Questions tagged [zoology]

The biological study of animals. Very broad use so be sure to add additional clarifying tags

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Does interspecies breastfeeding occur in the wild?

Does interspecies breastfeeding occur in the wild? Say, for example, a zebra feeding a wildebeest, or a bushbuck feeding a gazelle. There is a Wikipedia page on this topic but it only shows animal-...
Samid's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
58 views

Which predator / prey pair of species have the most drastically different body size?

I'm trying to identify which 2 species, one predator species and one prey species that have the biggest size difference. Specifically, which predator hunts the largest prey relative to itself? I'm ...
Harthag's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
44 views

What is happening to this moth cocoon?

We 'adopt' a catepillar each year and this year I believe we have a Buff Ermine Moth. It seemed healthy and created a woven cocoon. It was at this point that I found out these moths overwinter. We put ...
Helena Johnson's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
39 views

Prevention of disease spreading in animal kingdom

It's my first question on here, so I'm not sure If my question fits the theme. Please refer me to the appropriate one, If I have made a mistake. So a question that I wanted to ask has to do with ...
Đumić Branislav's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
720 views

Fungivore that feeds specifically on spores

I'm wondering if anyone has knowledge of an organism that specifically feeds on the spores of fungi. When I attempt to research this the results are flooded with numerous examples of fungivores but I'...
Reese Lassman's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
81 views

Largest crinoid species

On the wikipedia page of crinoids (sea lilies and feather stars), one can find the following statement in the paragraph "Morphology": [...] and fossil species are known with 20 m (66 ft) ...
G. Blaickner's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
47 views

What animal does this foot skeleton belong to?

I found an articulated foot skeleton. Sun bleached. What animal is this likely from?
Roxy's user avatar
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0 answers
10 views

How to empirically differentiate social interaction from self-awareness in the mirror test?

When placed in front of a mirror, manta rays are more active (e.g. expose their ventral side to the mirror) and present more frequent and repetitive movements (e.g. furling and unfurling their ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 101
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0 answers
25 views

Phonotaxis and Preference

(Am I losing my mind?) I could have sworn there was solid research indicating that phonotaxis evidence for preferences (during ex situ experiments) was "held up" by en situ experiments...(by ...
Maddy M's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
36 views

What animal makes these sounds?

An animal near where I live in Austria is making these sounds. I'm thinking it is in distress, but I can't find it. Can anyone tell me what it is? It goes quiet when you get close, but responds ...
Double M's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
35 views

Can a crocodile crack open a turtle's shell?

To put the question more accurately I consider the Saltwater Crocodile, which has been measured to have a bite force of 16.4 kN and estimates of up to 34 kN in 6.7-meters long individuals. For turtles ...
Triceratops's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
764 views

Very small, light and dark "insects" - Italy - Infestation, healthy problems? - Insect identification [duplicate]

I'm currently in a town near Savona, on the coast in north-west Italy. We had a problem with pigeons, that create their nests in the space between the roof and the ceiling. Now, from the tube of the ...
M4rc0txt's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
66 views

What caused these shallow depressions in a European forest?

Recently, in an eastern European forest, I came across many depressions in the ground of a regular round shape, with a flat bottom and vertical walls. Many were filled with water. Some were obviously ...
Vladimir Orlov's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
29 views

Is it possible to identify a kind of scorpion based on a photo of its dried body

Somebody at my university have came back from a vacation trip and brought back a dried body of this small scorpion. Can you identify it for me? This is a very tiny (?) scorpion, if I may say so. I can'...
trejder's user avatar
  • 313
3 votes
1 answer
72 views

Estimating the diameter of all earths biomass as a sphere

I am working on an educational resource about the relative scales of resources compared to the earth. Attached is an example of the earth compared to various elements contained within, as well as a ...
Robb Godshaw's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
238 views

Where do the bones of dead animals go?

I've spent quite a bit of time in the wild, but I've seen little to no bones lying on the ground. Large bones such as skulls, spines, horns, hooves are not eaten by any other animals, and even ...
Vladimir Orlov's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
20 views

Are there any Bilateria directly able to photosynthesise? If not, are such feasible/possible?

