Is a whale shark a whale or a shark? A whale shark is a shark and not a whale. The difference between whales and sharks is that whales are mammals and sharks are fish. What are the differences between mammals and fish? Mammals are “vertebrate animals in which the young are nourished with milk from […]
#743 Is a whale shark a whale or a shark? Read More »
What is the smallest mammal? The Etruscan shrew is the smallest mammal in the world right now. Etruscan means “of Etruria”, which was an ancient group of people that lived in central Italy from roughly 900 BC until 27 BC when it was dissolved into the Roman Empire. Rome was heavily influenced by Etruria and
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Why does Australia have so many dangerous animals? It actually doesn’t have as many dangerous animals as people think and there are other countries that have more. However, for a single country it does have a large number of dangerous animals, partly because of its location, its size, and because of evolution. Let’s try and
#726 Why does Australia have so many dangerous animals? Read More »
How does an octopus’s suction cup work? It reduces the pressure inside the sucker to create an extremely strong seal. Incidentally, I’m going with octopuses as the plural of octopus. Octopi is equally valid, but octopuses is apparently the more common term amongst the scientific community. Octopus comes from a Latin word and when Latin
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Why do shells form in different shapes? The environment and the biology of each living organism has caused their evolution to go in a slightly different direction. Most of the creatures that live in the sea and make shells are mollusks. They are soft-bodied creatures and use their shells as an exoskeleton. It gives them
#718 Why do shells form in different shapes? Read More »
What is the difference between a frog and a toad? There are many differences between the two, although toads are actually a type of frog, which makes it a bit like asking what the difference between a dog and a Labrador is. So, let’s start from the top. Frogs and toads belong to the order
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Is a starfish a fish? No, starfish are not fish. Fish are vertebrate animals that live in the sea, have gills to breathe through, have a two chambered heart, are cold blooded, and have a brain and central nervous system. Starfish live in the sea, but that is where the similarity stops. These days, many
#703 Is a starfish a fish? Read More »
Are symbiotic relationships always beneficial to both parties? No, they aren’t. There are mutualistic, commensalistic, and parasitic symbiotic relationships. The word symbiosis means “a close, prolonged association between two or more different biological species”. It originates with the Greek word symbiosis and means living together. We tend to think that a symbiotic relationship is beneficial
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Why can fish swim so fast? They move their bodies from side to side in such a way that they produce a backwards moving wave in their bodies, which pushes against the water, producing thrust. Also, they are very streamlined. First, we should clear up the fact that all fish are fast. There are some
#688 Why can fish swim so fast? Read More »
Why are bees transported across countries by truck? Bees are the largest pollinator of many of the foods we eat and they have to be transported to where the foods are grown. Bees are the most common pollinator but not by any means the only. Bees travel from their hive to find flowers. When they
#686 Why are bees transported across countries by truck? Read More »
