Author: Dimon
19 January 2021 19:48
Community: Animals
Tags: animals interesting facts
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Surely you know them all, but check yourself and maybe you’ll learn some interesting nuances...
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Locust
Locusts can reach speeds of up to 20 km/h in search of food. Thanks to this factor, it is included in the list of the fastest insects. When there is an abundance of food, the insect leads a solitary lifestyle, but when there is a shortage of food, it forms huge colonies (numbering tens of millions of individuals), which begin an active search for areas rich in food. Colonies make high-speed flights mainly in the morning or evening, over distances of up to 100 km.
The fastest artiodactyl animal
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The pronghorn antelope, or pronghorn, is the fastest artiodactyl and the only surviving member of the pronghorn family. Many individuals filled the prairies of North America. When numbers were halved, the governments of Canada and the United States sounded the alarm. Now the population is recovering. Pronghorns live in extremely dry climates and are extremely resilient. The liver of animals constantly accumulates glycogen, which is converted into glucose. The pronghorn body has a good blood supply and uninterrupted breathing. Thanks to these qualities, the antelope develops great speed and easily runs long distances. The maximum speed that the pronghorn develops is 87 km/h. Moving at a speed of 50 km/h, the animal covers a distance of up to 6 km.
Water striders
Water striders are considered the fastest insects that live on the surface of the water. The average speed of movement across a body of water is 4 km/h. Water striders easily glide across the surface of ponds and streams as if on ice. How do they manage to “walk on water” and remain completely dry? A detailed study of the surface of the water strider's legs provides a surprising answer. Many insects stick to the surface of water when they touch it, and water striders' feet are covered with wax and thousands of fluffy tiny hairs, known as microhairs, that trap air and form a floating cushion.
Hornet
The hornet is one of the fastest flying insects in the world with a maximum flight speed of up to 25 km/h. Its main food, which it is constantly in search of, is nectar and plant foods rich in sugar. Adults also hunt many insects, which they kill with their stingers and powerful jaws. Due to their size and the strength of their venom, hornets can effortlessly kill fairly large insects, including bees, grasshoppers, wasps and locusts. The victim is completely chewed, but not eaten immediately, but in the form of a suspension is fed to the larvae that develop in the nest. Considering the fact that hornets eat various pests, they can be classified as beneficial insects, although with some reservations.
Swimming
Water bug (Notonecta)
Many aquatic insects move slowly, but some are more active thanks to the paddle-shaped appendages formed from the hairy fringe on their legs. In aquatic beetles, this fringe is usually located on the hind legs, and in the water bug (Notonecta) - on the front legs.
Dragonfly larvae, unlike adults leading an aquatic lifestyle, generally have an extremely modern method of movement in water. When something threatens them, they turn on the “jet engine”, pushing water out of the tip of their abdomen.
Hawk Moths
Hawk moths are butterflies that are considered the fastest in the world. When flying, lepidopteran insects are capable of reaching speeds of up to 54 km/h. They fly better than all other butterflies. They spend a lot of time in the air, and are able to hover over a flower and suck nectar from the flowers with their long proboscis. Thanks to this, they play an important role in pollinating flowers with deep corollas. They flap their wings very quickly, like hummingbirds, as if they “stand” in the air above a flower, and they are sometimes confused with these birds. Some genera of hawk moths fly during the day.
Life in motion: the fastest and slowest creatures on our planet
Movement is one of the main properties of living beings. The way and how fast they move depends on the structure of their body and lifestyle. We invite you to take a look at the fastest and slowest representatives of fauna that live on land, in water and in the sky.
On the ground
The fastest land animal is the cheetah
. It can be found in the wild in Africa and the Middle East.
Thanks to the characteristics of its body, a cheetah is capable of accelerating to 110 km/h from a resting state in 3 seconds. This is the perfect runner. He has a slender, lean body with virtually no fat deposits, a small head with rounded ears and high-set eyes for better aerodynamic streamlining. In addition, the cheetah has a wide chest and large lung capacity, which allows it not to suffocate during intense running.
The animal needs this speed for successful hunting. The prey has virtually no chance of escaping from a cheetah at a short distance. But these predators do not know how to climb trees. However, so do antelopes, so this doesn’t bother the cheetahs at all.
Due to their outstanding hunting abilities, cheetahs have been domesticated and used for hunting since ancient times (from the 3rd millennium BC). The rulers of India, Egypt, Persia and even Kievan Rus had hunting cats. At the courts of the Russian princes there were special people - pardusniks or cheetahs who looked after them. The only problem was that cheetahs practically do not breed in captivity, so they constantly had to catch, tame and train new animals.