I'm trying to think of a type of animal, easily understood, that does not (and never has) existed, but that could feasibly exist. As most non-bilateral animals are complicated for a child, I was ...
Konchog's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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What this shape name? (concave laterally and straight medially, cross section shape of crayfish rostrum)

What is a shape name for upper surface (colored black) of the cross-sectional shape in the attached image? It is a cross-section through a crayfish rostrum. It is horizontal and linear medially, but ...
crayman9's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
789 views

Help identifying an insect

I live in Milan, Italy in the city center. I live in this house since 5 years and I keep finding the insect pictured below. I see it throughout the seasons (temperatures here range from -1°C to +35°C ...
user3161330's user avatar
29 votes
1 answer
4k views

I am trying to identify this bone I found on the beach at the Delaware Bay in Delaware. It is 2 1/2 inches wide and 1 1/2 tall

This bone was found at Big Stone beach on the Delaware bay, Delaware. It weighs only 19 grams
Robert Sperduto's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
26 views

Quantifying species detection probability using sign surveys as a function of distance in known occupied sites

I ran a pilot study to determine the probability of detecting a rare African small carnivore using scat (feces) detection dog surveys to assist with future population monitoring and occupancy surveys. ...
Michelle's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
38 views

What is the Latin term for animals which dust bathe?

I have lost track of this term. I am sure that I encountered a Latin word (not a taxonomic word) which applies to all animals which dust bathe. I fact, I am not even sure how to describe a word like ...
Theo H's user avatar
  • 9
0 votes
0 answers
57 views

Is there an example in evolution where a huge jump in evolution happened due to a dramatic mutation?

Here is a chicken that due to a mutation got 4 legs: I wonder, are there examples, where such one-time dramatic mutational chages gave rise to a new species? Are there species that appeared not due ...
Anixx's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
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Is there any research on whether a choanozoan might have invaded a similar enough holozoan to make the first metazoan?

My mind was piqued by the idea of endosymbiosis of a bacterium penetrating the cell of an archaean being a precursor to the advent of eukaryotes. And I thought that perhaps something analogous to this ...
blacktopshaman's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
204 views

What kind of insect is this? It looks like a huge spider with one long antenna and six legs

It looks like a huge spider but with six legs and has one very long antenna. It also looks like it has claws. Please I would like to know what sort of insect it is. So I would know measures to take if ...
ALATIBA TEMIDAYO's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
2k views

Have elephants (or any species other than humans) been known to cover their dead?

I was just reading this blog on HarperCollins website about 5 animals that grieve. Of elephants, the following claim is made: They bury their dead and pay tribute to the bodies and to the bones. [my ...
Jimmy G.'s user avatar
  • 525
13 votes
1 answer
3k views

Identify blue/translucent jelly-like animal on beach

A few weeks back a beach in California had lots of this animal (if it is an animal?). Can anyone identify what it is? They had a distinct blue bottom and a see-through top.
JenserCube's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
98 views

What species is this insect?

I would be grateful for help identifying the insect depicted in the attached picture. It was found inside a residential building (ground floor) at the periphery of Valladolid, a city in Yucatán, ...
Magma's user avatar
  • 210
2 votes
1 answer
193 views

How does sperm gets oxygen in the female reproductive tract?

At the time of insemination, sperm along with seminal plasma enters in female reproductive tract and the plasma contains fructose for providing the energy to sperm If the fructose follows just EMP ...
Mohit J's user avatar
  • 49
0 votes
0 answers
25 views

Do some animals have a notion of cooking? [duplicate]

Humans turned the concept of feeding themselves into a whole field in which they rearrange ingredients so as to obtain specific flavours and so on. It's more effort than just feeding ourselves. Do ...
xpsf's user avatar
  • 109
0 votes
0 answers
71 views

Is this a deathstalker

I want to know is this a death stalker ?
branded moeez's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
217 views

Why do Bactrian camels have two humps and dromedaries one?

Why has the Bactrian camel evolved to have two humps instead of the one that the dromedary has? I searched on Google and I found nothing about it. All I found was that the that humps store fat, that ...
Marco Sulla's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
89 views

Can citrate in semen be utilized as a source of energy by the sperm?

Prostatic secretions of semen include citrate as one of the component. The role of citrate in motility has been suggested by some researches. (Kavanagh JP. Isocitric and citric acid in human prostatic ...
Mohit J's user avatar
  • 49
15 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why do animals excrete excess nitrogen instead of recycling it?

