My Science School

Sloths are the slowest animals in the world. They also happen to be the cutest animals. Sloths are so slow that their name itself means sluggishness or laziness. The top speed of a sloth is 0.003 miles per hour. Also, they are so slow in movement that algae grow on them.

Native to Central America, the three-toed sloth (Bradypodidae bradypus) is the slowest mammal in the world, moving at the hair raising speed of up to 2.4 meters per minute on the ground. When they’re up in their favored canopy these rainforest animals are able to pick up their speed to around a 4.6 meters per minute.

In fact, their top speed is so slow that it’s algae growing on their coats that gives them a greenish tinge. They also have the accolade that their name is a synonym of slow movement!.

Sloths have an incredibly low metabolic rate and need only a few leaves and twigs for nutrition, along with a very slow digestive system leading to their sluggish pace. In combination, the sloth’s anatomical structure differs from other mammals in having very long arms with very short shoulder-blades, which allows them a large reach without the effort of too much movement, and adds to their languid style of movement.

Credit : Safaris 

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If you want to dream up an alien species for the next big sci-fi blockbuster, start with slug anatomy. First, check out the tentacles. Slugs have four, and they’re retractable. Two are for seeing and smelling, and they can be operated independently: a slug can gaze at you (or smell you) and a friend simultaneously. The other two are for touching and tasting.

Slugs also have thousands and thousands of teeth. These tiny chompers are part of a rasping structure called a radula that’s unique to mollusks. And in case that doesn't seem weird enough, slugs essentially breathe through a blowhole that opens up on one side of their bodies. This round pore is called a pneumostome.

But that’s just the anatomy of land-living slugs. Sea slugs have their own incredible features. For example, some breathe using delicate feather-like gills that surround their butt holes, and they smell with neon-colored, bizarrely shaped protrusions called rhinophores.

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Animals have some amazing adaptations that help them live in even the most hostile environments. Consider camels, for instance. They can thrive in some of the hottest and driest places on Earth. Their legs don’t get burned when they kneel on hot sand due to thick leathery patches on their knees. They can survive for an entire week without water but, at the same time, they can drink 32 gallons of water at once. Their body temperature ranges from 93 °F to 107 °F, so they don’t need to sweat very often and can conserve water this way. The spongy bones in their noses absorb any excess moisture to keep every drop of water in, so the air they breathe out is dry air. In addition to camels, other animals’ adaptations are equally remarkable. 

The most important adaptation is how animals regulate their body temperature. Animals can be either warm-blooded or cold-blooded.

Warm-blooded animals, which are mostly birds and mammals, need to maintain a relatively constant body temperature or they would suffer dire consequences. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is—they must maintain the same internal temperature. For us, the commonly accepted average body temperature is 98.6 °F (even though it may vary among individuals). Most other mammals range from 97 °F to 103 °F; birds have an average body temperature of 105 °F.

Cold-blooded animals do not maintain a constant body temperature. They get their heat from the outside environment, so their body temperature fluctuates, based on external temperatures. If it is 50 °F outside, their body temperature will eventually drop to 50 °F, as well. If it rises to 100 °F, their body temperature will reach 100 °F. Most of the rest of the animal kingdom—except birds and mammals—are cold-blooded.

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Dogs are widely considered to be man's best friend having been the first species to be domesticated by man. Although around the world many families keep dogs as pets, the majority of the world's dogs are free-range. In 2012, the total population of dogs in the world was estimated to be about 525 million; today that number is estimated to be at 900 million. Establishing the precise number of dogs in the world is challenging attributable to the free-ranging dogs roaming the streets and neighborhoods around the globe.

Free-range dogs are those that are not contained. They can be stray dogs, federal dogs, wild dogs, street dogs and village dogs. Stray dogs are differentiated from feral dogs in that they were socialized before becoming free-ranging, whereas feral dogs are raised without human socialization. The WHO estimates the total number of stray dogs to be about 200 million, and the total population of free-range dogs to make up about 75-85% of the global dog population.

