Top 10 Animal Behaviors That Will Astound You
10. Squid in flight
Despite frequent confusion with flying fish, flying squid actually number at least six different species, with the possibility of dozens more. However, scientists have limited data to work with because observing them in action is so fleeting. According to most accounts, sailors discover them when out on deck first thing in the morning.
Silvia Maciá, a marine biologist, was fortunate, nevertheless. She was on vacation in the Caribbean in 2001 when she witnessed a reef squid with a torpedo shape emerge from the water and arc across the sky, apparently startled by the sound of her boat. According to Maciá, it was two meters tall and 10 meters long, or fifty times its own length. However, this wasn’t a simple leap. Like an inside-out bird, the squid guided its flight by “extending its fins and flared its tentacles in a radial pattern while airborne.” She and her husband later collaborated with other biologists on a paper where they stated that the name “gliding” is inappropriate since it suggests a passive action, and that the active term “flight” is more appropriate. Squid were supposedly seen fluttering their fins like wings, according to one of Maciá’s co-authors. For additional propulsion, they can fire water jets, which can be powerful enough to match the speed of boats on occasion. It is not uncommon to observe them flying in groups.
Squid likely evolved flight as a means of conserving energy when evading predators; nevertheless, the exact motivation behind this adaptation remains a mystery.
9. Bats that walk
Bats are mammals, but their “legs” aren’t really legs at all because they’ve adapted to flying so well. They serve primarily as “attachment points for the surface of their wings” in the majority of species.Crawling requires work even when done on the ground.
The vampire bat and the smaller short-tailed burrowing bat are the only two of the 1,110 bat species that walk with a real gait. The vampire bat can’t survive without walking. It must descend silently to its sleeping victim in order to draw blood from it. Using their wings as extra thrust, one species of vampire bat can even sprint.
Not as well-known is the New Zealand burrowing bat, which has adapted to walking by developing grooves in its foot soles, claws on its toes, and pockets to hold its wings in place. This species spends 40% of its time hunting on the ground, thanks to its exceptionally well-adapted walking abilities. However, unlike birds that evolved for flight, it can still fly admirably.
8. Snakes that catch bats
You would assume snakes and bats wouldn’t have much in common, given that snakes can’t fly and most bats can’t walk. A few serpents, though, have supposedly ascended to the skies.
There is a colony of yellow-red rat snakes in a cave in the Yucatan rainforest. They have taken up residence in the crevices of the roof and are ready to pounce on bats. The bat swarms that emerge from the “Bat Cave” every night are so dense that this behavior is quite logical.
Furthermore, it is worth noting that they are not the sole inhabitants of this eerie void. Across the Caribbean Sea, a thousand kilometers distant, boas swoop down on fruit bats as they strike from cave ceilings. To top it all off, they do it in groups, strategically positioning themselves to increase their chances of chomping.
7.Eating spiders, number seven
What kind of spiders consume fish? I know several that devour frogs, rats, and birds, but which ones?
A survey of the relevant literature suggests that this is more common than it first appears. Species from every continent except Antarctica are included, and there are as many as five genera included. When they “fish” for small freshwater mosquito fish in North America, semi-aquatic spiders “anchor” their rear legs to a rock or plant while their front legs float on the water’s surface.
It usually takes a few hours after bringing a catch onto land to feed. Why is the time required so high? The typical spider can hold its own weight in fish for at least twice as long as a human can.
6. Bees that cook hornets
The boddhisattvas of nature, the bees, use more than only stinging as a suicide attack. Hundreds of worker bees form a ball around a hornet that attacks their nest, trapping it in their body heat and killing it instantly. The surprising thing is that this behavior, which is called “hot defensive bee balls,” wasn’t actually recorded until 1995, when researchers in Japan researched it extensively.
The caged hornet can be killed by bees by rapidly vibrating their wing muscles for half an hour or more, reaching temperatures of 48 degrees Celsius. Despite being somewhat below the bee-roasting temperature, it appears to reduce the lifetime of bees. Another effect seems to be a neurological disinhibition, increasing the likelihood that bees may join balls in the future compared to non-involved bees.
In order to smother intruders, some species of bees use non-heated balls. Others dazzle predators with shimmering signals that they reflect as they dance in waves. No matter what they do, they need to move quickly. In order to summon reinforcements, hornets, over time, emit pheromones.
