Discovery Science 🧬

is chosen one into a single whole. This is not a romantic metaphor, but an eerie biological fact. If before meeting the female, the male anglerfish remained, albeit a tiny, but independent fish, then, having attached itself to his beloved, he becomes her appendage. The jaws, eyes and gastrointestinal tract are reduced. Only two working functions remain: respiratory and reproductive. In fact, every male on a female’s body is a parasite. It sucks out some of the nutrients from the fused circulatory system, and it gets the opportunity to multiply at any time. This is what I understand - codependent relationships! Whether it's the difference in size, shape or gluttony, diverse animals still manage to find contact, even if they are different. Of course, someone will be eaten or crushed in the process, but is this really so important if we are talking about pure love or, at least, procreation? Author: Egor Churakov Editor: Elizaveta Isaeva 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

Top animals with the largest size difference between male and female “Girl, 150 cm, looking for a guy. If you are shorter than 200 cm, please do not write.” Unrealistic standards, some might say. Good taste, says another. All these are empty sounds compared to the animals of today's top, because the difference in size is measured by several X's! Elephant seal And the elephant seal opens our chart. Here it is difficult to confuse a male with a female. One has an elegant and streamlined figure weighing 1000 kg. Another has three tons of muscle and fat mass. As you've probably already figured out, elephant seals are three times the size of female elephant seals—the largest difference between male and female mammals. Because of such a colossal difference in size, sometimes troubles occur: the male simply crushes the female in the midst of mating. But why such elaborate differences? The thing is that if the elephant seal does not turn itself into a mountain of meat, its chances of reproducing are reduced to a minimum. The mating season of pinnipeds is more like a bloody mess. The males, who have been at sea for almost the entire year, come to land and fight fiercely for every piece of land. The larger the territory of the elephant seal, the more elephant seals will come to it, and the larger the harem of the big-nosed Don Juan! Therefore, size and strength are directly proportional to success on the love front. Nephilic orb weavers Life is exactly the opposite for nephilic orb-weavers, large spiders from Southeast Asia. The females are already running the show here. To contradict them is a death sentence, because the traditions of matriarchy are supported by total superiority in size. Among spiders, the norm is for the lady to be larger than her gentleman. But among these eight-legged animals the difference in size is measured hundreds of times. While the females stretch their slender legs 12 centimeters, spiders just a few millimeters in their abdomen swarm next to them. There is nothing to say about the weight category: tiny males 125 TIMES! lighter than their partners. Only luck and the efficiency of the process save them from being eaten during a date. Deep sea anglerfish Representatives of the deep-sea anglerfish family are also not averse to sinking their teeth into their partner. True, here the arrow turns again - males are famous for their biting ability. But do they have a choice? In the endless darkness of the deep-sea night, kilometers from the surface, the chance of meeting a couple is even lower than finding a match on a dating site. At the same time, the M and F deep-sea angler fish look like a mother and child. The length of females, depending on the species, varies from 5 cm to 1 meter. And the size of males is from 16 mm to 4 cm. For a long time, scientists did not even recognize fish men as men. They thought it was some kind of strange parasite. And they were not far from the truth. The male merges with h

There is a bird that has no face. Instead there is an orange disk The Guiana cock of the rock lives in the jungles of South America and looks as if nature drew it out of boredom, on the last day of creation. The body is bright orange. The wings are black with white accents. And on the head there is a huge fan-shaped crest that stretches from the back of the head to the beak and completely covers it. The bird has a beak, it’s just not visible. Why it’s done this way is unclear, but it looks like someone put half an orange on their head. The females are grey-brown, unremarkable birds. Classic. All this splendor exists for the sake of one event a year - the current. Males gather in special clearings, each takes his own personal area and begins to perform. No fights. Only a defile: the male slowly walks on the ground, turns his head, shows his profile, lowers his wings, spreads his tail like a fan and makes grunting sounds from time to time. Females sit on branches around and silently evaluate. Then they choose the best one and fly away with him. After mating, the male loses all interest in the female. She single-handedly builds a nest in a rock crevice, holding it together with her own saliva, and raises the chicks herself. At this time, the male continues to walk in circles and grunt. The cockerel feeds mainly on fruits - it especially loves palm fruits - but on occasion it will not refuse an insect or a small lizard. Lives in the tropical forests of the northern Amazon. It prefers mountainous and water-rich areas and is found at altitudes from 300 to 2000 meters. Due to the deforestation of tropical forests, the range of these birds is constantly shrinking. An additional threat is that Indians historically hunted them for their feathers: tribal leaders wore robes made from their skins. Now the cockerel is under protection, but the exact population size is still unknown. That's all there is to know about this beautiful creature. Nature distributed responsibilities fairly: one is beautiful, the other works. - - - - - We have a huge group, which is 11 years old and there are many zoologists who write tons of text every day from the field in which they are specialists. Due to VK’s failed policy towards authors, all this, unfortunately, rests only on rare advertising and your support. You can support the stability of our nervous system with a minimum subscription of 100 rubles per month. You can request support directly through the button in this post. Thank you! 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