Patterns of dog ownership vary across many countries in the world. It is easier to find out the number of pet dogs compared to finding out the total population of dogs. This fact is because many governments in the world have enacted pet registration rules.

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Homeowners across the United States are familiar with pest flies. Two species seem to spend the most time buzzing around people and their homes: the house fly and the fruit fly. While the life expectancy of a fly is short, their ability to reproduce quickly makes them difficult to control.

The life expectancy of a fly has some bearing on how much damage the pest can do. Their rate of reproduction also marks the severity of an infestation.

An average house fly lives about a month. In that time, females can lay five to six batches of eggs. Although they’re more active in the summer, house flies reproduce year-round.

The lifespan of a fly can also depend on the species. For example, fruit flies live a little longer than house flies. These insects die after about 40 to 50 days. Like house flies, they can yield several generations during this time. Just one female fruit fly can produce up to 500 offspring.

In addition to overwhelming homeowners with numbers, house flies spread disease and fruit flies spoil food. Instead of wondering how long flies live and hoping the problem goes away, residents can act to prevent and limit issues. Repairing window screens so flies don’t get inside, cleaning trash and garbage containers and regularly cleaning sink drains helps with exclusion.

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Cats sleep on average 15 hours a day, with some sleepy kitties getting in up to 20 hours of shut-eye each day.

There are a few factors influencing how long a cat sleeps, age being one of the most important ones. Kittens will sleep most of the day, but as soon as they turn into “teenagers” you’ll notice a change in their sleeping patterns as they become more and more active. Senior cats tend to slow down their activity levels and turn in earlier, snooze more often and for longer periods of time than an adult cat.

You will also notice your cat dozing off longer than usual when the weather doesn’t allow for proper outdoor exploration. When it’s cold or raining, your cat will likely try to add even more hours to their already impressive sleeping record.

Cats sleep long hours in order to recharge for their next hunting spree. Although your domesticated cat’s existence couldn’t be more different to the wild felines’ such as lions, the genetic programming is pretty much the same. Just like its big cat cousins, your fluffball instinctively conserves energy in case they have to chase down their next meal, which they do despite all the nice dinners they get at home, served in a timely fashion every day. Never mind the premium cat food the loving owner puts in front of them day in and day out, their innate instincts can easily take over despite the countless comforts of home life. 

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When Jonathan the tortoise decides to stretch his neck and limbs out of his shell and enjoy a little sunbathing on the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, it's a sight so peculiar that alarmed passersby will report that the poor creature has died.

That may sound like a rash conclusion, but people have reason to be concerned. At 187 years old, Jonathan is believed to have far exceeded the typical 150-year lifespan of his species to become the world's oldest living land animal.

The title has been recognized by Guinness World Records, which recently profiled Jonathan. With an estimated birth year of 1832, the affable reptile has lived through the terms of 39 U.S. presidents, two world wars, and the invention of the light bulb. He came to Saint Helena around 1882, with his age at the time figured to be around 50 years old. He was intended to be a gift to the governor of the Overseas British Territory at the time, William Grey-Wilson, and has lived on the grounds of the governor's mansion ever since.

Advancing age is not without its consequences. Jonathan is nearly blind from cataracts and appears to have lost his sense of smell. He's cared for by veterinarians who arrange for a nutritious fruit and vegetable diet.

Believed to be a rare Seychelles giant tortoise, Jonathan shares the property with three other shelled friends: David, Emma, and Fred. If he hangs on for a bit longer, he'll likely set the all-time Guinness World Record for a chelonian lifespan currently held by Tu'i Malila, a tortoise who passed at age 188 in 1965.

From all indications, it appears Jonathan has not lost his taste for life's pleasures. According to island residents, he's fond of copulating with Emma and has even been known to enjoy dalliances with Fred. This poses a unique duty for Governor Lisa Phillips, who sometimes has to head outside and put the tortoises back on their feet if they fall off during their sensual encounters.

