Life of animals in society. Interesting examples of adaptations in the animal world Which snake flies the best

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Currently, domestic cats do not see any advantages in living in a herd, but the observer found that this may change in the future. Or is it not?

How difficult is it to get cats to form a pack?

Just ask Daniel Mills, professor of veterinary behavioral medicine at the University of Lincoln (UK).

In a recent study, Mills and his colleague Alice Potter demonstrated that cats are more independent and enjoy being alone than dogs.

The difficulties they encountered during the study further confirmed the controversial reputation of these animals.

“Getting them to do things the way you want them to do is very difficult,” says Mills. “They always do things their own way.”

Any cat owner will agree with this. But why are cats so unwilling to cooperate with their own kind or with humans?

Or, to put it another way, why are so many animals, both wild and domestic, perfectly willing to live in groups?

Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption A herd of zebras crosses the river

In nature, herd existence is very widespread. Birds gather in flocks, wildebeest in herds, and fish in schools. And predators also often hunt together.

Even relatives of the domestic cat - lions - live in prides.

Representatives of species at risk of becoming prey to predators do so for the sake of safety.

When group members have offspring, they are raised by the whole world

"This is called the dispersion effect," says biologist Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota in St. Paul (USA).

“A predator can only grab one, and if there are a hundred of you, then the chance of being eaten decreases to 1%. And when you are alone, they will grab you anyway,” he explains.

Another advantage of living in a group is the so-called many-eyes effect: the larger the group of potential prey, the more likely they are to notice an approaching predator.

“And the sooner you spot a predator, the more time you have to avoid it,” says Jens Krause of Humboldt University Berlin, Germany.

This kind of collective vigilance has other benefits. Thus, individuals may spend more time and energy searching for food.

However, it's not just about avoiding predators. Animals living in a group do not need to wander around looking for suitable pair, while for singles traveling long distances, this can be quite a serious problem.

Obviously, finding a partner in a herd or pack is much easier.

Huddling together makes it much easier to stay warm and not freeze

When group members have offspring, they are raised by the whole world: adults can cooperate with each other to protect the young or obtain food for them.

In many bird species, including the Arabian Thrush found in Israel, the chicks remain in family groups until they are ready to breed. They dance together, swim together and even give each other gifts.

Living in herds also helps conserve energy. Birds in flocks and fish in schools move more efficiently than single individuals.

During the Tour de France, cyclists form a peloton using the same principle. "Those behind us use less energy to reach the same speed," says Krause.

And also (bats and emperor penguins) huddled together, it is much easier to keep warm and not freeze.

Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption Penguins usually stay close to each other

Given all these benefits, it seems strange that some animals avoid the company of their own kind.

However, as can be seen from the example of domestic cats, herd life is not attractive to everyone.

For some animals, none of the benefits of communal living are worth sharing food.

"There always comes a point where being in close proximity to other individuals reduces food intake," says John Fryxell, an integrative biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada.

Having caught a mouse, the last thing a cat wants is to see someone next to it, because it is going to eat it itself

In this case, the key factor is the availability of sufficient food, which in turn depends on how much food a particular animal requires.

And cats are very demanding in this matter. For example, a leopard eats about 23 kg of meat every few days.

As a rule, competition for food among wild cats is very high, and therefore leopards prefer to live and hunt alone.

However, there is one exception to this rule - lions. According to Packer, who has been studying African lions for almost 50 years, it is very important for these animals to have their own territory.

The grassy savannah provides areas that provide ideal cover for catching prey, and animals that control these areas are much more likely to survive.

"They simply have to be social in order to dominate their territory and drive out competitors. The bigger the pack, the better it is," says Packer.

This successful coexistence is possible because one killed by a lion the prey - wildebeest or zebra - is enough to feed several females at once.

"The size of their prey allows them to live in groups, but it's really the geography of their habitat that pushes them to do so," Packer said.

Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption A domestic cat doesn’t need a pack; she’s fine alone among people

However, domestic cats are in a completely different situation, because they hunt small animals.

"Once a cat catches a mouse, the last thing a cat wants is to see someone around it because it's going to eat it itself," says Packer. "That's exactly what it does. It has nothing to share."

These selfish motives are so deeply ingrained in feline behavior that even domestication has failed to overcome them. greatest love these animals to loneliness.

This is doubly true considering that humans did not domesticate cats. In fact, in their typical fashion, cats domesticated themselves.

All domestic cats are descended from the Middle Eastern wild cat (Felis silvestris), the "forest cat." People didn't lure these first cats out of the forest; the cats themselves came into our barns, where many mice fed uncontrollably.

If they suddenly come face to face, their fur stands on end and claws appear from their soft paws

By quickly putting an end to this outrage, the cats laid the foundation for our truly symbiotic relationship.

The cats loved the abundance of food in the barns, and the people were glad to be rid of pests.

Domestic cats are not completely antisocial, but their interactions with each other and with their owners should only be on their terms.

"They have maintained a high degree of independence and only spend time with us when they want to," says Dennis Turner, a felinologist and animal behaviorist at the Institute of Applied Ethology and Animal Psychology in Horgen, Switzerland.

"Cats have evolved many mechanisms to keep themselves apart. These mechanisms prevent them from being herds," says Mills.

Cats mark their territory to avoid unwanted encounters with each other. If they suddenly come face to face, their fur stands on end and claws appear from their soft paws.

Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption Cats often conflict with each other

In certain situations, it may seem that domestic cats have become resigned to living in groups. For example, in rural areas maybe a whole flock of cats that live together in a barn.

However, Fryxell says this impression is misleading.

“Such communities of cats are not permanent and, in fact, are not a group,” he says. “They simply divide the territory in which they raise offspring.”

In fact, even in the face of extreme danger, which often forces animals to unite for their own protection, cats are unlikely to cooperate.

Living up to their reputation as touchy-feely loners, they turned out to be nervous, impulsive and disobedient

"This is just not typical behavior for them, even when there is a threat," said Monique Udell, a biologist at Oregon State University. Cats simply don't believe in numerical superiority.

All this explains why cats have earned a reputation as animals that cannot be forced to live in a group.

However, there is some evidence that cats' disdain for group living is beginning to wane.

In a 2014 study published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology, journalists examined the personality traits of domestic cats. Living up to their reputation as touchy-feely loners, they turned out to be nervous, impulsive and disobedient.

However, an interesting fact is that domestic cats may not be as intractable as their wild relatives.

When the researchers compared domestic cats with four wild cats—Scottish wildcats, clouded leopards, snow leopards and African lions—domestic cats were found to be the most similar in personality to group-living lions.

Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption Unlike other cats, lions live together

To be fair, domestic cats tolerate each other's company much better than their ancestors.

Even though groups of barn-dwelling cats are transient communities, they still get along very well in such confined spaces.

In the Roman Colosseum, approximately 200 cats live side by side, and on the Japanese island of Aoshima, the number of cats is six times higher than the number of people.

Perhaps cooperation in these colonies is not developed, but this way of life is strikingly different from the solitary way of life of their distant ancestors.

At the same time, scientists have to make concessions to control the cats' behavior during experiments.

The lions succeeded, so it is possible that the corresponding chain of mutations will still happen

When Udell conducted her first experiments with cats, she had great difficulty getting her subjects to complete the tasks she had designed for them.

She used to work with dogs, and they happily completed any task in exchange for a treat. But cats were much more difficult to please.

Udell only found success when she started giving cats the opportunity to choose their reward.

"I think we have a hard time interacting with cats because we don't know enough about them," she says.

If scientists can plumb the depths of a cat's mind, forced cohesion could be replaced by clever influences.

Animal behavior, including its tendency or reluctance to form groups, is largely determined by the structure of its neural network.

Illustration copyright Thinkstock Image caption Will your Barsik want to live in a group? Very doubtful...

According to Fryxell, it’s not worth even thinking about changing in one moment what has been created over many years of natural selection.

“But who knows? Lions did it, so it’s possible that the corresponding chain of mutations will still happen,” he says. “And if they were able to pull off this trick, perhaps uniting cats into groups is not such a crazy idea.”

What causes animal migrations? What are the types of movement of fauna representatives? What are the reasons for this behavior? We will consider the answers to these and other questions in our publication.

Types of migrations

Researchers identify several types of movements of fauna representatives:

• Seasonal.
• Periodic.
• Age.

What is each type of migration? Let's consider each option separately. Thus, seasonal migrations of animals are caused by the need to search for better conditions for reproduction and raising offspring. For this reason, with the arrival of winter, many birds move to areas with a warmer, milder climate.

If we talk about periodic migrations, a striking example here is the behavior of fish. In warm weather, they prefer to live in fairly shallow bodies of water, spending most of their time closer to the surface. As temperatures drop, fish leave their familiar territories, trying to move to deeper areas.

Periodic migrations of animals are also observed among predators. For example, bears that live in North America leave inhabited forests, concentrating near rivers where large schools of salmon come. These animals follow their food source until it finally runs out. Some whales also do the same, summer time swim from the cold waters of the northern regions to the warm zones of the Atlantic, where they hunt large schools of plankton.

As noted above, there are also age-related migrations of animals. The essence of such processes is as follows. Some representatives of the fauna lead a solitary, isolated life, controlling vast territories. During the mating season, such animals leave their usual habitats, returning back after mating. When young individuals are born, they leave the group upon reaching a certain age, after which they occupy new territories. The process is then repeated cyclically.

How were migration routes formed?

