Questions tagged [mammals]
Questions related to mammals, animals that nurse their young, have a neocortex, and three middle ear bones.
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Do Pthirus gorillae remain in gorilla leaf nests after gorillas migrate and abandon them?
Gorillas build leaf nests to sleep in. Do the lice which parasitise gorillas, Pthirus gorilla, remain in gorilla leaf nests after gorillas migrate to new regions (and abandon the old nests)?
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What sea animal is this?
I am in a remote village and a young boy (second pic holding tail) says this thing is his friend. This creature is safe, we held it for pictures and released it after. None of us know what this is and ...
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Where to begin studying Biology in earnest, with preferably free sources?
I am a biology enthusiast and would like to study Biology in earnest. I have basic knowledge of biology (high school level) and some extended knowledge of small animals, mainly about mammals as I am ...
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Why do sea mammals die on land, and drown on sea?
It's quite confusing to me, why do sea mammals die on land, but also die from drowning if they couldn't reach the sea surface to breath?
Excuse my ignorance but I am really confused!
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Whose horns are these?
Can anyone please help me identify these horns?
I guess they belonged to either European or Asian species. I don't know anything about their history -- they are my grandparents' who are from Moscow, ...
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Is the skin of feline jungle predators protected against ants?
I was watching a video of a jaguar stalking along a riverbank, killing prey, climbing up the muddy bank, then laying in thick brush to eat. My first thought about this is that there must be tons of ...
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Basic behaviour patterns of animals for a modeling project?
I am working on a project (a tool) for my GIS class that models natural habitat of an animal based on landcovers, distance to the nearest watersource and distance from developed area in Kansas, USA. I ...
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Which variables are controlled in the mammalian womb to ensure a healthy environment?
Recently, researchers have had some success with artificial wombs. Which aspects of the womb are difficult to replicate through technology?
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Are there examples of animals that live in groups, where all have the same role?
For animals that live in groups, are there examples where all of them have the same role? For example, in animals we know there are bee queens or alpha, beta and omega mammals. But are there groups of ...
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Why do Guinea Pigs chirp / sing?
Ok, so this appears to be quite a mystery. Me and my girlfriend have 2 Guinea Pigs, 1 male and 1 female.
My girlfriend once picked up the female one and took her outside into our garden. The Guinea ...
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Are humans the only mammals that are known to display homosexuality?
REQUEST: In this post I do not refer to, nor do I encourage reference to, any ethical/moral/emotional aspects of homosexuality. So please don't start an pro/anti- LGBT campaign in the comments section....
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Are all non-breeding naked mole rats the same sex?
In many eusocial species, all the non-breeding members are the same sex. Honeybees are a good example, with only female workers.
Are naked mole rats that do not breed also all either male or female, ...
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What is the difference between the evolution of fins in whales and fish?
For a homework assignment I received the following question:
Which statement best explains the evolution of fins in whales and fish?
a. The common ancestor of whales and fish possessed genes for ...
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Gestation period of African savanna elephants?
I found out it is 22 months for African bush elephants, but is this also true for African savanna elephants?
user30163
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What is the biochemistry of love?
How is love induced between humans? Say, between mother and child, couples, etc.
Does the phenomenon of love exist in other mammals, too?
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Squirrel nest construction
I've often wondered how squirrels -- specifically, eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) make their nests. Specifically, I've been curious about how they "weave" everything together to make ...
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What Makes an Afrothere an Afrothere?
The mole-like golden moles.
The hedgehog-like tenrecs.
The shrew-like sengis.
The rodent-like hyraxes.
The anteater-like aardvarks.
The whale-seal-hybrid-like sirens.
The tapir-like ...
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How conscious are mammals that mating leads to pregnancy and offspring?
Does a pregnant female mammal know that its pregnancy is the consequence of a previous mating? Or are humans the only mammals which are conscious of it?
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Why do cats' claws retract?
Humans have nails, horses have hooves - but they are always exposed. Why are cats' claws retractable rather than always exposed? Is it related to "Why are there nail growth differences between humans ...
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Are Sloth tongues soft or rough?
Are Sloth tongues soft or rough?
Dogs have soft tongues, while cats have rough tongues, so the feeling when they lick e.g. a human hand is quite different. So what about sloths?
This question came ...
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Biggest change in size from birth
Which mammal has the largest change in size from birth to fully grown percentage wise?
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How can bobcats feel the mice under the snow?
I've just seen the Planet Earth II's second episode "Mountains" where they shock us with these North American bobcats that can feel mice from the distance of several meters, sneak to them and kill ...
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Are these principles worth being validated? [closed]
Odunayo's principle of inhalation states that provided a given amount of water is ingested, inhalation through the nostrils will be excluded due to the presence of oxygen in the water.
From the above ...
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Was mammal body better suited for some type of the marine environment than the body of fish?
When some of the land mammals came back to the oceans, they seem to be successful in the competition with fish at least in some environment even though they seem to have a huge disadvantage in the ...
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Mammal size and capillary wall thickness
How does capillary wall thickness vary with the size of the animal?
Background/context of question:
Of the following, Figure 1 is most consistent with the fact that, in general, smaller mammals have:...
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What are the migratory patterns of Orcas in the Pacific Northwest? Do they pass by Vancouver in the Fall?
