To confuse and scare predators a Sea Cucumber will vomit it's respiratory system out of it's anus.
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Nerd Animal Thread (Animal Facts you Know and Love)
- Thread starter Chou Toshio
- Start date
Pearl Fish live in cucumber anuses (even though the fish can be longer than the cucumber). There can also be several fish inserted in one cucumber ass
fuck how have i never seen this thread before
this is a tardigrade, the hardiest of all creatures. closely related to arthropods, these guys are super microscopic but can survive in pretty much any conditions. in extreme conditions they turn into a 'tun' which is kinda like tardigrade hibernation but they switch off like all metabolic processes and their water content becomes like 1% or something insane. tardigrades have even been revived from a state of crytobiosis with rehydration after 10 years (theres 1 guy who reckons he rehydrated one after 120 yrs but it only moved its leg or something). for a few minutes they can stand 151 degrees c to -272 degrees c and they can survive for days at like -200 degrees c. they can survive at pressures of 1,200 atm easy and they reckon theres a few species that can survive at pressures in excess of 6,000 atm.
the coolest part about tardigrades is they can kinda survive in space. the TARDIS project (TARDigrades In Space) sent some tardigrades into space and they were fine in a vacuum and some could even withstand the high levels of radiation for a certain amount of time. they had to be semi-protected from the UV as even they just kind of died without a little UV protection. still cool as fuck though
this is a tardigrade, the hardiest of all creatures. closely related to arthropods, these guys are super microscopic but can survive in pretty much any conditions. in extreme conditions they turn into a 'tun' which is kinda like tardigrade hibernation but they switch off like all metabolic processes and their water content becomes like 1% or something insane. tardigrades have even been revived from a state of crytobiosis with rehydration after 10 years (theres 1 guy who reckons he rehydrated one after 120 yrs but it only moved its leg or something). for a few minutes they can stand 151 degrees c to -272 degrees c and they can survive for days at like -200 degrees c. they can survive at pressures of 1,200 atm easy and they reckon theres a few species that can survive at pressures in excess of 6,000 atm.
the coolest part about tardigrades is they can kinda survive in space. the TARDIS project (TARDigrades In Space) sent some tardigrades into space and they were fine in a vacuum and some could even withstand the high levels of radiation for a certain amount of time. they had to be semi-protected from the UV as even they just kind of died without a little UV protection. still cool as fuck though
^someone finally busted out the water bears.
Could have sworn they could live in their tun state for hundreds of years though.
Could have sworn they could live in their tun state for hundreds of years though.
This is my second favourite animal.
Kangaroo rats aren't really a favorite animal of mine, but in my Intro to Zookeeping class at college we talked about them a fair amount when we got to exhibit design. Kangaroo rats are mostly seed-eaters from incredibly arid environments. They store seeds they forage in a cache in or near their burrow, where they spend the majority of the time. What is interesting is that kangaroo rats get the entirety of their water supply from the seeds they eat my metabolically breaking down the carbohydrates and making water. They never need to a drink a drop in their life. In fact, my professor told me that drinking water will actually kill the kangaroo rat because it will cause its kidneys to explode.
elcheeso Hey dude, was watching a documentary on Mediterranean animals-- and they actually started talking about megabats and echolocation. Specifically, they were talking about a species of large fruit bat that's come up from Africa and made its home in Spain/Greece. The big limitation on Africa species immigrating into Europe is the lack of adaptation to cold. For mega bats, the documentary said the lack of echolocation is the inhibitor because you can't seek shelter in caves without it. Echolocation is thus the key factor in enabling microbats to colonize Europe.
Back to the mega bats in Spain, they have developed a crude form of echolocation by used air blasts from their cheek pouches. It ain't the pinpoint accuracy of the microbats' high pitched squeeks, but it's good enough to find a perch in a cave to wait out the winter. Like you said, if echolocation was an original skill that mega bats shed, would make sense that their brains could still decipher the noise bounced back.
Back to the mega bats in Spain, they have developed a crude form of echolocation by used air blasts from their cheek pouches. It ain't the pinpoint accuracy of the microbats' high pitched squeeks, but it's good enough to find a perch in a cave to wait out the winter. Like you said, if echolocation was an original skill that mega bats shed, would make sense that their brains could still decipher the noise bounced back.
mention of waterbears reminds me of Turritopsis dohrnii, the immortal jellyfish, one of the only truly biologically immortal species on the planet. while not as hardy as the aforementioned waterbears, turritopsis dohrnii reverts back to a presexual age post-reproduction and renews its telomeres in the process, effectively deaging itself. this can continue indefinitely, though it isn't likely to because the species is still vulnerable to disease and predation, particularly in the planktonic polyp stage it reverts back to. all offspring produced by an immortal jellyfish is also an identical clone of its parent, so even in death in a sense they live on.
