Why can animals jump higher and farther than us? They have more muscles, more elastic joints, tails, more speed, and they can impart more power into the ground. Note, I am going to look at mammals, not insects, which can jump many times their own body length. The highest a human can jump is 2.45 […]
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Do piranhas eat meat? They do, but not very often and they are not the carnivores that we have been led to believe. Many people fear piranhas and they have been used in movies as a plot device. In the James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, one of the characters was fed to piranhas,
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How high can birds fly? A Ruppell’s vulture was hit by a plane at 11,300 meters. The bird was identified by the feathers after the plane landed. There may be other birds that have flown higher, but they have not been encountered, so this is probably the record. There are three things that dictate the
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How is silk made? It is made from the cocoon of the silkworm. Silk is a natural material that has been around for over 5 thousand years. Silk was first made by the Yangshao culture in China in the 4th millennium BC. One legend has it that an Empress was drinking tea and a silkworm
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Why can grasshoppers jump so high? They can store energy in their exoskeleton and release it like a spring. Grasshoppers are not all the same. They are a small group of insects in the Caelifera family, which contains about 12,000 species. Locusts are grasshoppers and they belong to this family, and many other insects that
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How do polar bears find enough food? By having an exceptional sense of smell, a lot of patience, and a very efficient digestion. Polar bears are the largest bear species by far. An adult male can weigh close to 800 kg, and they are about 160 cm at the shoulder. When they stand up and
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How does a rattlesnake rattle? They have loose hollow scales on the tips of their tails that strike each other when the rattlesnake rattles its tail. Rattlesnakes are a type of viper and are venomous snakes. There are many different types of venomous snakes, and they are divided by the position of their fangs and
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How do birds land? It depends on the size of the bird and whether it is a landing on land, a branch, or water. Generally, they lose as much speed as possible and grab on. The physics behind the way birds fly is the same as for airplanes. Anything that flies needs lift and thrust,
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Why are blueberries blue and strawberries red? Because of the animals the plants want to eat their fruit. Flowers and fruit tend to be a certain color because they have either evolved to attract a certain kind of animal or to repel a certain kind of animal. A lot of flowers and animals as well
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How big was a Megalodon? The largest ones could have been 20 meters long. Megalodon was a species of giant mackerel shark. Mackerel sharks have two dorsal fins, an anal fin, five gill slits, eyes without nictitating membranes, and a mouth that extends behind the eyes. Great white sharks are in this family. Megalodons lived
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