Animals and amazing abilities

[Halb]

A thread for those occurances in nature that seem rather special (immortal jellfish/lobster, human self regulation of temperature etc).


Watched an Attenborough doc today, a recent one, he was quite old, and there was the wood frog in it. Not sure if I have seen it before, probably have, but I was intrigued by it's ability to 'sort-if' go into suspended animation (a mild form) over winter, by releasing certain products into it's body it was able to freeze and then thaw itself, and after a few hours it was fine to continue on it's way in spring.

Reminded me of the scene in ALiens when the marines wake up from cryo.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/07...

[alfie2244]

The shrimp that swims through boiling hot underwater volcanic vents without getting cooked are impressive... must be a medical invention awaiting there somewhere.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/20831/20141125/e...

Edited by alfie2244 on Wednesday 27th January 21:30

[Einion Yrth]

alfie2244 said:

The shrimp that swims through boiling hot underwater volcanic vents without getting cooked are impressive... must be a medical invention awaiting there somewhere.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/20831/20141125/e...

Edited by alfie2244 on Wednesday 27th January 21:30

I'd love to watch someone trying to make a paella with those buggers.

[likesachange]

Brian stoffle the honey badger isn't daft

https://youtu.be/c36UNSoJenI

[glazbagun]

Darwins Bark spider:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSwvH6YhqIM

Strongest web in the world.

wiki said:

The toughest known spider silk is produced by the species Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini): "The toughness of forcibly silked fibers averages 350 MJ/m3, with some samples reaching 520 MJ/m3. Thus, C. darwini silk is more than twice as tough as any previously described silk, and over 10 times tougher than Kevlar"

[Simpo Two]

glazbagun said:

wiki said:

The toughest known spider silk is produced by the species Darwin's bark spider (Caerostris darwini): "The toughness of forcibly silked fibers averages 350 MJ/m3, with some samples reaching 520 MJ/m3. Thus, C. darwini silk is more than twice as tough as any previously described silk, and over 10 times tougher than Kevlar"

Which explains why no C. darwini has ever been shot

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Growing back lost limbs is no big deal for newts and a few other creatures.

Pondlife is meant to be an insult, but if you're going to lose a limb, better to be a newt.

[Motorsport_is_Expensive]

I love this. It would seem each species on Earth has at least one super-power.

There's an argument to be made that human ability (other than our brains) is distance running... which could be a controversial point, but, if true, it's sad to see so many fatties claiming they can't run - after we've evolved to be the greatest distance runners on Earth.

For me, cats. Pound for pound, is there any animal out there that matches their power, speed, intelligence and top tier placement in the food chain? Maybe Spiders? Bears?

I might have veered off-topic here!