Cresselia~~
Junichi Masuda likes this!!
actually, that is not a real penis„it is more like a bag containing sperm.
also, they don't throw it. They put it safely inside a cavity near the female's face.
Ducks have corkscrew shaped 9 inch long dicks, females have corkscrew vaginas. Ducks are rapists. Spiders have clear blood. Coelacanths are living fossils and are the reason we all hate sea basses in animal crossing. V is an animal so I will say this fact: v keeps on stealing my facts. Anything else? not that I can think of...
dwarfstar
mindless philosopher
As the resident entomology nut, I'll expand on this. Arthropods don't have a closed circulatory system like we do (i.e. one with blood vessels connected to the heart). Their "open" circulatory system has a heart, but what it does is pump around fluid that bathes the organs, circulating nutrients and dissolved gases. This fluid is analogous to a combination of blood and interstitial fluid in humans, so scientists refer to it as hemolymph. The interesting thing about this is that spiders use it for locomotion as well as the usual functions. Unlike an insect, a spider has no muscles in its legs. It uses the muscles in its cephalothorax to increase and decrease the pressure on the hemolymph in its legs, pushing the joints to bend them and allow the leg to move. This is cool enough to begin with, but consider that the salticids can jump several times their own body length without leg muscles, using their "blood".
not necessarily true, coelacanths actually show a wide range of morphological diversity especially in comparison to fossilised species. the fish does show a low rate of molecular diversity but this does not necessarily imply a low mutation rate. loads of people call it a living fossil but its becoming generally accepted in the scientific community. living fossil is a dumb term anyway because all species are undergoing some form of selection and genetic drift and the term doesn't really make sense if we think of evolution as a tree. to add the final nail in the coelacanth coffin there are studies that suggest the lungfish is our closest living fish relative not the coelacanth, sucks to be a coelacanth.
This doesn't really count as an animal but uhhh....
Slime Molds might seem umimpressive, or even a bit gross, but they show some characteristics that are truely interesting, most specifically in the brains department: slime molds can show some forms of "intelligent" behavior without even having a brain at all (no nervous system either)!
For example, a slime mold is capable of solving a maze given the time. When one of these protists is put in a dark maze with a piece of food at the other end, the slime mold first branches out small parts of its body throughout the entire maze, once this is finished, the Slime Mold will then retract every part of its body that didn't come into contact with any food, leaving a sticky residue behind, and exclusively grows on the absolute shortest route between the start and end of the maze.
This and other feats are possible because the brainless slime mold has developed something that can be called a "memory" of sorts. Wherever the mold goes it leaves behind this previously mentioned sticky residue, and whenever it comes in contact with this slime again it realizes that its been through the area in question before and turns back, sort of a cool way of "remembering" where the mold has been and where it hasn't without any kind of nervous system at all.
To get a bit more interesting, Slime Molds can not only "solve" mazes using this method, but they've repeatedly been able to copy our subway/highway routes when tested, sometimes even improving on them. The Slime Mold is placed in a scale model of an area, with major obstacles simulated and pieces of food in areas representing the important areas, and over a period of time it once again thinly spreads over the entire model, however it once again retracts every tendrill that didn't find food and only leaves the most efficient of connections still open, creating models with, as mentioned before, striking similarities to things such as the Tokyo subway system and the highways of Canada, among other things. The mold kinda works like a team of engineers, making sure that every connection is as efficient as possible and completely cutting off anything that isn't until its spread is optimal, pretty impressive for something without a brain! This isn't just a neat lab trick either, it has some definite real world use and the idea of using slime molds on scale models using simulated obstacles to optimize future railways and roadways isn't too farfetched at all.
Outside of this little food trick, Slime Molds are theorized to have some kind of internal clock, possibly kept in track by their repeated pulsating, that allows them to prepare for events that they know of that happen in certain time intervals. As an example, if you place a slime mold in a petri dish and every half hour or so drastically lower the temperature and humidity to undesirable levels, the slime mold will at first react directly to the enviormental change, moving more slowly to conserve energy, however, when this change is reverse and reimplemented 30 minutes later, you'll find that the slime mold is already bracing itself for the cold. In short, it took a past experience as a reference, kept track of the amount of time it took for it to happen, anticipated for the event to happen again, and had already prepared itself for the anticipated event before it started again, once again damn impressive for something w/o a nervous system.
