Did you know?

[Tinkerbell]

I've been helping Stu build up some facts and figures for the reference section, and when researching various British animals, birds etc. you do come across some curious facts. I've decided to start a new thread to share some with you and hope you will add some of your own. They may not be new to you, but could be to the reader. Here goes -

Facts about..... Starfish

Starfish extrude (force out) their stomach through their 'elastic' mouth, pushing the stomach into their prey to digest it.

[Tinkerbell]

Facts about..... Bootlace worms

The Bootlace worm (Lineus longissimus) is able to contract to just a few inches in length, but can also grow up to 30 yards long!!!

[StuartDH]

Crikey, that's as long as a swimming pool...imagine how big the boots would have to be

[Tinkerbell]

Facts about.....Jellyfish

Not all British Jellyfish live in the sea - there is one (Craspedacusta sowerbii) which is found in reservoirs and canals.

[Boddie]

Beavers can hold their breath for over forty five minutes. The same amount of time Sven Goran Ericsson goes without showing any emotion.

A shark can re-grow an entire set of teeth in a little over a week.

A cat can see perfectly in the dark. Roughly six times better then a human - and they don't need carrots.

The common ant colony will have over five hundred thousand members. As will WAB very soon!

Ants never sleep at all.

Dragonflies fly faster then sixty miles per hour, but do observe the highway code at all other times.

Because they are immune to every known disease, a shark will never get sick - only of the taste of fish.

A female ferret will literally die if she goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

When exiting a cave, bats always turn left.

You will never hear the echo of a duck’s quack.

A chicken can travel as fast as nine miles per hour.

The largest chicken egg measured in at a whopping 31 cms around and was close to 12 oz.

Nine is the highest number of yolks found in one egg.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds, whilst it's daft mate attempted to cross the M25 (in rush hour)

A rat can go longer without water than a camel, then it begins to get the hump.

The hummingbird is the smallest bird on Earth. It weighs about one 28 grams.

Dolphins have been recorded as swimming 35 mph, but not in town centres.

A baby swan works for 24 hours to peck its way out of the shell.

Amphibians can only see in black and white, so they have no problems with newspapers.

A toad catches over 10,000 insects during one summer.

Fleas can kill dogs and cats if the infestation is not taken left to lay eggs and bite at will. Stray dogs and cats sometimes die because a flea infestation is uncontrolled.

Fleas will not use an animal that is dying as a host. Out of respect?

One flea can bite your pet over 400 times a daily.

The average life cycle of butterflies is about two weeks, though some species live only two days while a few species live up to nine months.

There are over 20,000 butterfly species in the world and 9,000,000 bicycles in Beijing (Katie Meluah)

The fear of frogs is called Ranidaphobia, the fear of toads is called Bufonophobia, and the fear of amphibians is called Batrachophobia.

[Pat]

Blimey where did you get all that from

[henrya]

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When exiting a cave, bats always turn left.
Endquote

Sorry, Boddie, this one is untrue!

Quote
Fleas will not use an animal that is dying as a host.
Endquote

Not too sure about this one, either. I have found fleas on dead bats!

Quote
You will never hear the echo of a duck’s quack.
Endquote

Why not? Noises echo. A duck's quack is a noise, so why doesn't it echo?

henrya

[Boddie]

On bats I will have to check my source.

You may have found fleas on dead bats but they are not using it as a host, they are just sampling and are probably unaware it has perished.

As for the ducks quack it looks as if you are correct - I've been taken in by an urban myth.

Thanks though Henrya. I don't like my facts to be incorrect and if there are any that are wrong it allows me to investigate further - all part of the learning process.

[StuartDH]

hahahaha...excellent Boddie .

I'll put them in the reference section later today and we'll also try to expose some of the myths, because I thought bats turned left as well and there are probably a lot more 'rural legends'

Keep 'em coming

[henrya]

Boddie,

Quote
On bats I will have to check my source.
Endquote

This thing about bats arose two or three years ago. It was discussed thoroughly on one of the bat forums and plenty of people had evidence to show it wasn't true. I've seen bats fly left, right and straight ahead from bat roosts (not cave roosts, admittedly, but why would they treat caves differently?)