5. Sponge that lives on land
Mosquitoes, you’d think they’d be scared of water. However, a great number of species call it home. For example, surface air is slowly pumped into a silken base that the so-called diving bell spider uses for its underwater habitat. Once developed, the levels of oxygen are maintained via diffusion from surrounding aquatic plants.
Even more astonishing is the fact that coastal spiders, or Amaurobioides, can really swim, which is how they made it from South America to South Africa during the Miocene. Australia and New Zealand were also reached by them. Spiders that live in coastal areas are able to circumnavigate the globe because to their silk and legs.
This activity, first documented in 2015, clarifies the enigma that spiders may blow onto ships from kilometers away, a phenomenon that Darwin had noticed.
4. The flawlessly conceived Komodo
Two instances of female komodo dragons reproducing in captivity at English zoos were revealed in an unusual 2006 publication in the biology journal Nature. The first one laid 11 eggs, with 8 of them showing normal development; the second one laid 22 eggs, with 4 of them hatching. At first, scientists thought the second dragon had just retained the sperm since she had mated 2.5 years before, as is the case with some reptiles. The results of the DNA test, however, showed that her son was a male version of herself. In contrast, the second dragon had never laid eggs.
Parthenogenesis is the scientific name for the very unusual process of asexual reproduction. Because sperm cannot be found, the mother must resort to doubling her own chromosomes in order to have a child. This ability is present in just 0.1% of all vertebrates. Parthenogenesis permits, in theory, females washed ashore on an island to establish a new colony independently, which is likely why komodo dragons are among them. Their isolated home is the Indonesian islands.
However, due to a lack of genetic diversity, the resulting kids are more susceptible to disease. Additionally, komodo dragons are monogamous because, in contrast to humans, a male offspring is born from a pair of identical ZZ chromosomes. Therefore, this endangered monitor lizard species does not benefit from parthenogenesis.
3. Fish that catch birds
With the exception of sharks, most interactions between birds and fish are top-down. Fish don’t catch birds in flight.
Is that so? Scientists in South Africa witnessed a tigerfish pounce on a flying swallow in 2014. They were confused about what they had seen at first because everything transpired so quickly. It transpired that this was the first verified instance of a freshwater fish swooping down on a bird while in flight. They went on to have more. The squad reported seeing up to twenty of these hits daily before they departed. Although there hasn’t been a tonne of research on the topic, anecdotal evidence suggests that fish prey on birds is prevalent in the area.
This also occurs in other places. Flying fish known as silver arowanas hunt not just birds but also bats and mice in the remnants of the Amazonian rainforest.
2. Fish that stalk land
Fish pose a threat to birds even while they’re on land. There is a little island in the River Tarn in Albi, France, where pigeons come to groom themselves and where catfish come to catch them.
I must say, the European catfish is quite the fighter. They are the largest freshwater fish on the continent, often exceeding 1–1.5 meters in length but with exceptional individuals reaching 3 meters. They remain at the pinnacle of their food chain due to their exceptional adaptability, even though they are in a relatively “primitive” evolutionary stage.
Catfish use the vibrations picked up by their top jaw barbels, also called “whiskers,” to track the land-based pigeons.After that, they leap from the water’s surface and land on the island, where they pounce on any scurrying pigeons before slipping back into the ocean. It doesn’t take more than four seconds total.
1. Fish that can climb trees
The ancient adage “a fish out of water” is even more ironic when you consider that some species actually thrive in such environments. Asian mudskippers can stay on dry land for two days by breathing through their gills and, if their skin is moist, their skin pores. This adaptation allows them to keep water bubbles in their gill chambers. They have improved vision on land and modified fins that let them walk (or hop) on land.
People, though, have known this for quite some time. The ability to climb trees is a relatively new finding that scientists have made as they have caught up to local knowledge. The slender mudskipper and the dusky-gilled are two examples of the species that can climb trees. Their fins, secretions resembling slugs, and a mix of suction and friction allow them to climb tree trunks vertically, according to researchers.
The fact that they were able to traverse water was even more astounding. Video footage of the dusky-gillled mudskipper in Java showed that it hopped from mangrove roots and other steep inclines to water, and then from the water to another vertical incline on land. The creature achieved speeds of 1.7 m/s by propelling itself using its own body.
