Which Animals Have Blue Blood?

Which color do you imagine when you think of blood? Of course, many people think of red since that is the color of human blood and blood for most animals. But, do you know blood also comes in many colors apart from red?

If you’ve ever done an injustice to a fly or caterpillar, then you know what I’m talking about. Was it green? Blue? or perhaps red?….. Well, in an actual sense, several animals out there have different colors of this life-giving fluid.

Today, we talk about blue blood. Let’s find out why blood can be blue:

Why Do Some Animals Have Blue Blood?

Octopuses, snails, horseshoe crabs, and spiders have one thing in common. All of them have blue blood! But why is their blood blue and not red?

This is because octopuses, snails, and spiders, unlike mammals, don’t use hemoglobin to carry oxygen in their bodies. Instead, they use a related compound called hemocyanin. Rather than having an iron atom in its middle, this molecule has a copper atom that binds oxygen.

It absorbs all colors apart from blue, reflecting and making the blood of these creatures appear blue.

7 Animals With Blue Blood

Blood being blue depends on the presence of hemocyanin in place of hemoglobin. Let’s discuss several animals whose blood appears blue due to this factor.

1. Scorpions

Some scorpions have blue blood due to the high level of hemocyanin in the blood, for instance, the Emperor Scorpion. This is the largest in the scorpion family. Scorpions eat various insects, spiders, lizards, and even other scorpions.

They eat small mammals also, such as mice but can live for months without food, only water. Scorpions are on every continent, excluding Antarctica. They are found in habitats ranging from grasslands to tropical rainforests and deserts.

2. Octopuses

Octopuses have blue blood filled with hemocyanin. Hemocyanin works better than hemoglobin in deep-sea environments where oxygen is poor. Octopuses use hemocyanin, the copper-laden protein, to remain alive in the cold, deep, anoxic waters.

In addition, hemocyanin helps the antennae critters control the salt content of their … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/GSBC5cq

How Do Legless Lizards Move? Survive?

Something slithered in the grass below. Initially, it seemed like it was a snake and I had to hold my breath for a moment before I bothered to consider the creature that was using weird s-movements while crawling through the grassy plain. Staring at the creature in awe, it dawned on me that the reptile had no actual legs.

It seemed as if it was moving entirely on its stomach!

I wasn’t at the Mojave Desert when I spotted this legless lizard but I had read in a past newspaper article that California-based biologists had stumbled across four new species of legless lizards at first in the Mojave Desert and then at the runway at LAX.

If you’re one of the many people who have never heard about legless lizards, keep reading to learn more about fascinating, exotic creatures.

Are Legless Lizards Snakes?

The idea of a lizard not moving on all fours can be quite confusing. If you, like me, are fascinated with these creatures, you will know that the fact that four new species of legless lizard were found means that lizards are a species with their own qualities. While there are striking similarities between the snake and the legless lizard, their distinct movement patterns prove that both species are actually worlds apart.

More subtle differences between the snake and legless lizard include the way their jaws are structured and the characteristics of their ear openings. These legless lizards have to survive on smaller creatures in comparison to the creatures that are gobbled up by the snake. This is due to the fact that the lizards’ jaws are closely intertwined.

Generally, legless lizards consume prey that is smaller than the size of their heads. While both the legless lizard and the snake survive, they move rather differently in order to survive.

Early Beginnings

While we could assume that the legless lizard and the snake have somewhat of a similar history, we have found fossil remains of legless lizards which may prove that they are an earlier ascendant of the snake.

“In 2007, scientists discovered a 95-million-year-old fossil … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/4O6gFrI

What Animal Do Not Come Out at Night?

You will see many critters if you wander out at night, but you won’t ever see honey bees, squirrels, or even any Komodo dragons. These animals aren’t afraid of the dark, they are called diurnal animals because their circadian rhythm is designed to allow them to function better during daylight hours. Unlike many of the night creatures, which are considered nocturnal, many of these daylight animals could not survive if they came out only at night.

Let’s take a look at what other living things also share day activity and why.

What Is Circadian Rhythm?

Circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle within the living body that determines when the body is most active. This cycle speeds up for twelve hours and is slower during the other twelve. During the active period, the animal or plant needs to eat, exercise, and can think and perform better.

When the cycle slows down, sleep is needed and the body heals. Scientists aren’t completely sure how this developed but it is mainly controlled by the amount of light present. While circadian rhythm is fairly consistent within each being, it is possible to change that rhythm when necessary.

For example, people, who are naturally more active during the day, can adapt to work nights and sleep days. Bears are naturally day animals, but when they live in areas where there are a lot of people, many will adjust their daily activities to forage at night. This is why bears can often be found in garbage cans searching for food.

On the other hand, lions and tigers are naturally active at night, but many have adapted to hunting during the day because that is when their prey is most active.

Why Are Many Animals Active Only During the Day?

Scientists theorize that many of the Earth’s population were active during the day originally. Over time, a number of factors were involved in changing this. By having some animals active during the day and others at night, more animals can share the same area without getting in each other’s path.

This makes it easier to utilize … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/dwfqgmt

5 Insects Without Eyes (List)

There’s no shortage of blind animals in nature, which is incredible because these animals manage to survive just fine. You probably know how bats have become the poster boy for blindness, and yet they can fly about with no problem. There are also many other blind animals, like moles and salamanders that have adapted to life without eyes.

But, did you know? Insects can be blind too! By insects, we mean those typically small animals with six legs, two compound eyes, two antennae, a head, thorax, and abdomen.

In all instances where a new species of blind insect is discovered, you find that these insects only live in the darkest of environments, such as caves. Also, some small, blind insects live in leaf litter, where little light penetrates. Read on to discover the different types of fascinating, eyeless creatures known to man.

Springtails

Springtails are so-called because they move around by leaping, which they can do using some kind of spring on their body. These eyeless, wingless insects are ancient and primitive, so they have been around for a long time.

There are many types of species of springtail, and those that have evolved to have a significant reduction in eyes live in soil or underground. Generally, springtails feed on decomposing material, bacteria, and fungi.

A few years ago, a new species of springtail known as Plutomurus ortobalaganensis was discovered. This insect now holds the title of the deepest terrestrial animal on Earth. It was discovered nearly 2000 meters below the surface of a cave entrance during an expedition in 2010. The insect lives in a cave called Krubera-Voronja, located in Abkhazia, a far-off place near the Black Sea.

The insects were collected and studied, and besides the observation that P. ortobalaganensis had no eyes, it was also noted that the creature had long antennae. Its grayish body was covered in dark spots. It’s not hard to see why P. ortobalaganensis evolved to be eyeless, seeing that it resides in lightless caves.

It makes sense that the insect does not need eyes while living deep underground in the total absence of light. However, the springtail … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/051DIL4

Which Animals have Purple Blood?

Most living creatures have red blood. There are many, however, that do not share this trait. Their blood can be blue, green, yellow, clear, and even purple.

Purple blood is often found in deep-sea worms such as the peanut worm and bristle worms. Brachiopods have blood that is such a deep purple that it is often thought to be black. The color of blood, which is normally used to carry oxygen throughout the body, is determined by what elements are used for this purpose.

For those with red blood, the common element is iron. The three creatures known to have purple blood do not have iron. A protein called hemerythrin is used to carry oxygen through their bodies.

Let’s take a look at these three fascinating animals.

1. The Peanut Worm

Dwelling at the bottom of many oceans, especially in the area of Hawaii, is the odd-looking peanut worm. The body of the peanut worm is without segments and it sports a bulbous trunk called an introvert. The mouth located inside this introvert is surrounded by a ring of tentacles that help guide food into the worm.

The peanut worm lives mainly on detritus, which is decaying matter from dead sealife. The peanut worm makes its home in a variety of locations. Most of the worms create burrows in the mud or sand at the bottom of the sea.

Others, however, prefer more luxurious homes in rock crevices or inside abandoned seashells. They rarely swim but instead move when necessary by twisting their bodies in every direction. When they are threatened, they can configure their bodies into a shape that resembles a peanut shell.

This is what has given them their unusual name. The same chemical that gives the peanut worm its purple blood also gives it the ability to regenerate should it lose part of its body. The skin of this sea creature is almost translucent, which makes it appear to be purple because you can see the blood running through it.

2. Brachiopods

Brachiopods are also known as lampshades. These small marine shellfish have existed in the … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/iQSTXeg

7 Animals that Dont Feel Emotions (List)

Human beings have the capacity to experience a wide range of emotions, from sorrow to grief to happiness, but many of us are unsure if animals have the same experiences. Have you ever wondered what kinds of animals are incapable of feeling emotions?

Scientists claim that certain animals are capable of experiencing emotions, whereas others are incapable of experiencing any feelings at all. According to experts, animals that do not have brain structures or brain networks do not have the ability to feel any emotions. These creatures, which are also referred to as limbic system animals, are incapable of feeling any emotions such as fear, rage, terror, sorrow, or happiness.

For example, multicellular creatures such as sea sponges, most corals, sea anemones, as well as other similar species, are considered to be examples of these kinds of animals. In this post, we will talk about the different animals that don’t feel emotions according to scientists. So if you’re interested in learning more about these creatures that don’t feel emotions, keep reading.

The Following Animals Don’t Feel Emotions

As previously stated, scientists believe that a specific group of animals may experience emotions similar to those experienced by humans; yet, other types of animals do not experience emotions at all.

In the world of invertebrates, there are very few species that ever express what we call emotion. The cephalopods, such as the octopus and the squid, are prominent outliers to this. Despite the fact that they have never shown emotions, responses such as fear, and anger, as well as satisfaction seem to be present in these creatures.

The following are examples of creatures that are incapable of feeling any emotions:

Insects

The world has several insects with thousands of different species that cover the world. They vary according to their colors, shapes, and structures, as well as their overall look. Due to the fact that insects are members of the invertebrate kingdom, they do not have brain networks and, as a consequence, they do not feel any emotion at all.

Jelly Fish

There are various types of jellyfish, and they … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/F6cx7uL

Wolverine (Gulo gulo): The Glutton of the Wild

Retractable claws, small stature, and fierce temper, and no, we are not talking about the Marvel X-Man character. We are talking about the largest land-living species of the weasel family, the Wolverine. This mammal is only the size of a medium dog, but don’t let their size fool you; they are vicious and have unimaginable strength compared to their size.

A Tough Body Design

The Wolverine looks like a cross between a wolf and a small bear. With dark brown coarse fur, brown-black head, raccoon-like eyes, a longer snout, and a short body. Sometimes he sports a lighter golden stripe from his strong shoulders, traveling down his flanks and to the base of his tail.

His feet are like giant snowshoes; with each step, his toes spread, making it easy to walk on top of the snow. He has semi-retractable claws like a cat, striking, tearing, or climbing as needed. A tenacious mammal with the scientific name of Gulo gulo, which means glutton.

Are they gluttons? Let’s explore the eating habits of the Wolverine together.

Eating Habits

The Wolverine has a reputation for being vicious; it has incredible strength and can kill an animal much bigger than itself. They are considered cruel animals. Paralyzing animals as large as a reindeer by biting the spine.

Yet not killing it until they are ready to eat the animal, allowing it to die as they consume it. Once they are full, they bury it under the snow, saving the rest for later. This has given them the added reputation of being greedy, as they do not share any meal.

Wolverines have a keen sense of smell and can smell a dead animal even though frozen deep under the snow. This ability gives them more food than other animals attempting to survive in harsh weather. Not only can they smell, but they also have unique teeth, including an upper molar that is turned 90 degrees, which makes ripping flesh easier.

The teeth are so strong they can break and rip frozen meat from bones.

Wolverines Eat Almost Anything

An Omnivore … Read the rest of the story.

from Nature Nibble https://ift.tt/FciYsjG