Is There a Point at Which Polar Bears will Get Cold? What is it?

Polar bears live in the arctic, hang out on slabs of ice, and snack on sea lions. Ultimately, slabs of ice are a big part of what polar bears call home, they live their lives floating around on them. But because the ice continually shifts and moves, so do the bears and they can be found in countries within the arctic region from Alaska, Canada, and Russia to Norway.

Polar bears are well adapted to life in extremely cold weather, but do they always stay cozy underneath all that fur and blubber? I want to figure out whether polar bears ever get cold, but to do that I first need to understand how they stay so warm in the first place.

How Does a Polar Bear Survive in Freezing Temperatures?

Polar bears have a few things to keep them snug in those freezing conditions including:

• A thick fur-coat
• Layers of blubber
• A wicked fast metabolism
• A small body surface area to volume ratio helps to minimize heat loss

The fur coat acts as a barrier to keep out the cold and the layer of blubber functions as insulation. Blubber helps the polar bear maintain its body temperature, allowing it to remain at a comfortable 98.6 F. And a polar bear’s super-fast metabolism generates heat, helping it stay warm in a below-freezing climate.

Other adaptations that help a polar bear survive to include:

• A white appearance helps it camouflage in the snow when hunting its prey
• Large feet help it balance and grip the ice

The polar bear has adapted to its environment in several ways, but a primary trait (and probably its most significant) is its ability to retain warmth, to survive the subfreezing temperatures of its environment. While other survival traits are important, if a polar bear cannot stay warm, it will face a bigger problem than forgetting to bring a sweater. If a polar bear’s body loses the ability to retain heat, the polar bear will not survive.

What Might Limit a Polar Bear’s Ability to Retain Heat?

To figure out whether polar bears can … Read the rest of the story.

Which Animals Have Blue Blood?

Which color do you imagine when you think of blood? Of course, many people think of red since that is the color of human blood and blood for most animals. But, do you know blood also comes in many colors apart from red?

If you’ve ever done an injustice to a fly or caterpillar, then you know what I’m talking about. Was it green? Blue? or perhaps red?….. Well, in an actual sense, several animals out there have different colors of this life-giving fluid.

Today, we talk about blue blood. Let’s find out why blood can be blue:

Why Do Some Animals Have Blue Blood?

Octopuses, snails, horseshoe crabs, and spiders have one thing in common. All of them have blue blood! But why is their blood blue and not red?

This is because octopuses, snails, and spiders, unlike mammals, don’t use hemoglobin to carry oxygen in their bodies. Instead, they use a related compound called hemocyanin. Rather than having an iron atom in its middle, this molecule has a copper atom that binds oxygen.

It absorbs all colors apart from blue, reflecting and making the blood of these creatures appear blue.

7 Animals With Blue Blood

Blood being blue depends on the presence of hemocyanin in place of hemoglobin. Let’s discuss several animals whose blood appears blue due to this factor.

1. Scorpions

Some scorpions have blue blood due to the high level of hemocyanin in the blood, for instance, the Emperor Scorpion. This is the largest in the scorpion family. Scorpions eat various insects, spiders, lizards, and even other scorpions.

They eat small mammals also, such as mice but can live for months without food, only water. Scorpions are on every continent, excluding Antarctica. They are found in habitats ranging from grasslands to tropical rainforests and deserts.

2. Octopuses

Octopuses have blue blood filled with hemocyanin. Hemocyanin works better than hemoglobin in deep-sea environments where oxygen is poor. Octopuses use hemocyanin, the copper-laden protein, to remain alive in the cold, deep, anoxic waters.

In addition, hemocyanin helps the antennae critters control the salt content of their … Read the rest of the story.

How Do Legless Lizards Move? Survive?

Something slithered in the grass below. Initially, it seemed like it was a snake and I had to hold my breath for a moment before I bothered to consider the creature that was using weird s-movements while crawling through the grassy plain. Staring at the creature in awe, it dawned on me that the reptile had no actual legs.

It seemed as if it was moving entirely on its stomach!

