Discovery Science 🧬

Selection of cool photos number 9: 1. Chain catfish. These armored fish live in the steep and rocky rivers of South America. They grew especially strong scales so as not to break on the rocks. 2. Spiny turtle. This species of turtle from Southeast Asia can probably be used as a shuriken. 3. Angora rabbit. A breed of rabbit that turns into a cloud if you don't cut it. 4. A cat and a man with a rare mutation - chimerism. Essentially, they contain two different populations of cells. 5. Eel Garden. Some species of these fish do not like to swim and simply grow out of their burrows at the bottom, catching every little thing. 6. For a very long time I could not understand what it was until I found the author of the photo. It turned out that it was just a young heron that got very dirty)))) 7. Curly horse. A cool breed with curly hair. 8. The alligator fell into a stupor. He's not dead. Alligators in North America are ready for a little frost and simply freeze in the ice for a couple of weeks. 9. Goliath frog. The largest frog on the planet. Weighs 3-4 kg! 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

Sandy faff: The most terrible snake of the USSR. Nervous, she goes to people and likes to bite This is one of the deadliest snakes in the world, but you almost certainly haven't heard of it. And she doesn’t live somewhere out there, far from civilization, but right next to a person’s side. Even in the USSR it was found! Meet the sand ephas, a reptile that claims tens of thousands of lives per year. Our heroine is one of the “deadly Indian four”. The king cobra, common krait, Russell's viper and sand epha are the reptiles that account for the majority of fatal venomous snake bites in the subcontinent. Every year from 45,000 to 60,000 people die from the disgusting quartet! Of these, by the way, our heroine is the smallest - the length of the scaly beast is no more than 75 cm. Which once again proves: size does not always matter. As the name suggests, snakes like to live where there is a lot of sand: in deserts, steppes and sometimes on rocky plains. And while you are dripping Corvalol into a glass with a trembling hand, I hasten to tell you the good news - this creature is not found here. In the USSR, yes, that was the case. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have harbored such a terrible snake on their lands. Africa, the Middle East, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were equally unlucky. But the Russian Federation is a territory free from sand effects. Unlike most snakes, ephas are extremely mobile. They move by the so-called lateral move: the snake first throws its head to the side, then its back part is sent there, and then everything else is pulled up. As a result of such movement, “tractor tracks” remain in the sand - separate strips with hooks at the ends. Moreover, even when they are full, these snakes continue to crawl forward in search of small rodents, lizards, frogs and large insects, perhaps slowing down a little. - Baby, won’t you burst? - Go away! This love of movement is one of the reasons why ephs do not live long in home terrariums. Know this in case you are a fairly crazy person and dream of having such a pet. And this is also the reason why the reptile’s connection with people is a solid D. In search of food and shelter, ephs crawl in the grass, under the branches of bushes or in rock crevices. And if there are none nearby, they invite themselves to visit people. Residents of the above-mentioned unfortunate countries should always be prepared after a hard day to find a snake lurking in their barn, backyard, or even in the house itself. And they will greet you as if you had broken into someone else’s house, and not vice versa! Of course, the snake will not be the first to respond to trouble - it will try to sit out in cover if there is such an opportunity. But the efa will also not tremble with fear like an aspen leaf in front of two-legged creatures. First, she takes an aggressive pose: she curls herself into a double curved loop, making sounds reminiscent of oil sizzling in a frying pan. Translated into

human language, this hissing means “you’re going to get fucked, leather one.” Then - a rapid rush forward. The snake injects poison into the victim, five to six times higher than the lethal dose. The toxin almost instantly reduces the level of fibrinogen, a protein responsible for blood clotting. A few minutes after the attack, not only the wound itself begins to bleed, but also the mucous membranes of the mouth and eyes. The unfortunate man is literally bleeding to death. At the site of the bite, necrosis of tissue and blood vessels occurs; the victim of an attack can lose not only fingers and toes, but also the entire limb. Dates take place from January to March. As a result of this activity, from 3 to 16 live births are born, which, although they do not exceed 15 cm in length, are already capable of killing you. But their mother is even more ready to kill. When it comes to babies, there is simply no choice between hiding or attacking for a snake. The furious attacks of a distraught mother rarely leave a chance for salvation. Interestingly, among the big four poisonous poisons, the poison of efa is one of the weakest. King cobra toxin, for example, is 180 times stronger. And in Africa, efa kills more people than all poisonous snakes combined. How did the reptile get into the top deadliest snakes? It's all about a combination of factors. 1 - excellent camouflage due to its small size and protective coloring. 2 - the snake’s extremely bad character, its aggressiveness and irritability. 3 - proximity of efa and human houses. If other snakes from the “Indian Four” lived as close to populated areas, the efa would definitely lose its leading position. The mortality rate from bites is one in five. Again, these numbers would be lower if it were not for the health conditions in the sand epha's habitats. Africa, India, and Pakistan cannot boast of developed medicine: there are not enough doctors, and there are not enough serums either. In addition, local residents, who have a special mentality, are in no hurry to rush to the hospital immediately after a bite. They are trying to heal themselves using folk methods and spells. Author: Tatyana Syrcina Editor: Elizaveta Isaeva 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

ich (Mayakovsky, just in case). And a two-centimeter bug can know organic chemistry better than you, sapiens. For wild nature is truly amazing. - - - - - 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

