I’ve been listening to the “What the Duck” podcast episode about mosquitos. I just learned that it is the females that bite you, not the males. Before I hit the website and change every observation showing a biting mosquito on skin to have a female annotation, I have to ask if there are any exceptions.
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I wonder how the roo sperm knows how to turn right or left and not go straight ahead.
Here are a couple I saw recently:
Slingshot spiders rely on good vibrations to catch supper:
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/06/nx-s1-5214779/slingshot-spiders-rely-on-good-vibrations-to-catch-supper
A wolf walks into a flower — and appears to pollinate it:
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/06/nx-s1-5214776/a-wolf-walks-into-a-flower-and-appears-to-pollinate-it
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I just learned about that the other day!
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Fleas go through metamorphosis like butterflies, with larval, pupal, and imago life stages.
Thought for the longest time they just had nymphs and tiny versions of themselves as they grew like lice and true bugs….
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It is safe to annotate biting ones as females.
The extra blood meal (proteine) is a requirement for egg production
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ha. you never saw tiny worms in the dog´s bed, or went somewhere where pupas are lying in wait and hatching en masse when they sense vibrations nearby.
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An octopus’s tentacles can move independently from its brain
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Did you know they have nine brains?
One central brain and one small one for each tentacle. I think that’s part of the reason their arms can move independently.
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Florida carpenter ants will amputate legs for certain injuries.
Desertas Petrels follow typhoons to take advantage of the good feeding conditions.
Immortal jellyfish can revert to younger life stages to avoid starvation.
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I was wondering about the name.
Moulting spiders restore all missing legs
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Ripper the Swearing Duck was real. Amazing mimicry and he did vocalise “You bloody fool”.
But mimicry in captivity highlights the issue of endangered species.
[Why you should care about ‘Ripper’ the sweary duck - The Big Smoke]Why you should care about Ripper the sweary duck
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Fur in mammals has not originally evolved due to thermal isolation or UV protection. Instead the most likely reason is the better dispersal of pheromones (aka to become more smelly) through an increased surface area.
Explanation: Early intermediary forms between furless and fully-coated animals would have no improved thermal isolation or UV-protection compared to furless animals. Therefore the selection for hairy individuals must have had other reasons.
Early mammals/their ancestors are thought to have had a fairly advanced sense of smell compared to other phyla. As they lived in holes/caves with little light, smell became very important information. Being fairly social creatures and relying on correctly identifying their kin, being easily smellable is an advantage. Therefore, the “smelly hypothesis” is a likely explanation.
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Correct