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Octopuses have three hearts, which is partly a consequence of having blue blood. Their two peripheral hearts pump blood through the gills, where it picks up oxygen. A central heart then circulates the oxygenated blood to the rest of the body to provide energy for organs and muscles. 

Octopuses are cephalopods, which literally means “head foot”, describing their truncated anatomy. Like the three other members of the group – squids, cuttlefish and nautiluses – they have blue blood, because it uses a copper-rich protein to transport oxygen. This helps explain why they need three hearts. 

Our red blood gets its colour from an iron-based protein called haemoglobin, which is carried in red blood cells. Cephalopods use a copper-based protein called haemocyanin, which is much larger and circulates in the blood plasma. Haemocyanin is less efficient at binding with oxygen than is haemoglobin. However, octopuses compensate for this by having three hearts – two “branchial” hearts, which receive deoxygenated blood from around  the body and pump it through the gills, and one “systemic” heart, which takes that oxygen-rich blood, increases its pressure and then circulates it around the rest of the body. 

One clue that the three-heart system is needed to help power an octopus’s active lifestyle comes from the other cephalopods. The only member of the group not to share this anatomical anomaly is the nautilus, which is more sedentary and energy-efficient than the others. What’s more, octopuses may be particularly reliant on good circulation of oxygenated blood to power their extensive nervous system. Octopuses have nine brains: a central brain between their eyes and a mini one in each arm. This brain tissue is notoriously fuel intensive. 

Of course, octopuses also need oxygen to power their muscles. Their preferred mode of locomotion is to crawl along the seabed. They can also swim at high speeds, propelled by jets of water, which they shoot out of a tube called a siphon. However, when they are swimming, the systemic heart does not beat, so they tire easily.

There are some 300 species of octopus, ranging in size from the giant Pacific octopus, which can weigh 50 kilograms, to the tiny Octopus wolfi, at less than a gram. 

Almost all octopuses are solitary. They live in a wide range of habitats from intertidal zones to deep water, and this is where having blue blood may be advantageous. Haemocyanin seems to help octopuses transport oxygen efficiently in environments that vary widely in temperature and oxygen levels. It is particularly efficient in the cold ocean, which is a boon for species like the Antarctic octopus. However, haemocyanin loses its ability to bind to oxygen as acidity increases. That doesn’t bode well for octopuses as climate change makes oceans warmer and more acidic.

Credit : New Scientist 

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Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born. The word is derived from the Latin root alere meaning "to nurse, to rear, or to nourish", and refers to the need for young to be fed and taken care of for a long duration.

In bird and mammal biology, altricial species are those whose newly-hatched or -born young are relatively immobile, lack hair or down, and must be cared for by adults; closed eyes are common, though not ubiquitous. Altricial young are born helpless and require care for a comparatively long time. Among birds, these include, for example, herons, hawks, woodpeckers, owls and most passerines. Marsupials and most rodents are altricial. Cats, dogs, and humans are some of the most well-known altricial organisms.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are precocial animals in which the young have open eyes, have hair or down, have large brains, and are immediately mobile and somewhat able to flee from, or defend themselves against, predators. For example, with ground-nesting birds such as ducks or turkeys, the young are ready to leave the nest in one or two days. Among mammals most ungulates are precocial, being able to walk almost immediately after birth.

Different animals employ different precocial and altricial strategies; there is no clear distinction between the two states, and a wide range of intermediate states. The ability of the parents to obtain nutrition and contribute to the pre-natal and post-natal development of their young appears to be associated.

Precocial birds are able to provide protein-rich eggs and thus their young hatch in the fledgling stage – able to protect themselves from predators (ducks or turkeys) and the females have less involvement post-natal. Altricial birds are less able to contribute nutrients in the pre-natal stage; their eggs are smaller and their young still in need of much attention and protection from predators. This may be related to r/K selection; however, this association fails with a number of cases.

