While some fungi rely on insects to disperse their spores and others rely on rain and wind, a few take matters into their own hands. Species of Pilobolus, known as hat thrower fungi, grow on horse, cow, and sheep dung. Once the spores have matured inside the black sporangium, osmotically active compounds cause an eruption, a shotgun-like blast that sends the spores up to six feet into the air. (See a timelapse video of Pilobolus developing here.)

"It's a remarkably sophisticated feat for a small, microscopic fungi," Stephenson says, adding: "I teach plant biology and ecology, and in those courses, we go out and get some dung and put it in culture dish and leave it out in a lab. Early the next morning, each individual fungus fires off its sporangium."