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Portal:Animals/Did you know

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< Portal:Animals

Did you know

DYKs for Portal:Animals are randomized. Here are the current selections:

...that Turritopsis nutricula can revert to the polyp stage after reproduction, and therefore is theoretically biologically immortal?

...that Carolus Linnaeus' (portrait pictured) research on classification led to objections and rebukes from religious authorities?

...that sponges are classified as animals, rather than "Parazoa", as once thought?

...that Lampreys are called "nine-eyed eels" (i.e., per side) from a counting of their seven external gill slits on a side with one eye and the nostril?

...that all organisms on Earth are descended from a common ancestor or gene pool?

...that two of the nine or ten classes in the phylum Mollusca are extinct?

...that bottlenose dolphins (pictured) are believed to use sponges to protect their rostra when searching for food on the sea bottom?

...that cattle are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases?

... that super weaners may be "milk thieves" or "double mother-sucklers"?

...that the false killer whale has been known to mate in captivity with a bottlenose dolphin, producing an offspring known as a "wholphin" (pictured)?
...that echinoderms, such as the sea star have the ability to regenerate lost appendages?
...that the Portuguese Man o' War, a cnidarian somewhat resembling a jellyfish, is actually a colony of many smaller organisms, collectively known as a siphonophore?
...that Caecillians, an order of amphibians resembling snakes or worms, possess a pair of tentacles, located between their eyes and nostrils which are probably used for olfaction?

...that the robin (pictured) has an average life expectancy of about one year, but has been known to live up to twelve years?
...that the Zebra mussel, originally native to Russia, has spread to North America, the British Isles, Spain, and Sweden, where it is considered a nuisance because it can form colonies large enough to block pipelines?
...that the Southern Giant Petrel is the leading predator to the Emperor Penguin, and may be responsible for up to 34% of chick deaths in some colonies?
...that some goats freeze for ten seconds whenever startled due to the genetic condition known as myotonia congenita, and have thus been dubbed "fainting goats"?
...that Eurasian badgers are believed to be partially responsible for the spread of bovine tuberculosis?

...that six new species of marine slugs in the genus Phyllodesmium (Sp. kabiranum pictured) have been described in the last two years?
...that Maui's dolphin is the most endangered species of dolphin in the world, with only about 110 left?
...that the land snail Euglandina rosea is a significant threat to Hawaiian freshwater snail known as Newcomb's snail (Erinna newcombi), because the predatory Euglandina is able to hunt Erinna under water?
...that the body of the "X-ray fish" (Pristella maxillaris ) is so transparent that it is possible to see its backbone?
...that even though the lancelets are classified as chordates, they lack a true backbone and well-defined head?

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