Think about it this way, despite not having any form of brain or nervous system, slime molds don't simply blindly move around from one place to another, it seems that they have their own systems in place that allow them to carefully analyze their surroundings, they consistently pick the most efficient routes to resources, and anticipate and prepare for negative events using their past experiences as a reference, not bad at all.
Slime Molds might seem umimpressive, or even a bit gross, but they show some characteristics that are truely interesting, most specifically in the brains department: slime molds can show some forms of "intelligent" behavior without even having a brain at all (no nervous system either)!
For example, a slime mold is capable of solving a maze given the time. When one of these protists is put in a dark maze with a piece of food at the other end, the slime mold first branches out small parts of its body throughout the entire maze, once this is finished, the Slime Mold will then retract every part of its body that didn't come into contact with any food, leaving a sticky residue behind, and exclusively grows on the absolute shortest route between the start and end of the maze.
This and other feats are possible because the brainless slime mold has developed something that can be called a "memory" of sorts. Wherever the mold goes it leaves behind this previously mentioned sticky residue, and whenever it comes in contact with this slime again it realizes that its been through the area in question before and turns back, sort of a cool way of "remembering" where the mold has been and where it hasn't without any kind of nervous system at all.
To get a bit more interesting, Slime Molds can not only "solve" mazes using this method, but they've repeatedly been able to copy our subway/highway routes when tested, sometimes even improving on them. The Slime Mold is placed in a scale model of an area, with major obstacles simulated and pieces of food in areas representing the important areas, and over a period of time it once again thinly spreads over the entire model, however it once again retracts every tendrill that didn't find food and only leaves the most efficient of connections still open, creating models with, as mentioned before, striking similarities to things such as the Tokyo subway system and the highways of Canada, among other things. The mold kinda works like a team of engineers, making sure that every connection is as efficient as possible and completely cutting off anything that isn't until its spread is optimal, pretty impressive for something without a brain! This isn't just a neat lab trick either, it has some definite real world use and the idea of using slime molds on scale models using simulated obstacles to optimize future railways and roadways isn't too farfetched at all.
Outside of this little food trick, Slime Molds are theorized to have some kind of internal clock, possibly kept in track by their repeated pulsating, that allows them to prepare for events that they know of that happen in certain time intervals. As an example, if you place a slime mold in a petri dish and every half hour or so drastically lower the temperature and humidity to undesirable levels, the slime mold will at first react directly to the enviormental change, moving more slowly to conserve energy, however, when this change is reverse and reimplemented 30 minutes later, you'll find that the slime mold is already bracing itself for the cold. In short, it took a past experience as a reference, kept track of the amount of time it took for it to happen, anticipated for the event to happen again, and had already prepared itself for the anticipated event before it started again, once again damn impressive for something w/o a nervous system.
Think about it this way, despite not having any form of brain or nervous system, slime molds don't simply blindly move around from one place to another, it seems that they have their own systems in place that allow them to carefully analyze their surroundings, they consistently pick the most efficient routes to resources, and anticipate and prepare for negative events using their past experiences as a reference, not bad at all.
That is one badass mold. Also, male koalas have 2 penises while female ones of 2 vaginas...x2 the sex maybe? There are 1,000,000 ants for every person in the world. So with all these people in the world, there are about 7 quadrillion ants, quadrillion is 15 zeroes. Snails can sleep for 3 years at a time lucky mollusks....
dwarfstar
mindless philosopher
Minor nitpick: while the female does in fact have two separate vaginas (and also two separate uteri), the male has one forked penis. This is relatively common in marsupials, if memory serves.
Also, for future reference:
OP said:
All polar bears are left-handed.
So, if I were an animal I'd be a polar bear?
So, if I were an animal I'd be a polar bear?
I posted daily info about a frog species everyday in my blog. Also i talk about other frog related thing. http://goo.my/frogs
(permission from oglemi)
(permission from oglemi)
You are not safe from crocodiles. Ever. If they are hungry enough to eat you, then you're screwed. 1. They are very fast runners despite their short legs 2. They are also fast swimmers(no shit). and 3. They can climb trees.
You're also screwed if a mom has babies.
So, try not to mess around with these guys. 'Kay?
You're also screwed if a mom has babies.
So, try not to mess around with these guys. 'Kay?
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Well it is advantageous from the perspective of reproduction, because the fly with the longest eye stalks is gonna get the most fly-ladies = he'll produce way more offspring than that other fly with smaller eye stalks.Not all things in nature are actually advantageous.
Stalk-eye fly males have stalk eyes that are getting longer, and longer with each generation-- but actually, the males' eyes are ALREADY so long that it interferes with their flying ability (their vision sucks), weighs them down and... well, the long eye stalk is just connected to higher mortality in the flies in general.
