Category Animal World

The most common myth concerning ostriches is that these birds bury their heads under the sand whenever danger is on the prowl. In reality, this isn’t true, because ostriches do not bury their heads underground when threatened; instead, they will readily defend themselves and protect their chicks.

Sure enough, the world’s biggest and fastest bird can become aggressive if threatened. For that matter, it has long, dagger-like claws at the end of its long feet – as such, one kick can inflict a serious amount of damage. This is why it’s always advisable never to try provoking an ostrich.

However, the myth does come from a true fact: when nesting, a female ostrich will dig shallow holes in the ground, so as to use them as nests for her eggs. In the process, she uses her beak to turn her eggs several times each day.

In fact, from a distance, an ostrich leaning into a hole could easily look like it’s burying its head in the sand! And that is what probably led to the common myth.

But still, despite their comical appearance, ostriches are not cowards; they are dangerous birds that will never relent towards anything that threatens their lives or that of their young. It’s always wise never to mess with ostriches.

 

Credit : Quora

Picture Credit : Google

Elephants kill gratuitously.

Yes, the herbivorous elephant.

It’s been observed that some young bull elephants have got into the habit of raping and killing rhinos, buffalo and sometimes even other elephants, for what is clearly just for the hell of it. If you want pictures/videos though, I’ll let you Google them for yourselves.

The reason? Poachers.

It’s not unknown that elephants are prime targets for poachers, as their ivory commands a high price. Because older males have bigger tusks, though, they’ve been the preferred target for this callous bunch ever since the pound signs rocked up in front of them, and as a result, their numbers out of all elephants have taken the biggest hit.

Researchers have observed that the knock-on effect of this is that the younger males lack a role model, a sort of father figure, to instil in them self-control and good behaviour. Without those boundaries set, some go wild and do some crazy and despicable things.

This isn’t mere speculation either.

Young male elephants at national parks in parts of Africa exhibiting aggressive behaviour, particularly killing rhinos in ritualised combat, were shown to be less aggressive when bigger, older males were reintroduced.

So what’s the cause?

It’s believed that musth (pronounced “moost”) is the reason. It’s the name given to periods where a male elephant’s testosterone spikes by 40–60×, or even up to 140× in some cases, causing them to become highly aggressive to the point that controlling them becomes impossible. The studies have found that once the older males were reintroduced, it stopped the younger males from entering musth in the first place.

Of course in the wild, it’s not so simple. Killing the older males has invariably upset the social structure of elephants, and it’s already becoming clear what the results are going to be should this continue.

 

Credit : Quora

Picture Credit : Google

 The cone snail is the scariest animal that no one talks about.

Look at that beautiful shell, covered in pretty patterns! Don’t you just want to pick it up?

If you do, you’re as good as dead. They have a venomous, stinging tongue that stretches far enough to strike you no matter where you hold it from. A few microliters of cone snail toxin is powerful enough to kill 10 people, and the worst part? The stinger is full of painkillers so you won’t even realize you’ve been stung.

Luckily they don’t have a high human kill-count… but the few people they do kill? Never see it coming.

There are over 500 species of cone snail, and most aren’t deadly to humans… only about 10 species could kill you. But a Geography Cone Snail? It has a complex cocktail of over 100 toxins, and there’s no antivenin for it. The best they can do is keep you alive at the hospital (if you make it there in 15 minutes) until the venoms have worked their way through your body… which is PAINFUL. The sting might be painless, but this is a horrible way to die.

 

Credit : Quora

Picture Credit : Google

 There are very odd organisms living 2500 meters deep in lithosphere, under the ocean, that have such a low rate of metabolism that they divide once every hundreds, perhaps a thousand years.

They have only been discovered recently. Their habitat is isolated from the surface biosphere. It doesn’t depend on photosynthesis. In lithosphere, under the ocean, the food chain starts with radioactive decay. These organisms divide so slowly that it’s difficult to even measure their metabolic rate to tell how often they divide. They are not animals though. They are unicellular organisms. Their existence gives hope to our search for extraterrestrial life forms on other planets. If life on Earth can survive and thrive isolated from the surface, then it’s conceivable that it can on other planets, in their deep lithosphere as well. Perhaps life as we know it started in such habitat too.

To answer your question: Because of slow rate of metabolism, lithosphere life forms can divide (are born) so rarely, that it might be a thousand years between each division. They are not animals though. They are much simpler single-celled organisms. There is no known multi cellular life form, animal, that I’m aware of, that is born once every thousand years.

 

Credit : Quora

Picture Credit : Google

Meet the animal whose tongue is hard and rough enough to tear off one’s skin to the bones.

Tigers

The tiger’s tongue is covered with numerous small, sharp, rear-facing projections called papillae. These papillae give the tongue its rough, rasping texture and is designed to help strip feathers, fur and meat from prey. The tongue can lick the paint off a wall!.

• A tiger’s intimidating roar has the power to “paralyze” the animal that hears it and that even includes experienced human trainers. Their distinguished roar results from their extremely thick and well developed vocal cords.
• Tigers have furs and stripes as designs on their bodies. These stripes are deep into their skin as they can still be seen after the fur is shaved

No two tigers have the same stripes. Like human fingerprints, their stripe patterns are unique to each individual.

 

Credit : Quora

Picture Credit : Google