Ivan the worm: What is he like, the main Russian firefly? How easy is it to set your butt on fire? Confuse the spelling of -tsya and -tsya? Put sugar in their expresso? Carry out the luciferin oxidation reaction yourself? If the latter, congratulations: you are one of the representatives of the glorious family of fireflies, and today is the very day when you have the opportunity to learn more about your relatives. This family is very extensive, it includes more than 2000 species. Most of them settled in the tropics and subtropics. Only the most desperate moved for permanent residence to temperate climate zones. Even arthropods understand that living in the vastness of Mother Russia is not easy. The most common member of the suicide squad is the common firefly, also known as the Ivanovo worm. What do worms and Ivans have to do with it? Firstly, the body of female fireflies is elongated and wingless - recognizing such a normal beetle is a very non-trivial task. Secondly, according to ancient beliefs, our friends appeared on the night of Ivan Kupala. In fact, fireflies have been crawling on the surface since the beginning of summer. But people noticed them only when crowds went for a walk in the forest at night in honor of the holiday. So what is this magic? Science has a clear answer - bioluminescence. All representatives of the numerous beetle family have in their arsenal a special light-emitting substance glued together from atoms of sulfur, nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen (the same luciferin). In a special organ at the end of the abdomen - the lantern (lantern) - a reaction completely controlled by the arthropod alchemist takes place. As a result, the beetle emits light: yellow, red, green - it all depends on the species. It is noteworthy that fireflies do not produce heat, otherwise the insects would burn everything around to hell. To paraphrase the classic: if asses are on fire, does that mean someone needs it? Yes! In the case of our compatriot, the common firefly, the females shine with their butts in every sense. Regardless of the species, the same task is solved - to attract the opposite sex and continue one’s lineage. The production necessity of coitus, in general, is the meaning of life for adult beetles. Fireflies don't even eat, subsisting on the food they ate as larvae. However, baby fireflies really eat for two. If adult fireflies evoke an atmosphere of romance, then their larvae are ideal heroes for horror. Insatiable creatures, digging underground, devour all living things that come their way: insects, other larvae, gastropods. In addition to the fact that the firefly children are inveterate killers, they are also racketeers! Having devoured the snail, the larva quickly occupies the vacated house and hides in it itself. Young fireflies harass the underground inhabitants all year long. What does this story teach us? Always shine, shine everywhere - the slogan of not only the sun and Vladimir Vladimirov

Why did the penguin go to the mountains? Review of the sensational video Look at this penguin, wandering last along with his relatives. Here he stops, looks at his brothers and sisters, as if saying goodbye to them. And then he chooses his own path, the path of a being who has risen above the crowd and is ready to risk a secure future in order to choose his own path. It commands respect, doesn't it? It was with this narrative that I first saw this video. Naturally, the biologist inside me not only rebelled - he became white-hot, got his hands on the body’s control panels and went to look for the original. And I found it, although it was not so easy. It turned out to be a Discovery documentary from 2007 called “Encounters at the End of the World.” The film is dedicated to the life and work of polar explorers - as well as the life of the animals they observe. It is there, towards the end of the film, that viral footage of a penguin appears, which goes to the mountains located 70 kilometers away. And the presenter of the documentary asks the question: what motivates the penguin, which with grim dignity goes into the mountains? And to our greatest regret, there is a short and tragic answer to this question: the penguin is disoriented. All the settings of his internal compass have been knocked down, and now he is only able to go in a random direction in pursuit of phantom targets. The cause of a fatal error in navigation can be different: head injury, tumor, illness, or simple old age. But the result is the same - the penguin goes to a place where it cannot survive. And even if you return him to the colony, the bird will again take a non-existent path leading to nowhere. The end of this path is known in advance. In regions of Antarctica remote from the ocean, even lichens do not grow everywhere, and the surface resembles a Martian wasteland. Even a man with his technology cannot survive there, let alone a penguin. And, unfortunately, the penguin caught in the video is far from the first who decided to go nowhere. Researchers come across such crazy wanderers every year when the nesting and mating season begins. They are living proof of the cruelty of the world around us, in which not all stories end well. Author: Yaroslav Ilyin 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