False Scorpio: Don't crush them if you see them at home! They protect you! Tormented by bedbugs and moths? Are book lice eating away at your book collection? Or maybe you got the skin beetles crawling on the floor? Then just wait a little and the false scorpions will come to you. They will come to clean up your apartment! False scorpions will get to your apartment in a very exotic way: riding mosquitoes, flies or horseflies. In principle, it does not matter to them what type the carrier will belong to. It is important that traveling on winged transport allows arachnids to spread very quickly both in apartments and in the wild. Although in life, false scorpions are slow and extremely cautious guys, so they may not move at all for long days. That, however, does not prevent them from destroying insects several times larger than themselves. All thanks to their main weapon - claws. They are not only similar to the claws of real scorpions, but also superior to them! Like the vast majority of arachnids, false scorpions are poisonous. But instead of growing a bulky poisonous tail with a stinger at the end, they built poisonous glands directly into their claws. Therefore, the false scorpion simultaneously grabs its victim and injects it with paralyzing poison. And then he takes another bite, adding digestive enzymes to the cocktail. Such a dose of toxins will make anyone lose their pedipalps! But at the same time, you and I shouldn’t be afraid of him. After all, even the largest false scorpions are less than a centimeter in length; they are physically incapable of biting through human skin. And you shouldn’t destroy them either, even if you are terrified of anything with more than 4 legs. The fact is that all false scorpions are predators. And since you have predators in your home, it means there is a stable population of their victims that is destroying your property or health. So it’s worth dealing with them, because the false scorpions themselves, most likely, will not be able to destroy them completely. And when you deal with the bad guys, the micropredators will disappear after them. They will sit on mosquitoes and fly away to other people who need their help! But before that, they will leave you several cocoons with offspring. Just in case. Author: Yaroslav Ilyin 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

omestication. Ungulates experience extreme fear when in contact with people, so horseback riding is out of the question. There are exceptions, but they are extremely rare. Author: Arina Taran Editor: Elizaveta Isaeva 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

Yes, male herbivorous horses also have tusks - just in case of a fight. Therefore, even despite its modest dimensions of 120-150 centimeters at the withers and a weight of about 450 kilograms, the animal can claw or kick its hoof so hard that it doesn’t seem small. Hematomas, tissue ruptures, fractures and acute pain kill the appetite of lions, hyenas and other toothy creatures. Fact number 3 - childhood of strict regime. Less than half of all cubs will survive to one year Despite the fact that females so zealously protect their young from predators and new harem males, only about 44% of all foals will celebrate their first birthday. The rest will be caught, eaten or trampled, covered by some kind of infection or overtaken by parasites, crippled by the lack of water or grass. But zebras are in no hurry to make new babies. Pregnancy in females lasts about a year, after which she needs a couple more years to raise her foal and recover. Therefore, despite their apparent mass appearance, zebras reproduce slowly and inefficiently. Each loss of a cub is a serious blow to the population. Fact number 4 - they don’t consider us as people. Why don't we tame cool striped horses? Because they are beaten on the head. Zebras are much more reactive than horses. They react faster and stronger to everything around them: a sharp wave of the hand, a flying package, a loud sound - in a split second they put the minke whale in a state of combat readiness. People have tried many times to domesticate them, but millions of years of evolution have given zebras one simple attitude - everyone around them wants to eat you. That’s why the animals react first: they bite, kick, rush wherever they look - and only then figure out what’s going on. Arguing with a frightened animal 5 times larger than yourself is obviously a losing proposition. There was a recent case when a domestic zebra bit its owner so badly that the man had to have his arm amputated. No, it's better to walk. Fact number 5 - they are terrible on the face, tender on the inside. Zebra can die from stress When striped animals are herded by helicopter, placed in enclosures, or otherwise restricted in space, their nervous system screams “Achtung!” A powerful cocktail of adrenaline, norepinephrine, cortisol and other stress hormones enters the bloodstream. Muscles are activated to the maximum. In terms of biology, this mechanism is very useful. It is he who helps quickly make his legs away from predators. But where to escape from the corral? But the body does not understand the hopelessness of the situation and continues to pump the zebra with hormones. Because of this, the muscles begin to break down, and the breakdown products of muscle fibers enter the blood. They poison the kidneys and heart - the animal dies in the next couple of hours or days. Treatment is ineffective. Other wild animals can exhibit such an acute reaction to stress, but in zebras it is associated with the impossibility of d

