The quick answer is that a mature electric eel can produce a shock up to 500 volts at 1 amp of current (500 watts). The eel’s organs are capable of producing two types of electric discharge– low voltage and high voltage. Both could be harmful to an adult human. The longer answer, or exactly how [...]
The Dasypus novemcinctus, or nine-banded armadillo female almost always gives birth to four young of the same sex. The offspring are actually quadruplets that come from one fertilized egg splitting into four parts. The general wikipedia description follows: the Nine-banded Long-nosed Armadillo or just Nine-banded Armadillo, (also known as the poor man’s pig or poverty [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]