Researchers associate the emergence of animal migration routes, first of all, with climate changes that have occurred over many millennia. In ancient times, the movements of creatures occurred when glaciers advanced or when certain areas turned into barren lands. For example, it is surprising that some birds still cross deserts in their driest areas. At the same time, there are safer and shorter ways to achieve your travel destination. This behavior can be explained by the presence of genetic memory in birds. Probably, the ancestors of birds moved along these routes when the deserts were not yet so barren.

According to some scientists, the formation of migration routes is associated with the split of the earth's crust into separate continents, which drifted relative to each other. However, such a theory was never confirmed, since such geological processes took much longer compared to the evolutionary changes of individual animals.

What causes animals to form groups before migrating?

With the onset of the period of migration of wild animals, changes occur in their bodies at the physiological and hormonal level. Species that usually lead isolated lives, jealously defending their territory, noticeably reduce the level of aggressiveness. This is due to an increased likelihood of survival as part of a group, as well as better orientation in unfamiliar terrain. Animals often form mixed packs, which include separate classes of creatures. Many birds and artiodactyls behave in a similar way.

How do animals navigate unfamiliar terrain?

Animal migrations are often accompanied by the need to overcome significant distances. How do they manage not to get lost when moving in unfamiliar latitudes? Often this is facilitated by a developed sense of smell. For example, monarch butterflies engage in large seasonal migrations. The males of such insects are the first to set off on the road. Their bodies have specific secretory glands that produce odorous substances. Using such trails as a guide, female butterflies migrate.

If we talk about fish of the salmon family, with the onset mating season they return from the oceans to their places of birth, analyzing the smell and chemical composition of the waters of their native rivers. Such information is stored in their memory at the moment they emerge from the eggs.

As for migratory birds, during the daytime they rely on the location of the sun, and when night falls, the starry sky becomes a kind of map for them. There are birds that remember routes that run along textured reliefs, in particular river valleys, coastlines, mountain ranges.

Some types of living beings can recognize infrared radiation, sense the planet’s magnetic field, and navigate by changes in level atmospheric pressure. The study of such incredible animal abilities contributed to the invention of a number of navigation devices by mankind.

What factors give impetus to migration?

An interesting question is how animals receive the signal to set off. Several factors come into play here. What matters is the change in the ratio between the duration of the dark and light periods of the day. In addition, a decrease in the amount of food, as well as a change in the temperature of the surrounding space, plays a role.

Migration for breeding purposes

In most cases, the reason for the migration of animals is the specific characteristics of procreation. A striking example serves as a way of life for some marine mammals and fish. Thus, salmon spawning occurs in the upper reaches of rivers in North America. They have to get here from the ocean, going upstream. At the end of the mating season, adults die. The fry that emerge from the eggs are gradually carried back into the ocean by the current. Only once in salty waters do young salmon begin to actively obtain food, develop and gain weight. Upon reaching sexual maturity, these fish repeat the fate of their parents.

Such large mammals, like gray whales, also migrate for breeding purposes. Having accumulated a significant amount of fat in the summer, with the arrival of autumn they move from the Northern Arctic Ocean to shallow lagoons in western California. It is here that whales give birth to their offspring, which are raised in safer climatic conditions.

Lack of food

Another reason for migration is food shortage. The greater the distance from equatorial zone animals live, the more often they experience problems finding prey. The result is the need to move to warmer climes for survival. This determining factor is predominantly for birds. Many species of birds are not able to obtain required quantity food during periods when water bodies are covered with ice.

Among mammals, some bats, whose prey are insects, migrate in search of food. Most of these animals go into seasonal hibernation with the arrival of cold weather. However, there are bats that migrate south, remaining active throughout the winter.

Changing the length of daylight hours

The migration of animals in Africa and other parts of the world often depends on climatic factors. The biological activity of mammals is affected by a reduction in daylight hours. At the same time, the level of available food supply is also decreasing. In some creatures, when this factor comes into effect, the work of the gonads is activated, which forces them to change their inhabited habitats to more fertile lands, where there is a longer daylight hours. The main purpose of such a movement is the same increase in the probability of survival of the offspring.

Dangers that await animals during migration

Great animal migrations require creatures to expend significant amounts of energy. Its reserves are necessary to cover significant distances. Sometimes a long journey leads to physical exhaustion. Thus, animals often become prey to predators or die without being able to find enough food.

Successful migration also depends on climatic conditions. The sudden occurrence of certain atmospheric phenomena can have fatal consequences for animals. For example, storms and fogs can cause loss of orientation in space. As a result migratory birds may go astray. Often the influence of such factors causes their death. But in some cases, this contributes to the settlement of animals in unfamiliar areas.

Human activity poses a certain danger to animals during migration. Focusing on the routes of movement of fauna representatives, people organize fishing and hunting. A person is not always driven by the need to obtain food. Sometimes purely sporting interest comes into play. Significant problems for fish during migration are created by dams that prevent them from reaching spawning grounds. Construction of high-rise buildings and television towers interferes with the birds' orientation in space and leads to their death.

Finally

So we found out what animals exist. We figured out what makes them exhibit this behavior. Finally, I would like to note that scientists have not yet fully studied the issue of migration of living beings. In particular, the mechanisms of orientation of fauna representatives when moving through unfamiliar terrain remain not entirely clear to biologists. To uncover such mysteries of nature, researchers resort to methods of animal tagging, visual observation, and artificial imitation of certain situations.

In groups of the second type, hierarchy and dominance are usually absent. Animals stick together due to the instinct of packing. If hierarchical groups can be observed in almost all classes of vertebrates, then schools without dominance generally occur and are especially common in the class of fish. To some extent, they can be expected in flocks of passerine birds. However, they were studied most closely in the class of fish. The fact is that schooling fish are of particular economic value. In addition, it is most convenient to study schooling behavior and the mechanisms of this behavior on schools of fish placed in aquariums and pools, and simply in reservoirs using modern technology (acoustic location, aerial observations, underwater observations and filming). Intensive studies of schooling behavior of fish were carried out in the laboratory by D.V. Radakov, who, based on his work, wrote an interesting monograph “Schooling of fish as an ecological phenomenon.” In this book, he gives his definition of a school of fish as “a temporary group of individuals, usually of the same species, which are (all or mostly) in the same phase of the life cycle, actively maintain mutual contact and exhibit or can exhibit at any time organized actions , biologically useful, as a rule, for all individuals of a given group. The external appearance of a school can often and greatly change depending on the condition of the fish and the conditions in which they find themselves.”

The main types of structure of a school of pelagic fish are shown in the diagram. Radakov paid much attention to the mechanisms of coordination (or organization) of the actions of fish in a school, which is of interest especially in connection with the absence of permanent leaders in a school of fish. In this regard, a school of fish, in the language of cybernetics, should be considered as an example of a self-governing system without central control. Radakov's experiments on some species of schooling fish confirmed the conclusion that in schools of most fish there are no permanent leaders. At the same time, the fish moving at the head of the school are constantly replaced by new ones from the main mass of this school. Decoding of film footage of moving schools in experimental tanks showed how fish moving in the head part, even when moving in a straight line, gradually lag behind and find themselves in the middle of the school, and when turning 180 degrees, the front ones begin to turn, but all the special fish are included in the turn. bi and as a result, those walking in the rear end up in front (see figure). These experiments also showed that the role of “leader” at any given moment is played by a fairly large part of the flock. Thus, for juvenile herring and carp fish, it was proven that a change in the behavior and movement of the entire school was determined by a corresponding change in part of the school if this part in number was at least 30-40% of total number individuals of the flock. Signaling in this case consists of transmitting the behavioral characteristics and speed of movement of a certain part of the flock, which at that moment performs the function of the initiator of a behavioral reaction, to the rest of the members of the flock.

In addition, while experimenting in the pools of the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Cuba with schools of Atherinomorus stipes Muller a. Troshel, D. V. Radakov established using filming that in the case of local fright in fish that make up a small part of the school , a “wave of excitement” runs through the entire flock. This is a signal zone that quickly moves through the school, in which fish instantly react to the actions of neighbors with changed body posture. At the same time, the fish themselves hardly move, but bend their tail, as if preparing to throw, and the movement of the “excitement wave” reaches a speed of 11.8-15.1 m/sec, i.e. it is 10-15 times higher than the maximum (throwing) swimming speed of Atherinomorus (Fig. 28). Thus, the startle signal is usually transmitted through a flock of Aterinomorus faster than in a second. Further, this signal can either fade out or cause a “flow of movement” of the entire flock or part of it. “Movement flow” was observed in schools of almost all fish species studied. In turn, having arisen in part of the school, it can fade out or turn into an “avalanche-like flow” of the entire school, which depends on the reactivity of the fish, their number in the “flow”, the speed of its movement and the distance between the “flow” and the rest of the fish. mi flocks. To a large extent, the general reaction of the flock depends on the strength and direction of the frightening stimulus.

The protective value of the flock.

For animals in natural conditions, where they are usually surrounded by enemies, aggregation in large groups would seem to increase their ability to defend, if these groups themselves do not have defensive abilities. But since animals belonging to very different taxa live in groups (flocks, herds, colonies) (temporarily or permanently), the thought involuntarily comes to mind that precisely such groups represent convergent defensive adaptations, serving to maintain the population size of the species.

And, indeed, research is revealing an ever-increasing “arsenal” of defensive capabilities of an organized group of animals. First of all, a group of animals that follows the “all-round tactics” notices its enemy at a much greater distance than one individual. Therefore, it is much more difficult for a predator to approach a group of animals within throwing distance. Single minnows became easier prey for pike. In flocks of most vertebrates, animals can rest or feed more calmly, since some of them (accidentally or even on purpose) act as “sentinels” and, when danger appears, alert the entire group with movements or sounds. This is followed by various defensive actions of the entire group.

