MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Give me weird animal facts

Give me weird animal facts


I like finding out weird facts about animals. Here's some I know.

1) killer whales are closer to Dolphins than great whales, but like dolphins, are still classified as whales (toothed whales)

2) polar bears are classified as marine mammals, just like dolphins, because they live on water (albeit frozen)

3) Cookie (June 30, 1933 – August 27, 2016) was a male Major Mitchell's cockatoo residing at Brookfield Zoo, near Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was believed to be the oldest member of his species alive in captivity, at the age of 82 in June 2015, having significantly exceeded the average lifespan for his kind

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sheep can't sleep on their sides as they would crush their organs.

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not an animal fact as such, but herders in finland spray reflective paint on their reindeer's antlers to prevent road accidents, resulting in interesting night-time pictures which you can find in this article.

https://brightside.me/wonder-animals/herders-in-finland-spray-reindeers-horns-with-reflective-paint-and-theres-a-good-reason-for-it-738660/

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Nice. Article linked to Lapland, when I lived in Ireland there was lots of ads for trips to Lapland to visit "the North Pole" and "Santa's workshop". Seemed like a cool trip for those with little kids.

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some caterpillars have an 'anal cannon' to make their droppings go as far away from them as possible, apparently to prevent parasitic wasps from tracking them.

https://listverse.com/2014/06/17/10-amazing-ways-creatures-defend-against-parasites/

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That's cool. As a creationist, it raised my eyebrows that it says it evolved to do that. How does random mutation figure out that propelling their poop away will mean they survive longer? Then take millions of years to do that?

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this again? i mean, i don't like to sound pissy with anyone, but i'm old and tired and past the point where i feel like debating very simple, obvious things with creationists. if you wanted to have a chat about that with me, you should have caught me about 20 years ago, when i was all too happy to mix it up with creationists.

if you're sincere and posting in good faith, you could read and find the answer very easily, because this is a real 101 level question.

evolution doesn't know, it doesn't think, it isn't guided.

it is a process of random mutation & genetic drift, where beneficial changes get selected because of the benefits they confer.

caterpillars that get a 'poop expel hard' mutation will do better than those that don't have the mutation. over generations, more of those will live, while those without the mutation will not survive as frequently. a big part of the equation here is that most life-forms do not live long lives or get to reproduce. very malthusian.

eventually the mutation will become part of the caterpillar standard model. and in an arms race, the stronger the expelling, the better the result. so a trait that initially begins as 'push it a little further' becomes 'anal cannon.'

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Yeah, mutations are random. Some human beings have genetic anomalies that cause constant lifelong diarreah, and if we were still hunter-gatherers who were vulnerable to predation, humans with that genetic anomaly would move more slowly through the wild, find fewer mates, and smell more strongly - which would be a disadvantage in hunting, and which would make them more valuable to hunters. So that is still a random mutation that pops up randomly, and has not become part of our standard DNA pack.

Human beings who poop less often bred more over the eons, because pooping less often and having some personal control was a survival advantage. If a random mutation had ever given any human the ability to expel their poop fifty feet away like those caterpillars, or to hit targets with it, then those humans would have had a huge evolutionary advantage, as it would give humans the ability to mislead predators, drive off enemies of their own species, and rest better as they'd never have to leave the communal campsite at night... but that never happened as mutation is, indeed, random. Instead, humans have had to settle for using their manual dexterity to fling the poop, which explains a lot about us.

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That theory may make sense for one or two examples, but to say that of every creature is just too improbable.

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given vast lengths of time and continuous mutation, it's not improbable. i'd suggest thinking about that a lot more.

and most importantly, its supported by actual evidence - fossil, genetic, geographic distribution. all of it supports evolution over millions of years.

if you don't want to believe it, that's your business. i think that's a silly thing to believe, but it's a big old world and you're allowed to be silly. as far as wrong-headed beliefs go, yours is relatively harmless, i guess. if you're sincere in looking into the topic, there's lots of great resources to go to. talkorigins archive has been around for ages online, and has tons of good reading.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

like i said, i'm too beaten down by my own passage of time to work up much passion for debate on such matters now.

happy posting to you, regardless.

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When a suspected predator rouses a browsing or resting moose, it will flee at first, but then circle around so that it is in a downwind position, an attempt to pick up the intruder's scent. Moose depend on their noses for survival in a hostile world.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxJbRHVfjKI

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i always found the narrator's voice very authoritative and calming.

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this species of owls bring live snakes to their nests to eat insect larvae. nests with snakes have chicks that grow faster and die less often.


https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/animal-behaviour/screech-owls-keep-blind-snakes-as-live-in-housekeepers/

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That's fascinating. It's like 'hey, I got a bug problem, you need to be fed, how about you live in my nest and fest off of those bugs that I don't want near my babies?'

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Monkeys have entered the stone age.

https://youtu.be/l8jcJJKeAdw

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