinn 23 hours ago
Baby flying fish hatch from eggs attached to floating seaweed like Sargassum. The newly hatched fry have long whiskers that give them the appearance of floating plants. Their pectoral fins develop early allowing them to "fly" within a few weeks.
#25
The Humble House Centipede
Riley Quinn 22 hours ago (edited)
Scutigera coleoptrata is venomous, but so mild that it's rarely a problem for humans. Their habitat is usually cool, damp places, so they were right at home in the dirt cellar house located in a marshy wooded area I grew up in. They feed on spiders, bed bugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, ants, and other household arthropods, like lice and ticks. They posed no threat, so we didn't ki.ll them since they're kind of beneficial.
#26
Strange Insect Web
Riley Quinn 1 day ago
This is a web-spinning katydid creating a sticky web with its saliva. There's a YT video titled, The Craziest Insect Pet - Building Web On My Hand, showing the "Ultraman" katydid building a web.
#27
Scientists Have Discovered The Largest Spider Web Covering 106 Square Meters With 111,000 Spiders Belonging To Two Different Species Who Are Rivals, Coexist Together
Mama Oddling 20 hours ago
The fact that they are of two rival species that survive together makes me want to turn this into a love story. How about a few thousand star-crossed lovers? Think Netflix will greenlight it?
#28
Found Out A Day Later This Is A Highly Venomous Cane Toad
Colleen Glim 23 hours ago
What is with people picking up things they don’t recognize? Darwin awards?
#29
Just For Confirmation...is This A Brown Recluse? (Midwest USA)
#30
Is This A Tick Of Some Kind? In Southern Michigan
#31
What Is This? Found In [florida] Ocean. It’s Heavy, Rubbery, A Bit Squishy
2WheelTravlr 22 hours ago
"Atlantic sea pork is a harmless, rubbery marine invertebrate (tunicate) that forms dense, colorful colonies on the seafloor."
#32
Walked Outside And Spotted This Strange Brown Smudge On My Tree
It's maggots...
#33
Book With Growth
#34
Sealed Glass Vial On The Beach
Riley Quinn 1 day ago (edited)
Reddit: The op concluded that it was a delay fuse on some kind of mine/b0mb. They posted a link and it was identical. Filled with some kind of acid that when broken breaks down some zinc component over 4-5days then b0mb goes boom.
#36
Friend Found These On A Beach On The East Side Of Hawaii Island
#37
What Is The Orange Mold In This Bread?
Upstaged75 18 hours ago
Why are you concerned about the orange thing when your bread is gray????
#38
Nope
#39
What Is This? Soft Ball Things Suddenly Fell From The Sky In The Middle Of The Night
these are almost definitely rat poison balls targetted at our dogs. These were thrown directly into our balcony and yard at 3am.
UnclePanda 1 day ago (edited)
If they were hamburgers, my dad would say they were almost done.
#40
Found A Severely Dehydrated Redback At Work
#41
Found This Today At Our Local Thrift Store
#42
Plastic Suction Tube That Was Found Laying On Top Of Gas Station Trash Can
#43
Found This During Low Tide
Sara Frazer 1 day ago
I think pufferfish are cute. We refer to their mouths as "toast slots" (like a toaster lol). If I found one I'd leave it alone, though, unless removing it from danger and returning it to the sea!! Now, put it back
#44
Can You Guess What This Is?
#45
10/10 Would Not Touch Or Bring Home!
Riley Quinn 20 hours ago
Nah, I'm skipping this one. So far I've been really intrigued with all the posts, but this one made me realize it's time to relax with some calm music.
#46
But Why
#47
Saw Someone Posting A Pic Of Moth. Let Me Introduce You To Megaloblatta Longipennis
#48
The Tattoo Is Sick, But Whywouldyoutouchthat
#49
What Kind Of Mosquito Is This?😳😳
#50
Is This A Moldy Tomato?! Why Is It So Big?!
#51
Just Why??
Riley Quinn 23 hours ago
This is an Antarctic scale worm, a marine worm living in depths at 1640.42 ft (500 m) in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. It can grow to 7.874 inches (20 cm) long and 3.937 inches (10 cm) wide. The "head" is s actually a retractable proboscis – a tubular sucking mouthpart – that the scale worm usually turns inside-out and folds up into its body like a Xenomorph.
#52
I Work For The Airlines And Found This In The Cargo Pit In The Plane… It’s Hard As A Rock
Riley Quinn 20 hours ago
A dried sea cucumber, which would be transported as food cargo. Drying them makes them hard and rock-like.