Animals of a number of species, united in groups, actively defend themselves from enemies and even attack them. This behavior is known for ungulates (bulls, pronghorns and musk oxen). These animals, when attacked by wolves and some other predators, often form a square, and, hiding the calves in the middle, become horns outward, organizing all-round protection. Sea gulls, like crows, having united in nesting colonies, often attack predators and drive them away. It should be remembered that active methods of group defense also exist in the branch of protostomes, where a number of species of social Hymenoptera actively defend their nests and colonies collectively, attacking enemies and using their “weapons.”

Such active defense - attack is characteristic of those animals leading a group lifestyle, which for one reason or another cannot escape from enemies by flight, being confined to permanent places (nests with offspring, colonies of hymenoptera, weak young animals) and at the same time have different attack capabilities.

Many school animals escape from predators by running, flying away, or swimming away from them in a close group. It would seem that an increased number of individuals in a school increases the possibility of them being caught by a predator, but scientific research data show the opposite: in some cases, fish, birds and mammals, as well as some other animals, staying in schools, turn out to be less accessible or even completely inaccessible to predators. Even fish, feeding on invertebrates (for example, daphnia) found in dense accumulations, eat them less intensively than at more sparse concentrations. This phenomenon is called the “embarrassment effect” of a predator due to the large number of victims. In pursuit of a school of fish, the diurnal predator seems to be “disoriented” by a large number of flashing fish, its pursuit becomes less purposeful, throws follow one after another and the overwhelming majority of them end in misses. At the same time, the pursuit of one fish is very directed and ends with one successful throw.” This gave rise to calling the described phenomenon “predator disorientation” due to the large number of victims.

The predator's disorientation is further increased as a result of special defensive "maneuvers" of the pack. These maneuvers were repeatedly observed and recorded by D.V. Radakov by filming for a number of marine and freshwater fish, both in relation to living predators and their models. “Maneuvering” consists in the fact that when a predator is thrown at a school that is in a state of all-round visibility, the fish of the nearest part of the school scatter away from the predator in a fan forward and to the sides, creating a constant “emptiness” in front of the predator’s muzzle, and, swimming a little, there they wrap it towards the tail of the predator against the direction of its throw. In this case, often the flock, having divided into two parts, unites again and watches the retreating predator. This maneuver, if drawn on paper, looks like the letter F, with the predator's path making up the vertical part of this letter (see Fig. A). For this similarity, such a flock maneuver is called the “F-maneuver.” Such maneuvering has been recorded for a number of fish in experiments in large pools. They were noted when chasing mullet and sea burbot after schools of silverside (Atherina mochon pontica Euch.), garfish (Belone belone (L.)) for schools of anchovy (Engraulis encrasicholus (L.)), horse mackerel (Trachurus mediterraneus ponticus Aleev), for flocks of fry of mullet, pike, flocks of redfish and in a number of other cases.

for a school of gerbils (Ammodytidae) being pursued by a swimmer. In a moment of sudden fright (for example, the attack of a predator), a flock small fish often scatters like a fan, which also disorients the predator. A flock that disperses in this way usually quickly recovers. It should be noted that the pattern of response of a school of pelagic fish to a predator and the specifics of its maneuvering also largely depend on the relationship between the direction of movement of the school and the movement of the predator.

These features of schooling behavior of fish in daylight conditions significantly complicate the hunting of fish in a school by predators. Experiments conducted by D.V. Radakov and his colleagues showed approximately the same thing: fish in schools, when attacked by predators, turned out to be much less accessible to them than single individuals, and were exterminated 5-6 times slower. This has been proven in both marine and freshwater fish. As Radakov writes, “a predator, attacking a school, does not pursue any one fish until it catches it. Having first chased one and missed another, he rushes after another, after a third, until finally he manages to grab one of the victims. As a result, it takes longer to catch it than if there is a single fish in the aquarium, the pursuit of which turns out to be more purposeful.”

Usually, hungry predators, placed in sufficient light along with a school of prey fish, began an energetic chase in the first minutes and during this time sometimes managed to grab several fish. During these first minutes, as a result of the frightening influence of the predator, the flock became denser, taking on a “defensive” structure (see Fig. B). This further reduced the efficiency of hunting; accordingly, its feeding activity decreased, and in some cases stopped completely. It can be assumed that the cessation of hunting is due to the fact that the energy expended by the predator on the chase turns out to be significantly greater than the energy received from food. Thus, hunting becomes energetically unprofitable.

When studying the defensive significance of schooling behavior of fish, their chemical protective signaling is of particular interest. This alarm was first discovered by Frisch, who found that when one minnow was wounded, the entire flock became frightened, scattered or went to the side. Frisch showed that an extract from the skin of a freshly killed minnow has the same effect on the school. These studies, continued by Frisch and other researchers, showed that in the skin of a number of fish species there are special flask-shaped cells that have no connection with the surface and contain substances that, when the skin is wounded, are released into the water and immediately cause this type of strong fear reaction. This substance is called the “scare substance”, and it has been found that it is perceived through the sense of smell even in very small concentrations. Frisch, in experiments with minnows, calculated that the threshold concentration of this substance in water was approximately 1.4 * 10 10 g/l. The “fear substance” (sometimes called the “alarm pheromone”) and the corresponding reactions have been found in the vast majority of fish of the order Cyprinifornies and in some species from other orders. This action took place differently in fish of different ecological groups: fish living in thickets and other shelters formed a group and clearly oriented toward the source of the smell, and then hid or went into shelter; benthic fish, after a short stay and rush from the source of the smell, hid at the bottom for a long time; fish living in the water column and near the surface reacted by leaving or rushing, and then reduced activity with the formation of a dense protective school. Thus, we can conclude that when exposed to the “fright substance”, certain ecological stereotypes of defensive behavior of fish are formed.

Very close to this signaling is the phenomenon of the “smell of fear”, established for rodents. The smell left by a wounded live house mouse scares away its relatives from the given place. It was noted that since blood stains and mouse fur residues do not have such a deterrent effect on other mice, one can think that the “smell of fear” is secreted by the corresponding glands of a frightened animal. The presence of such signals that benefit the entire flock, or population, once again emphasizes the correctness of Radakov’s conclusion that the group life of animals, and in particular flock behavior, is a phenomenon characteristic of the supraorganismal level; it is a group a protective adaptation that may have resulted from group rather than individual selection.

The protective value of a flock is also known for a number of birds. Orientologist V. E. Jacobi writes that dense and quickly maneuvering flocks of starlings, as well as some wading birds, prevent predators, and in particular the peregrine falcon, from accurately and successfully attacking and capturing a particular bird. Therefore, when birds of prey attack a flock, they first of all try to fight off one individual from the flock, and then they grab it. Often, when a hawk attacks a flock of small birds, it cannot grab any of them.

For some ungulates, flocking has a certain protective value also in relation to blood-sucking insects. In the summer, when there is an abundance of midges (gadflies, mosquitoes, blood-sucking flies), reindeer gather in a dense herd. Bloodsuckers usually stick around deer in the outer rows and hardly penetrate deep into the herd. Therefore, the animals in the center of the herd calmly stand or lie down, while the outer rows of deer behave restlessly and gradually move around the center of the herd. The more active the bloodsuckers are, the more outer rows of the deer herd are on the move, but their number usually does not exceed five. From time to time, the outer deer, exhausted by the midges, force their way into the center, pushing away their neighbors. Taking into account the number of deer in the herd and the number of deer in the outer (restless) rows, it is calculated that with 500 deer in the herd, 56% of the herd is protected from bloodsuckers, at 2000 - 77%, and at 4000-83%.

Speaking about the protective value of group behavior, it should also be noted that animals are protected from unfavorable abiotic environmental factors. In a number of works one can find evidence that animals, having gathered in a group, thereby influence the microclimate here and therefore more easily tolerate winds, snowstorms, and excessively low or high temperatures. Mutual heating and collective temperature regulation in groups of animals of various taxa have been noted a large number of researchers. It is known both in colonies of social insects (bees, ants), and during the overnight roosts of some birds and for a number of gregarious mammals. Accumulations of penguins during frost hurricanes have been repeatedly described. These Antarctic birds form dense flocks of thousands, in which birds from the side gradually move to the leeward side. At the same time, their huge mass constantly “creeps”, driven by the wind. This moving group of penguins is sometimes called a "turtle". Herds of sheep, horses, antelopes and reindeer. In the steppes and deserts, on hot summer days, sheep also form flocks, hiding their heads in the shadow cast by the members of the herd. Finally, many fish, snakes and some mammals, when hibernating, also form large hibernating aggregations in which the level of metabolism is significantly reduced.

The importance of the flock in feeding.

The meaning of a flock (or grouping in general) of animals when feeding is also quite diverse. First of all, in groups, animals find accumulations of food more easily. As experiments carried out with juvenile pollock showed, that part of the fish from the school that discovered the food and rushed to it, carried with it other fish of the school that could not see the food (it was hidden from these fish by an opaque partition ), and they, in turn, carried away even more distant members of the flock (See Fig. 3.1). Thus, gregariousness made it easier for the fish to find food, and in a matter of seconds the entire school gathered on a cluster of food organisms discovered by only a part of its members.

