Biodiversity refers to the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. Earth has a great deal of diversity in both flora—plants—and fauna—animals because the planet has many different ecosystems.
From blazing deserts to frozen tundra, life has adapted to live on most areas of our planet. It's only extremely high peaks where life hasn't been found and that may someday change if the climate continues in the direction it's going.
With so much wildlife all around us, even experts don't know everything about every animal.
Reddit user youngGod928 asked:
"What’s a fascinating fact about wildlife that most people are unaware of?"
But They Don't Shop At ACME
"There are coyotes in every major city in the contiguous USA."
"If you’re in a city in the US, you’re likely less than 1 mile away from a coyote."
~ CariocaInLA
Carry On And Eat Carrion
"Vultures are really important for the ecosystems they live in, but a lot of vulture species are critically endangered due to human activity."
"Vultures have stomach acid so powerful that it can destroy things like botulism and anthrax, thus cleaning up the environment when they eat rotting meat that contains those things."
"There is evidence for a correlation between the drastic decline in India's vulture population and the boom in the stray dog population, since less vultures means there is more food for the dogs to scavenge. This has also sadly led to a rise in rabies which kills many people and animals."
"Many people find vultures scary, but for the most part they are harmless and we really need to have them around. Please consider supporting vulture conservation projects."
~ Expensive_Plant9323
About 7,240 miles (11,577.83 km)
"Some bar-tailed godwits (a wading bird) fly from Alaska to Australia non-stop in the longest continuous migration of any bird (maybe any creature)."
"To do this, they shrink their internal organs so they can pack more fat (for energy) into their body. They’re basically balls of fat when they take off."
"And when they’re in flight, they shut most of their organs down to devote all energy to flying."
"And they’re just medium sized nondescript brown birds that peck around in the mud."
~ KestrelQuillPen
Elephant Information Highway
"Elephants have a specific warning call that means 'human'."
~ BurghFinsFan
"And they have an instant messenger/DM system."
"They stomp codes into the ground to alert other elephants in the area of danger. These seismic waves are too faint for us humans to feel, but are easy for elephants, with their huge feet, to detect."
"Essentially all the elephants in a several-mile radius are actively talking in a groupchat, and you will be the next meme if you try to poach one."
~ NotInherentAfterAll
No Wonder Woody Laughed Like That
"The tongue of a woodpecker is longer than it's head, for a couple reasons. The more obvious one is so that it can reach far into the holes it pecks to grab insects to eat."
"The less obvious reason is that it cushions the bird's brain so it can peck trees without hurting itself. How does it do this?
"Because the tongue WRAPS UP AROUND the brain to keep it from moving!"
~ JPH_RedFive
No Birdbrain
"Crows can mimic human voices similar to parrots."
"I experienced that first hand while hunting on public land. Heard a little boy calling 'MOM, MOM!!' only to realize that the voice came from a crow flying overhead."
~ Riflemaiden1992
Hitting The Treadmill
"If you put a hamster wheel in the middle of the forest, you'd expect that small creatures would ignore it."
"They don't. Instead, they absolutely love it!"
"Scientists believe it's because it provides some kind of novel stimulation that hits the core of most animal brains."
~ bbbbbthatsfivebees
How Do They Compare To Other Marsupials?
"Opossums brains are about 1/5th the size of other mammals their size."
"And mostly smooth—so precious and so dumb."
~ email_queen
"Opossums share a single common ancestor with ALL the marsupials of Australia, because Australia and South America used to be connected across Antarctica."
~ Jak3t
"The Opposum is basically a living fossil. They’ve been around more or less unchanged for 70 million years."
"They appeared soon after the dinosaurs died out for the final time, which to me is a fun thought: the T Rex ceding the crown of Apex Predator to the Opossum."
~ -frank--
Who Gives A Hoot
"Owls bob their heads up and down to help improve their depth of perception."
~ WhimsyyWhisperr_
"They also have one ear the points forward and one that points backwards, to help them pinpoint small sounds."
~ Jeramy_Jones
Little Bandits Steal Your Heart
"Baby raccoons purr and knead like kittens. Raccoons have the most soft, velvety, devilish little hands."
"Did not know this myself until last spring when a wildlife rehabber posted a call to arms for people to help. Figured I've raised enough neonatal kittens, my experience would be helpful."
"A ban on killing raccoons has been lifted in my state and people are poisoning adult raccoons without considering the babies they are orphaning. Last year I raised and released 11. So far this year I've raised and released 27."
"I've also officially become a wildlife rehabber. One of the females I raised last year showed back up, babies in tow! Wasn't sure how she'd respond after being away for a bit but she let me check her out and treat her battle wounds."
~ NyxK83
They Meow And Chirp Too
"Cheetahs are not big cats—as in not related to the big cats: lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, and jaguars."
"Cheetahs are very large small cats, more closely related to cats like Servals. DNA analysis proved they're related, with scientists theorizing Cheetahs descended from ancient Servals."
~ I_might_be_weasel
Not Just The Ocean
"Bull Sharks can survive in fresh or salt water. They swim into rivers to have their young because there are fewer predators, hence you hear news stories about sharks in the Mississippi River."
"They are also a**holes and will bite with very little provocation. They cause more 'attacks' than Great Whites, but they're nowhere near as big so they don't do as much damage."
"They are still the 3rd most dangerous shark in the world behind Tiger sharks and Great Whites."
~ CopperTucker
Giphy
So, Not Good On Cereal
"Whale milk is the same consistency as toothpaste."
~ what-katy-didnt
"Their milk is thick because it needs to have an extremely high fat content as baby whales are putting on a lot of weight each day."
"As a general rule, a whale calf puts on about 5 kg (10 pounds) every hour."
~ NotInherentAfterAll
Awwooooooooooo...
"There is a type of mouse that behaves like a tiny wolf."
"Members of this species travel in packs, hunt live prey, and even howl at the moon."
"It is called the Grasshopper Mouse, named for one of its primary food sources."
~ Master-o-Classes
World's Deadliest Predator
"Back in the day dragonflies ate flesh, were 3 ft long, and dominated the food chain."
~ Exact-Cod-4474
"They still dominate the food chain on their own level and still eat flesh when they can. They're opportunistic feeders."
"They’re the most successful predators in the animal kingdom with as high as a 97% success rate. Most predators fall below a 50% success rate."
"Dragonflies in their larval form can literally expand and shoot their jaw out to catch small fish to eat."
~ nathyabber
bug garden GIF by Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical GardensGiphy
What's an interesting fact you know about wildlife?
