The biological study of animals
6
votes
2answers
169 views
What's the difference between a plant and an animal?
Are there some living things where the distinction between plant and animal is blurry or unclear? I wouldn't know where to put something like yeast. I also thought of photosynthesis, but then I ...
4
votes
3answers
761 views
Is the theory of evolution being disproved by bats?
For some species the Darwin's theory evolution makes perfect sense. I can easily imagine how, for example, the giraffe has evolved to its current appearance: the natural selection was favoring ...
3
votes
2answers
189 views
Why do some animals have 8 Limbs (e.g. Spiders, Octopuses)?
Octopuses have 8 tentacles, spiders have 8 legs.
Is there something special about 8? It seems like an animal that needs 360° mobility has 8 legs.
3
votes
3answers
894 views
Small worm living in some kind of cocoon, what are these animals?
I am curious what animal is this. It is/lives inside some kind of cocoon, about 1 cm in length. They are attached to walls and to the ceiling, but sometimes they fall off. Inside the structure there ...
5
votes
1answer
141 views
Do octopuses have better eyes than humans?
I've read that unlike humans, octopuses have eyes "designed" the "right way", i.e. with the nerve fibers behind the retina, thus getting rid of the blind spot we humans have as well as theoretically ...
3
votes
2answers
149 views
Why is the frog genome so much larger than a fish's?
As we have heard in the summaries of the human ENCODE project, 80 per cent of junk DNA appears to have an essential function. Many fish have a genome with only one tenth the size of a usual vertebrate ...
1
vote
0answers
22 views
Where might I find a list of all recorded instincts by species?
Where might I find a list of all recorded instincts (possibly with all other attributes) by species?
Thanks,
Chenz
9
votes
1answer
632 views
Do fish break a water molecule to absorb oxygen?
How do fish separate oxygen from H20 & consume it? Do they break the water molecule and absorb the oxygen only?
2
votes
0answers
59 views
Will a completely removed cat whisker grow back?
I just accidentally pulled out, while playing, my cat's whisker entirely, follicle and all. I feel terribly as I know she is a kitten and whiskers are rooted deep in a place rich in nerves. I'm ...
5
votes
2answers
112 views
Can female Drosophila melanogaster lay eggs without males?
Can female Drosophila melanogaster lay egg without males? I maintain our lab stock but find a line that seems to have all females (or all males). In the vial, I see some eggs laid, but the flies ...
5
votes
1answer
114 views
Are tongues red because they contain blood?
Many animals have red tongues, though not all of them - blue-tongued skinks and giraffes come to mind. Are they red because of the blood (and therefore haemoglobin) in them?
It sounds plausible, but ...
1
vote
2answers
81 views
Do any cells change in size or mass as mammals grow?
That is to say, are there cells that, between infancy and adulthood, get larger? Or is all growth done entirely via cell division? I'm wondering if it is safe to assume that the approximate number ...
2
votes
1answer
87 views
By What Mechanism can Felines Reverse Diabetes?
To my knowledge house cats (and likely other felines) are the only animal able to go into remission after onset of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. I don't have a reference, this has been by peers in my ...
7
votes
1answer
238 views
When do most mammals mate?
Is one part of the day more prevalent then other when it comes to mammal animals mating? Is there an aggregating study that has been done to see if these living beings in nature mate mostly during day ...
3
votes
2answers
184 views
Difference between mice and rats
What is the actual biological difference between mice and rats? Are they actually the same thing with two different names depending on appearance (are they all mice for instance and we call the larger ...
7
votes
1answer
55 views
Is there such thing as “meters per calorie” for living organisms?
I'm interested in learning if there's some way of quantifying the organism's metabolic efficiency associated with movement.
It seems to me that some organisms would be more efficient than others at ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views
Diet of free-range herbivores
Giving minimal credence to estimates in popular media of the average biomass of insects/arachnids, etc. in an acre of land, it seems that a "free-range" cow (I don't mean to pick on cows) might be ...
1
vote
0answers
45 views
What marine animals exhibit deep hibernation/aestivation?
Do marine animals exhibit deep hibernation/aestivation as land-based creatures do?
If not, Why?
10
votes
1answer
1k views
Fish “coming back to life” after being frozen
I've encountered a clip on Youtube showing a goldfish thrown in liquid nitrogen and immediately after to normal water and swimming normally. In the explanation to the clip it says:
For everyone ...
8
votes
1answer
81 views
Predators faking to be not hungry?
I believe that there are predator/prey combinations where the prey can easily spot that the predator is not hungry and will not try to flee from it. I’m thinking, for example, of gazelles who will ...
3
votes
2answers
40 views
What do breeders call the effect when a breed resists modification?
It is impossible to breed a blue rose or a cat with a bulldog shape. This is because breeding is limited by gene variations in the population.
What do breeders call this effect?
UPDATE
I guess ...
3
votes
1answer
123 views
Do all sea creatures that have scales have to have fins?
Do all sea creatures that have scales have to have fins?
Do we know of any sea creatures that have only scales without fins?
I'm especially interested in fish that have scales but no fins.
6
votes
1answer
141 views
Is there any documented evidence for suicide among vertebrates other than humans?
Is there any documented evidence for suicide among vertebrates other than humans? Lemmings not accepted !
3
votes
1answer
71 views
What is the known maximum ranging distance of a bat's sonar?
Bats are known to navigate by using echo-location.
How far away can a bat detect an object by its sonar?
2
votes
1answer
66 views
Reattaching body parts
Is there any living organism that has the ability to remove and reattach body parts at will?
I'm not talking about regeneration (like in starfish). Say I'm chasing prey, and I decide that my tail ...
7
votes
1answer
95 views
Do goldfish really have a 5 second memory span?