The importance of a flock is also great when catching prey from those predators that use the tactics of “collective hunting”. It was shown above that fish that keep in defensive schools become almost inaccessible to single predators. However, as a co-adaptation, some predators have developed a schooling method of hunting school prey. Large perches in a school surround a school of juvenile carp fish, drive them away from their shelters and eat them. A similar phenomenon has been described for predatory fish of tropical seas. D.V. Radakov gives two of his observations: during the day off West Africa, on the surface of the water, several schools of anchovies were seen, pursued from below by dunces and sharks, and from above by gray petrels. There was foam and spray above the flocks. The swarms were about 5 m in diameter. Soon the swarms were destroyed, and in their place only slowly sinking scales could be seen. The second observation was made in the Black Sea near the Karadag biological station, where D.V. Radakov managed to approach a flock of horse mackerel in an underwater mask that attacked a flock of gerbils. The gerbil kept in a very dense flock about half a meter in diameter and, pursued from below by horse mackerel, was “literally pressed to the surface of the bottom.” The number of this flock quickly decreased. Based on these observations, D.V. Radakov concludes that the flock predatory fish presses a school of its prey to the surface of the water from below, as a result of which the fish of this school can neither escape to the sides nor hide into the depths. This author further makes a general conclusion that the schooling behavior of predatory fish is an adaptation that facilitates the capture of prey, since a school of predators can:

1) it is easier to detect a flock of victims and approach it;

2) surround the prey, preventing its escape;

3) push the prey away from ordinary shelters and, in particular, “press” it from below to the surface of the water;

4) disorient the flock of victims and introduce elements of panic into its behavior. Thus, the schooling, organized behavior of predator fish turns out to be beneficial for the entire group in terms of nutrition. This is true specifically for flocks characterized by interdependent, coordinated behavior, while for a simple accumulation of individuals without coordinated behavior the conclusion “the more mouths, the less each has to share” is quite suitable.

The “collective” pack hunting of predators from the canine family is widely known, in which a variety of techniques are used: “cordoning”, “chasing”, “surge”, “setting up”, etc. They are described for wolves, hyena dogs, Australian dingoes and some other predators. Collective hunting has also been described for killer whales. These cetaceans always hunt in a herd, and when hunting both walruses and dolphins, their techniques were similar: “first, they surrounded the herd, and then dealt with the victims.

The importance of flocks during migration and reproduction.

Most migrating animals migrate, gathering in large flocks that unite in moving aggregations. Based on this, it can be assumed that group behavior is an important adaptation during animal migrations. In all likelihood, gregariousness and group behavior are also important in this case, primarily in terms of defense and nutrition. For animals moving through undeveloped spaces, protection from enemies and detection of places where food accumulates and places of rest should be of primary importance. Perhaps in packs animals navigate easier during migrations. Finally, it is very likely that schooling migrations of fish are directly related to hydrodynamic calculations, which showed that a school of fish swimming in a certain formation expends significantly less energy. In general, it should be noted that the significance of pack behavior of animals during migration has been completely insufficiently studied and requires further research.

The importance of group behavior in animals during reproduction has been studied even less. During this period, some vertebrates form aggregations such as nesting colonies (in birds and fish) or rookeries (in pinnipeds). Many fish, approaching the spawning ground in large clusters of schools, reproduce while continuing to remain in these clusters. For example, Barents Sea cod spawns off the coast of Norway, gathering in large schools. The spawning school measured using an echo-lot had a length and width of more than a kilometer, and its thickness was 10-15 m. Such a cluster consisted, according to calculations, of several million individuals

It should be noted that mass aggregations during reproduction have also been observed in some invertebrates. Thus, the rises from the bottom to the surface of the sea of ​​Nereids, which from time to time form huge clusters at the surface, have been repeatedly described. An interesting incident occurred in the summer of 1944 on the White Sea; a mass of Nereis virens suddenly appeared near the shores. They floated on the surface of the sea, bending like snakes. Their bodies were 30-40 cm long. In calm weather, the water was literally teeming with these animals. Fishermen were even forced to stop fishing and report that “sea snakes” had appeared in the sea. Typically, these worms live at the bottom, and when the sexual products begin to ripen, they float to the surface of the water to reproduce. Thousands of Nereids suddenly appear in the water and “swarm” - they swim, bending like a snake, until the reproductive products come out into the water.

It can be assumed that all of the indicated groups and concentrations of animals are also multifunctional and may be important both for the intensification and synchronization of reproduction processes, and for the protection of producers from destruction by predators. It is also possible that the gathered animals bring their young generation in large concentrations into the conditions that are most optimal for it.

The fickleness of flocking.

It is also worth mentioning the relative inconstancy and variability of non-family groups of group behavior of animals. In many animal species, groups (flocks, herds) are formed only at certain stages of the life cycle (migration, wintering, etc.), and during reproduction they break up into pairs and family groups. This is the case with many birds and some fish. In addition, the composition of the formed flocks very often changes as a result of mixing. So we cannot say with all certainty that groups are a permanent phenomenon.

1. Which animal is the heaviest?

The blue whale is the largest and heaviest animal. The two largest whales ever killed weighed 136 and 195 tons. Blue whales reach a length of 35 meters. They feed on tiny organisms living in the world.

2. Which of the predators that lived on land is the largest?

The brown bear, which lives on Kodiak Island off the west coast of North America, can reach 3 meters in length. The height at the withers is approximately 1 meter 20 centimeters. When standing on two legs, it can reach 5 meters in height. This is the largest predator living on land.

3. Which earthworm is the longest?

Found in Australia, the earthworm can reach lengths of more than 3 meters. The largest of the described specimens had a diameter of 3 centimeters and was thicker thumb adult.

4. How much does the largest rodent weigh?

The largest rodent in the world is the South American capybara, which has nothing to do with real pigs. Capybara (or capybara) reaching more than a meter in length and more than 50 kilograms of weight, it is a relative of the cute guinea pig.

5. How much does the largest snail weigh?

The largest snail found, weighed and measured belonged to the species

This huge specimen weighed 16 kilograms and had a girth of almost a meter. Her house was 70 centimeters long. Zugshkh agiapis lives in Australia, it is an aquatic snail, and in water, as is known, weight decreases. Land-dwelling snails are somewhat smaller: the largest land snail, the African snail, is slightly heavier than half a kilogram with a maximum length of 35 centimeters.

7. Which dogs are the heaviest and which are the strongest?

Saint Bernards can weigh up to 125 kilograms. But the most strong dogs are considered divers. Although their weight rarely exceeds 60 kilograms, they can drag up to half a ton on the ground.

8. Which flying bird is the heaviest?

The trumpeter swan weighs up to 22 kilograms, and yet it flies. He lives in Northern Europe and North America. One of his ancestors, long extinct, was even heavier: he probably weighed about 28 kilograms. This bird lived 70 million years ago.

9. Where does the biggest crocodile live?

The largest crocodiles in the world live in South America, in the Orinoco and Amazon river basins. They reach 8 meters in length and weigh about 2 tons.

9. How long is the biggest snake?

The large anaconda, found in South America, is typically approximately 8 meters long. But once there was a floodplain of an anaconda, the length of which was 14 meters, with a diameter of 82 centimeters.

10. Is it false to see the Largest Bacteria with the naked eye?

Even the largest bacterium is still too small to be seen without a microscope. The size of the largest bacterium is a maximum of 0.05 mm (one twentieth of a millimeter).

11. U Which animals have the heaviest babies?

Blue whales have the heaviest babies, with a newborn whale weighing approximately 2 tons. In addition, they are gaining weight at a record pace. The fact is that they grow faster than all other living creatures on Earth: in the first six months of life they grow by 3 centimeters every day! During the first 7 months of life, their weight increases from 2 to 24 tons, i.e. 12 times! Kittens, which also grow very quickly, need a week to double their weight. But newborn babies gain weight incredibly slowly. Their weight doubles only 125 days after birth.

27. Which pet produces the most milk?

In relation to their weight, goats produce the most milk. The milk a goat produces in a year weighs 12 times more than the goat itself. And a cow produces a yearly amount of milk that is only 7 times her own weight.

28. How much does the most expensive milk cost?

Mouse milk is used for medicinal purposes. Mice are milked using tiny tubes. To get one liter of mouse milk, you need to milk 4,000 mice. Therefore, one liter of this precious milk costs $22,500.

29. Which birds care least about building their nest?

Thin-billed guillemots, birds reaching a length of approximately 50 centimeters, are found in large numbers in the northern regions of Europe, Asia and America. They do not build nests at all, but lay eggs directly on the ground. Then they sit on the ground, hugging each other tightly (up to 10 birds in an area equal to a small foot mat), and hatch the eggs. The black tern is no less lazy, and also more frivolous. She simply lays her eggs in a ruined tree and hopes the chicks don't fall out.

30. Which animals are the best at hiding?

Polar bears have excellent hiding places. Females dig caves in the snow for the winter, then crawl into them and give birth to offspring there. If it's snowing outside, the cave can't be seen at all. The temperature inside is always positive due to the high body temperature of the bear. Here the female feeds the cubs with milk for several months. And she herself doesn’t eat all this time. She uses up the fat accumulated during the Arctic summer. The weight of polar bears reaches approximately 350 kilograms.

31. Which birds are the fastest to build shelters for themselves?

The European grouse, weighing more than a kilogram, can hide in a few seconds with high snow cover. When necessary, he throws himself from a high tree branch into the snow and disappears into a hole, which he covers from the inside with snow. In the blink of an eye, the grouse disappears from the grouse's field of vision. In such a snowy shelter he can spend up to three days without moving.

22. What size are the largest “animal colonies”?

Prairie dogs are rodents that used to live in colonies that were sometimes incredibly large big sizes. About 100 years ago, a colony was found in the US state of Texas. prairie dogs, which researchers estimate numbered 400 million animals. This settlement was twice the size of Holland. Prairie dogs resemble marmots in appearance. They reach at most 50 centimeters in length. Each family lives in a separate hole. Underground, these burrows are not connected to each other. But from the entrance there are always paths to the “doors” of the neighbors. Of course, prairie dogs aren't real dogs.

they just bark like dogs. American farmers consider them pests because they eat grass in pastures and, when digging their burrows, damage crops. Often cattle or horses fall into holes and are injured. Due to the ruthless hunting of prairie dogs by peasants, their numbers were greatly reduced.