I am aware of the different ways animals excrete excess nitrogen (mainly ammonium, urea, uric acid). My question is: why do we excrete excess nitrogen instead of recycling it? How can we explain that ...
tlorin's user avatar
  • 331
6 votes
1 answer
445 views

Tiny insect identification in potted plants

Unfortunately, the new potted soil I've bought seems to be heavily infested with insects. Firstly, I have had a fight with fungus gnats. After using parasitic nematodes about 10 days ago, I no longer ...
lukeg's user avatar
  • 207
2 votes
1 answer
79 views

What is right below skin?

I was skinning a gopher so my cat can eat it (it was a pest and we didn't want to waste it). I thought its organs would fall out and make a mess, but that didn't happen. There was this sticky, ...
Kamal Saleh's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
109 views

Has a bird ever been seen stalling?

Note: I am not sure this is the right site, but I believe birds are off-topic on Aviation SE. Has a bird of any species ever been seen experiencing an aerodynamic stall by increasing the angle of ...
Someone's user avatar
  • 149
3 votes
0 answers
33 views

What determines the color of the air sac of a Portuguese man o' war?

I know that the Portuguese man o' war is a colonial organism composed of many "zooids", one of which is the pneumatophore, which essentially serves as a flotation device for the whole colony....
Robert Columbia's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
69 views

Flora and fauna of early homo sapiens environment?

Where can I find as much detail as possible on the flora and fauna (and perhaps geological structures too) between the time of the origin of Homo Sapiens say ~300kya to their "out of Africa" ...
Lance's user avatar
  • 759
1 vote
1 answer
160 views

Are giraffes living on Calauit island an example of Island dwarfism?

When I traveled to Calauit island I was stricken by the small size of giraffes living there. The giraffes are the descendants of Africa animals imported in the 1970s. Like Noah and the biblical ark, ...
Qiulang's user avatar
  • 141
0 votes
0 answers
71 views

Do lions crabwalk?

Cats turn sideways arch their back and puff their fur, to apppear bigger, when trying to intimidate someone. Do lions do that? What is the largest feline that does that?
Euphorbium's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
112 views

Which horn configuration is more effective as a weapon?

For horned animals, there are two common configurations of cranial horns. One long horn above the nose (Styracosaurus, Rhino). Two long horns above the eyes or forehead (Triceratops, cattle, African ...
Triceratops's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
15 views

Are the spikes or prongs in the frill of Ceratopsids considered horns?

Many Ceratopsids, mostly of the subfamily Centrosaurinae, have long spikes or prongs sticking out from the edge of the frill, most famously Styracosaurus, but also Diabloceratops and Rubeosaurus and ...
Triceratops's user avatar
  • 1,086
1 vote
1 answer
45 views

Estimates for the volume and mass of most ancestral multicellular organism, and a similar question for alive animals with radial symmetry

please I'm interested in an estimate for the volume and weight, the mass, of (most) ancestral multicellular organisms. Wikipedia has the article Multicellular organism, and my main interest are ...
user71674's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
54 views

Ducks highest body temperature

Normal body temperature for ducks are 106-108°F (41.1-42.2°C). Young ducks 102-106°F (38.9-41.1°C). How hot can a duck's body temperature get? Possible causes are fever and viruses, as well as stress ...
Albert's user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
0 answers
190 views

Specific Heat Capacity and Thermal conduction of Blood

Is the specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity of animal blood (e.g., steer for beef) and bird blood (e.g., broilers, ducks) [e.g., immediately after slaughter] similar/same as human blood? I ...
Albert's user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
1 answer
73 views

Smallest animal that produces food for humans

I was thinking about how bees can produce honey and human can eat it. After that I came up with question. What are the smallest animal that can produce food for human?
Семён Юрченко's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
13 views

Does the most known image of Long-finned pilot whale depict one with the melon inflated or not inflated?

The most common image of the Long-finned pilot whale shows a bulbous head. Some may think this is merely an inflated melon: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/...
Mark Besser's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
55 views

Superbugs in eusocial animals

I am not a biologist, and I'm interested in eusocial animals, and the porous habitats in which they live. I know few facts about diseases in these animals: I know some interesting instances of viruses,...
user71674's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
75 views

How are ray-finned and lobe-finned fish related in terms of their evolutionary history?

I'm trying to trace human evolution back to the first eukaryotic cells (as a tool to research the evolution of various bodily systems), and I understand that lobe-finned fishes are considered a key ...
Sean Holm's user avatar
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