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 […]
#719 How does an octopus’s suction cup work? Read More »
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
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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
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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
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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
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What animals and insects are pollinators? A large variety of animals and insects are pollinators. Many of us might think that flowers are only really pollinated by bees and butterflies when, in actual fact, there are a huge number of insects, reptiles, and mammals that are responsible for pollination. What is pollination? A plant has
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Are ants smart? They are not smart in the way that we are, but they have been observed using tools and performing tasks that would show they have some intelligence. The size of an animal’s brain is not necessarily an indicator of how smart it is. If we just look at the largest brain, it
#674 Are ants smart? Read More »
What is the difference between slugs and snails? There are several differences but a big one is that snails have a coiled shell on their backs and slugs have a soft shell underneath their flesh. Snails and slugs have a lot more similarities than they have differences. Let’s look at the similarities first. Both snails
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