Why then are the stalks getting longer?
It's because chicks dig long eye-stalks.
But this "must have a bigger penis" is hardly something reserved to flies (in terms of sexual demorphism). There's a whole species of European deer that went extinct basically because the males had horns that got too big over generations to even lift their head up properly.
Meanwhile, humans are getting taller and taller in recent generations-- and taller still. This despite the fact that height has literally nothing to do with our survival ability/functionality in everyday life, and in fact is related to health problems (once you pass the 7 ft mark). All because chicks dig tall guys.
Just proves how-- in every place, in every time, in every species-- women manage to fuck things up.
You could be the best fly ever; have tons of food all time, the best at avoiding predators, etc., but if you can't find a fly-lady to have your babies well too bad, that's the end of the road for your genes :(
Sexual dimorphism in animals leads to many examples of males having traits that are just really not that great for his own survival, but if it helps him find a mate it kinda-sorta balances out (sexual vs. natural selection). Ex/ Peacocks. Male peacocks aren't really that great at flying because they have those massive, impractical tail feathers.
So my animal fact will be about marine iguanas. Marine iguanas are pretty badass, cause they are one of few marine reptiles, and I think pretty much the only extant marine lizards. They also only live in the Galapagos. The motto of the female marine iguana is "the bigger the better". They love the alpha-male trope. The bigger and burlier a male is, the more ass he'll kick, the more territory he'll secure himself, and ultimately this means he'll get the most honeys. It's not out of the ordinary for a decent chunk of the population on an island to be related to 1 male (someone call Maury!). So it's all good under the sun for the big lizard on the island, until there's a food shortage (they eat algae in the water). The bigger the male, the more food he needs. Smaller males have smaller dietary requirements and don't need to feed as much, and are better at surviving through shortages and the biggest males will likely die off. From island to island, you'll have huge range of male sizes and the size of the biggest male varies considerably. The females are OK with settling with the 'biggest of the small' so to speak (as long as he's bigger than the others around).
I was just pointing out the irony. (Also I'm not sure if we need to say "few marine reptiles"-- I mean, there are marine turtles, marine snakes, even a marine crocodile, and Komodo Dragons can swim miles through the ocean so...)
Anyway, it's not always the biggest, baddest or flashiest male that gets the ladies.
We've already talked about how male cephalopods insert sperm packets into females-- but did you know the females can also spit them out? It's completely up to the female whether or not she'll actually use the contents. For Idiosepius, the world's smallest squid, the smaller the better! Even if inserted with a sperm packet, if a male is not sufficiently small, the female will just spit it out. In experiments using a "fake male" model half the size of a normal male that inserts sperm packets, the females were recorded to almost always keep the goods.
In an even more bizarre development of reproductive strategy, and probably the most stunning example of metrosexual success, some smaller Giant Australian Cuttlefish have put the mimicry mastery of their family to a bizarre new use. Giant Australian Cuttlefish males typically grow huge and powerful, and battle brutally for the right to breed-- but the smaller males have a sneaky strategy of "dressing up" as a chick (based on size, color, behavior) to trick the big males and approach the females-- slipping right through the battle fields of bigger brutes, and slipping the sperm in to go for the goal.
As mentioned, female cuttlefish like other cephalopods choose which sperm packets to use-- and genetic studies of offspring have demonstrated that the females are very receptive to their effeminate, sensitive suitors. Intelligence and a mastery of disguise counts in the life of a cephalopod, and these ladies appreciate the guys with the goods.
To me this seems utterly bizarre to see males of completely different physic and reproductive strategy in the same species but... well, looking at humans, I guess this degree of diversity in reproductive strategy shouldn't seem that impressive.
Anyway, it's not always the biggest, baddest or flashiest male that gets the ladies.
We've already talked about how male cephalopods insert sperm packets into females-- but did you know the females can also spit them out? It's completely up to the female whether or not she'll actually use the contents. For Idiosepius, the world's smallest squid, the smaller the better! Even if inserted with a sperm packet, if a male is not sufficiently small, the female will just spit it out. In experiments using a "fake male" model half the size of a normal male that inserts sperm packets, the females were recorded to almost always keep the goods.
In an even more bizarre development of reproductive strategy, and probably the most stunning example of metrosexual success, some smaller Giant Australian Cuttlefish have put the mimicry mastery of their family to a bizarre new use. Giant Australian Cuttlefish males typically grow huge and powerful, and battle brutally for the right to breed-- but the smaller males have a sneaky strategy of "dressing up" as a chick (based on size, color, behavior) to trick the big males and approach the females-- slipping right through the battle fields of bigger brutes, and slipping the sperm in to go for the goal.
