Did you know there is an animal that can not only regenerate its own organs, but those
of other animals as well?
And there may be a special reason why you love cats so much.
Here are 10 mind blowing superpowers in the animal kingdom!
10.
Toxoplasma gondii
This single-celled organism is one of the most successful parasites on Earth, infecting
possibly half of all people worldwide.
The reason for its success?
This parasite can control your mind.
Its superpower is its ability to manipulate its hosts.
It can influence their behavior so much so that hosts can put themselves at the risk
of death.
Scientists first discovered this strange mind control in the 1990s, but it’s been hard
to figure out how they manage it.
Toxoplasma of course manipulates its hosts to complete its life cycle.
A 2011 study suggested that this parasitic infection changes neural activity in certain
areas of the brain.
Although it can infect any mammal or bird, it can reproduce only inside of a cat.
The parasites produce cysts that get passed out of the cat with its feces.
Once in the soil, or kitty litter, the cysts infect new hosts.
Toxoplasma then needs to return to cats to reproduce, so what does it do?
Make you love cats.
Experiments on rats and mice have shown that Toxoplasma alters their instinctive response
to avoid cat smells.
Many infected rodents lose their natural fear of the scent.
Some even seem to be attracted to it.
According to the Center for Disease Control over 60 million people might be infected in
the US alone, but show no symptoms because a healthy immune system can keep the parasite
from causing illness.
However a Toxoplasma infection can cause serious health problems such as a central nervous
system disease, brain lesions, and pneumonitis among other things.
9.
Lyre Bird
The ancient Lyrebird is the rockstar of all birds.
It has been around for some 15 million years and is one of Australia’s oldest inhabitants.
The Lyrebird can imitate over 20 different bird species in one song, the more complex
the better.
An expert mimic, the Lyrebird can not only imitate the individual songs of other birds
and the chatter of entire flocks, but also the sounds of other animals.
In fact, the bird can repeat almost any sound in the world, all thanks to its syrinx.
The syrinx of the lyrebird is unique in that it has fewer muscles making it extremely flexible
so it can produce an almost unlimited variety of vibrations and sounds.
Lyrebirds that live in the forest mimic chainsaws and falling trees, the hunter’s gunshot
and even camera shutters.
Those that live closer to urban centers can impersonate musical instruments, car engines,
fire alarms, crying babies, railway locomotives and even the human voice.
This can cause all kinds of confusion not only for us, but for birds of other species.
Lyrebirds call best in the winter months when they are breeding and males may sing for up
to 50% of daylight hours.
Male lyrebirds learn the songs and mimicry from older males, rather than directly from
their surroundings.
Some sessions can last half an hour or more.
They are so loud they can be heard up to 1 km away.
The best time to hear lyrebirds is at dawn and dusk.
8.
African Lungfish
The lungfish is considered to be among the most primitive living fishes.
They can be found in Africa, Australia and South America.
Like their name suggests, Lungfish have lungs and gills and can breathe through water or
air.
The African lungfish has two lungs and is one of the closest relatives of tetrapods,
the first group of four-limbed vertebrates to live outside of water.
Their anatomy offers clues to how animals first evolved to breathe air, as they have
lungs that can sustain them in periods when their environment dries up.
Modern-day lungfish have wispy and long fins that work as sense organs and look a bit like
eels.
The fins of lung fish are actually attached to the body using joints that enable the fish
to move their fins just like limbs of land animals.
The most amazing thing about the African lungfish is that it can hibernate and sleep outside
of water for three to five years during a drought and then wake up perfectly fine.
As their surrounding water begins to dry up, the lungfish will dig through the mud and
secrete a special mucus layer all around it.
The soil above can harden and become extremely dry but as the mucus dries it forms a thin,
transparent cocoon with a small breathing hole.
In this dormant state, the lungfish can wait out the entire drought, which usually last
for months at the least.
While hibernating, metabolic rates drop significantly and the required energy for surviving comes
through the breakdown of the muscle tissues.
When rain comes and the soil becomes soft, the lungfish comes out of its hibernating
state.
Scientists are carefully studying the lungfish to try to replicate this suspended animation
state for humans to buy time during emergency operations and space travel.
