Category: Animals

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Starfish Table Manners

Starfish have a gross and unusual manner of eating. They eat by regurgitating their stomachs outside of their bodies. To consume prey like clams or mussels, a starfish pries open the shell slightly, ejects its lower stomach out through its mouth, and digests the prey’s tissue right inside the victim’s shell before pulling its stomach back in.

Starfish aren’t actually fish. They are echinoderms, closely related to sea urchins and sand dollars. Because they lack gills, scales, and backbones, scientists and marine biologists prefer to call them “sea stars.”

They can regenerate entire lost arms. If a predator bites off a sea star’s arm, the animal can grow a brand-new one. In some species, a single severed arm can even regenerate an entire new body if a central part of the core remains attached.

They pump seawater through their bodies instead of blood. Sea stars do not have blood or a central heart. Instead, they use a vascular system that pumps filtered seawater through their bodies to deliver nutrients and operate their feet.

They have eyes on the ends of their arms. At the tip of each arm sits a small micro-eye spot that detects light and dark. While they cannot see detailed images, these eyes help them navigate toward light sources and avoid shadow-heavy predators.

They move using thousands of tiny tube feet. On the underside of their arms are hundreds of tube feet operated by hydraulic pressure. These feet allow them to walk smoothly across the ocean floor, adhere tightly to steep rocks, and open tough mollusk shells.

Not all sea stars have five arms. While the classic sea star shape features five arms, some species have far more. The sun star can have up to 40 arms, while the crown-of-thorns starfish typically has between 13 and 21.

They can change their sex. Certain species of sea stars are born male and transition into females later in life as they mature. Others can reproduce both sexually by releasing gametes into the water and asexually through body division.

Their skin is covered in tiny protective pincers. Called pedicellariae, these tiny claw-like structures sit on the surface of the sea star’s skin to prevent algae, parasites, and debris from settling on them and blocking their breathing gills.

They have no centralized brain. Sea stars manage complex movements and hunting behaviors entirely through a decentralized nervous system. A nerve ring around the mouth connects to radial nerves running down each arm, allowing the limbs to act independently yet cooperatively.

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Chocolate’s Hidden Truth

Thinking you ought to eat less chocolate? Knowing this might help: The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) considers chocolate acceptable for public consumption as long as there are less than 60 microscopic insect fragments per 100 grams (four ounces, or approximately one candy bar).

Chocolate was once used as currency. The ancient Mayans and Aztecs valued cacao beans so highly that they used them as money to trade for food, clothes, and tools.

White chocolate isn’t technically chocolate. Because it contains no cocoa solids or chocolate liquor—only cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, and lecithin—it fails the strict legal definition of chocolate in many countries.

It melts right at human body temperature. Cocoa butter has a unique melting point between 86°F and 90°F (30°C to 32°C), which is just below normal body temperature (98.6°F). This is why chocolate yields that distinct “melt-in-your-mouth” sensation.

It takes around 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate. A single cacao tree produces about 20 to 30 pods per year, meaning one tree yields enough beans to make only a few bars of chocolate.

Chocolate was originally consumed as a bitter, spicy drink. For nearly 90% of its history, cacao was brewed as a liquid, often mixed with chili peppers, water, and cornmeal. Solid eating chocolate wasn’t mass-produced until the mid-19th century.

The world’s largest chocolate bar weighed over 12,000 pounds. Crafted in the UK in 2011, the bar set a Guinness World Record at 12,770 lbs (5,792 kg) and measured over 13 feet long.

The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves. Smelling chocolate triggers relaxation by stimulating theta waves in the brain, which are associated with a calm, meditative state.

Rats are as vulnerable to chocolate toxicity as dogs. Theobromine, the bitter alkaloid found in cacao, is toxic to many animals because their metabolisms process it much slower than humans do. Dark chocolate contains the highest concentrations.

The word “chocolate” comes from Classical Nahuatl. It derives from the Aztec word chocolātl, which in turn gave rise to the Spanish word chocolate before spreading globally.

Ruth Wakefield sold the chocolate chip cookie recipe for $1. The creator of the Toll House Cookie gave her recipe to Nestlé in 1939 in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate and a dollar (which she reportedly never collected).

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Worst Way of Eating

Spiders inject their victims with a chemical that dissolves them. Then the spiders drink their lunch with their mouths which are soda straw-like. A tarantula can totally liquefy a mouse.

More Unexpected Information About Spiders

Some Spiders Cartwheel Away from Danger

The golden wheel spider (Carparachne aureoflava) of the Namib Desert escapes predatory pompilid wasps by flipping on its side, curling its legs, and cartwheel-rolling down sand dunes at speeds of up to 44 turns per second.

They Eat Their Own Webs to Recycle Silk

Spider silk is made of complex protein chains that require significant energy to produce. To conserve resources, many orb-weaver spiders tear down their webs every night and eat the silk, digesting the amino acids to spin brand-new webs the next day.

Vegetarian Spiders Actually Exist

Out of over 50,000 known spider species, Bagheera kiplingi—a species of jumping spider found in Central America—is almost entirely vegetarian. Up to 90% of its diet consists of specialized nutrient-rich buds (Beltian bodies) harvested from acacia trees.