#53
What The Hell Did I Find On The Side Of The Road
#54
Taking A Break From Cleaning The Septic Tank For A Nice Handful Of Bacon
#55
Oh Hell Naw
#57
What’s This Black Stuff Under My Sink
#58
Dense Rubber-Like Slab Washed Up On The Beach - So Of Course We Gotta Touch It
#59
A Pet Leech
AtMostAFabulist 1 day ago
You are bugging nuts, and I am so grossed out i can't look at this anymore. 🤢😳🤮
#60
Opinion On Black Liquid Or Ooze Which Seems To Be Coming From A Tree
#61
What In Gods Green Earth Did I Pull Up
#62
It's Fluffy And Pretty And I Have Too Touch It
#63
What Is This?
It was a pill, [illegal substances]
Riley Quinn 23 hours ago
A dime of slime, a pack of Gak, Shrek snot, and a sample of Nickelodeon slime were all offered as possible answers on Reddit. Or it's just a melted 1 Shot Lemon-Lime Energy Chew.
#64
Don’t Boil Or Season It
Riley Quinn 21 hours ago
This is a Gorgonocephalus caputmedusae, aka Gorgon's head or Medusa's head due to its many twisting arms, and is a species of brittle star. Click pinkcrab18 in the lower left to watch a short video of its movements.
#65
What Is This?
#66
What Is This Sea Creature That My Children Found Washed Up On The Shore? [east Coast Of Canada]
#67
Tonsil Boulder That Fell Out Of My GF’s Mouth This Morning 😭
#68
Found This Unidentified Sea Creature
#69
My Dad Grabbed A Wild Mouse
Riley Quinn 1 day ago
Yeah, I've done this quite a number of times and was never bitten. When you live with cats, you will come across mice in your home. New England has native Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and the White-Footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) that will overwinter in your home, and will bring their own food supply. Deer ticks and Hantavirus are a major concerns. Another problem is they will sometimes chew through cords that can cause a fire.
#70
What Is This Called?
#71
My Roommate's Tetanus Device
Riley Quinn 1 day ago (edited)
It's one thing to accidently step on a rusted nail/scr3w in a discarded board, but this person is going out of their way to get tetanus (lockjaw). If they're an anti-vax kook, this means they don't get a shot every 10yrs as recommended. When was the last time y'all got your shot?
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Norm Gilmore 1 day ago (edited)
I think the Lazy Panda site title would be more apt. Most of these pictures needed the answer to be posted with it. I spent too much time trying to identify from reverse search or hunting through the million Reddit comments to find out what should have been done already...
Allie Cochran 3 hours ago
My last salary was $8750, ecom only worked 12 hours a week. My longtime neighbor yr estimated $15,000 and works about 20 hours for seven days. I can't believe how blunt he was when I looked up his information, This is what I do..... 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐀𝐭𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝟏.𝐂𝐨𝐦
Load More Replies... 
Janissary35680 12 hours ago
The "Which type of strange beach finds" question REALLY needs an "All of the above" option this time!
Beef Brisket 8 hours ago
People know they can take a photo without picking it up, right? Right?
Princess Possum 5 hours ago
FFS people stop picking up things! I could understand - a little bit - in the days before the internet, but we have that now!
Becky Samuel 21 hours ago
Half of these things will genuinely hurt you, and the other half are completely harmless. Scaremongering is unnecessary - people are so depressingly willing to k ill anything that moves.
David Paterson 18 hours ago
More than half of these will genuinely hurt you. The challenge is knowing the difference. For instance, I didn't know that that radioactive cylinder was a practical joke.
Load More Replies...
KatWitch57 3 hours ago
I am getting way too old to keep repeating myself but: "If it ain't yours. Don't touch it."
Norm Gilmore 1 day ago (edited)
I think the Lazy Panda site title would be more apt. Most of these pictures needed the answer to be posted with it. I spent too much time trying to identify from reverse search or hunting through the million Reddit comments to find out what should have been done already...
Allie Cochran 3 hours ago
My last salary was $8750, ecom only worked 12 hours a week. My longtime neighbor yr estimated $15,000 and works about 20 hours for seven days. I can't believe how blunt he was when I looked up his information, This is what I do..... 𝐉𝐨𝐛𝐀𝐭𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝟏.𝐂𝐨𝐦
Load More Replies... Janissary35680 12 hours ago
The "Which type of strange beach finds" question REALLY needs an "All of the above" option this time!
Beef Brisket 8 hours ago
People know they can take a photo without picking it up, right? Right?
Princess Possum 5 hours ago
FFS people stop picking up things! I could understand - a little bit - in the days before the internet, but we have that now!
Becky Samuel 21 hours ago
Half of these things will genuinely hurt you, and the other half are completely harmless. Scaremongering is unnecessary - people are so depressingly willing to k ill anything that moves.
David Paterson 18 hours ago
More than half of these will genuinely hurt you. The challenge is knowing the difference. For instance, I didn't know that that radioactive cylinder was a practical joke.
Load More Replies... KatWitch57 3 hours ago
I am getting way too old to keep repeating myself but: "If it ain't yours. Don't touch it."
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