Quote
You may have found fleas on dead bats but they are not using it as a host, they are just sampling and are probably unaware it has perished.
Endquote

I have also found fleas on bats that are clearly close to death (and the dead ones have not died through trauma, but natural causes). I think this one needs clarification.

henrya

[Boddie]

Endquote

This thing about bats arose two or three years ago. It was discussed thoroughly on one of the bat forums and plenty of people had evidence to show it wasn't true. I've seen bats fly left, right and straight ahead from bat roosts (not cave roosts, admittedly, but why would they treat caves differently?)

I can't answer that but my sources insist its true. Having never studied it though it could very well be myth.

Quote
You may have found fleas on dead bats but they are not using it as a host, they are just sampling and are probably unaware it has perished.
Endquote

I have also found fleas on bats that are clearly close to death (and the dead ones have not died through trauma, but natural causes). I think this one needs clarification.

Fleas essentially feed on blood. Shortly before death the heart rate will inevitably slow and after death blood hemostasis sets in and the blood will not be pumped around the vessels eventually solidifying and will not be so easily extracted from the host. The host thereore becomes less appetising.

[henrya]

Quote
Fleas essentially feed on blood. Shortly before death the heart rate will inevitably slow and after death blood hemostasis sets in and the blood will not be pumped around the vessels evenually solidifying and will not be so easily extracted from the host. The host therefore becomes less appetising.
Endquote

Not sure where we are going with this one, Boddie. You originally said "Fleas will not use an animal that is dying as a host." but I have found fleas on dying and dead animals. Depends on what you mean by "use as a host". As I said, this needs clarifying. When do fleas leave a dying host (if they do)?

henrya

[Boddie]

Maybe they are not using the animal i.e. feeding, they are maybe having a nap and will soon move on to some other unfortunate host

[Boddie]

Originally Posted by Pat

Blimey where did you get all that from

I believe from my frontal lobe, although it could have been the lower cortex

[pxl8]

Fleas spend most of their time off the host, they hop on for a feed and then leave again. To find a host fleas sit and face the light, they are most sensitive to green light. When something passes in front of the light they jump towards it thinking it's a host they can feed on. There was a flea trap based on this principal on telly years ago - the trap had a green light that turned itself off every so often and the fleas would jump towards the trap getting caught in the tray full of sticky goo.

Anyway, perhaps the reason fleas don't use dying animals as hosts is because the animal is too sick to move around therefore is not being recognised as a host? It's certainly a simpler reason than fleas having some sixth sense about their host or being able to detect differences in blood from a reduced heart rate and maybe Occam's razor can be applied...

[henrya]

Quote
Maybe they a not using the animal i.e. feeding, they are maybe having a nap and will soon move on to some othjer unfortunate host
Ending

But aren't they using the animal as somewhere to sleep? Isn't that treating it as a host?

henrya

[Boddie]

My apologies - Fleas will not feed of an animal that is dying as the reduced heart rate would result in a low blood pressure and eventual hemostasis of blood. The resultant clotting, of the blood, would mean that the blood was more difficult to extract so although the fleas sixth sense might not tell them this necessarily their cheeks would hurt from too much sucking.

[Boddie]

A bird requires more food in proportion to its size than a baby or a cat (but what about a baby bird?)

A Cornish game hen is really a young chicken, usually 5 to 6 weeks of age, that weighs no more than 2 pounds.

A father sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. He will not eat until his young are born, which may take several weeks.

A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time.

A leech is a worm that feeds on blood. It will pierce its victim's skin, fill itself with three to four times its own body weight in blood, and will not feed again for months.
Leeches were once used by doctors to drain "bad blood", or blood that would not coagulate naturally, from sick patients.

A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.

All clams start out as males; some decide to become females at some point in their lives.

At the end of the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life", an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.

Beaver teeth are so sharp that Native Americans once used them as knife blades.

Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed and continue living. (Don’t try this at home)

Dolphins sleep at night just below the surface of the water. They frequently rise to the surface for air.

In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.

Infant Beavers are called kittens.

It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.

Moles are able to tunnel through 300 feet of earth in a day.

Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes.

Rats are omnivorous, eating nearly any type of food, including dead and dying members of their own species.

Rats can't throw-up – Their arms aren’t long enough.

Snakes are immune to their own poison – so tend not to bite themselves.

Swans are the only birds with penises. (I presume that’s male swans)

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.

The fastest -moving land snail, the common garden snail, has a speed of 0.0313 mph – still quicker than Emile Heskey.

The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

The turbot fish lays approximately 14 million eggs during its lifetime.

When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny. (I’ve done the Gail Tildsley joke aleady)

[Boddie]

Peregrine falcons can fly at a speed of 168-217 miles per hour

The honeybee would have to travel an average of 43,000 miles to collect enough nectar to make a pound of honey

Sometimes birds show anger towards humans by taking out its feelings on other birds nearby, because they are too afraid to attack humans

Foxes sometimes nip at the heals of cattle so the stomping of the cattle makes mice and other rodents come out of the ground, for the Fox to eat.

Some ducks and geese can fly as much as 332 miles a day.

Whilst it’s a fact that birds save energy by flying in a "V" formation as do cyclist in the Tour de France, no-one knows why women drivers hog the middle lane.

An owl's eyes are bigger than its brain, whilst Rick Waller’s are bigger than his belly.

An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.

The average housefly lives for one month.

There is only one insect that can turn its head -- the praying mantis.

A slug has four noses.

A mosquito flaps its wings 500 times a second.

A Rabbit's teeth never stop growing. Not GT again!

Only male crickets can chirp.

Squirrels can't remember where they hide half of their nuts. – So you should leave them out twice as many.

Octopuses have 3 hearts.

Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.

About 80% of the Earth’s animals are insects.

The common garden worm has five pairs of hearts.

Honeybees have hair on their eyes.

A duck has three eyelids.

[Tinkerbell]

These are all going to take ages to digest - but ain't it all fascinating.

[nightshade]

bats exit and go to all points to feeding areas if the area happens to be left ,
left they will go ,if right ...........

[pxl8]

Originally Posted by Boddie

My apologies - Fleas will not feed of an animal that is dying as the reduced heart rate would result in a low blood pressure and eventual hemostasis of blood. The resultant clotting, of the blood, would mean that the blood was more difficult to extract so although the fleas sixth sense might not tell them this necessarily their cheeks would hurt from too much sucking.

Sorry Boddie but I'm just not getting this, here's why.

Clotting is normally the result of damage to blood vessels, not low blood pressure (although a clot can form if the blood pools sufficiently). The very act of the flea feeding would start the clotting process.

What about animals that are dying but don't have a reduced heart rate?

What is the definition of dying? 5mins from death? 2 weeks?

Do you have any references with more info?

[Tinkerbell]

Little did I know when I started this thread - merely to lighten the forum - that it would go off on such serious angles again. Off course, some of the facts are open to argument (even the expert members are unable to agree about everything, let alone professionals) but please let's try to keep this one as intended - Boddie has come up with quite a few (perhaps his source was wrong on a couple). Maybe a short comment on the opposing evidence would do. If there is a need to discuss things in more intellectual depth, could this be channelled to another thread please?

Pat has noted an interesting observation, personally, which we could all try to witness - i.e. with the exception of pigeons, birds as they drink throw their heads back.

[Pat]

Not sure but I'll try to find out.

[Tragus]

WOW! There are some amazing facts there... can I just add that a Cormorant has 14 tail feathers whilst a Shag has only 12!!

Boddie....Apparently ducks, geese and ostriches also have penises. I can't vouch for this but I can for swans. Our swan ringer needs to record what sex a swan is for definite before he rings them and its not that easy to actually check.. .

Another interesting fact about fleas..(anyone itching yet?) is that each species of animal has its own type of flea. Now fleas can live and feed on any host, but if a Hedgehog flea dines on a Badger, for example.. the fleas mouth parts clog up and it cannot digest the blood and dies!!! This information was passed on to me by a biologist who rang up the rescue centre asking for advice on a ailing hog, so don't quote me! Amazing what you can find out!


I'll have to think of some more weird facts to share later on
Tragus