They Hydraulic-Pump Their Legs Instead of Using Muscles

Spiders don’t use opposing muscle pairs to extend their legs like mammals do. Instead, they rely on a hydraulic system, pumping hemolymph (blood) into their limbs to force them outward. When a spider dies, its hydraulic system loses pressure, causing its legs to curl inward.

Sub-Aquatic Spiders Live Underwater in Air Bubbles

The diving bell spider (Argyroneta aquatica) spends almost its entire life under freshwater lakes and ponds. It spins a bell-shaped silk web underwater and traps air bubbles from the surface, creating an aquatic “diving bell” that functions like an artificial gill to absorb oxygen from the surrounding water.

Some Spiders Mimic Ants to Avoid Being Eaten

Myrmecarachne jumping spiders use myrmecomorphy (ant mimicry) to deter predators like birds and wasps, which usually avoid aggressive, bad-tasting ants. These spiders hold their front two legs in the air to resemble ant antennae and walk in frantic, ant-like zig-zags.

The Huntsman Spider Can Creep Through Cardboard-Thin Gaps

Despite having a leg span reaching up to 12 inches (30 cm), giant huntsman spiders have uniquely flattened bodies and specialized hip joints. This allows their legs to extend sideways rather than vertically, enabling them to squeeze into crevices no thicker than a coin.

Their Blood is Blue

Unlike human blood, which uses iron-based hemoglobin to transport oxygen and turns red, spider blood uses a copper-based protein called hemocyanin. When exposed to oxygen, spider blood turns a pale translucent blue.

Peacock Spiders Perform Elaborate Dance Routines

Male peacock spiders (Maratus) engage in intricate courtship displays that rival tropical birds. They raise their iridescent, colorful abdominal flaps, wave their legs in complex patterns, and vibrate their bodies in rhythmic beats to court females—who will promptly eat them if the dance isn’t impressive enough.

Spider Silk Is Stronger Than Steel and Tougher Than Kevlar

Weight for weight, dragline spider silk is roughly five times stronger than high-grade steel and significantly tougher than Kevlar. It can stretch to over 30% of its length without snapping, allowing it to absorb high-impact energy without breaking.

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Worst Breathing

Puppies have lungs. Goldfish have gills. Many species of shrimp breathe with their legs. Snapping turtles have two ways of getting their oxygen. They have lungs and they can absorb oxygen from water with their rectums.

Here are 10 weird facts about snapping turtles:

They Can Lure Fish Using a Built-in “Worm”

Alligator snapping turtles have a tiny, pink, worm-like appendage on the tip of their tongue. They sit motionlessly on the bottom of a river with their mouths wide open, wriggling their tongue to mimic a worm. When an unsuspecting fish swims in to grab a meal, the turtle snaps its jaws shut in milliseconds.

They Are Too Big for Their Own Shells

Unlike most turtles that can pull their heads, legs, and tails completely inside their shells for protection, snapping turtles have a much smaller underside shell (plastron). Because they can’t hide in their shell, evolution made them aggressive and defensive on land instead.

Their Shells Are Living Ecosystems

Because snapping turtles spend so much time sitting still in muddy, dark water, algae easily grows on their backs. In older alligator snapping turtles, their shells can become mini-ecosystems covered in algae, moss, small invertebrates, and leech colonies, providing built-in camouflage that makes them look like submerged logs.

More About Breathing Through Their Rear Ends

When lakes freeze over in winter, snapping turtles hibernate under the ice in muddy riverbeds. Since they can’t surface to breathe air, they survive using a process called extrapulmonary respiration—specifically, absorbing oxygen from the water through vascularized tissue in their cloaca (their rear opening).

They Can Survive for Months Without Oxygen

During winter brumation (reptile hibernation) under ice-covered water, common snapping turtles can go up to 100 days without taking a single breath of air or consuming oxygen, relying on specialized metabolic adaptations to survive extreme cold and oxygen deprivation.

Their Bite Strength is Often Overrated, But Still Dangerous

Despite urban legends claiming snapping turtles can easily sever human broomsticks or legs, a common snapping turtle’s jaw force is around 200–600 Newtons—similar to a human’s strong bite. However, an alligator snapping turtle can exceed 1,000 Newtons of force, which is easily powerful enough to break bones or sever fingers.

Nest Temperature Decides the Babies’ Sex

Like many reptiles, snapping turtles exhibit Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination (TSD). If the eggs in the nest are incubated at lower or higher extreme temperatures, they develop into females. Intermediate temperatures around 20°C to 26°C (68°F–79°F) produce predominantly males.

They Are Gentle Giants in Water, But Terrors on Land

Snapping turtles are notorious for being aggressive, but this behavior only happens on land where they feel exposed and vulnerable. When submerged in water, snapping turtles are surprisingly shy and docile, usually choosing to swim away or hide in the mud rather than attack humans.

They Are Prehistoric “Living Fossils”

Ancestors of modern snapping turtles have been around for over 90 million years, meaning they roamed the earth alongside T. rex and Triceratops. Their physical design has remained largely unchanged for tens of millions of years because it is so effective.

They Can Live for Over a Century

Snapping turtles are extremely long-lived. While their average lifespan in the wild is around 30 to 50 years, alligator snapping turtles can live well over 100 years, with some unverified estimates suggesting they can reach up to 150 years of age.