I wasn’t at the Mojave Desert when I spotted this legless lizard but I had read in a past newspaper article that California-based biologists had stumbled across four new species of legless lizards at first in the Mojave Desert and then at the runway at LAX.

If you’re one of the many people who have never heard about legless lizards, keep reading to learn more about fascinating, exotic creatures.

Are Legless Lizards Snakes?

The idea of a lizard not moving on all fours can be quite confusing. If you, like me, are fascinated with these creatures, you will know that the fact that four new species of legless lizard were found means that lizards are a species with their own qualities. While there are striking similarities between the snake and the legless lizard, their distinct movement patterns prove that both species are actually worlds apart.

More subtle differences between the snake and legless lizard include the way their jaws are structured and the characteristics of their ear openings. These legless lizards have to survive on smaller creatures in comparison to the creatures that are gobbled up by the snake. This is due to the fact that the lizards’ jaws are closely intertwined.

Generally, legless lizards consume prey that is smaller than the size of their heads. While both the legless lizard and the snake survive, they move rather differently in order to survive.

Early Beginnings

While we could assume that the legless lizard and the snake have somewhat of a similar history, we have found fossil remains of legless lizards which may prove that they are an earlier ascendant of the snake.

“In 2007, scientists discovered a 95-million-year-old fossil … Read the rest of the story.

What Animal Do Not Come Out at Night?

You will see many critters if you wander out at night, but you won’t ever see honey bees, squirrels, or even any Komodo dragons. These animals aren’t afraid of the dark, they are called diurnal animals because their circadian rhythm is designed to allow them to function better during daylight hours. Unlike many of the night creatures, which are considered nocturnal, many of these daylight animals could not survive if they came out only at night.

Let’s take a look at what other living things also share day activity and why.

What Is Circadian Rhythm?

Circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle within the living body that determines when the body is most active. This cycle speeds up for twelve hours and is slower during the other twelve. During the active period, the animal or plant needs to eat, exercise, and can think and perform better.

When the cycle slows down, sleep is needed and the body heals. Scientists aren’t completely sure how this developed but it is mainly controlled by the amount of light present. While circadian rhythm is fairly consistent within each being, it is possible to change that rhythm when necessary.

For example, people, who are naturally more active during the day, can adapt to work nights and sleep days. Bears are naturally day animals, but when they live in areas where there are a lot of people, many will adjust their daily activities to forage at night. This is why bears can often be found in garbage cans searching for food.

On the other hand, lions and tigers are naturally active at night, but many have adapted to hunting during the day because that is when their prey is most active.

Why Are Many Animals Active Only During the Day?

Scientists theorize that many of the Earth’s population were active during the day originally. Over time, a number of factors were involved in changing this. By having some animals active during the day and others at night, more animals can share the same area without getting in each other’s path.

This makes it easier to utilize … Read the rest of the story.

5 Insects Without Eyes (List)

There’s no shortage of blind animals in nature, which is incredible because these animals manage to survive just fine. You probably know how bats have become the poster boy for blindness, and yet they can fly about with no problem. There are also many other blind animals, like moles and salamanders that have adapted to life without eyes.

But, did you know? Insects can be blind too! By insects, we mean those typically small animals with six legs, two compound eyes, two antennae, a head, thorax, and abdomen.

In all instances where a new species of blind insect is discovered, you find that these insects only live in the darkest of environments, such as caves. Also, some small, blind insects live in leaf litter, where little light penetrates. Read on to discover the different types of fascinating, eyeless creatures known to man.

Springtails

Springtails are so-called because they move around by leaping, which they can do using some kind of spring on their body. These eyeless, wingless insects are ancient and primitive, so they have been around for a long time.

There are many types of species of springtail, and those that have evolved to have a significant reduction in eyes live in soil or underground. Generally, springtails feed on decomposing material, bacteria, and fungi.

