What are tails for? Animals have tails for several different reasons. They use them for balance, to grip things, for motion, as weapons, to lose heat, to communicate, and to keep flies off. The majority of mammals, birds, and reptiles have tails, but not all do. Some insects have tails as well. Out of the […]
#1047 What are tails for? Read More »
Why are flamingos pink? Flamingos are pink because of all the carotenoids that they eat. Flamingos are famous for sleeping on one leg while standing up, for eating upside down, and for being a brilliant shade of pink. However, when they are born, they are a slightly off-white color. They take on their pink color
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Why do snails have teeth? They use their teeth to scrape away pieces of food. Snails are not the only gastropods that have teeth. Slugs basically evolved from snails and they have teeth as well. Both slugs and snails have thousands of microscopic teeth. Depending on the size of the snail, they can have over
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Why do male seahorses give birth? Male seahorses give birth because it gives the female time to make more eggs. All living organisms have to reproduce in order to keep their DNA going. However, they don’t all reproduce in the same way. There are two types of reproduction: sexual and asexual. There is only one
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Why did we lose all our fur? There are several hypotheses, but probably so that we could cool down more easily. However, nobody knows the actual reason why we lost our fur and there is no way of knowing when we lost it, as well. We are the only hairless ape, but we are obviously
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Why do flies buzz and cicadas and crickets chirp? Flies buzz because of how fast their wings have to move, cicadas chirp by flexing their tymbal, and crickets rub their wings together. Flies aren’t the only insects that buzz. The majority of insects produce some kind of buzzing sound when they fly. Some insects produce
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How can hippos sleep underwater? They have a reflex that makes them bob up and down in the water while they are asleep so that they can breathe. Hippos are the third largest land animals. They are only beaten by white rhinos and elephants. Hippos grow up to 5 m long, including their tails, and
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How do animals sense earthquakes? No one actually knows how animals can sense earthquakes. They might be able to hear them. Possibly they can smell them. It could be that they sense the changing pressure. The surface of our planet is constantly moving and there are several hundred earthquakes a day. Many of them are
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Why is a duck-billed platypus so odd? It has a beak, no teeth, lays eggs, sweats milk, has 10 sex chromosomes, has webbed feet, has fur that glows, they have no stomachs, and has venomous spurs. The duck-billed platypus is native to Australia. Its name comes from Greek and means “flat foot”. It is so
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How is a mongoose immune to snake venom? They are not immune to all snake venom, just the snakes they live around. Even then, they have resistance rather than immunity. There are different types of venom for different types of snakes. The mongoose is particularly resistant to the venom of the cobra, which is a
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