32. What size are the Largest Beaver Dams?

Dams built by beavers are the largest above-ground structures created by animals. The largest such dam is in Montana (USA) and covers a river 750 meters wide.

34. Which animal builds the tallest structures?

The structures of African warrior termites reach 15 meters in height. These insects build their tower-like homes (termite mounds) from wet clay mixed with its own secretions. When this mixture dries, it becomes hard like concrete. Inside the termite mound there are passages, chambers and ventilation shafts. Termite structures are not only very high, but also go deep into the ground. To gain access to water, insects often have to dig vertical shafts up to 40 meters deep. One termite mound can contain 10 million termites.

35. Who digs the most holes not for themselves, but for other animals?

No other mammal can dig a hole in the ground as quickly as the aardvark. It feeds mainly on ants. With his iron-hard claws, he can even crack open a termite mound. The aardvark digs so quickly that in case of danger it prefers not to run away, but to hide in a freshly dug hole in the ground. Aardvarks love to move from place to place. When they move to another place, other animals move into their burrows. Aardvarks form their own order of mammals. They are not related to any species of animal.

36. U Which birds have the warmest nests?

most birds incubate their chicks simply by sitting on their eggs. Their body is the source of the necessary heat. In contrast, the Australian bigfoot (weed) the chicken builds a huge incubator and uses the heat generated by rotting organic matter. A big-footed hen, roughly the size of a gray partridge, lays its eggs on the ground. Then she brings leaves, branches, lumps of earth and grass and puts them in a heap above the eggs, sometimes reaching a height of 5 meters and a width of 12 meters. This compost heap itself warms up from the inside as bacteria decompose the biomass and turn it into fertile compost soil. True, the temperature in the incubator should not be higher than 33 degrees. A diligent hen constantly checks the temperature with her beak and, if it gets too warm, she rake the pile a little. With this incubation technique, certain efforts are required not only from the parents, but also from the chicks themselves. Having hatched, they must immediately get out of the heap, out into the air. Birds often suffocate or die from overexertion. A similar method of hatching chicks is used by Australian weed chickens of another species, Leipoa. Their compost heaps are smaller, but they are covered with another layer of sand on top to keep it warmer inside.

37. How old are the oldest bird's nests?

A bald eagle's nest may be 100 years old. However, in this case, several generations of birds have already been working on it. Eagles' nests are made of branches and are located in places inaccessible to other animals and people on the ledges of steep cliffs. Each time before hatching the chicks, the nests are lined with a new layer of branches. Such an old, century-old nest can weigh up to 2 tons. Its width is 2 meters, height - 6 meters.

38. How many families live in the largest common nests?

Social weavers, so named for their love of society, build only communal nests. The couple begins by weaving a roof against the rain on a large branch. During construction, other couples join her and diligently help with the work. When the roof structure is ready, each family begins to build its own nest with a separate entrance under the common roof. Such common nests can be up to 6 meters wide. They can accommodate up to 100 individual nests.

39. Which predator is most similar to its prey?

The ant mite looks exactly like the ants it feeds on. Even the ants themselves do not see any differences. Therefore, it is very easy for him to approach his victim and kill him.

40. Which bird of prey has the hardest time deceiving its prey?

Found in Africa, Asia and Europe, the sparrowhawk is a small diurnal bird of prey. He hunts birds and mammals, which know well what a hawk flying across the sky looks like. The fact is that birds of prey, looking out for prey, soar in the air, and in each species birds of prey your typical “soaring style”. So, sparrowhawks have developed the ability to imitate a harmless jay in flight. Thanks to this, they can fly quite close to their prey, who realizes their mistake too late and becomes easy prey for the hawk.

41. Which birds fly the fastest?

The peregrine falcon in a diving flight is not only the fastest bird, but also the fastest animal in general. When it dives steeply to the ground, it reaches speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour. The needle-tailed swift, which lives in Asia, develops a speed of up to 170 kilometers per hour in horizontal flight. The white-bellied swift flies at approximately the same speed. In horizontal flight and in danger, some species ducks and geese reach flight speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour (for example, eider). A hummingbird can reach the same speed. The horizontal flight speed of most birds is a maximum of 65 kilometers per hour.

Scientists believe that the longest flights are made by sandpipers. In any case, it was established that one ringed bird flew from Massachusetts in four days (USA) to Guyana. She flew at an average altitude of 1.5 kilometers from average speed a little less than 50 kilometers per hour and covered a distance of 4425 kilometers.

42. U Which animal has the best winter camouflage?

A number of animals change their protective coloration when the season changes. For example, the ermine turns snow-white in winter, only the tip of the tail remains black. In summer, ermine is brown. The white hare turns white with the appearance of the first snow. True, he is guided not by the seasons, but by the state of the snow. In spring, the white hare, weighing approximately 6 kilograms, remains white until all the snow has melted. Then the hare immediately turns brown.

43. What birds hiss like angry birds?

Tits can make sounds that small predators mistake for the hiss of a snake. People cannot hear these very low sounds, but small predatory mammals obviously can: they avoid the tit nest far away. Tits use this sound camouflage when they hatch chicks in a hollow tree and are therefore unable to fly away.

44. What is the most reliable camouflage among mammals?

Mimicry is the name given to the ability of representatives of one species of animal to change their appearance and become similar in color and shape to other animals. For example, predators do not touch one species living in Asia tupai*, because their meat is inedible. This is used by various types of squirrels, which “pass themselves off” as tupayas by their coloring.

* Tupai are a family of prosimians of the primate order. Body length ~ 25 cm.

45. Which fish is the best at changing colors?

Adult flounders lie on one side on seabed and wait for prey. For camouflage, their upper side automatically takes on the color of the environment. The bottom side always remains the same color. Moreover, flounders change not only color, but also coloring. In one experiment, a flounder was placed on a chessboard and it replicated the chessboard pattern on its body.

46. ​​Which insects are most similar to their surroundings?

The Indonesian mantis looks like a pink orchid flower. He sits on this orchid, waiting for the victim, who is looking for nectar, but finds his death. The camouflage of tropical hawkmoth butterflies is no worse. True, camouflage serves them only for protection. In a moment of danger, the hawk moth caterpillar instantly retracts its head and changes the shape of its body so much that it looks exactly like a small snake.

47. Which animal is best at pretending?

The opossum is a marsupial animal approximately 50 centimeters long that lives in the hot regions of America. When it is wounded or when it falls into a trap, the animal falls as if dead on its side, stops breathing, and its tongue falls out of its open mouth. Animals and people think he is dead. But after a few hours the possum comes to life. The fact is that he developed the ability to suspend such vital functions like breathing and blood supply to the brain, and fall into a faint state similar to real death.

48. What animal longer everyone seemed dead?

For 4 years, two specimens of a species of desert snail could be seen in the British Museum in London. They were attached to a board and displayed under glass for viewing. In 1846, these snails were donated to the museum, considering them dead. In 1850, museum staff decided to check this out. They put one of the snails in warm water. And suddenly she woke up, started eating and lived for another 2 years.

49. How many tails can there be? one lizards?

Lizards distract and confuse enemies by dropping their tails. In this case, the tail breaks off in a certain place using muscular force. The trembling tail remains lying on the ground. The pursuer thinks for a few seconds about what this could mean, and often this time is enough for the lizard to escape. Then she grows a new tail. But some lizards fail to completely shed their tail, and it remains hanging “by a thread.” Despite this, a new tail grows at the site of the break. If this happens often, then such a lizard drags a whole bunch of tails with it.

50. How do squirrels predict a Storm?

Of all the representatives of the animal world, squirrels are the most reliable weather predictors. Already 10 hours before a sudden change in weather, they begin to jump restlessly and make piercing whistling sounds. If they then hide in their houses and seal up the entrance holes, this means that there will be a thunderstorm soon, although the people do not notice anything yet. It is believed that squirrels sense fluctuations in atmospheric pressure, which usually precede sudden changes in weather and thunderstorms.

51. What animals can look in different directions at the same time?

Of all the animals, the chameleon is the best at squinting its eyes. Both of its eyes can move independently of each other, so that the reptile can look in two directions at the same time. At the same time, the chameleon sees all the movements of insects very well. The spectacled penguin can look forward and backward at the same time. This bird measuring 70 centimeters lives on islands located near South Africa. Her eyes are designed in such a way that she sees everything around her perfectly. She doesn't even have to turn her head to see what's going on behind her.

52. Which of the night hunters sees the worst?

Bats hunt for insects at night. At the same time, they see practically nothing. Together with sharp eyes, they have a highly developed echolocation system. With its help, they discover where the prey they are hunting is located, as well as obstacles to avoid. Echo sounders operate in ultrasonic mode, that is, they perceive sounds of such high frequencies that people and most animals cannot hear. When flying, bats send sound pulses: short high sounds. In the pauses between impulses they catch their echo. Reflected from insects or objects sound waves are registered in the bat's brain and create an internal picture of the surrounding space there. Thus, we can say that bats “see” with their ears. Therefore, they do not need light to navigate, and they feel as confident in the darkness of the night as in the darkness of their caves. Bats hear sounds with frequencies up to 210 kilohertz. And people can only hear sounds below 20 kilohertz. Dolphins have even more acute hearing than bats, perceiving sounds with a frequency of 280 kilohertz. By the way, dolphins also navigate using ultrasonic echo sounders and therefore can “see” schools of fish even in muddy water or at very great depths.