A few years ago, a new species of springtail known as Plutomurus ortobalaganensis was discovered. This insect now holds the title of the deepest terrestrial animal on Earth. It was discovered nearly 2000 meters below the surface of a cave entrance during an expedition in 2010. The insect lives in a cave called Krubera-Voronja, located in Abkhazia, a far-off place near the Black Sea.

The insects were collected and studied, and besides the observation that P. ortobalaganensis had no eyes, it was also noted that the creature had long antennae. Its grayish body was covered in dark spots. It’s not hard to see why P. ortobalaganensis evolved to be eyeless, seeing that it resides in lightless caves.

It makes sense that the insect does not need eyes while living deep underground in the total absence of light. However, the springtail … Read the rest of the story.

Which Animals have Purple Blood?

Most living creatures have red blood. There are many, however, that do not share this trait. Their blood can be blue, green, yellow, clear, and even purple.

Purple blood is often found in deep-sea worms such as the peanut worm and bristle worms. Brachiopods have blood that is such a deep purple that it is often thought to be black. The color of blood, which is normally used to carry oxygen throughout the body, is determined by what elements are used for this purpose.

For those with red blood, the common element is iron. The three creatures known to have purple blood do not have iron. A protein called hemerythrin is used to carry oxygen through their bodies.

Let’s take a look at these three fascinating animals.

1. The Peanut Worm

Dwelling at the bottom of many oceans, especially in the area of Hawaii, is the odd-looking peanut worm. The body of the peanut worm is without segments and it sports a bulbous trunk called an introvert. The mouth located inside this introvert is surrounded by a ring of tentacles that help guide food into the worm.

The peanut worm lives mainly on detritus, which is decaying matter from dead sealife. The peanut worm makes its home in a variety of locations. Most of the worms create burrows in the mud or sand at the bottom of the sea.

Others, however, prefer more luxurious homes in rock crevices or inside abandoned seashells. They rarely swim but instead move when necessary by twisting their bodies in every direction. When they are threatened, they can configure their bodies into a shape that resembles a peanut shell.

This is what has given them their unusual name. The same chemical that gives the peanut worm its purple blood also gives it the ability to regenerate should it lose part of its body. The skin of this sea creature is almost translucent, which makes it appear to be purple because you can see the blood running through it.

2. Brachiopods

Brachiopods are also known as lampshades. These small marine shellfish have existed in the … Read the rest of the story.

7 Animals that Don’t Feel Emotions (List)

Human beings have the capacity to experience a wide range of emotions, from sorrow to grief to happiness, but many of us are unsure if animals have the same experiences. Have you ever wondered what kinds of animals are incapable of feeling emotions?

Scientists claim that certain animals are capable of experiencing emotions, whereas others are incapable of experiencing any feelings at all. According to experts, animals that do not have brain structures or brain networks do not have the ability to feel any emotions. These creatures, which are also referred to as limbic system animals, are incapable of feeling any emotions such as fear, rage, terror, sorrow, or happiness.

For example, multicellular creatures such as sea sponges, most corals, sea anemones, as well as other similar species, are considered to be examples of these kinds of animals. In this post, we will talk about the different animals that don’t feel emotions according to scientists. So if you’re interested in learning more about these creatures that don’t feel emotions, keep reading.

The Following Animals Don’t Feel Emotions

As previously stated, scientists believe that a specific group of animals may experience emotions similar to those experienced by humans; yet, other types of animals do not experience emotions at all.

In the world of invertebrates, there are very few species that ever express what we call emotion. The cephalopods, such as the octopus and the squid, are prominent outliers to this. Despite the fact that they have never shown emotions, responses such as fear, and anger, as well as satisfaction seem to be present in these creatures.

The following are examples of creatures that are incapable of feeling any emotions:

Insects

The world has several insects with thousands of different species that cover the world. They vary according to their colors, shapes, and structures, as well as their overall look. Due to the fact that insects are members of the invertebrate kingdom, they do not have brain networks and, as a consequence, they do not feel any emotion at all.

Jelly Fish

There are various types of jellyfish, and they … Read the rest of the story.

