I haven’t, but if people talk about the legend of White Storks bringing newborns to human beings, you can answer that they actually do kill their own chicks sometimes. Not far from the cringiest opposition between facts and legend in my opinion.
Some urchins are pretty much spikeless (e.g. “globe urchin”) and development anomalies certainly do occur (once I was shown a fossil echinoid with a bifurcate i.e. sixth ambulacrum).
But 7-fold? with such a huge gaping a**hole on top? c’m’on.
I’ve seen urchins in aquariums like this many times. That’s all I can tell you.
I’ve had the opposite experience, where I hear so many undergrads trash talk the myriad sins of dolphins (and usually they mean male bottlenose dolphins) that I just roll my eyes and mention some other things about them!
Cougars defininitely can and do purr. They are the largest cat that purrs.
I know from my own experience.
But Cougars are not considered Big Cats, they are the largest of the Small Cats.
Big cat isn’t really a scientifically defined term though so it’s a tricky basis to argue from.
“Big Cats” is the common name for Pantherinae, and “Small Cats” is the common name for Felinae, both of which are taxonomic groups.
Just to quibble but it’s a common name that’s used for Pantherinae but is applied to other large cats in varying contexts. The application isn’t consistent enough to be a scientific definition. https://wildlife.forestry.ubc.ca/blog/when-is-a-big-cat-not-a-big-cat/
Sea Otters. If you know, you know.
Well I don’t. What?
EDIT
so I read the paper that somebody provided. Thanks.
Strikes me there’s a whole lot of coy titillation going on, reflecting the dominant Judaeo-Christian, body-phobic culture that we live in.
Fact is, animals and plants naturally do a whole lot of stuff that would be called out in a court of law if humans did it. (Which in fact they often do.)
And considering that lots of animals mate with non-specific partners, &/or dead ones, &/or forcibly, do we really like nature or should we be on another forum?
There is an analogue in human behaviour. Very frequently cross-specific nurturing behaviour - we keep pets, bond with them, form emotional attachments, call them our ‘fur babies’. Is this not bizzarre?
On Valentine’s Day, it is socially acceptable, nay, encouraged, to shower each other with plant sex organs.
Even more scandalous: plant sex organs decorate the altar at church.
Woven into our hair, flung at wedding guests, sharing our coffins…
…ooh…what would we do without plant sex organs?
In my middle school (which was a charter school full of science nerds) we referred to going outside and “breathing plant sperm”. ;)
We also measured everything in dekameters because we thought it was funny.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has limits for insects (in whole or parts), hair, feces etc, included in various foods that are considered “acceptable.” I do NOT recommend one look those up. Just be aware, they are non-zero numbers.
Whatever pleases, as long as people don’t eat them. Gross.
Flowers are definitely eaten by plenty of people. Edible chrysanthemums are a thing in Japan. Dandelion flowers are put in salads sometimes.
Candied violet flowers are a thing. Plenty of flowers and flower buds can be eaten in salads. Some can be routinely found in grocery stores. Cauliflower, broccoli, artichokes… I just recently ID’d a banana flower someone picked up by accident from the fruit and veggie bins at the grocery store. And speaking of fruits, it gets worse. Did you know they are full of placentas and embryos and such? Eww…
I often say “don’t research your favorite animal”
Also, telling people that deer eat baby birds out of the nests seems to ruin a conversation pretty fast.
That is something I would like to experience.