53. Which animals have the best infrared search system?

Infrared rays are nothing but heat rays. We feel it too infrared radiation, for example, when we sit in the sun. Using infrared cameras, you can photograph thermal radiation and see it in the photograph; Such devices “see” heat instead of light. Pythons have the most sensitive system for perceiving heat rays. They have a membrane in their heads that allows them to sense the slightest changes in ambient temperature. On the darkest night, a python can not only “see” a prey within a radius of up to 8 meters, but also determine what size it is. It responds to changes in temperature in hundredths fractions of a degree. And the body temperature of mammals is usually higher than the ambient temperature. Therefore, they are constantly in danger of being discovered by a python.

54. What birds can fly backwards?

Of all the birds, only hummingbirds can fly backwards and even stop in the air. In search of food, they hover like helicopters in the air above a flower, lower their long beaks and suck out the flower nectar. In order to hover motionless in the air, they have to flap their wings incredibly quickly: up to 80 times per second.

55. Who growls the loudest?

At a distance of up to 5 kilometers you can hear the cry of a howler monkey that lives in tropical forests America. This species of monkey has a cavity under the hyoid bone that serves only to amplify the voice. With their growls, small howler monkeys - their size is just over 50 centimeters - mark the boundaries of their possessions (individual animal or flock). No other animal in the world has such a loud voice.

56. Which animal is the best lumberjack?

In order to gnaw through a tree trunk with a diameter of 20 centimeters and knock it down, a beaver needs no more than 5 minutes. Beavers use tree trunks to build their dams. They live in colonies in artificial lakes created when beaver-built dams dam rivers and streams.

57. Which animal is the best driller?

Shipworms attach their shells to wood and begin to “drill” into it. Previously, the prey of these 10-centimeter mollusks was only the dead remains of trees; today they also attack the wooden hulls of ships. Cellulose-digesting shipworms cause significant damage to pilings and ships. Much more harmless are marine bivalve mollusks, which are 7 centimeters long and 3 centimeters wide. With its muscular leg, the mollusk firmly attaches to the seabed and pulls up the body and shell. Then the leg takes the next step. Thus, mollusks move along the seabed at a speed of 20 centimeters in half a minute. Among insects, the best drillers are the so-called riders. The shape of the back of the body of the four-centimeter female ichneumon is similar to the device with which smokers clean their pipes, which is why in some countries they are called “pipe cleaners.” They feed on the larvae of the large horntail living in the wood healthy trees and causing great harm to the forest. The riders drill into the tree until they reach the horntail larvae and eat them. It only takes a rider 15 minutes to drill a 3cm deep hole in hard wood. Thanks to the importation of riders from Europe, New Zealand's forests were saved from 1926 to 1936. The trees on the island seemed to be hopelessly attacked by the great horntail and doomed. Over 10 years of work, riders have eliminated the danger of forest destruction by the great horntail.

58. U Which warm-blooded animals have the highest body temperature?

Warm-blooded animals are animals that constantly maintain their body temperature at the same level. If the temperature rises above this constant value (for fever) or goes lower (with hypothermia), the animal becomes ill and may die. Animals whose body temperature depends on the temperature of the environment are called cold-blooded. Fish and reptiles can often tolerate much lower and higher temperatures than warm-blooded animals. For example, lizards become truly active only when it is hot. The tallest of all warm-blooded animals normal temperature the bodies of pigeons and ducks (up to 43 degrees), lowest body temperature of an anteater (29 degrees).

59. Which animals tolerate the most low temperatures?

Grape snails can be safely placed even in the freezer: after thawing, they feel great. They endure (short time) even the temperature is minus 110 degrees. But they are quite sensitive to heat and die when the temperature rises above 50 degrees. Frogs can freeze into ice at minus 10 degrees and remain unharmed. Some species of fish can tolerate being on the ice of frozen lakes. True, the temperature of the ice (and thus their body temperature) should not fall below minus 15 degrees. Among warm-blooded animals, cats are the record holders. When their body temperature drops to 16 degrees, they, however, lose consciousness, but as soon as it gets warmer, they come to their senses again. But the absolute champions are still bacteria. Some types of them can withstand temperatures of minus 250 degrees. Heating to plus 90 degrees also does not harm them. But most bacteria die at temperatures above 100 degrees. Therefore, to destroy many bacteria in the water, you just need to boil the water.

60. Why does the lynx hear so well?

Of all land animals, the lynx has the most acute hearing. The tassels on her ears - thin tufts of hair - capture the quietest sounds and send them to her ears. Lynx can distinguish different noises from a distance of a kilometer.

61. What mammals lay eggs?

Platypuses and echidnas are the only non-viviparous mammals. They lay eggs.

These animals are found only in Australia. The fact of the existence of such animals received scientific confirmation only 100 years ago. Before this message about oviparous mammals considered fairy tales. The body of the platypus is about half a meter long, its beak resembles the beak of a duck. He hatches eggs like a bird. The platypus secretes poison from spurs on its legs that can kill small animals.

62. Where do the most animals live?

The sloth bears his name with good reason. This strange creature, half a meter long and weighing 10 kilograms, hangs lazily in the canopy of trees in the American rainforests all its life. The fruit literally falls into his mouth. The sloth moves very slowly; each step takes him several minutes. Entire colonies of living creatures live in its fur, starting with green algae. The caterpillars of one species of butterfly feed on algae. And finally, small ants also live in the sloth’s fur and feed on butterfly caterpillars.

63. Which mammals are the rarest?

A number of mammals are so rare that their existence is known only from a single discovered specimen. For example, a small-toothed fruit bat was captured in 1938; Since then, no one else has seen this tropical bat. It is believed that only a few specimens remain and the Tasmanian marsupial wolf. For half a century it was believed that it had long been extinct, but in 1982, a reserve employee managed to track down and identify one of these ancient animals. Other mammals, such as the black-footed fossa and the red wolf, were saved from complete extinction only through breeding in zoos. They have already been released into the wild again, and scientists hope that they will survive in their natural habitat. Probably the rarest of all marine mammals is one species of razorback whale. No one has ever seen a single living specimen. The fact that this species of whale exists at all is known only from the bones found. More than 1,000 bird species have such a small number of representatives that the species is in danger of extinction. Perhaps the greatest threat is to the gray shore sparrow, which used to live in Florida. The last known specimen of this species died in 1987. True, parts of his corpse are preserved in deep freezing conditions. Scientists hope for further advances in genetic engineering. Perhaps over time it will be possible to reproduce this species from the genes preserved in the cells. Then it would be possible to give the gray coastal sparrow a second life.

64. What animals use various tools and devices to get food?

Many animals use various tools to get to food. But chimpanzees can also make such tools or devices themselves. Experiments with chimpanzees living in captivity have shown that if you hang bananas from the ceiling so that the animals cannot reach them, and put boxes in the room, then after some thought the chimpanzees will build something like a ladder out of the boxes and climb up to the bananas. . In the wild, chimpanzees sometimes adapt branches to hunt termites. They process wooden sticks until they become the required form and thickness so that they can be stuck into the termite mound. Chimpanzees use them to pull insects out of termite mounds. A red-headed finch, wanting to eat insects, finds a sharp thorn, takes it in its beak and picks it in the bark of a tree. But sometimes, in order to get to the food, you first have to crack the shell or shell. To get an oyster, a sea otter breaks the shell with a stone. Sometimes you have to split snail houses and eggs. Birds have an easier time than land animals. They simply rise high into the air with their prey and throw it to the ground. In this way, vultures get to the well-protected contents of the tubular bones. They drop bones from great heights onto rocks where they break. There are many reports of vultures breaking turtle shells in the same way.

65. At what distance does a jackal sense blood?

Local hunters tell real miracles about the black-backed jackal living in Africa. It is said that he can not only smell his prey from a distance of one kilometer, but can even smell the blood of a wounded animal at a distance of 4 kilometers.

66. U Which animals have the riskiest “professions”?

67. Which animals are the best inventors?

The Imo macaque is still considered the only animal that has been observed at the time it made the invention. An amazing discovery was made by Japanese zoologists at a research station. It turns out that not only people, but also animals can solve a problem by thinking (not just trial and error). Smart monkey I was struggling with the question of how to quickly get rid of the tasteless sand on potatoes, without wasting time on scraping. Suddenly she ran to the water and put potatoes there: the sand was easily washed away. Clever Imo liked this method so much that she used it to clean rice that had been lying on the ground for a long time and mixed with sand. The sand sank in the water much faster than the rice, and clean grains of rice were easily caught. No one imagined that animals were capable of such deliberate actions. Interestingly, soon all the young monkeys of the colony learned and adopted this technique. But the old monkeys did not want to relearn. They continued to eat food mixed with sand. Dolphins, who think a lot and invent various ways to protect themselves from fishermen, are also smart. In the past, hundreds of thousands of dolphins have died after being caught in tuna fishing nets. The fact is that some of their species like to be close to schools of tuna and thereby attract fishermen. But here's what whale researchers observe: Lately The dolphins seem to have realized that it is better to stay quiet and unnoticed near fishing boats. If, after all, the ships are too close, the dolphins try not to swim up to them from the side from which the nets are lowered into the water. If they nevertheless get into the fishing area and find themselves surrounded by nets, they no longer ram them in panic as before. They wait for the ships, lined up in a circle, to move back a little. At this moment, the dolphins swim over the net, which lies deeper, or jump over it and find themselves free.

