The Ragdoll Cat (Felis catus) is a breed of domesticated cat in the Felidae family. It is called Ragdoll because it goes limp (floppy) and relaxed when it is picked up. It is often known as an ‘apartment cat.’
The Ragdoll Cat has a semi-long, silky, soft coat of hair. It has blue eyes, thick limbs, a soft body, and a long, bushy tail. It has a wide space between the ears. Some have upside-down V-shaped markings on their forehead.
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Scientists knew that rats like to be tickled on their stomachs and backs, so they conducted further studies.
Researchers at the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany discovered that rats could laugh in 2016. With special microphones, they tickled the rats and recorded squeaky giggles. Even when rats playfully chased the researchers’ hands, the rats laughed. Their laughs are too high-pitched to be heard by human ears, and can only be heard through the recordings.
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What does ‘to feather your nest’ mean?
A nest is where a female bird lays her eggs. It is made of twigs, sticks, mud, straw, and other materials. A nest is often lined with feathers to make it comfortable.
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What sound does a Bumblebee make?
A Bumblebee makes two types of sounds: one type of sound is low-pitched and the other type of sound is high-pitched. One type of sound we can hear when a Bumblebee is flying and the other type of sound we can hear when a Bumblebee is on a flower collecting pollen.
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Male moths make perfume to attract females, say scientists in a new study in July 2023.
The male Tobacco Budworm Moth (Chloridea virescens) collects perfume – a sweet-smelling chemical – from flowers and emits the scent from its appendages when it courts a female. The perfume makes the male more attractive to the female.
Previously, scientists knew that the female moth released scented chemicals to lure a male from long distances to come closer to her, but less was known how the male moth used scent.
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The Small Red-Eyed Damselfly (Erythromma viridium) is an insect in the Coenagrionidae family of damselflies, which are similar to dragonflies.
The Small Red-Eyed Damselfly has a long, cylindrical, slender abdomen with ten segments. It has membranous forewings and hindwings. It has compound eyes (like the eyes of house flies) and three simple eyes (ocelli) on its forehead, with small antennae. The joint between its head and prothorax is flexible, which enables the damselfly to swivel its head.
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When the weather is too hot, Spiny Lava Lizards spend less time trying to attract a partner, says an article in New Scientist (26 July 2023). In fact, they get less selective – less picky – in the heat.
Nicola Rossi at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina, and his colleagues, studied the behaviour of the Spiny Lava Lizard (Tropidurus spinulosus), which is a reptile native to South America.
The researchers tested two groups of Spiny Lava Lizards living in a nature reserve in Argentina. One group lives on a rocky outcrop that receives lots of sunlight with an average temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86F). The second group lives in a zone with lots of shade trees, where the average temperature is 26.5C (80F). The researchers watched the lizards in the wild for 20 days.
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How do birds know when winter is coming?
Many bird species migrate when winter is coming. They are called migratory birds. They migrate to locations near and far to find food, to find nesting grounds, to return to breeding colonies, to find new places if their habitat is damaged or destroyed, to escape predators, or for other reasons.
The birds that do not migrate are called residential birds. They stay in the same location and prepare themselves for winter.
Birds need to know when winter is coming so that they can start their migration, protect themselves from winter storms, start hoarding food for the coming winter, or fluff-up their feathers to protect themselves from the winter chill.
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Which countries have the most National Parks by number, land area, and percentage of land area to support the conservation of animals?
SafarisAfricana, a website based in the United Kingdom that researches safari destinations and experiences, published a blog article on National Parks around the world.
First, what do conservationalists mean by ‘National Park’? The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has clear definitions for the designation of a National Park. The IUCN stated in 1969 that a National Park must be a large area of land with one or several ecosystems, unaltered by humans, where plant and animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats, are of special scientific, educational, and recreational interest, or which contain a landscape of great beauty. The country’s authorities must have taken steps to conserve and enforce the respect of the whole area. Visitors are allowed to enter under special conditions.
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Orangutans know how to make a musical beat, using two sounds at the same time, like a beatboxer, say animal researchers in a new study.
New Scientist magazine (27 June 2023) reported on a new study of two separate groups of Orangutans. The findings show that they were making calls that use two sounds simultaneously.
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Mother dolphins use ‘baby talk’ with their young, say researchers studying thirty years of dolphin data. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June 2023.
Marine biologists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Hampshire College in Massachusetts examined data on the Bottlenose Dolphin and found that they have complex communication patterns that are similar to humans. The researchers analysed recordings of 19 female dolphins over 34 years. They also observed a pod of wild Bottlenose Dolphins in Florida’s Sarasota Bay.
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See You Later Alligator – what does this phrase mean?
“See You Later Alligator” is a phrase that means a person is saying a temporary goodbye. The people will meet again at a later time.
How does a person respond?
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The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) is a medium-sized dabbling duck in the Anatidae family. It is a water bird, living in wetlands.
The male is called a drake, and the female is called a duck. The babies are called ducklings.
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How long does it take for a sloth to digest its food?
The Sloth is a mammal in the sub-order Folivora. It is native to the tropical rainforests of Central America and South America. It is arboreal, meaning that it lives in trees. It is also nocturnal, mostly active at night.
It does not have many teeth; only 4-5 pairs of teeth. It has canine teeth, but no incisor teeth. It eats mainly leaves, so it does not need sharp incisors. Some sloths are omnivorous, eating leaves, insects, fruit, and small dead animals.
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What are the similarities and differences between the Chicken and the Tyrannosaurus Rex?
At first, scientists thought that dinosaurs were related to reptiles, but with research from bone and fossil material, they have formed a different view. In 2003, when scientists Jack Horner and Mary Schweitzer discovered unfossilised material inside the femur bone of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Montana, America, they, and other zoologists and palaeontologists all over the world, documented that the Chicken and the Ostrich are living animals distantly related to the extinct theropod dinosaur Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex). They said the next closest match is the Alligator.
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To protect Black Rhinos from poachers killing them for their horn, conservationalists use a strategy of de-horning. The theory is: if the Black Rhino has no horn, then poachers won’t kill it, and the rhino lives longer. Rhino horns are more valuable than diamonds or gold on the black market in Southeast Asia. Over the past decade in southern Africa, steps were taken to save the rhinos from being poached, maimed, and killed for their horns.
De-horning is painless for the rhino, taking about 20 minutes. Veterinarians sedate the rhino, blindfold it, and insert earplugs, then use a chain saw to cut off the top of its horn, but only the section that does not contain nerves. When poachers cut of a rhino’s horn, they do it quickly at night, and they often damage the nerves or kill it. Rhino horns grow back, and veterinarians usually de-horn a rhino once every 18 months.
Scientists wanted to know more about rhinos that had been de-horned. New research has found some interesting results.
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The Red Aphid (Aphididae) is a small insect in the Aphididae family.
The Red Aphid is a reddish- brown, soft-bodied insect with a pear-shape. It has six legs and a pair of little tubes, called cornicles, from its lower abdomen. It has forewings (front wings) and hind wings (back wings). It has very small eyes, sucking mouthparts, and long antennae.
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The Cynipid Gall Wasp (Neuroterus quercusbaccarum) is an insect in the Cynipidae family of gall wasps.
The Cynipid Gall Wasp is found throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa in the Northern Hemisphere.
In June, the female wasp lays eggs on leaves, usually the underside. She produces a hormone – or the egg secretes a hormone – that stimulates the growth of Common Spangle Galls – red lumps – around the eggs.
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