Q&A | Misconceptions about animals

30/06/2024

 

Misconceptions, and the truths….

  1. Bats are blind – bats actually use both sight and eco-location to get around

2. Ostriches stick their head in the sand – FALSE!

Answer: They go closer to the ground to blend into their surroundings, or are digging nests, a task done by the male.

3. You should pee on a jellyfish sting….

Answer: Leave the water, and apply an acidic compound such as vinegar

4. Goldfish turn white in a dark room…. WHAT????

Answer: a goldfish will change colour depending on what they are feed, not only by a small amount. Please do NOT leave your in a dark room , or a locked car (reference a dog)

5. Chameleons can change colour for camouflage,

Answer: This is dependent on colour-pigment in their skin known as …. They actually change colour foe a number of reasons – stress, communication, etc ‘

” Color change happens when the melanin pigment moves. Chameleons darken when melanin disperses or concentrates in the dendrites of the melanophore, and the skin becomes pale when they collect at the center of the melanophore, which is nestled deeper within their skin.”

6. Mother birds will be rejected when they are returned to the nest – if imprinted with human smell.

Answer: FALSE.

7 Lemmings commit mass suicide?

Answer: Numbers of populations of lemmings can vary from year to year. Scientists do not as yet understand about this. A Disney movie forced a group of lemmings off a cliff…. and so cemented the myth!

8. The colour red make bulls angry

Answer:  In reality, a bull that faces a person with a cape, does NOT distinguish what colour that cape is!

9. Camels store water in their humps….. FALSE. See my post on CAMELS 

10. Poisonous animals versus venomous animas

Answer: Poisons – you bite it; Toxins – it bites you!

Poisonous: it’s when you ingest the toxin – and this is probably less common. Like, for example, you lick or eat a poison dart frog. Poison is a toxin that gets into the body by inhaling, swallowing, or absorption through the skin.

Venomous: it’s when the toxin is injected into you. Examples of this would be a cobra that uses its fangs to inject venom, or a scorpion with its stinger. Venom is a toxin that gets into the body by being injected, usually by a bite or a sting.

 

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