The slowest vertebrate animal is the sloth
. Its main principle is energy saving. Sloths spend most of their lives in trees, hanging on a branch to which they cling with long curved claws. The main food of these animals is green leaves. They are low in calories and take a long time to digest. Sloths can digest lunch for up to 90 hours, and therefore are forced to save the energy they receive. In trees they move at a speed of 3 m/min, on the ground (sloths go down about once a week to go to the toilet) - 1.5 m/min.
In the process of evolution, sloths abandoned one of the important adaptation mechanisms that mammals have - a heat regulation system that requires large amounts of energy. This limits their habitat: they can only live in hot tropical climates. At dawn, animals climb to the tops of trees to bask in the morning sun, and when it gets hot, they descend into the thick foliage to hide in the shade. This behavior is more typical of reptiles than mammals.
In the sky
The first place among the inhabitants of the sky is shared by the peregrine falcon
and
the needle-tailed swift
.
Spine-tailed Swift
– champion of horizontal flight. This small bird weighing about 100 g with a wingspan of 50 cm, living in Asia and Australia, is capable of accelerating up to 170 km/h. This speed helps the swift hunt for insects and escape from predators.
The king of vertical flight is the peregrine falcon
. When diving towards prey, it develops, according to various sources, a speed of 300 to 360 km/h. At the same time, the force of the blow with folded paws is such that it can literally blow off the victim’s head.
The wood sandpiper is considered the slowest bird
or
woodcock
. Its flight speed is only 8 km/h. It forages in forests of temperate and subarctic climatic zones. The main food of woodcocks are earthworms, which do not need to fly quickly to get them, and their protective camouflage coloring helps them hide from predators and hunters.
Under the water
The fastest fish on the planet is the sailfish
. This large fish, up to 3.5 m in length, lives in tropical, subtropical seas and temperate waters. The sailboat can accelerate to 110 km/h. In this he is helped by a sharp bony growth on his nose, which literally rips up the water and creates turbulence around his body - turbulence, increasing the speed of movement. In addition, these fish do not have a swim bladder, since at high speeds the gas exchange system would not be able to maintain optimal pressure in it.
A distinctive feature of the appearance of a sailboat, which gave it its name, is the fin-sail stretching along the back. When swimming fast, the fish folds it to give its body a streamlined shape, and opens it only during sharp turns.
The slowest swimming inhabitant of the ocean is the seahorse.
. It is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. This cute toy-like fish is found in tropical and subtropical seas. According to various sources, there are from 54 to 57 species of seahorses, differing from each other in color and size. There are individuals with a length (or height) of only 2 cm, and there are also 30 cm.
But in any case, they lead the same lifestyle. They spend most of their time in algae thickets, attaching themselves to them with their curled tail and practically merging with their surroundings. They feed on small crustaceans, which they suck in with their snouts extended forward. Seahorses have few natural enemies. In addition, they are masters of mimicry and can change their color depending on the situation. If the horse decides to go swimming, its speed will be no more than 1.5 m/hour. The reason is the vertical position of the body and very small fins.
Despite such differences in appearance and lifestyle, both the sailfish and the seahorse are favorite objects for sea hunting. In the case of sailfish, anglers are attracted by the impressive size of the prey and the adrenaline of the chase. The seahorse often serves as a material for making souvenirs and a delicacy for gourmets.
Author: Maria Astakhova
Bee
The list of the fastest insects in the world rightfully includes the bee .
The bee's flight speed is 65 km/h, which is approximately the same as the speed of a car in the city. In one flight, a bee collects almost as much nectar as it weighs. With a full honey ventricle, a bee can reach speeds of up to 30 km/h. To collect 1 kg of nectar, a bee will have to make up to 150 thousand flights from the hive. On average, a bee travels up to 3 kilometers in one flight. To produce a kilogram of honey, a bee needs to fly an average of 450 thousand kilometers. This means that the distance a bee flies is similar to the distance it would take to circle the Earth's equator approximately 10 times.
Horseflies
Horseflies are considered very fast flying insects, capable of reaching speeds of up to 60 km/h during mating. Horseflies inhabit all continents except Antarctica. They are also absent from Iceland, Greenland and some oceanic islands. The largest number of horse flies, both in numbers and in the number of species, are found in wetlands, on the boundaries of different ecotopes, and in areas of livestock grazing. Their number only increases from the proximity of humans.