68. Which of the languages ​​that exist among animals are the strangest?

Along with sign languages ​​and the language of sounds, some animals, especially insects, have developed a real language of smell. For example, ecophyll ants produce 10 different odors that are combined with certain body positions. Thus, ants can transmit up to 50 different messages to their relatives. Very expressive language The spotted skunk uses odors. He sprays foes with a smelly liquid that means "Get off!" This smell is so pungent and disgusting that with a good wind it can be smelled several kilometers away.

69. Which animal language has the most words?

The larger the flocks or herds of animals, the more developed their “language of communication.” Many animals can scream to warn each other of danger, attract each other to a place where there is food, call their cubs and express such different feelings as anger, sympathy, readiness to fight or concern. The most complex is probably the language of crows, consisting of about 300 different expressions. Unfortunately, it has not yet been clarified what the individual “words” mean.

70. Which animals know the most “foreign languages”?

Animal languages, like our languages, have different dialects. For example, the sounds made by a crow are different in different areas, and the Alpine crow is unlikely to understand its Spanish relative. Even the sounds warning of danger are so different that a foreign crow will not understand their meaning. True, it has been established that crows can learn foreign dialects during their flights. And especially smart crows They even speak real "foreign languages": they can learn a few important sounds from the language of jackdaws and seagulls and "speak" their languages.

71. Who is the most dangerous dangerous enemy of sharks?

If a shark approaches a baby dolphin, the dolphins turn into real fighting machines. They gather in a group, surround the shark and ram it from all sides until it dies.

72. Which animals have the most developed sense of camaraderie?

Whales and dolphins are famous for not abandoning their sick or endangered relatives in trouble. They lift them to the surface of the water and prevent them from drowning. Perhaps this instinctive behavior explains why dolphins also rescue people who are in trouble at sea and bring them to shore. Since ancient times, people living on the seashore have known many such stories. A number of other herd animals also help their relatives. Even animals with such a bad reputation as coyotes share their kills with sick and weak coyotes. Among lions, only females show a sense of camaraderie. Vampire bats They even share blood with sick vampires. South American vampires feed on the blood of other mammals. If a sick bat cannot go hunting, then the “comrades” bring it blood in the mouth and feed it. Whales and dolphins, elephants and apes even seem to experience sadness if, despite their best efforts, one of their relatives dies. They say about whales that they lose their vitality and vigor when one of them dies (for example, from the harpoon of whalers). Jane Goodell, who studies chimpanzees, told this story. One young monkey could not survive the death of his mother. She always came to the place where her mother died. And she died in the same place a few weeks later - apparently from grief. It seems that elephants also understand what illness and death are. They do not abandon the sick elephant, on the contrary, they help him in every possible way. If he falls, the others try to pull him to his feet. If he does not show signs of life for a long time, then the members of the herd keep something like a guard of honor near his body. Before moving on a few days later, they throw earth and branches on the corpse of their deceased comrade.

73. Which animal sleeps the longest?

Feline predators sleep, or at least doze, most of the day. They can afford this because they have no enemies and do not need to be on guard all the time. The gorilla is also so confident in his abilities that he can sleep for 13 hours every day. Hedgehogs sleep even longer, 18 hours a day, curled up into a thorny ball that is not afraid of any enemy.

Perhaps the sloth sleeps for just as long, or maybe even longer. This is not known for sure: this animal, living in the Mexican tropics, moves so slowly that it is impossible to determine whether it is sleeping at a given moment or not.

74. Who sleeps the least?

Animals that are hunted by predators sleep very briefly and shallowly. Giraffes are especially vigilant; during the day they allow themselves to take 3-4 naps for 5 minutes.

75. U Which animals hibernate the longest?

Many animals spend the winter hibernating in sheltered homes or simply burrowing into the ground. Such animals include the marmot, brown bear, badger, skunk, wolf, dormouse, bat, field snail, turtle, common toad and crayfish. During hibernation, their body temperature drops and their blood circulation slows. But in reality, almost no animal sleeps all winter. Once every two to three weeks, everyone wakes up for a short time. The animals warm up a little and fall asleep again. Only one animal is known to sleep almost all winter without waking up. Long-eared bats tolerate drops in body temperature almost to the freezing point, and drops in ambient temperatures down to minus 5 degrees. They can remain in a state of sleep for 3 months without showing any external signs of life.

76. Which animal jumps from the greatest height?

Chamois jump from steep cliffs, the height of which is equal to the height of a four-story building. In the animal world they are the most agile and courageous jumpers from heights.

77. Which animal is the best at jumping high?

African jumping antelopes, which measure only 60 centimeters in height, can jump up to 8 meters in height without a running start. This is an absolute world record. The American puma, a predator from the cat family, jumps 7 meters in height without a running start. Behind her is a dolphin that can jump 5 meters out of the water. Kangaroos jump 3 meters in height; Persian kulan - 2.5 meters.

78. Which snake flies the best?

South Asian golden tree snakes are the only snakes in the world that have a flight membrane and can therefore fly. They climb trees and throw themselves down from a height of 20 meters or more. At the same time, both flying skin membranes open, and the snakes can fly in soaring flight up to 100 meters. Then he climbs the next tree to look for food.

79. Which animal runs the fastest?

The fastest of all land animals is the cheetah. It reaches a record speed of 120 kilometers per hour. The Russian Greyhound can reach speeds of up to 110 kilometers per hour. She runs the 200-meter race in less than 7 seconds. Record-breaking athletes need three times as much time to cover such a distance: 20 seconds. The African goat runs at a speed of only 95 kilometers per hour, but it has the strongest spurt* of all land animals. Just two seconds after he starts running, he rushes at a speed of 62 kilometers per hour. That is, it reaches speed faster than some racing cars. The athlete’s speed two seconds after the start is 25 kilometers per hour. Fast horses can reach speeds of 70 kilometers per hour.

* Spurt (English 8rig1 - jerk), a sharp increase in the tempo of movement.

80. How long can the world's toughest runner run?

The Persian kulan can run 10 kilometers at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour, and then another 30 kilometers at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. This wild animal of the equine family is the toughest long-distance runner in the animal kingdom. The best marathon runners run the 42-kilometer distance at an average speed of about 20 kilometers per hour.

81. What power can small animals have?

A vine snail can drag a load 200 times its own weight, for example, a three-kilogram telephone directory. Thus, taking into account the size of the body, it can be classified as one of the strongest animals. The rhinoceros beetle can drag up to 850 times its own weight. He himself weighs only 3 grams, but can drag almost as much as a snail, which is much heavier than him. A flying bee can support a load 25 times its own weight.

82. What are the most Big ants in the world?

Ants were discovered by zoologists in South America in the Amazon jungle. The body length of these giants reaches 7 centimeters. Body length of most ants of other species (about 6 thousand species are known) ranges from 0.8 to 50 millimeters.

83. What speed do the fastest fish develop?

The fastest fish - swordfish, marlin and sailfish - develop enormous speed in the water: 100-130 kilometers per hour! All of them are among the largest and most active predators. For example, the largest swordfish caught by humans was about 7 meters long and weighed 660 kilograms! This giant was caught after it, like a torpedo, rushed at the Barbara tanker at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour and pierced its steel plating with acceleration. The length of the sword of a huge predator was 1.5 meters! Such giant specimens are now quite rare. Typically, the length of the largest fish of this family does not exceed 4-4.5 meters. They develop record speed due to the special external structure of their body. Other fish are significantly inferior to the champions. Compare: carp moves with a maximum speed of 13, perch - 17, pike - 30, shark - 40-60, tuna - 70 kilometers per hour.

84. Which fish lives the longest?

The longest life expectancy among fish is probably the largest of the sturgeon family - the beluga. She lives up to 100 years or more. At the same time, the age limit for other sturgeon fish is much lower. So, for Russian sturgeon it is two times lower - 50 years. Carp live that long. There is reliable information about pike, which lived 33 years, and perch - 11 years.

85. Which bird has the smallest eggs?

Hummingbirds have the smallest eggs in absolute measurement. Their mass in dwarf hummingbirds is only 2 milligrams! The eggs of other hummingbird species are slightly larger. They are white in color. There are usually only two eggs in a clutch.

86. U Which bird has the largest number of eggs in its clutch?

The gray partridge has the largest number of eggs in a clutch: it lays up to 25 eggs. That's a lot. Compare: in a penguin's nest there are 1-2 eggs, in a crane and eagle - 1-3, in a pigeon - 2, in a stork - 2-4, in a tit - up to 15 eggs. Emu lays until 7-8 large eggs weighing about 600 grams each.

87. Who can go the longest without food?

Hedgehogs can survive on food for the longest time in a state of hibernation - 236 days. They do not make any food reserves for the winter. During long and deep hibernation, hedgehogs subsist on the stored fat of their bodies. During this time they lose a lot of weight. And one more interesting feature of hedgehogs. They are surprisingly resistant to such strong poisons as arsenic and hydrocyanic acid. A hedgehog can eat a viper without harming itself. A eared hedgehogs They tolerate high overheating very well.

88. U Who has the largest number of teeth?

Nature provided the naked slug with the largest number of teeth. He has up to 30 thousand small teeth! Unbelievable but true. The largest fish on our planet, the whale shark, has up to 15 thousand very small teeth in its huge mouth. But they do not serve to bite prey, but to “lock” it in a huge mouth. The common garden snail, which is found in America, has a tongue lined with 135 rows of hard small teeth, 105 in each row. More than 14 thousand teeth! With this kind of grater, the snail erases parts of the plants that it feeds on. Compare: the sperm whale has 60 teeth, the bear, wolf and fox - 42, the hedgehog - 36, the tiger and cat ~ 30, the hare - 28, the elephant - 26, the squirrel - 22 teeth. Animals of the same species have a constant number of teeth. Only the armadillo has the number of teeth different types and even in different individuals of the same species it can be different and varies widely: from 28 to 100. Many animals are completely toothless (for example, anteaters).

