Ask The Science Experts

You might think the animal with the longest gestation period would be one of the larger mammals, but in fact it is the Alpine black salamander. It is a viviparous amphibian which lives in the high altitude Swiss Alps. At altitudes above 4,600 feet, it’s gestation period can be up to 38 months. It bears two fully metamorphosed young.

Posted by admin for live animal kits at Atomic Elephant Toy.

Another interesting question to first consider is: is a zebra a light animal with dark stripes, or a dark animal with light stripes? It’s generally believed that a zebra is a dark animal with light stripes. Most scientists believe that the zebra evolved from a horse-like animal with no stripes.

One theory of where the stripes came from is simply natural selection. Over millions of years, a few zebra foals were born with lighter colored stripes in a process called “accidental variation.” These foals had a marked advantage over their darker colored siblings and thus went on to reproduce in greater numbers, creating more striped offspring.

But how exactly did having stripes create an advantage? Think of an ordinary dark colored horse standing on a hillside. Its silhouette would make it stand out from the background, and would tell a hungry lion exactly where his next meal might come from. Now imagine a striped animal. It’s silhouette would be a bit more mottled and generally different. This likely gave it a camouflaged advantage and probably spared a few animals from hungry lions.

A couple of good sources of information on zebra biology are: Developmental Biology, and the Wikipedia article on zebras.

Posted by admin for science and educational toys.

The claim for oldest animal often goes to the Arctica Islandica clam - one estimated to be 405 years old was found while British scientists were studying how the marine environment has changed in recent centuries. Unfortunately this Arctica Islandica clam was killed when scientists were counting annual growth rings after cutting through the shell. Marine biologists are uncertain why the particular species of clam is so long-lived.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the current claim for the oldest animal goes to another Arctica clam that lived for 220 years. An unofficial record is held by yet another clam that lived to be 374 years old, which is now in a German museum.

The Adwaitha Tortoise is another long-lived animal. British General Robert Clive had brought one to India when it was 250 years old. It lived 59 more years and became a special attraction in Alipore Zoological Park, Kolkata, India.

The Bowhead Whale is the oldest living mammal. Their lifespan can be as long as 210 years.

Answered by Valli on purpleslinky.com. Anyone interested in live animal kits and educational toys should check out Atomic Elephant Toy.

While insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, we don’t have a very accurate count on the number of species. There are over one million named species, but many scientists estimate the number of unnamed species to be as high as 30 million. Even considering only the million or so insects that we have formally classified, this number still represents over half of all known living organisms. When we consider the total possible number of insects (maybe more than 30 million), these would represent up to 90% of all known animals. Note: Wikipedia cites the most current estimates of unnamed insects to be between 6-10 million.

Some of the numbers of insects by species are:

• Beetles, 360,000
• Butterflies and Moths: 170,000
• Flies: 120,000
• Bees, wasps and ants: 110,000
• True bugs: 82,000
• Grasshoppers: 20,000
• Dragonflies: 2,000

With so many out there, and the fact that they live practically everywhere, it’s no wonder that insect collecting is such a popular hobby. Here’s a fun article if you’re looking to introduce children to insect collecting. And if you’re interested in starting an ant habitat, there are a couple on this list of 2008 best selling toys.

Masterfully.

To spin a tale about the spider, member of the species arachnid, we must first examine the common thread that ties them together…the way they produce the silk they use to weave their webs, as well as other contraptions, to suit their particular needs.

Spiders differ from insects in that they have eight legs, eight eyes, in most cases, no wings, and have only two parts to their bodies, one of which produces silk. They are found in a host of climates, can scurry across the ground, can scale plants, and can skate on, and live in, water. These factors determine how the spider uses it’s silk, and what type of silk it produces.

Production of silk begins in certain glands located in the abdomen, or belly, of the beast. Spinning organs at the tip of the abdomen, contain many tiny holes, and function much as a sieve, through which the silk is pressed. The silk strained through is in liquid form, but immediately takes on a solid form, much like cotton candy does, when exposed to air. Read the rest of this entry »

Echolocation is the ability to locate objects by bouncing sound waves off of them, and then measuring the time taken for an echo to return, and calculating the direction the echo came from.

These sound waves are very high-pitched, and most humans are unable to hear them. A device called a bat detector is able to pick up these sounds and convert them into sounds which we can hear as a series of clicks, pops and whistles.

Source: http://www.uksafari.com/bats4.htm.

This is a tricky question and one that has befuddled many biologists for a long time. The easiest way, but not always 100% accurate, would be to find a frog near where you found the tadpoles and there’s a good chance they are the same species. If you can’t find an adult frog, do a little research on the amphibious wildlife indigenous to your area and you may be able to narrow it down a bit more. This won’t always give you a firm answer, as many areas will have several native species of frogs.

A more scientific method is through close observation and comparing your tadpole to a known chart. The below images and chart should help you get started.

First, where are the eyes? Are they lateral or dorsal?

Read the rest of this entry »