Jumping beetle
The jumping beetle is one of the fastest among insects, whose movement speed can sometimes exceed 2 meters per second.
It can be classified as a beneficial insect that destroys pests in gardens and vegetable gardens. One horse can destroy more than 400 harmful insects over the summer. They go hunting in sunny weather. The beetle flies at high speed, but only for short distances. Sensing danger, he instantly rises into the air and, having flown a short distance, falls down. These arthropods can hunt on the fly, but obtain their main food on the ground, chasing insects or larvae. Being one of the fastest runners among his relatives, the hunter easily catches up with the fastest prey. Having grabbed hold of the prey with its powerful jaws, the beetle generously pours gastric juice with digestive enzymes onto it. Under the influence of the juice, the internal organs of the caught prey are partially digested, and after some time the fish can only suck out the nutritious gruel.
Jumping insects in the apartment - names of species
What insects can jump in the house? Among the small jumping species, especially if you encounter them during the day, fleas are very common. They look like small black dots that are constantly in motion. More than 1000 species of these bloodsuckers are known. In an apartment you can often encounter cat, dog, rat or bird fleas. As a rule, they prefer to parasitize domestic animals, but if necessary, they can easily change their host. They also do not disdain human blood.
Bites cause pain, sometimes accompanied by allergic reactions, often affecting young children. In addition, the constant change of host contributes to the transmission of dangerous pathogens of various diseases and infections. Some of them are fatal to people and pets. It is better to get rid of fleas as soon as possible, otherwise your home will be filled with entire colonies. For information on what remedies are available for insect bites for adults and children, read the article:
Black jumping insects in the apartment
The main distinguishing feature of small jumping vampires is that, having had enough of the blood of a person or animal, they safely leave their victim. Thanks to their black color, they can be easily spotted during the day. Favorite places for parasites are pet mattresses, trash cans, corners, baseboards, and various hard-to-reach places where they build their nests.
In terms of external signs, a flea bite is practically no different from the bites of other insects. It is characterized by redness with slight swelling; the puncture site itself is not visible, but hemorrhage can be observed in the center. The photo clearly shows fresh skin lesions even after a few hours.
Jumping insects in the apartment reasons for their appearance
The main ways of spreading small jumping fleas inside apartments include the following:
- Pets are the first carriers of fleas.
- People who bring parasites on clothes and shoes.
- Independent entry into a home from the basement, especially on the first floors.
What causes insects in the bathroom and kitchen?
Among the insects that prefer to settle inside the bathroom or toilet, you can observe silverfish, butterflies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, wood lice, centipedes, and midges. They love warm, humid rooms; this microclimate is very favorable for their life and active reproduction.
Some of them may move into kitchens and pantries in order to profit, which leads to spoilage of food supplies. Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of these pests in a timely manner using proven methods and means.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are the fastest runners of all land insects. In 1991, a world record was set: a representative of Periplaneta americana reached a speed of 5.4 km/h or 50 cockroach body lengths per second. If a person ran at such a speed, then there would be no need for cars. In this case, people could reach speeds of up to 330 km/h.
Dragonfly
The dragonfly is considered the fastest insect in the world, which can reach flight speeds of up to 97 km/h. The normal flight speed is 30 km/h. They are classified as predatory insects. When scientists began studying dragonflies in 1999, they learned that dragonflies don't "track" their prey by flying through the air, they "intercept" it. In other words, dragonflies ensure a precise kill of the prey by flying to where the prey will be after some time. This indicates that dragonflies calculate three things when hunting: the distance to their prey, the direction in which it is moving, and the speed at which it is flying. Within milliseconds, the dragonfly calculates the angle from which it should approach, and, like in a horror film, the unfortunate victim is already waiting on the spot, who flies into its claws, without knowing it.
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Body structure and movement
Most adult insects have three pairs of legs. They are fixed on the underside of the thoracic segments, a pair per segment. Although some species have modifications, for the most part insect legs consist of five parts: coxa (coxa), trochanter, femur, tibia, and tarsus.
Some predatory insects actively hunt, while others lie low and hide to get close to an unsuspecting victim. When the distance is right, the tenacious front legs shoot out with lightning speed.
These differences do not matter, but they are significant when performing more specialized functions. Grasshoppers, for example, with larger hind legs, accordingly have more muscles on the thigh. Avoiding danger, they can easily jump to a height that exceeds the length of their body many times over. The only exception among their relatives is the mole cricket (Gryllotalpa), whose front legs are much larger than the hind legs, as they are adapted to dig the ground.
Interesting: Instinct in insects
