Fact or Fiction: Myths about reptiles, arthropods and others

Indeed, the world of ants is full of information supplied to them by various odorous substances and pheromones. A dead ant is perceived by its kin as alive, just very lazy, for a few more days. When the pheromones evaporate, tidy insects carry the fellow to the dump — a kind of ant cemetery.

If you smear an ant with a substance with the smell of decay, insects will carry the fellow to the cemetery. No matter how many times the “dead” ant returns to the anthill, they will keep doing this over and over until it actually dies.

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Insects and arachnids can have a large number of eyes. However, this does not affect their visual acuity. In general, insects have less acute vision than vertebrates and find it more difficult to assess the distance to an object.

For example, scorpions can have up to twelve eyes but see very poorly, distinguishing the area around them only about thirty centimeters away. However, despite this, scorpions are very successful hunters.

Spiders can have up to eight eyes, each pair adapted for specific tasks. However, spiders that build webs to catch prey have poor vision, but they are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Spiders have several sensory organs for perceiving their environment, almost all of which are located on their legs. Spiders that hunt without webs have well-developed vision. For instance, jumping spiders can see almost as well as humans.

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When choosing a victim, the female mosquito certainly uses thermal radiation, but such a mosquito “thermal imager” works only within a range of a few meters.

In addition to the “thermal imager,” mosquitoes have a chemical analyzer, which they use to orient themselves by the smell of lactic acid in sweat (a few kilometers), carbon dioxide exhaled by humans (hundreds of meters), and movement. The female mosquito also reacts to light, preferring dimly lit rooms, which is why in city apartments, females are mostly nocturnal.

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This deep misconception has existed for thousands of years. Thorough studies have shown that there are actually two main reasons for color change. Firstly, the color depends on the emotional state of the reptile; secondly, on environmental conditions: temperature, humidity, lighting, etc. Moreover, chameleons do not change color instantly. This happens over several minutes.

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Find more interesting facts about chameleons in our article ☛

By looking at the soles of this reptile using an electron microscope, scientists found that the reptile uses nanotechnology. Geckos use Van der Waals forces as an adhesive mechanism. The essence of it is that when the molecules of different substances come close enough together, attractive forces arise between them — Van der Waals forces.

Adhesion to the support surface through Van der Waals forces allows geckos to climb smooth surfaces, such as glass, and hang on a glass surface using only one toe, as well as climb vertical surfaces and even the ceiling.

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During mating, when cuttlefish gather together, the largest males carefully watch to ensure that no competitors approach their harem. However, young males who wish to “taste the forbidden fruit” have one trick: to color themselves brown with spots and sneak into the harem disguised as a female.

Having infiltrated the “flower bed” in this way and waiting for the dominant male to be distracted, the young males quickly change color and try to achieve their goal with the females. Having successfully completed the ritual, they again take on the appearance of females and hide.

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Something similar exists in some insects, at least two representatives of the carabid family – bombardier beetles. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. Bombardier beetles have special devices resembling a flamethrower or rocket engine with an ignition system, and this flamethrower is poisonous and has a stunning effect.

The beetle’s flamethrower is a kind of defense mechanism. Bombardiers can quite accurately shoot a self-heating mixture of chemicals from glands in the rear part of their abdomen at their enemy. The temperature of the mixture at the moment of the shot reaches 100°C, and its discharge is accompanied by a loud sound. Such a shot lasts 8–17 ms, and the speed of the hot liquid is about 10 m/s.

How this looks and how such a defense mechanism works can be seen in the video at the end of this article.

Earthworms (or soil worms) are the guardians of the most valuable natural formation — the fertile soil layer of the planet. Now it can be said with full confidence that thanks to their activity, plant growth is possible on most of the Earth’s surface, and therefore, the life of all other creatures linked by food chains is possible.

All the responsibility lies with the larvae of the house moth, which do not eat fabric or wool, but only gnaw holes in it and gnaw the hairs on the fur, reaching the organic residues — fats and proteins that remain in microscopic quantities on the animal’s fur. These tiny translucent worms are very difficult to notice from the outside because they always stay deep within the food substrate.