I heard that when people place goldfish in another tank, they just forget where they where previously? True or False ?
5
votes
2answers
513 views
Fetal development, gastrulation and embryonic disc
I completely confused by the images circulating on the internet of human gastrulation.
First, lets see how it happens in deuterostomes. This image depicts the process:
(image is from Wikipedia)
...
11
votes
4answers
2k views
Do cows produce milk excessively?
Do cows produce more milk than it is required for their calves? It seems like cows are able to provide milk all the time (all year around). Is it so? Or do they, like other mammals, produce milk only ...
5
votes
1answer
94 views
Why do the feet of the Gecko Lizard not stick to Teflon surfaces?
I have noticed that lizards feet can stick to walls but not to Teflon surfaces?
Why is that?
7
votes
2answers
188 views
What's the name of this bird?
This morning I saw a bird that I have never seen before. Since it was quite big, I'm very interested in knowing its name.
The bird was quite big, at least 2-3 times of a common blackbird. The wings ...
7
votes
1answer
132 views
How can an albatross stay airborne for months?
Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes. They range widely in the Southern ...
4
votes
1answer
89 views
Does culling badgers restrict the spread of bovine tuberculosis?
The British government has announced that it plans a large-scale badger cull which they argue are implicated in the spread of Mycobacterium bovis - so-called bovine tuberculosis. Any cattle that ...
4
votes
1answer
105 views
Are there any other animals that become attached to a non-living object?
Do any animals become attached to any non-living object that is not useful to the animal for any of its physical needs, like some children do to stuffed animals? Some children are so attached to their ...
3
votes
0answers
38 views
Help with designing the analysis of radio telemetry study [closed]
I was wondering if there are any spatial ecologists out there who can provide some insight on the trouble I'm having with my Masters research.
I am looking at the association a bat species to high ...
7
votes
2answers
222 views
Why do stranded marine mammals die so quickly?
Mammals have lungs, so do marine mammals. Nevertheless some marine mammals seem to die rather quickly when they strand on a beach.
As they have lungs and can breath while on land, why do they die so ...
11
votes
1answer
199 views
How do members of cryptic species know who to mate with?
According to Wikipedia:
In biology, a cryptic species complex is a group of species which
satisfy the biological definition of species—that is, they are
reproductively isolated from each ...
11
votes
1answer
209 views
How do porcupines keep from pricking each other while mating?
How do porcupines keep from pricking each other while mating? It seems like they would constantly be scratching each other.
3
votes
1answer
53 views
How does sex differentiation work in Paracerceis sculpta, the sexually tetramorphic isopod?
Paracerceis sculpta is a marine isopod species known for its unusual reproductive strategy:
female: medium-sized; lives in harems run by an α male
α male: large; keeps a harem of females
β male: ...
5
votes
1answer
68 views
What is this crow eating, and is it a common part of the corvid diet?
Here's a picture (by Rob Curtis) of a crow carrying and eating the corpse of what looks a bit like a small hawk or falcon:
Other pictures clearly show the crow is eating the dead bird. This image ...
4
votes
1answer
118 views
Is there a way for a 19th century scientist to prove that the octopus doesn't revive?
Say a sophiscated scientist in the 19th century noted that applying soy sauce on a dead octopus leads to movement of the legs, as a result of the voltage differences resulting from the salt in the soy ...
4
votes
3answers
84 views
Do dogs have something different about their physiology that allows them to pant without hyperventilating?
I was wondering this as I considered how effective panting would be for humans as a means of cooling.
4
votes
1answer
124 views
Why would deers keep crossing a river full of crocodiles while some of them have been killed?
I recently watched a clip on Discovery Channel, where I saw deers crossing a river full of crocodiles, ignoring the fact that some of them would have been killed doing so.
What could be an ...
8
votes
1answer
95 views
Why does the gender of the parent species determines the species of a hybrid offspring
I've read a little about hybrid animals, and have been amazed by the fact that the gender of the parent species determine the species of the offspring, in some hybrids.
A male horse and a female ...
3
votes
1answer
44 views
Is there such thing as “biological cycles” of activity/performance/etc in mammals?
I'm looking for some information about the cycles of increased/decreased activity, mental performance or endurance that are related to a mammal's age and the time of a season.
First of all, I'm not ...
0
votes
0answers
110 views
What makes a cockroach able to survive in a sewer when there is a big weakness point for them: their respiratory hole
What makes a cockroach able to survive in a sewer when there is a big weakness point for them: their respiratory hole?
I know that when i wipe soap water on their respiratory hole, later on, those ...
0
votes
1answer
309 views
Does cockroach lay eggs in human flesh when they “bite”?
Recently, i have "bite" by cockroach, not only the "bitten" area red and swallowing, and more specificly, it have a big hole in that area, when i clean it with hydrogen peroxide solution, something is ...
10
votes
3answers
99 views
How do baby animals that primarily subsist on cellulose get their initial gut flora?
In the case of mammals like giraffes and koalas, is that bacteria common on the plants they eat so when a baby starts to try to stick something besides its mother's milk in its mouth, it can't digest ...
17
votes
1answer
247 views
Why do ants live so long?
I was surprised to learn that worker ants in some species live many years. I would have expected a lifespan of a few weeks or months (which is apparently the case for many species).
What factors ...
7
votes
3answers
541 views
Why does the butterfly have a cocoon stage in its life cycle?
Why does the butterfly have a cocoon stage in its life cycle? It could have simply grown up within the egg/cocoon, and emerged as a butterfly. Instead it is first an egg, then a worm, then a ...
5
votes
1answer
95 views
Is there any reason the common housefly continues to return to an area?
This might come off as a really silly question. But I'm wondering (especially in the case of food) if there is any reason a fly would continue to try and sit on top of a piece of food even after ...