Wolverine (Gulo gulo): The Glutton of the Wild

Retractable claws, small stature, and fierce temper, and no, we are not talking about the Marvel X-Man character. We are talking about the largest land-living species of the weasel family, the Wolverine. This mammal is only the size of a medium dog, but don’t let their size fool you; they are vicious and have unimaginable strength compared to their size.

A Tough Body Design

The Wolverine looks like a cross between a wolf and a small bear. With dark brown coarse fur, brown-black head, raccoon-like eyes, a longer snout, and a short body. Sometimes he sports a lighter golden stripe from his strong shoulders, traveling down his flanks and to the base of his tail.

His feet are like giant snowshoes; with each step, his toes spread, making it easy to walk on top of the snow. He has semi-retractable claws like a cat, striking, tearing, or climbing as needed. A tenacious mammal with the scientific name of Gulo gulo, which means glutton.

Are they gluttons? Let’s explore the eating habits of the Wolverine together.

Eating Habits

The Wolverine has a reputation for being vicious; it has incredible strength and can kill an animal much bigger than itself. They are considered cruel animals. Paralyzing animals as large as a reindeer by biting the spine.

Yet not killing it until they are ready to eat the animal, allowing it to die as they consume it. Once they are full, they bury it under the snow, saving the rest for later. This has given them the added reputation of being greedy, as they do not share any meal.

Wolverines have a keen sense of smell and can smell a dead animal even though frozen deep under the snow. This ability gives them more food than other animals attempting to survive in harsh weather. Not only can they smell, but they also have unique teeth, including an upper molar that is turned 90 degrees, which makes ripping flesh easier.

The teeth are so strong they can break and rip frozen meat from bones.

Wolverines Eat Almost Anything

An Omnivore … Read the rest of the story.

3 Animals that Can’t See in the Dark

The ability to “see,” in light or darkness is difficult to truly define. For example, fans of Marvel may be familiar with the superhero Daredevil, who lost his sight at a young age and is, effectively, blind; however, even he has difficulty answering the question of whether or not he can see because he is able to use his other senses to get a very accurate picture of his surroundings. It is the same with some animals.

Animals that can’t see well oftentimes do just fine because of other adaptations like whiskers, echolocation, and hearing. For the purposes of this list, I will include animals that have poor eyesight at night, even if they can see well by other means. Overall, night vision is hard to measure.

Unless an animal is completely blind, it can see in the dark to some extent. How well an animal can see at night depends on the number of rod cells in its eyes. Oftentimes, animals with bigger eyes have better night vision. You’ll notice the lack of this feature holds true for the following animals.

Gorillas

Most of our world’s gorillas live in Equatorial Africa, an area of dense vegetation and humidity. Earth’s only two species are separated by over 500 miles of forest in the Congo Basin. Both species are vegetarian, diurnal mammals.

During the day, gorillas have pretty good vision, similar to a human’s. Front-facing eyes, limited color vision, and a light-sensitive area of the eye called the fovea allow gorillas to see a wide field of view, understand depth, and see detail clearly. Their ability to distinguish between colors is likely a result of their vegetarian diet, as color distinction may be an important survival tactic for the differentiation of poisonous and non-poisonous fruit and plants, and helps foragers find food among like-textured backgrounds.

Gorillas also don’t do a lot of moving around after dark. Like humans, they try to be in bed when it gets dark, but they will sleep for around 12 hours, effectively missing the non-daylight hours entirely. Also similar to humans, when it gets dark, … Read the rest of the story.

7 Animals with No Blood

The vast majority of animals that inhabit the earth have a circulatory system much like we do, complete with a heart and blood. Most of us have red blood, though some animals have blue, black, or even green blood. Then, strangest of all, are the animals that have no blood at all.

Here are a few animals that live without blood in their body!

1. Jellyfish

It seems pretty obvious that a jellyfish has no circulatory system when we look at it. These transparent, gelatinous masses don’t have any obvious muscles or organs and are usually transparent, floating aimlessly around the ocean. Jellyfish belong to a class of animals called cnidarians, which include coral and sea anemones.