In the case of mammals it has been suggested that large adult body sizes favor production of large, precocious young, which develop with a long gestation period. Large young may be associated with long lifespan, extended reproductive period, and reduced litter size. It has been suggested that altricial strategies in mammals may be favoured if there is a selective advantage to mothers that are capable of resorbing embryos in early stages of development.

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Animal hoarding is a mental illness recognized as a psychological condition. It is considered a variant of obsessive-compulsive disorder rather than deliberate cruelty towards animals. Animal hoarding involves keeping higher than usual numbers of animals as pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them, while at the same time denying this inability. Hoarders are deeply attached to their pets, and find it extremely difficult to let the pets go. They typically cannot comprehend that they are harming their pets by failing to provide them with proper care. Hoarders tend to believe that they provide the right amount of care for their pets. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals provides a "Hoarding Prevention Team", which works with hoarders to help them attain a manageable and healthy number of pets.

Animal hoarding is also a serious animal welfare issue, cats - in communities throughout the United States. Hoarders keep abnormally large numbers of animals for which they may not provide even the most basic care. The sometimes hundreds of dogs or cats kept by a single hoarder generally show signs of neglect such as severe malnutrition, untreated medical conditions including open sores, cancers, and advanced dental and eye diseases, and severe psychological distress. In 80 percent of the cases studied, authorities found either dead or severely ill animals in hoarders' homes. Animal hoarding is also a public health threat, as hoarding creates highly unsanitary conditions on the properties of hoarders.

Many states have no legal definition for animal hoarding (though localities may have a limit of the number and types of pets), and many people are unaware of the severity of neglect in typical hoarding situations. Animals rescued from hoarders must often be cared for at the rescuer's expense, and the high cost of doing this can also act as a disincentive for prosecuting hoarding cases. These factors can make it a lengthy and challenging legal process to secure a verdict against an animal hoarder charged with animal cruelty.

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Mimicry, in biology, phenomenon characterized by the superficial resemblance of two or more organisms that are not closely related taxonomically. This resemblance confers an advantage—such as protection from predation—upon one or both organisms by which the organisms deceive the animate agent of natural selection. The agent of selection (which may be, for example, a predator, a symbiont, or the host of a parasite, depending on the type of mimicry encountered) interacts directly with the similar organisms and is deceived by their similarity. This type of natural selection distinguishes mimicry from other types of convergent resemblance that result from the action of other forces of natural selection (e.g., temperature, food habits) on unrelated organisms.

In the most-studied mimetic relationships, the advantage is one-sided, one species (the mimic) gaining advantage from a resemblance to the other (the model). Since the discovery of mimicry in butterflies in the mid-19th century, a great many plants and animals have been found to be mimetic. In many cases the organisms involved belong to the same class, order, or even family, but numerous instances are known of plants mimicking animals and vice versa. Although the best-known examples of mimicry involve similarity of appearance, investigations have disclosed fascinating cases in which the resemblance involves sound, smell, behaviour, and even biochemistry.

Credit : Britannica 

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The Navy's Marine Mammal Program began in 1960 with two goals. First, the Navy wanted to study the underwater sonar capabilities of dolphins and beluga whales to learn how to design more efficient methods of detecting objects underwater, and to improve the speed of their boats and submarines by researching how dolphins are able to swim so fast and dive so deep. In addition to this research component, the Navy also trained dolphins, beluga whales, sea lions and other marine mammals to perform various underwater tasks, including delivering equipment to divers underwater, locating and retrieving lost objects, guarding boats and submarines, and doing underwater surveillance using a camera held in their mouths. Dolphins were used for some of these tasks in the Vietnam War and in the Persian Gulf. The Marine Mammal Program was originally classified, and was at its peak during the Cold War. The Soviet Union's military was conducting similar research and training programs in the race to dominate the underwater front. At one point during the 1980's, the U.S. program had over 100 dolphins, as well as numerous sea lions and beluga whales, and an operating budget of $8 million dollars. By the 1990's, however, the Cold War was over, and the Navy's Marine Mammal project was downsized. In 1992, the program became declassified. Many of the dolphins were retired, and controversy arose over whether or not it would be feasible to return unnecessary dolphins to the wild.

