Do animals grieve?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Animals grieve

Evidence suggests that yes, animals grieve the loss of other animals. Pigeons, for example, mate for life and show signs of distress when their partner or one of their chicks dies.  My curiosity for this topic was sparked when my admittedly overfed cat caught a pigeon and during the ensuing struggle, a fox swooped out… Read more »

Do magpies migrate ?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Do magpies migrate? The answer is no as they are non migratory and rarely travel more than about 10km from where they hatched.  Unlike a lot of other birds like ducks, geese and bramblings, magpies do not in fact migrate. The question we must ask to figure out why magpies don’t migrate is why other… Read more »

Can a bee survive a sting?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Survive a sting

Honeybees are the only species of bee that die after stinging, because their stinger gets stuck. This injures them and means they can’t survive a sting.  They can survive stinging other insects, but the thicker flesh of mammals is trickier. Their stingers are barbed meaning they get caught in the flesh and torn out of… Read more »

why are zebras black and white?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Zebras black and white

A zebras black and white colouring helps it maintain an optimum temperature. Black absorbs the most heat, whereas white reflects the most. But why is this important? It’s all well and good to say which colour absorbs more heat and which absorbs less, but we must ask why? Since I’m no physicist, I’ll give you… Read more »

Are Giraffe Tongues Blue or Purple?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Giraffe tongues

The end of giraffe tongues are dark in colour, ranging from blue and purple even to black. So, long story short, they’re a bit of both! This little evolutionary quirk is quite unbelievable at first. It seems like something pulled straight out of Harry Potter, but we don’t have JK to blame for this. Perhaps… Read more »

Do Komodo dragons breathe fire ?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Breathe fire

Sadly no, unlike their namesake, Komodo dragons do not breathe fire. However, they do have a plethora of OTHER fantastical qualities ! The more you learn about these reptilian behemoths, the more unbelievable they become. They’re gigantic, vicious AND agile : a perfect predatory triad. I know at least for me, the more i looked… Read more »

Do woodpeckers eat wood?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Woodpeckers eat

Despite the slightly misleading name, woodpeckers eat berries, seeds and small insects, not wood. Disappointing, I know.  Yes, even though they’re known (and literally named) for pecking wood, they’re not actually eating it. When you think about it, they’d be far too weighed down to fly if they actually ate any wood. So why do… Read more »

Why do hermit crabs queue?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

Hermit crabs queue

The little arthropods must size up their shells often so hermit crabs queue up in size order and trade shells down the line.  This behaviour is quite remarkable, i mean who would expect a little crab to be so polite? If you’re still confused, don’t worry I’ll explain. Hermit crabs occasionally come across a larger… Read more »

Which bird shows off the most?

Posted by & filed under Uncategorized.

In order to successfully mate, they often put on strong displays in which the bird shows off to it’s potential partner.  This can be achieved in a wide variety of ways that trigger a wide variety of senses. I want to break down the why and how of these rituals and find out which bird… Read more »