What is a lava cricket? Lava crickets are a species of cricket that appear on freshly cooled lava and don’t seem to live anywhere else. Not a lot is known about them. The Latin name for the lava cricket is Caconemobius fori. They are also called lava crickets, dark lava cricket, or ‘ūhini nēnē pele […]
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What is a tadpole shrimp? It is a species of crustacean and is actually one of the oldest known animal species. It is called a living fossil because it is so old. The Latin name for the tadpole shrimp is Notostraca, and their genus is triops, which means three eyes because they have two compound
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Why do Monarch butterflies migrate so far? Monarch butterflies migrate for thousands of kilometers because they can’t survive the cold winters. We know that many species of birds navigate when the weather gets too cold. We are familiar with seeing different bird species in the summer and the winter where we live and we know
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Why are there so many camels in Australia? There are so many camels in Australia because they were shipped over to make exploring the interior and laying telegraph lines easier. When you think of camels, you probably think of hot African desert countries, probably around the Sahara Desert. Well, you are not wrong. The country
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What happened to the dodo? The dodo went extinct in 1662 because of hunting and the introduction of invasive species. We all know the saying, “as dead as a dodo,” but where does it come from? Well, interestingly, “dead as a dodo” doesn’t appear until 1904 and is probably an adaption of “dead as a
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How does the color of a bird’s wings help it fly? Many birds that soar and glide have wings that are darker on the top than on the bottom because radiated heat helps them to fly. Birds usually have wings that are a different color on the top to that on the bottom. The general
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Why do peacocks have such long tails? A peacock’s tail is so long because it confers a large advantage when trying to find a mate. A peacock’s tail (which is also called a train) is a good example of the balance that means evolution sends a species one way or another. Large tails in peacocks
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Why do some fish create their own light? Some fish create their own light to attract prey or, surprisingly, to hide from predators, and many other reasons as well. Being able to create light is called bioluminescence and it is not limited to just fish. The most common organism that creates light on land is
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Do larger animals have a faster metabolism? No, bigger animals don’t have a faster metabolism. It tends to be the exact opposite. Let’s look at what metabolism is. The metabolism of an organism refers to all of the chemical processes that go on within the cells to keep that organism alive. There are three main
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Why do teeth have nerves? We have nerves in our teeth to provide us with feedback on what we are eating and how much pressure we are applying. Teeth appear to have nerves for three reasons. The first reason is because the inside of the tooth is living tissue with a blood supply and where
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