89. How fast can different animals move?

Animals

Speed, km/h

Good swimmer

Horse (walking)

Housefly

Horse (trot)

Seal on land

Ringed seal

running Man

Cephalopod

Man on roller skates

Cyclist racer

Horse (gallop)

Post pigeon

Falcon in vertical flight

90. What are the largest insects in the world?

The largest insects in the world are tropical stick insects. Their body length reaches 30-35 centimeters. They belong to the order of ghosts, so named because they have an amazing ability to adapt to their surroundings. These peculiar animals, with a long thin body, can instantly disappear among the tangle of branches, disguising themselves as a twig, plant stems or leaves. They can remain in this state for a long time. Many of them are able to change their color depending on the environment.

91. Where is the largest locust found?

The largest green locust was found in the Amazon jungle. Its body length reaches 15 centimeters, which is three times longer than an ordinary locust. Since ancient times, migratory locusts have become synonymous with hunger and disaster. She is very voracious: the offspring of just one female annually eats more than 300 kilograms of fresh plants. Some "damned hunger clouds" consisted of 40 billion insects. It is possible to calculate the enormous area of ​​agricultural land and forests it could destroy. The grim history of locust plagues at the end of the 19th century includes a cloud of locusts that covered six thousand square kilometers.

92. What is the biggest frog?

The most big frog- Goliath frog native to West Africa. The length of her body reaches 25-30 centimeters! Weight - 3.5 kilograms. And one specimen, caught in Angola, was 40 centimeters long. If it were measured from the head to the tips of the outstretched hind legs, its length would triple. But this is how height is measured only in mammals and birds. The goliath frog is also the largest tailless amphibian. As you can see, the maximum record holders among amphibians turn out to be very modest compared to even small fish.

93. Which snake is the fastest in the world?

The fastest snake in the world is the mamba. The reliably recorded speed of the mamba on the ground is 11.3 kilometers per hour! And in the branches it is even faster. It is difficult for a person to escape from it. The length of this thin body is like a whip, tree snake often reaches 4 meters. It lives throughout Africa. This is the most poisonous snake African continent. Here you can meet it not only in forests and fields, but also in villages and even in houses... Mamba is the second venomous snake in the world after the king cobra. A person dies from its bite (unless emergency measures are taken) within half an hour. No snakes in Africa are as feared as mambas. They inspire understandable fear everywhere. However, mambas do not intentionally attack people.

94. Which flying bird is the largest in our country?

The largest flying bird in our country and in Europe is the swan. The length of her body reaches 180 centimeters, and her weight is 13 kilograms.

95. U Which bird has the highest flight altitude?

The most high altitude flight among birds - the bearded vulture - 7500 meters! For other birds, the “working ceiling” is much smaller. For a condor, for example, - 5900, a swallow - 4000, a goose - 3000, a swan and a crane - 2400 meters. But some of them go even higher. In the mountains, for example, flocks of flying cranes, waders and geese were observed even at an altitude of 6-9 kilometers. However, most birds stay close to the ground.

96. Where do the smallest horses live?

The smallest horses are bred at one of the stud farms in Argentina. They are really tiny - their weight is only 25 kilograms, and their height at the withers does not exceed 40 centimeters. Kids are distinguished by extraordinary endurance. After several hours of galloping, they only need a few minutes to regain their strength.

97. What is the largest river fish?

The largest river fish is catfish. The length of this predator reaches 5 meters, and its weight is more than 300 kilograms. A hundred years ago, a giant was caught on the Oder that weighed about 400 kilograms!

We caught very large catfish in our rivers: on the Dniester - 320 kilograms, and on the Dnieper - 250 kilograms. True, they write different things about fish, especially about big fishing successes. How plausible this is is difficult to verify now. For example, they talk a lot about the amazing size and weight of pike caught. At the same time, it is reliably known about the “Russian record holder” caught in Lake Ilmen in 1930. She weighed 34 kilograms. In Ireland in early XIX centuries, pikes with a length of about 172 centimeters and a mass of 36-38 kilograms were encountered. Nowadays such pikes are not caught. One of the largest fish found in fresh waters, is a beluga. To breed, it rises very high upstream in rivers. In 1922, in Astrakhan, for example, a beluga weighing 1230 kilograms was caught. The length of these giants exceeds 6 meters, and their weight reaches 1.5 tons.

98. Who is the loudest of all animals?

The loudest of all animals is the crocodile. His cry makes even the heart tremble seasoned hunter. The hippopotamus also has a very loud voice. And, perhaps, only in third place can we put the roar of the “king of beasts” - the lion. By the way, the crocodile is the only animal on earth that cannot turn its head and is forced to constantly move forward.

99. Who makes the highest jumps?

The highest jumps - up to 5 meters - are made during a hunt by a representative of the American fauna - the puma. This large predator from the cat family reaches a length of 2 meters, and its weight exceeds 100 kilograms.

100. Whose Is the poison the strongest?

The most strong poison of animal origin is the poison of a tiny frog living in the jungles of South America, in Colombia. Locals, the Choco Indians call it coca. The venom of many of the most dangerous snakes cannot be compared with it. The poison collected from one frog is enough to kill fifty jaguars. The Choco Indians do not know any antidote for this.

Ecology

In the wild, in order to survive, you need to be able to adapt. Many animals follow this golden rule, which is why their populations thrive. Some adaptations arose millions of years ago and are still successfully used by representatives of the animal world. Learn about these most important adaptations, thanks to which we can witness such a wide variety of fauna on the planet today.

1) Flocks, herds, groups

Among all the adaptations of the animal world, perhaps the most important is the habit of living in a group. Animals benefit greatly from living side by side with members of their own species. They help each other get food, defend themselves from enemies, and take care of their offspring together. Countless species form groups, colonies, herds, flocks, complex communities or free associations. However, the most common groups in the animal kingdom are groups called "nuclear families", which includes a male, a female and their offspring, or a male, several females and their offspring, or a group of females and their offspring, or other combinations.

2) Flight

Animals have adapted to move around in different ways while living on the planet, including walking, swimming, climbing or jumping. But the most remarkable of the adaptations to movement can be called flight. Flight not only allows animals to move long distances much faster than when walking or running on the surface, the ability to fly allows them to hide from enemies, find new territories, and look for food sources that would otherwise be inaccessible. Flight not only changed the lives of many animals, it also completely changed our lives, transformed human societies, and gave many opportunities.

3) Migrations

This adaptation is found in many living things, especially birds and insects. Nothing in nature is more impressive than the movement of entire populations of animals moving in large groups from one place to another. The reasons for migrations can be very different, but are usually associated with a lack of food and the search for new, more food-rich places, and animals often migrate in order to mate and produce offspring. Some living beings are capable of migrating over amazingly long distances, covering thousands of kilometers every year. For example, the Arctic tern migrates every year from breeding grounds in the Arctic to wintering grounds in Antarctica, covering a distance of 40 thousand kilometers.

4) Camouflage

The ability to blend into their surroundings and become undetected is very helpful in evading predators, especially for those animals that are small enough to have no other means of defense against enemies in their arsenal. Many living creatures use camouflage. Some species of animals, including scorpionfish and tree frog, can change their appearance to suit their environment. Others have evolved into something completely different from animal organism, for example, a branch or leaf. Zebras are animals that also use camouflage to deceive a potential enemy. To a lion, a zebra looks like a mass of black and white stripes, but not a tempting treat.

5) Hibernation

Getting out of bed on cold and cloudy winter days is not a pleasant experience, which is why some animals prefer to spend the entire winter hibernating. This is an ingenious way to escape the cold and survive in harsh conditions where resources are very scarce. Many animals hibernate, including chipmunks, hedgehogs, bats and bears. Some animals, such as the American black bear, sleep all winter, but they are fairly easy to wake up. Other animals, such as most mammals, that hibernate in winter sleep so soundly that they go into suspended animation and many bodily functions are suspended. Waking them up is very difficult, if not impossible.

6) Conservation of resources

For animals that live in places where resources such as food and water are very scarce for long periods, the ability to store fat and water in their bodies helps them survive. This amazing feature has bactrian camel, which lives in the arid regions of Central and East Asia, where the air temperature in summer varies from minus 5 to 40 degrees Celsius. These camels have adapted perfectly to such harsh conditions. First, their humps are filled with fat, which turns into energy and water needed to survive the harsh seasons. Moreover, these camels do not sweat at all until their body temperature rises to 40 degrees.

7) Deceptive resizing

Many animals have adapted to appear larger in order to scare off enemies. For example, pufferfish can swell up to almost double their size in order to intimidate an enemy and gain an advantage. In case of danger, these fish pump air and water into their very elastic belly and become round like balls. In a bloated state, it is difficult for these fish to move, but this is no longer so important, since they become not particularly attractive in appearance as lunch.

8) Wool

For us humans, body hair does not have any particularly important meaning, and we can live just fine without it. However, for most animals in the wild, fur is an important protective element. Take the musk ox, for example. Wool is vital to these animals, which live in the very cold conditions of Alaska. The dense, shaggy coat hangs all the way to the ground, giving the bull the necessary protection from the cold, allowing these creatures to withstand extremely low temperatures. Fur helps animals survive in winter at an average temperature of minus 35 degrees Celsius. Animals shed their winter fur and exchange it for lighter summer fur when the air temperature rises to 5-10 degrees Celsius.