Instead of using blood to transport nutrients throughout their body, cnidarians absorb them directly from the water into their cells.

According to the UCSB Science Line: “When the cells on the outside of their body come into contact with water, oxygen and nutrients can diffuse into their body to provide them with everything they need.” Jellyfish are the largest animals without a heart.

2. Flatworms

Flatworms, as the name implies, are flat, worm-like invertebrates. Their extremely flat bodies mean that they have no room for organs. Not only do they have no blood, but they also have no heart, circulatory system, or respiratory system.

They gather nutrients and oxygen through a process called diffusion. Unlike in humans, this process doesn’t involve any kind of pump; instead, the nutrients simply flow through the flatworm’s body without direction. Some flatworms are parasites, such as the tapeworm. Other types include the fluke and the planarian.

3. Nematodes

Nematodes, also known as roundworms, are an incredibly common parasite, living in other animal species of all kinds as well as in food, soil, vinegar, malt, and deep within the earth. There are a huge number of nematodes — as many as 20,000 distinct types have been identified — but scientists think that these might only be a small percentage of the true number. The internal organs and other systems vary among different types of nematodes, but … Read the rest of the story.

Which Animals have Yellow Blood?

Have you ever wondered if there actually are creatures on Earth who have different colored blood? You may be surprised to learn that there are several living things that have yellow blood. That’s right, this bright blood is so foreign, and you aren’t likely to see it up close, but it’s absolutely fact that they’ve got this distinct type of blood.

The reason why some have yellow blood is that it contains a high concentration of vanabin, which is a vanadium-based pigment. Read on to learn more about these fascinating creatures and what makes them so different!

Beetles

Just like some other types of bugs, beetles have yellow-ish blood. You may notice this when you’ve seen a beetle that’s hit your windshield or is squished on the ground. Most people don’t know the fact that insects usually don’t have blood vessels like animals do. They’ve got a large hole in their skeletons that holds all of its blood.

Beetles are found all over the world. They tend to prefer making their habitats in spaces that are dark and moist, such as gardens, lakes, ponds, and grain fields.

This animal tends to eat a variety of what’s found in nature. This includes other insects and types of animals, decaying matter, and plants. Ultimately, what they eat depends on the type of beetle and the environment in which they live.

Sea Cucumbers

This underwater creature definitely is a wonder to behold. Sea cucumbers live at the bottom of the ocean. They’re considered to be extremely simple creatures.

They kind of look like fruit, and the name of this animal makes it even stranger since you wouldn’t expect that it’s even an animal!  The sea cucumber has thousands of little feet, and it moves slowly on the ocean bottom. The fact that it has yellow blood is due to how it contains vanadium, a metal compound that has yellow pigment which is found in vanabin proteins.

It’s important to note that vanabin doesn’t aid in the transport of oxygen to the rest of the body. Scientists haven’t been able to figure out the … Read the rest of the story.

Which Animals Have Two Brains?

When I’m having trouble trying to figure out a problem, and I just can’t wrap my brain around the solution, I think of the old saying, “Two heads are better than one.” Well, what about two brains? Did you know that some animals, including humans, have two or more brains?

I know, it sounds like science fiction or maybe even a horror movie, ”The Human with Two Brains.” But, it’s true. You probably think I’m crazy, but let’s get into a few examples of animals with two brains.

These incredible and complex creatures are all around us. Not only do humans have two brains, but many other animals do too. You’ll soon find out that I haven’t lost my mind.

Octopus (Octopoda)

According to Scientific American, octopuses and their close relatives, ten-armed squid and cuttlefish, stand apart from all invertebrates. They are ”deep-sea thinkers.” Octopus brains let them remember things, recognize other sea creatures, and explore objects.

Even though they’re invertebrates, their brains act similar to our own. That’s where the similarities to vertebrates end. These Cephalopods have brains that aren’t only in their heads but in their eight arms.

So, octopuses actually have nine brains. Each arm has a unique set of neurons that act independently from each other. Each arm can taste, touch and control feelings using hundreds of sensors.