Zebras: They don’t run from a lion, they fight! 5 Things Why Zebras Are Really Crazy Just cute striped horses? Yeah, no matter how it is! If you take a closer look, this is not natural camouflage, but a striped prison uniform! Zebras are one of the most reputed representatives of the equine family. In their herds, violence regularly occurs towards everyone: each other, the cubs, and predators. And sometimes their nervous system can’t stand it, and they themselves die... from stress. We have collected 5 of the most interesting facts about striped scumbags, get ready to break stereotypes. Fact number 1 - you cannot have mercy on murder. Why are zebras so cruel to their own kind? To answer this question, you will have to dig deeper and understand the social structure of ungulates. In appearance, a large herd appears to be one whole, but inside it is divided into several small coalitions. Savannah and mountain zebras have harems - groups of one male, several females and their cubs. Over time, the father removes the male foals from the group, and the youngsters form bachelor herds. Several harem and bachelor coalitions can migrate together, forming huge aggregations of hundreds or thousands of individuals, but each group maintains its own integrity and social boundaries. So, everything seems to be acceptable. Where are the fights and murders coming from? Firstly, sexually mature males of all zebra species fight mercilessly for the right to own a harem of females. They hit each other with their hooves, breaking bones, bite, leaving deep lacerations, and try to drop their opponent to the ground. After the skirmishes, the winner will become the new daddy, and the loser, weakened and beaten, risks being fed to the lions. For the third species, Grevy's zebras, things are a little simpler. There, males capture and protect a separate territory. Females with cubs travel freely across the savannah, crossing the territories of different stallions. However, their fights for possessions are no less severe than those of the other two species that fight for harems. Due to a change of stallion, a revolution occurs in the harem. The newcomer did not sacrifice himself in order to now observe the offspring of the previous male, so the foals become victims of his hooves and teeth. Unfortunately, females cannot save some babies. Fact number 2 - fight or flight. What do zebras choose? Any good documentary about Africa contains a spectacular scene when lions attack a herd of zebras and then feast in the shade of a baobab tree. Few people show footage of an unsuccessful hunt. When attacked by predators, zebras do not always take off and run wherever they look. In some situations they choose the BEAT! The main male of the harem or the entire herd together may decide to launch a counterattack, depending on the number, type of predators and the situation as a whole. The group surrounds the young and fights off the predator with hooves and sharp fangs.

Cascavela: One bite and you're blind. The most dangerous rattlesnake and its poison All rattlesnakes are dangerous. Their venom is a cocktail that destroys blood and blood vessels, and the consequences of the bite must be treated for weeks. But the cascavela is a special snake. She figured out how to make this poison even more dangerous. Cascavela venom contains not only hemolytic, but also neurotoxic enzymes. This means that it causes hundreds of small hemorrhages and at the same time affects the nerve endings. Any nerve endings, up to the diaphragm and optic nerves. This is extremely dangerous for humans even with timely treatment. After all, poison not only causes enormous damage to health immediately, but can also cause irreversible consequences. One of them, albeit quite rare, is irreversible blindness. Well, rodents, reptiles and frogs are generally screwed, there are no options. Fortunately for us, the cascavela knows the value of its poison and does not waste it. Like all rattlers, it has a cool tail rattle made up of several layers of scales that rustle loudly if you shake its tail hard. It is needed so that some big idiot does not come too close to the snake, and he would not have to be bitten. But at the same time, the cascavela warns of its presence less often than other rattlesnakes. That's why the people of South America really don't like her. The snake itself perfectly sees both prey and predators, because in addition to two normal eyes, it has two thermal “eyes”. The pits on its face are special receptors that capture infrared light emitted by any warm objects. Even camouflage will not allow you to hide from her! It’s also interesting that snakes lack external ears and “hear” through the bones of the skull - sensing the vibrations of the earth. Cascavella perfectly senses the approach of prey through the soil. And you won’t be able to run away from a snake either. Her reaction speed is several times higher than that of a human and is only slightly short of that of a cat. It’s good that the cascavella didn’t care about people, because a 1.5-meter-long reptile simply couldn’t eat us! As for babies, the cascavella does not lay eggs - it gives birth to live, full-fledged cubs. This is called ovoviviparity. The entire process of maturation and hatching of eggs occurs right inside the female. One litter usually contains 6–12 baby snakes, which from the first minutes of life are completely independent and already know how to hunt. In Latin America, cascavella is a symbol of danger and at the same time respect. Its venom is being studied to create drugs against thrombosis and neurodegenerative diseases. But do not forget that without treatment, the mortality rate from the bite of this monster reaches 70–80%. Author: Yaroslav Ilyin 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot