A few days ago, I read in the paper about the Saharan silver ant, which can run almost 20 times faster than Usain Bolt. While the Jamaican speedster clocks in 4 strides in a second, his Saharan counterpart can walk 47 strides per second.
So this got me thinking. Which other animals hold world records?
I did the research and here are the winners:
The North American brown bat is the longest sleeper in the world. It can sleep up to 19.9 hours in a day – that’s a lot longer than most animals.
On the flip side, the African bush elephant sleeps the least per day – just 2 hours.
The Arctic ground squirrel takes the cake (or in this case the cold) for having the coldest body temperature of any animal in the world. Their body temperature – a shocking -2.9°C. (To put it in perspective, us humans will get hypothermia if our temperature drops below 35°C )
The prize for the largest rodent in the world goes to the capybara – it stands 130 centimetres long head-to-tail and is 50 centimetres tall. That’s as big as a border collie!
The bee hummingbird is the smallest bird on the planet and stands at a minuscule height of 57 millimetres. It is also the lightest-weighing warm-blooded mammal in the world at 1.6 grams.
The sperm whale is the loudest animal on the planet and its voice can reach 230 decibels. (In comparison, a jet engine’s noise is just 120 decibels, the loudest speaker streams at 122 decibels, humans can speak at volumes as high as 129 decibels and a gunshot can be 140 decibels loud.)
Now here are a few of the whackier winners:
A macaw named Skipper Blue from California has the record for being the parrot that has placed the most number of rings on a pole in one minute. His winning number – 19 rings.
Fellow Californian, a rabbit named Bini, has wiped the floor of competitors by being the rabbit to make the most number of basketball slam dunks in a minute – 7.
But Bini isn’t the only bunny to hold a world record. Finland based Taawi holds the record for being the rabbit able to perform the most magic tricks in under a minute – 20.
The Japanese Beagle Purin, too has cause for victory. She has the world record for catching the most balls with her paws in under one minute. Her unbroken record – 14.
Purin’s fellow species-mate, Neo the border collie from Somerset, holds the record for being the fastest dog in a hoop-jumping competition. His record time – 8.58 seconds/10 hoops.
What do amphibians, reptiles and fish have in common? They are all ectotherms – cold blooded creatures. They are animals which cannot regulate their own body temperatures (like warm blooded animals can) and they rely on the external environment to change their internal temperatures.
For long scientists wondered if sickness like cold, flu and fever were the lot of warm blooded creatures . As it turns out – they aren’t. Cold blooded creatures can fall ill too.
How (?), you may ask. In order to understand this, we need to understand how fevers set in warm blooded creatures.
All warm blooded creatures have a particular body temperature, which for them is considered normal. For example:
Humans – 98.6°F
Dogs – 102.0°F
Elephants – 97.7°F
Horses – 100.4°F
Goats – 103.4°F
If the body temperatures of these animals rises above this limit (as is the case during infections), the body tries to thermoregulate .i.e. bring the temperature back down, to normal. When the body fails to do this and the body temperature continues to rise, fever sets in.
Based on this, it’s important to note that for fever to set in, there has to be a biologically-set body temperature. But cold blooded animals don’t have a fixed temperature. Their body temperature falls or rises depending on the temperature of the external environment.
So, how do they fall ill?
Well, cold blooded or warm blooded, all animals are susceptible to illness. Just as with their warm blooded cousins, cold blooded animals too may get infections from parasites or viruses, which can raise or drop their body temperatures abnormally. Just like warm blooded animals, ectotherm animals’ bodies too can handle only a certain level of heat and cold. If the change in temperature during the infection falls beyond this limit, illness similar to fever sets in.
But the biggest mystery here isn’t just about how these animals fall ill, but it also includes what these animals do to get back to health.
Changing behaviours for the sake of wellness
When fish, amphibians or reptiles fall ill, they indulge in what is known as a “behavioural fever“. If the animal is infected by a parasite or virus and experiences signs of ill health, it moves away towards areas which support warmer climates. For example, fish that normally prefer cold waters may swim towards warmer waters when they are ill.
Why?
Heat has the ability to deactivate viruses and destroy the proteins which assist in virus duplication. The same goes with parasites – heat can kill them too.
So, a cold blooded creature that falls ill, will instinctively move towards a warmer place, in order to increase its body temperature, which will in turn help in killing or deactivating the pathogen in their bodies.
This instinctive “behaviour“, which ectotherms exhibit when they have “fevers“, is called “behavioural fever“. Scientists speculate this behaviour could stem from the fact that the immune systems of cold blooded animals may actually function better when in warmer climates.
One of the best examples of cold blooded creatures who exhibit behavioural fever are Zebrafish. The moment they fall ill, Zebra fish will change their water-heat preferences and swim to warmer waters. The same goes for Guppies.
When behavioural fever benefits the host
For some time, it was assumed that behavioural fever was helpful only for ectotherms who were in the throes of infection & fever. But as it turns out, in some cases, the move to hotter areas benefits pathogens too.
Schistocephalus solidus, a tapeworm found in the gut of rodents, fish and fish-eating birds, actually thrive on heat. Once the parasite is in the hot climate, it grows stronger and changes the heat preferences of the fish and manipulate other atypical (and often self-destructive) behaviours in the animal.
Then there is the Cyprinid herpesvirus 3, which is a virus that attacks fish in the Carp family. This virus affects the genetic code of the fish it infects and overrides the genes which stimulate behavioural fever. So, the infected fish doesn’t move towards warmer waters (as it is supposed to), instead choosing to stay in colder waters, where the virus can gain in strength.
What happens if a feverish ectotherm cannot move to warmer climates?
Vicious parasites and mind-control viruses aside, the inability to indulge in behavioural fever can have a massive, negative impact on cold blooded animals. This is in fact, very true of pets.
In the wild, cold blooded creatures have a lot of freedom to move to different places, in order to rid themselves of their illness and infection. But pets stuck in aquariums and enclosures don’t have this luxury.
Cold blooded pets like fish, turtles, tortoises, iguanas, lizards and snakes are cooped up inside their temperature-controlled tanks/enclosures for almost their entire lives; where they are subjected to the same temperature day-in-and-day-out.
Now imagine these pets fall ill and have a fever. Biologically they are programmed to leave and move to a place that is warmer, to heal themselves. But because they are stuck in their tanks/enclosures, these animals do not get the opportunity to get their bodies at the right temperature to kill the infection.
When this happens, the fever and the infection only gets worse and in the worst cases, the pet dies. In fact, a large number of fish deaths in aquariums can be attributed to this.
So, what can pet owners do about this?
Fish owners can set aside a separate tank where they can change the temperature of the water as required. Owners of amphibians and reptiles can create heat spots in corners of the enclosure by using detachable heaters and small light sources. This can give the sick pet an opportunity to self-heal.
If however, your pet looks worse, it’s best to take him/her to a vet immediately.
Turtles & Tortoises must have been the source of the “Find the difference” game, because they are two animals that most people can’t distinguish between.
Turtles & tortoises are both reptiles which belong to the Testudines family of animals – animals which developed a bony/cartilaginous layer on their backs, which cover their bodies as a shield. They belong to the same group as crocodiles and snakes.
A lot of times, many aspiring pet owners don’t know how to differentiate between a turtle and a tortoise and end up caring for them the wrong way. They give them the wrong food and expose them to the wrong living conditions. This results in many animal deaths. Those owners who try to do right by their pets by releasing them back into the wild, release turtles & tortoises in environments they actually aren’t supposed to, leading to more deaths.
So, how can we stop this vicious cycle? By learning more about them of course. Here are the top 5 differences between turtles & tortoises:
Turtles can swim, tortoises can’t. That’s why turtles have webbed feet (sea turtles have full-fledged flippers) and tortoises have feet that have toes (like that of an elephant) which they use to walk & climb.
With the exception of the Sonoran mud turtles and Box turtles, all other turtle species have a streamlined and flat shell. All tortoises have deep, domed shells. The streamlined shells of turtles are highly-aerodynamic and reduce drag in the water. Tortoises never needed to evolve a flat shell because they never needed to swim.
Turtles live on an average for 80 years. Tortoises for 150 years. There have been instances where turtles and tortoises in healthy captive conditions lived well beyond their natural lifespans, some reaching an estimated 250 years of age.
Turtles are omnivores and like to eat a mix of plants and meat like larvae, insects, small fish and jellyfish. Tortoises are mostly herbivores and love their green leaves, with only a handful of species choosing to eat meat.
Female turtles come on shore only to lay eggs and will return to the water immediately after. Female tortoises on the other hand, often stay a few days protecting the nest and will return to their territories much later. If you’ve seen a turtle/tortoise lay her eggs near your property and you want to do your bit to give these eggs a chance to hatch (and not get eaten by predators), read this really-informative article by the Tortoise Protection Group here.
Bonus
Okay, here’s a fun fact that can turn everything you’ve just learnt on its head.
Scientifically speaking, there’s no distinct species called “tortoise”!
Okay, before you drop your device in shock, let me just clarify that there’s more to it.
So, according to taxonomy (the science of classification), all animals that have shells which cover their body completely are called “turtles”. What this means is that all tortoises are in reality a type of turtle.
Let’s break it down further. The species called “turtles” includes – tortoises, terrapins (yep, that’s a new one) and turtles.
Tortoises are turtles which live exclusively on land.
Terrapins are turtles whose shells resemble those of sea turtles (only smaller), but whose legs look like those on tortoises and they swim in freshwater.
Turtles are actually sea-turtles which live in the ocean and do not remain long on land.
Basically, all tortoises and terrapins are turtles, but all turtles are not tortoises and terrapins.
An Australian sea turtle (image source)A Galapagos giant tortoise (image source)A Terrapin – see how they look like a cross between a turtle and a tortoise. Their shells are flat and streamlined, but their feet are only slightly-webbed with long claws attached, making them perfect for both land and water-based living. (image source)Turtles & tortoises have different types of feet. (image source)
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