As mentioned, female cuttlefish like other cephalopods choose which sperm packets to use-- and genetic studies of offspring have demonstrated that the females are very receptive to their effeminate, sensitive suitors. Intelligence and a mastery of disguise counts in the life of a cephalopod, and these ladies appreciate the guys with the goods.
To me this seems utterly bizarre to see males of completely different physic and reproductive strategy in the same species but... well, looking at humans, I guess this degree of diversity in reproductive strategy shouldn't seem that impressive.
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Axolotls are neotenic salamanders that are super awesooooome. It basically means that they don't go through metamorphosis in order to reach sexual maturity. ^.^
in other words, these fish are becoming japan.
3 pages and not a single mention of the honey badger. smogon, i'm disappointed. but since i'm lazy i'll just link to a cracked article on bees instead: http://www.cracked.com/article_20084_the-6-most-mind-blowing-superpowers-bees.html
xDDDDDDDD
I got this.
Actually, there's been something I've been wondering about (in regards to honey badgers) for a while now, and while it's not in the traditional format of this thread, I'd like to propose a dialogue on a topic of great importance.
It's an ancient story of Mammal-Eating Venomous Snake v. Snake Eating Mammal except on the most insane scale of all-- this is no riki-tiki v. common cobra, but a battle of behemoths.
In one corner:
The Black Mamba...
Africa's biggest venomous snake at max 14 feet (and 2nd in the world only to the King Cobra), and the fastest snake in the world. It can dash long distance at 12 MPH, and burst spring up to 14MPH. Not only is it fast traveling, but also striking, with one of the fastest strikes in the snake kingdom, and with its muscular high-rising body, it has an almost unique ability to rapid strike, lashing out several times in succession with almost no break in between strikes. This flurry of super fast strikes is accompanies by very special fangs built for the job:
The fangs are short, but very tough-- and with their extremely forward-facing position (farther forward than any non-mamba snake), they have an incredibly easy time nicking fast moving prey or assailants when combined with the snake's unique barrage striking.
And one little nick is all that it takes-- since the black mamba packs one of the most lethal venom amongst land snakes. From wikipedia: The black mamba's venom is dendrotoxin. The toxin disrupts the exogenous process of muscle contraction by means of the sodium potassium pump. In an experiment,the death time of a mouse after subcutaneous injection of some toxins studied is around 7 minutes. However, a black mamba venom can kill a mouse after 4.5 minutes.
There are also of reports of Elephants having been killed by single Black Mamba bites.
Size and strength, Speed in chase, Speed in strike, Rapid strikes, Advanced fangs, an incredibly strong venom, and very high aggression. These factors add up to make the Black Mamba the most dangerous and lethal snake in the world (at least from a human perspective).
In the other corner:
The Honey Badger-- the biggest mustelid (weasel family) in Africa, and the biggest terrestrial mustelid in the world except the Wolverine, and like the Wolverine the Honey Badger is famous for its attitude, strength, ferocity, tenacity-- and preying on basically everything.
Dig Holes
Run down prey
Climb trees
Kill snakes
Climb up trees to run down and kill snakes
Venomous snake bite?
Don't care
(can actually recoup from toxic bites)
Venomous Scorpion?
Don't care
Venomous Spider?
Don't care
Thousands of African Honey Bees (the kind whose genes make European bees into killer bees)?
Don't care
Attacked by a lion?
A LION??
Don't care
The Honey Badger is one of the biggest, baddest bullies of the African Savana, with the Speed, power, weopons, tenacity, and raw ATTITUDE to take on anyone and anything. It is possibly the most bad ass snake-eating mammal in the world.
edit: Keep in mind-- Honey Badgers CAN die to snake bites, and even venom from much less ferocious snakes with lesser venom than the Black Mamba.
So what happens, when the baddest of bad-ass Weasels faces off against the most dangerous and vicious snake in the world?
Not to mention:
Black Mamba Range:
Honey Badger Range:
So, it's obvious they have overlapping ranges.
If there's one thing these two animals have in common: ATTITUDE
The Black Mamba is the world's most aggressive snake, and when provoked, it will attack, and attack, and attack!! There are records of this beast running down and killing full grown men and even tired horses. Meanwhile we have the honey badger, with the raw attitude and aggression to chase off a fucking lion. So what happens when these two bad asses of the African Savana, both famous for their ferocity--
"WILL NOT FLEE!" v. "WILL NOT FLEE!", when these two medium sized monsters vying for title of "biggest attitude in Africa" come face to face???
Taking all bets guys, taking all bets.
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