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The gizzard, which is part of the Turkey’s stomach, contains tiny stones swallowed by the bird. Also known as gastroliths, these stones help them grind food since they do not have teeth.

The first stomach is called the glandular stomach, where food is softened and broken down by gastric juices. The food then enters the turkey’s second stomach, the gizzard, where it is ground against the gastroliths.

Turkeys (and chickens) swallow pebbles or small rocks to aid in digestion. The rocks are stored in an organ called the gizzard where mechanical breakdown of food occurs since turkeys do not have teeth.

Turkeys might not have teeth, but they do have two stomachs! The glandular stomach is where food is softened and broken down by gastric juices. The food then enters the second stomach, the gizzard, which is muscular and further dissolves the food by grinding it against the stones.

Turkeys have excellent vision and are able to see in full color.

Because their eyes are on the sides of their heads, they have periscopic vision, allowing them to see objects that are not in their direct line of sight. A turkey’s field of vision is 270 degrees, compared to only 180 degrees in humans!

Although they don’t have external ears (they have ear openings, covered by a small flap of fuzz), they have great hearing, love listening to music, and will cluck along with the songs.

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About 50 years ago, the Arabian oryx went extinct in the wild. Today, their numbers in the wild stand at more than 1,000, making it one of the most impressive wildlife conservation stories in the world.

The Arabian onyx was once widespread in the Arabian Peninsula. Growing about a metre tall and weighing nearly 70 kg, these antelopes have adapted to the harsh conditions of the desert. The animal has two predators-wolves and humans, and the latter was responsible for its large-scale destruction. With increased access to motor vehicles and modem rifles, the rate of onyx killing increased too, in an unsustainable fashion. When the last animal was shot in 1972, the antelope went extinct in the wild. Soon, “Operation Onyx which included the World Wildlife Fund and Phoenix Zoo in the US, was set up to establish a herd in captivity to prepare to reintroduce them into the wild"

As many as 10 animals were released into the wild in 1982 in Oman. Over the next few years, many more were released in different places, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE, Jordan, and Bahrain. The numbers reached a reassuring level in 2011 that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassified the antelope as vulnerable from "endangered." It was also the first time a species that had once been extinct in the wild improved so much in status three categories (critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable) on its Red List of Threatened Species!

According to a 2019 report, at least 1,220 animals live in the wild now. This is in addition to over 6,000 living in semi-captivity in fenced areas as protection from poaching. This captivity appears necessary because several animals lost their lives to poaching in Oman after they were released into the wild. While their growing numbers is perhaps a story of hope it is also a lesson on how much effort species conservation requires.

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The scientific name for bats is Chiroptera, which is Greek for “hand wing.” That’s because bats have four long fingers and a thumb, each connected to the next by a thin layer of skin. They are the only mammals in the world that can fly, and they are remarkably good at it. Their flexible skin membrane and movable joints allow them to change direction quickly and catch mosquitoes in midair.

Bats can be found nearly everywhere, except in polar regions, extreme deserts, and a few isolated islands. They spend their daylight hours hiding in roosts around the tropics, dense forests, and wetlands. Roosts are where bats go to rest, usually in cracks and crevices that keep them hidden and protected. The most common roosts are existing structures such as caves, tree hollows, and old buildings.

Seasons often dictate where any bats choose their homes. depending on the time of year because they hibernate during the winter. For example, in the winter, some may hibernate in caves, and in the summer, they’ll return to an attic. Because good roosts can be hard to find, many live in giant colonies with millions of other bats.

No matter where they spend their seasons, all bats roost upside down. They can hang from their hind feet and legs while resting. Scientists still aren’t sure why bats do this, but here’s one theory: Bats have to fall into flight, which makes hanging upside down the best way to escape quickly.

Credit : National Geographic 

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