a drop of blood into it, the predator will smell this drop without the slightest difficulty. Reason No. 3. Exorbitant appetites The biology of the great white shark has pushed it onto the pedestal of superpredator. And she uses the power of the strong to the maximum! The white shark is a hunter of hunters. Its prey includes large fish, pinnipeds, dolphins, porpoises and even other sharks. The predator is constantly in search of prey. Depending on the size, the fish should consume from 2 to 16 kilograms of meat per day. If a shark has been starving for a couple of days, it will eat an entire seal in one sitting! With one bite, she opens 10-15 kg of meat. Only cetaceans can release the bloodthirsty beast: dolphins and killer whales. The former take by numbers and organization, the latter by force. Reason No. 4. Intelligence and quick wit So your body is perfect. There’s a whole ocean of food for you. What does a bored predator do when its conditions are close to ideal? Begins to develop brains. Only recently have biologists discovered that sharks gather in highly organized groups to hunt and communicate, establish a hierarchy within groups, choose hunting tactics, and exchange information about the location of prey with each other. Not too bad for a "stupid fish", right? Communication occurs through body language and its chemical signals. Sharks are also extremely curious creatures. True, those around them suffer from this, because in the absence of hands, they make their discoveries with their mouths. Every year, 50-80 people suffer from the intelligence and intelligence of sharks. What is a research interest for a fish, is minus a limb for a person. From the point of view of gastronomy, we are of little interest to predators - we are too skinny. Why are we so sure of this? So say the numbers for several centuries: according to observations, since 1580, only 17% of unprovoked attacks were fatal! Reason No. 5. The same movie Since the release of Jaws, the catch of white sharks has increased a hundredfold. They began to hunt him not so much for the sake of meat, but for the sake of fins, fun and revenge. As a result, the population of these fish declined by more than 70% before humanity grabbed its head and rushed to restoreto erase the image tarnished by cinema. Now, according to various sources, the population of the entire species numbers 5,000-20,000 thousand individuals. And this is all over the ocean! So the verdict is this: the shark can be feared and should be respected. This is one of the coolest predators in the ocean. But there is no point in hating them! The probability of dying in the jaws of a superpredator is the same as falling back from a bad fall from the sofa - 1 in 3.7 million. Author: Anna Belkina Editor: Elizaveta Isaeva 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot

White shark: 5 reasons why this fish is the ocean's most dangerous predator In 1975, great white sharks around the world became the focus of public attention, interest and fear all at once. The film Jaws, released that year, disgraced the reputation of sea predators for decades. If Jaws had starred a grizzly bear or a lion, or even a vine snail (30,000 teeth, by the way!), would they have found the same fame as white sharks? Hardly. Spielberg knew well where to cast his net in the sea of ​​human fears. People were afraid of sharks long before Jaws, they are afraid now, and we, rest assured, will pass this credo on to our descendants. And there are several reasons for this. Reason No. 1. Appearance The fear of sharks is something almost primal. The peoples of Oceania worshiped white sharks as gods, and among sailors there is still a superstition that a shark following a ship will lead to inevitable death. Yes, the great white shark is far from the largest predator in the ocean and not even the largest among its group. But how can you not be afraid of a colossus weighing a ton and five meters long? And such dimensions are not the limit! Today's record holder is the Deep Blue fish, its length reaches 6.1 m. For those who are as poor in spatial imagination as I am: 6 meters is the size of a minibus. Why do sharks grow so gigantic? To climb to the very top of the food chain, of course. Reason #2: Super Predator Superpowers A scary view of the ocean alone won't get you far. To become an apex predator, evolution cranked up each of the fish's five senses to the max. Tiny eyes see much more than you expect from them: they are good at distinguishing light, shadow and even some colors. The sense of touch is also not so simple: sharks have a special organ that detects the movement of an object in the water nearby - the lateral line. With its help, you can be “touched” and evaluated even without direct contact. Based on vibrations and changes in water pressure. Another fancy tool for finding prey is electroreception. The entire head of the fish is covered with ampoules of Lorenzini. These are special sensory organs with which the shark detects any electrical impulse nearby: from the slightest contraction of the limbs to the beating of the victim’s heart. Direct contact will ensure a fall. Those famous jaws close with a force of 18,000 Newtons. This is the power of a hydraulic press. Add to this several rows of teeth - the white shark has about 300 of them - and you get a living trap! The white shark is missing prey. She tears pieces from it. What about the sense of smell? Of course, predators are not capable of catching a drop of blood at a distance of several kilometers - this is a myth. But this does not change the fact that the great white is the best sniffer among other sharks! This is indicated by the giant olfactory bulbs - they occupy up to 18% of the total brain volume. If we imagine that we place a shark in a pool and drop