7.
Sea Cucumber
These squishy animals are echinoderms meaning they are distant relatives of starfish and
sea urchins.
There are over 1,000 species of sea cucumbers around the world and they are covered with
soft, leathery skin.
While they may not seem so powerful, according to the National Wildlife Federation, one way
they can protect themselves from predators is by propelling their own toxic internal
organs from their anus in the direction of the attack.
Their organs then grow back, and it saves them from being eaten.
Pretty dramatic stuff for such a simple creature.
Bet you weren't expecting that!
Then the Sea Cucumber will lie low for a few weeks in order to give that part of the body
time to regenerate.They can also liquefy their body when they need to in order to get away
from predators.
Some of the species are able to emit a sticky substance too that the predator will get tangled
up in.
They can do this continually throughout their lifetime and seems to have no negative effect
on their lifespan.
Sea cucumbers don’t have brain.
Their nervous system consists of a ring and several nerves and they have poorly developed
senses.
Since they can’t vocalize, they are able to send signals to each other through the
water via special hormones.
When disturbed, sea cucumbers can expose skeletal, hook-like structures that would make them
harder for predators to eat.
This mushy animal of many talents is regarded as a delicacy in some countries.
6.
American Lobster
Even though Northwest Atlantic is famous for being the home of American lobsters, you can
find them in all the oceans.
Lobsters can live to over 100 years old and scientists don’t actually know the limits
of their lifespan.
Besides being delicious and expensive, this animal is secretly immortal.
They don´t really age or get weaker as time goes by.
They never stop growing, slow down or become more prone to disease.
They just keep getting bigger and stronger.
They grow by molting their exoskeleton.
An average lobster molts 44 times before it turns one.
The following seven years, lobsters will molt at least once a year.
After it turns seven, a lobster will molt once every two or three years growing larger
and larger after shedding its exoskeleton.
The largest American lobster caught in 1977 weighed 44 lbs (20 kg).
They also seem to defy the aging process by becoming more fertile the older they become.
Unlike the cells of most species, including humans, the cells of lobsters don’t have
a fixed lifespan.
Food supplements made from the shells of lobster have been shown to protect against several
common causes of death as well as have an anti-aging effect on the skin.
Besides this mysterious immortality, lobsters are also able to re-grow most of their appendages
as needed.
If they lose a claw, leg or an eye they can regenerate that body part.
A lobster may also self-amputate a leg or claw to help it escape a predator, just like
lizards.
When it comes time to regrow an appendage, things don’t always go smoothly.
At times, two or three deformed claws will grow out of the original claw joint or a leg
might grow where an eye should be.
It’s not perfect but hey, it’s more than we can do.
5.
Ring-Tailed Cat
The ring-tailed cat may be one of the best rock climbers in the animal kingdom.
Native to North America, this cat is usually considered a member of the raccoon family.
Although because they don’t walk on the soles of their feet they are sometimes placed
in their own animal family.
These animals have been known to shimmy up crevices by placing their back against one
wall with all four feet against the other as they climb at a 90 degree angle.
The ring-tailed cat has also evolved ankles that can pivot over 180 degrees, allowing
it to perform canopy cartwheels without batting an eye.
It can ascend narrow passages by ricocheting between walls and can balance in incredibly
precarious places, thanks to its amazing ankles of course.
Its tail is about a foot long, with seven to nine black rings and is about the same
length as the animal's body.
Kind of like the ring-tailed lemur, it uses its tail for balance.
They are primarily nocturnal and move around frequently, rarely spending more than three
straight nights in one den.
Miners and settlers once kept pet ringtails to keep their cabins free of vermin and they
were said to make affectionate pets.
For this reason they are also known as the Miner´s Cat.
The ringtail became the State Mammal of Arizona in 1986.
Have any of you ever seen one of these??
I have been missing out!
4.
Electric Eel
Electric eels can generate an electrical charge of up to 600 volts to stun their prey and
scare away predators.
Despite looking like eels, electric eels are actually members of the knifefish family.
All of an electric eel’s vital organs are crammed into the front 20% of its body.
