Post 9vWFSv7sKwLxVmoRJg by LovesTha@floss.social
(DIR) More posts by LovesTha@floss.social
(DIR) Post #9vUQw8Jz4ArW0uglAe by noelle@elekk.xyz
2020-05-28T01:14:24Z
1 likes, 2 repeats
Tell me your favorite weird fact about nature! :weirdfish:Here's one of mine: coelacanths, the fabled "living fossil" fish rediscovered in the 20th century after they disappeared from the fossil record hundreds of millions of years ago, are lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) - meaning they're more closely related to humans than to most other fish in the world!
(DIR) Post #9vUR0SgbICC6KfKbdA by mavica@computerfairi.es
2020-05-28T01:15:52Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle i dunno if it's a favourite fact or just completely terrifying but i can't wrap my head around bacteriophages looking like that and not being man-madealso spindly legs freak me the fuck out and as a kid i had to block out the pictures of it in biology books
(DIR) Post #9vUzVuXRBYnS8JDHEG by RobsteinOne@elekk.xyz
2020-05-28T01:30:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle I’ve got a few:- most sharks can never stop swimming (i.e. force water through their gills) because if they did they’d suffocate and die- lobsters can taste with their feet- cats shed whiskers- sharks never stop growing new teeth- trees can communicate with each other over long distances via fungus- octopi/octopuses are astonishingly smart- sharks are fish but they don’t have scales- snails can hibernate at a moment’s notice if the weather/food conditions aren’t up to snuff
(DIR) Post #9vUzVulcKq8gqHqbKa by clacke@libranet.de
2020-05-28T07:52:38Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@RobsteinOne @noelle I was going to call "faktoid!" on "sharks can never stop swimming", but apparently It Depends!> "Obligate ram ventilators" are sharks that have lost the ability, and the necessary anatomy, for buccal pumping, and instead can only respire using ram ventilation. Sharks from this group (which includes great white, mako and whale sharks) would indeed die from lack of oxygen if they stopped swimming.https://www.livescience.com/34777-sharks-keep-swimming-or-die.html
(DIR) Post #9vUzXjBMNVHNUYkk0O by MairuzuRoxs@elekk.xyz
2020-05-28T02:08:47Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle Anything having to do with the mantis shrimp! They have trinocular vision in each eye meaning they only need one to notice depth unlike us who need both. They can perceive around 12-16 colors, unlike us who can only perceive 3 (red, green, and blue). Their punch is also so fast that cavitation bubbles form which create shockwaves different to that of their own initial punch. It's rad as heck
(DIR) Post #9vUzXjSjKvAqMQsc52 by noelle@elekk.xyz
2020-05-28T03:02:43Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@MairuzuRoxs The very weirdest thing about mantis shrimp, to me - we may have talked about this? - is that they can see a lot more colors than humans can, but they can only see one at a time. They shift their vision up and down the spectrum, so they can see colors a lot more vividly than we can, but can't ever see pink and blue at the same time.
(DIR) Post #9vUzYZpubycAnO7rQu by Morgan@elekk.xyz
2020-05-28T02:15:37Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle my favorite fish, the electric eel, is not actually an eel! It is actually a member of the family Gymnotiform, which have special organs in their bodies which produce and conduct electricity up to 860 volts and 1 amp!This family of fish is also called Knifefish.
(DIR) Post #9vV8fyyURfXmNKkC9o by clacke@libranet.de
2020-05-28T09:35:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle @MairuzuRoxs I expect you both have read https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp , but if somebody else haven't yet ... The mantis shrimp is really something, for several reasons.Based on your description of their light filter method though, Oatmeal's understanding of it seems slightly mistaken.
(DIR) Post #9vVC3xrYWwevjuczL6 by alice@bidule.menf.in
2020-05-28T10:13:28.158764Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@noelle Personally I'm always puzzled and amazed by the differences in sizes and complexity of various organisms. The fact that some human cells can span several decimeters and be visible to the naked eye while some parasites, for instance the one causing Malaria, are small enough to target and enter red blood cells.
(DIR) Post #9vVGCz3DsjI1qbdoMC by stokes@meow.social
2020-05-28T10:18:34Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle not really a nature fact per se but: the London natural history museum is decorated with extinct terracotta animals on one wing and extant ones on the other, except that the extinct side includes the coelacanth which is actually extant, and the extant side includes the passenger pigeon, which is now extinct
(DIR) Post #9vVGJGcnSJsm5aHDJQ by clacke@libranet.de
2020-05-28T11:00:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@stokes @noelle I thought you were going to say they moved animals from one wing to the other as they died off and that this was a terrifying progression.
(DIR) Post #9vVJ2Z9Jd2QyTuDOD2 by Nausicaa@pipou.academy
2020-05-28T11:27:03Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle Many sea cucumbers have no teeth in the mouth but do have some in the anus.It is a defense mechanisms against parasites that can enter into the sea cucumbers through the anus, which is often wide open, because they litterally breath with it.(sorry for my bad english I'm not used to describe that... kind of things...)
(DIR) Post #9vVkvuGzURE8gXPyOu by RobsteinOne@elekk.xyz
2020-05-28T16:18:39Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@clacke This is why I didn't say "all sharks" or just "sharks" in general. :P
(DIR) Post #9vVlkUfYRaES2r1s4e by LovesTha@floss.social
2020-05-28T01:44:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@noelle I'd love to know why they disappeared from the fossil record....
(DIR) Post #9vVlkUvrSxHArQetUW by clacke@libranet.de
2020-05-28T16:52:38Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@LovesTha @noelle The fossil record is pretty sparse compared to all living creatures. If there weren't very many of them, maybe just none of them got caught in the circumstances that lead to a fossil.The idea of a "living fossil" is a bit of a misunderstanding though. Nothing not-evolves for a hundred million years. There are no "old" and "young" species.There are modern organisms that look remarkably similar to ancient organisms, probably because they have been living in a very stable niche, so that their evolution has not affected their outward appearance much, as there was lower evolutionary pressure to change it and higher evolutionary pressure to keep it.
(DIR) Post #9vWFSv7sKwLxVmoRJg by LovesTha@floss.social
2020-05-28T20:32:07Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@clacke @noelle or the crocodile, which is just a pretty universal good design of a predator?