In fact, the Smithsonian Institute says that octopuses can finish puzzles, open jars and untie knots with their arms. They are masters at ambushing their prey, which are fish, jellyfish and crustaceans. The 300 different species of octopus live in all the oceans of the world.

Humans (Homo sapien)

People have two organs that think for them. Both of these are made up of the same types of neurons and tissue. One is the brain in your head and the other is in your digestive system. They each control different functions in your body.

Your guts and brain are connected, so when you feel anxiety, it disrupts your digestion. Have you ever had to give a speech or walk into a room of new people, and … Read the rest of the story.

Which Animals Do Not Have a Heart?

”Follow your heart. Your heart is the right guide in everything big.” I often follow this sage advice, but what about animals that don’t have hearts?

I’m not talking figuratively about someone who doesn’t seem to have feelings. I’m talking literally about animals that don’t have hearts. Stranger than fiction, you might be thinking.

Several animals live without hearts. They don’t need it to pump blood or carry oxygen through their circulatory systems. It seems unimaginable, but these creatures have everything they need to live without a heart.

Let’s learn more about these incredible animals, and how they function without a heart.

1. Starfish (Asteroidea)

Starfish live in almost all water environments, but mostly in the oceans. They eat oysters, clams, plankton, and even other starfish. Since starfish don’t have teeth, they swallow their food whole.

Starfish don’t have a circulatory system that pumps blood through their bodies. Instead of a vascular system with blood, they have a water vascular system that carries seawater through their systems. They have open circulatory systems.

This means the seawater moves through the body cavity but without the help of a heart. Seawater, instead of a heart, moves nutrients through their bodies. The vascular system extends down each leg of the starfish.

As the water moves through the legs, it provides nutrition, movement, and the ability to hunt prey.

2. Sea Anemone (Cnidaria)

Sea anemones attach themselves to hard surfaces or live at the bottom of the ocean in the soft sand. Most of them live in tropical waters but several have adapted to cold seawater. Many people call them the ”flowers of the sea” because of their colorful petal-like tentacles.

These tentacles might be as delicate as a flower, but they capture any prey that gets too close. Sea anemones eat crabs, small fish, mollusks, and many other sea organisms. Since sea anemones don’t have a heart, their stomach serves as their circulatory system.

This form of circulation is called gastrovascular. It provides nutrients and removes waste from the body by diffusion or the movement of seawater moving through the cells.… Read the rest of the story.

Coyote vs. Raccoon

Have you ever heard the tell-tale sound of your trash being knocked over at night and thought, “those damn raccoons!” The chances are high that you’re correct. But have you ever wondered if it may be a coyote? Do they even raid trashcans?

And if they do, what other similarities, or differences, do they have with raccoons?

Although coyotes and raccoons are classified under the “dog-like” suborder of animals, coyotes are closely related to dogs. In contrast, raccoons are part of the omnivorous, arboreal, and five-toed Procyonid family. Raccoons are, in fact, more closely related to mustelids (weasels and badgers).

Although their classification and genetics are definitely at odds, are there any similarities between coyotes and raccoons in appearance, behavior, distribution, or ecology? And what happens if they meet in the wild?

Physical Features, Relatedness And Taxonomical Differences Between Coyotes And Raccoons

Taxonomy Of Coyotes And Raccoons

To better understand what an animal is and the differences between different animals, we need to look at how researchers have classified them.

The best starting point is through taxonomy, how an organism is related to other organisms.

Coyote

Kingdom       –       Animalia

Phylum         –        Chordata

Class              –       Mammalia

Order             –       Carnivora

Suborder       –       Caniformia

Family           –       Canidae

Genus            –       Canis

Species          –        latrans

Raccoon

Kingdom      –           Animalia

Phylum         –           Chordata

Class             –            Mammalia

Order           –             Carnivora

Suborder      –            Caniformia

Family          –             Procyonidae

Genus           –             Procyon

Species         –              lotor… Read the rest of the story.