What are the migratory patterns of Orcas in the Pacific Northwest? Do the pass by Vancouver in the Fall?
I know you can never predict the sightings of a wild creature, but I was wondering what the ...
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What was the first animal having fur?
Did all early mammals have fur? Is it possible to trace the origins, how early animals with fur looked like and how it evolved?
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These Mammals Had a Good Run, So What Happened? [closed]
One of the great mysteries of the mammals is that some of the longest-lasting just aren't with us today. The list of these puzzling unfortunates is as follows:
Paleomerycidae
DURATION:
55.8 to 4.9 ...
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How do bats manage lymph fluids?
We all know that bats hang upside down to sleep. I was watching some sleep for a while, and they don't move much while asleep.
If I fall asleep sitting in a chair my lower legs will swell. Lymph ...
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What's the best sign language to teach a dolphin?
I know some scientists and trainers used hand signals to communicate with dolphins. The problem is: the dolphins have no hand to express themselves. With chimpanzees, we see how creative they are, not ...
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How do marine mammals and penguins maintain bone density?
After much searching on Google with no results, I decided to ask my question here.
If I'm not mistaken, swimmers' bone density is less than normal; at least for lifetime swimmers. Astronauts also ...
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Identification of a mammal in cage
This unidentified animal was trapped in northern part of Kerala State India and images circulated through social media. Doea anyone know what species this is?
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Why wrap a dolphin in wet towels?
In this video, a dolphin jumps into a vessel. Even though the guides know they will be quickly helping the dolphin back into the water, they first make sure they wrap the mammal with wet towels.
Why ...
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Why do some macaques have redder faces than others?
I'm watching Monkey Kingdom, and I noticed some of the macaques have redder faces than others.
Specifically the females, and as the social ladder increases, so does the redness.
An alpha female:
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What species of fox is this?
I found this picture of a fox in a news article about arctic foxes in Sweden (source), but I'm not sure whether it is actually an arctic fox.
On the one hand, it has white fur, which is the correct ...
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Omnivore vs Carnivore territory size
Edit: Large carnivores require lots of territory. What about bears? They're omnivores. How much does that count?
Is there anywhere I could find weight/territory ratios for mammals, depending on diet? ...
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Why were dinosaur skeletons so light compared to mammal skeletons?
I was watching a presentation by Dr. Jessica Theodor [1] who discusses (at 38:10), among other things, the skeletal structure of dinosaurs vs. mammals. "Dinosaurs have way lighter skeletons, which ...
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What are these curious cetaceans?
At the beginning of the superb documentary film “Un jardin d’Eden sous les mers” (“A garden of Eden under the seas”) [1], we see a group of curious cetaceans. At about 1 min.
What are these ...
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Why can one swim longer underwater by blowing out air?
I am a human. I take a deep breath. I swim underwater... After some time, I need to blow out some air. I blow out some air... By doing so, I can swim underwater longer. Blowing out some air gives me ...
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How is the brain kickstarted during development [closed]
The brain is a complicated beast, that operates (generally) by electrical activity. During development, all cells originate from the a single "cell": the zygote.
At some point during development, the ...
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Is it possible for two creature in the same order and have odd haploid chromosome species to reproduce
Take the degu and the rat for example.
The degu has 29 chromosome pairs
Rats have 21 chromosome pairs.
They are only share the same order ( Rodentia )
Would it be possible for them to reproduce?
( ...
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What is the reason for fear induced defecation?
I started to handle mice for my job and noticed that they tend to defecate and/or urinate when they are scared. The fear is induced by me, because I need a long time (due to inexperience) to grab the ...
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How did dolphins acquire their dorsal fin?
I had been thinking bout atavism when I saw a picture of a dolphin. I had seen it before, but suddenly the dorsal fin startled me.
How did this dorsal fin evolve? Is it some atavism from eons ago, a ...
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Why does snow not stick to the fur of wolves and some breeds of dogs?
This question made me wonder, why for example wolves don't suffer from these "paw snowballs"?
(...) but after a few miles on the trails in soft snow, he often develops snowballs between his paw ...
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Why do mammals produce more carbon dioxide than insects?
I understand that mammals produce more carbon dioxide than insects on a gram per gram basis, but why is that? I'm thinking it might be because mammals are warm-blooded, which require more energy ...
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Whales and cancer [duplicate]
Do whales get less cancer than they should considering they have a lot more cells and tissue? If a lot of cancer formation is random because of mutations then shouldn't whales receive a lot of ...
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Why does the kidney of a cow have lobules, why the kidney of a human hasn't any?
The kidney of a cow has lobules, while the kidney of a human hasn't any.
I can't think of any reason why it would be good for a kidney to have lobules. It would be good if the kidney needed to have a ...
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Do camels pose an environmental threat to kangaroos?
Camels, once used for transport across the Australian outback, were set free, and are reproducing at an uncontrolled rate in the empty interior of Australia.
Do the ecosystems of camels and ...
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Red fox with blue legs
On the Wikipedia I found this photo of a red fox, labeled as being taken at Quesnel Lake, British Columbia:
Why would the fox have blue legs? Is that normal for a Red Fox?
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What effect does a bat's echolocation have on other bats?
Bat echolocation is a perceptual system where ultrasonic sounds are emitted specifically to produce echoes. By comparing the outgoing pulse with the returning echoes, the brain and auditory nervous ...
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