The rest is packed with 6000 specialized cells called electrocytes that store power like
tiny batteries.
With that much body devoted to electricity, it’s no wonder an eel can zap out more than
600 volts.
That’s 5 times the power of a standard U.S. wall socket.
A fully grown electric eel can be up to eight feet long and weigh 44 pounds.
A 20 foot- long eel can produce enough electricity to light 12 light bulbs.
What might make you nervous is that electric eels can’t actually see what they’re shocking.
They live in the murky streams and lakes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America.
They’re mostly blind and use a radar-like system of electrical pulses of about 10 volts
to navigate and find food.
Eel’s thick skin normally insulates them from their own attacks, but when wounded,
they can shock themselves.
Fatal attacks on humans are rare, but that doesn’t mean these eels are harmless.
Some people have drowned after being shocked.
3.
Cuttlefish Cuttlefish rely on their incredible camouflaging
abilities to avoid predators, changing color almost instantaneously to match their surroundings.
Three different layers of cells expand and contract to saturate the visible skin with
a different array of colors that can be rearranged on a small enough scale to mimic almost any
background.
Scientists believe that even though cuttlefish are color blind, they're able to see polarized
light, which allows them to adjust to their surroundings.
Changing color is a great trick, but accurately replicating the shape and texture of the nearby
coral or seaweed gives the cuttlefish an additional layer of camouflage.
A 2011 study showed that cuttlefish can respond to visual clues to determine the optimal position
for misleading mimicry.
So if they're hiding near a particular plant, not only will they match it in color and texture,
they'll also arrange their arms to best match the shape of the plant.
They also have distinct W-shaped pupils that allow them to see almost completely behind
themselves.
Scientists are studying cuttlefish as a model for bio-inspired human camouflage and color-changing
products.
They are trying to reverse-engineer this talent to provide protective camouflage for soldiers
on the battlefield.
2.
Froghopper
A froghopper is a miniature bug that is around 6mm long that develops in frothy clumps that
look like spit.
Commonly known as the cuckoo spit insect or spittle bug, it is an extremely common insect
even though most people might miss it.
While the spit is kind of weird, it is not its super power.
Although the frog hopper is tiny, it is famous for being the “World’s Greatest Leaper.”
This insect can jump to about 70 cm high, out jumping grasshoppers and taking the crown
of best jumper from the fleas.
Although fleas can jump to a similar height, the froghopper is 60 times heavier, making
it much more impressive.
The secret is in its hind legs that are so specialized in high jumping that they drag
along the ground when the insect is walking.
The froghopper’s hind legs generate a G-force of more than 400 gravities in its best jumps.
An astronaut getting launched into space experiences about 5 Gs.
1.
Axolotl (Ax-oh-lot-ul)
Axolotls are masters of regeneration.
This aquatic salamander can regrow entire limbs and regenerate parts of major organs.
The axolotl is a type of salamander found in aquariums and laboratories all over the
world, but their natural habitat is only located in Lake Xochimilco, an ancient lake in southern
Mexico City.
Salamanders, like other amphibians and insects, usually go through a process known as metamorphosis.
Axolotls, however, do not go through this process naturally.
Instead they exhibit what is known as neoteny, which means they look young and reach maturity
without going through metamorphosis.
As they grow bigger, axolotls keep their branch-like gills and stay in the water despite growing
lungs.
The true talent of the axolotl is its regeneration.
While other amphibians can also regenerate, Axolotls take regeneration to the next level.
On top of being able to regenerate limbs, they can also rebuild their jaws, spines,
and even brains without any scarring.
And not end up a possible mutant like the American lobster...
And even more amazing, if you transplant a damaged organ from another animal to the axolotl,
the organ will heal and regain full functionality.
In an article published in Scientific American, researchers stated that you can cut the limbs
at any level, and it will regenerate perfectly.
They can regenerate the same limb 50, 60, 100 times, and every time it is perfect.
It is because of their healing abilities that axolotls are currently being studied in laboratories,
in hopes that they can help humans heal better.
In particular, axolotls are used in the studies of heart defects and the defects of neural
tubes, since their neural tubes are easily visible.
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