The
Incredible Shrinking Bird
Red Knot birds, which are native to West Africa, were discovered by researchers to be shrinking
in size due to malnutrition.
The culprit?
Warmer weather than comes early, thanks to climate change.
This particular species nests in northern Russia and spends its winters at their home
in West Africa.
Unfortunately for the chicks that hatch while in Russia, the insects they eat come out earlier,
due to the snow melting much sooner.
Two weeks earlier, to be exact.
By not eating the much-needed insects, these birds grow to be smaller-than-average juveniles
with short bills.
As a result, when they fly back to the West African coast, they can’t reach deep enough
into the sand to eat the clams and mussels that have the nutrients they need.
Instead, the red knot juveniles eat the less-nutritious sea grass.
7.
Lizards Possibly Dream
Researchers in Germany have just discovered that Australian bearded dragons share similar
brain patterns during sleep as mammals – including humans – and birds.
These lizards are the first reptiles to display these types of patterns.
This means that Rapid-Eye-Movement, or REM, and slow-wave activity has been found.
Dreaming is thought to take place during the REM stage of sleep, and it is possible that
Australian bearded dragons dream during this time.
So far, there is no concrete evidence that they do, but it is hard to ignore the possibility.
6.
Smart As A Bird
New studies have shown that birds may be a lot smarter than we originally thought.
Instead of instinct, this intelligence comes from the way their brains are structured.
Many birds have reasoning skills similar to a child’s, can create tools, have exceptional
navigation skills, remember where they put things, and even show empathy.
African grey parrots can have an over 100-word vocabulary, while the male Eurasian jay tries
to mate with females by bringing them food… that is, food they have eaten before and would
probably enjoy, understanding that her food choices are different from his own.
5.
How Caterpillars Make Friends
Masked birch caterpillars have a unique way of making new friends…
they drum their butts on leaves!
New research shows that these small creatures will drum their butts in order to call other
caterpillars to help build and maintain cocoons on birch leaves.
They act as temporary safe houses while they mature, and many caterpillars are needed to
spin the silk for these cocoons.
Scientists say that the vibrations created by the caterpillar’s butt, when heard by
a special device because the human ear can’t hear it in the wild, sounds like a strange
rumbling.
4.
A Stab At Love
Along with worms, spiders, snails and bedbugs, a parasite known as Stylops Ovinae mates in
a similar way.
It stabs the female with its penis and injects its sperm into her body.
Called “traumatic insemination”, it was recently discovered to be done by these parasites.
However, despite being stabbed by a penis, there is no pain involved – the female parasite
has a special pocket on her neck that the male stabs.
Once the sperm enters her body, it fertilizes the eggs that float within the insect host.
Scientists have also discovered that the male parasites can tell whether a female has had
a “special visit” or not.
3.
Swimming Under The Influence
Humans aren’t the only living things that act crazy when they’re drunk.
Plankton can be added to that list when they eat toxic algae.
A new study said that when plankton eat a certain toxic algae, their behavior becomes
strange.
That is, they swim faster and in a straight line.
This can be dangerous for them because they become easier targets for predators.
When plankton aren’t intoxicated, they swim slowly and in different patterns as to make
capture by predators harder.
2.
Prairie Dogs Are Serial Killers
Parents want their children to eat, but they won’t kill to make sure they do… except
for prairie dogs.
The white-tailed prairie dog, native to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, are the first
herbivorous mammals to kill other animals without eating them.
A new study showed that this species of prairie dogs kill Wyoming ground squirrels so their
own offspring won’t go hungry.
The reason these squirrels are the victims is because they eat grass and prickly pears…
just like white-tailed prairie dogs.
1.
Self-Cloning Salamanders
Some females just don’t need males, especially those who are mole salamanders.
This is because they have the ability to take the sperm from male salamanders – usually
left behind – and add it to their own set of chromosomes.
Basically, females mainly reproduce by self-cloning.
While scientists still don’t know how it works, what they have discovered is that some
of these collected chromosomes aren’t even of their own species.
Up to five species can be found within a female’s set of chromosomes.
These salamanders can also regenerate certain body parts, especially their tales.
In fact, tails can grow back 36 percent faster than that of a male’s, thanks to their collected
sperm.