Wild rabbits are really well camouflaged - until they start running, when their little white tails start bobbing - just shouting "chase me, I'm here". Is this an evolutionary oversight, or is there a reason behind it?
218326
One theory is that when feeding in the dusk, rabbits run to their burrows on the least alarm, and that it would be very important for those who were furthest off, and especially for the young, to be able to follow the others without any hesitation in a straight line. The upturned white tail thus serves as a useful guide.
379803
see that seems correct to me.\nlook at it like this, any creature that has evolved from another creature, from what i know(mind you my knowledge is limited here) the creature they evolved from died out, so why are monkeys still around if we evolved from monkeys why are they still around???
590302
Nature tells us that homosexuality exists.  Are humans animals?  Are there homosexual humans?  Ergo...?\n\nThe fact that you have not quoted sources is of no consequence to me -- I am willing to take at face value that perhaps the cattle and lizards were setting domination patterns. I am curious as to how the motives of the lizards were determined to be "to humilate"?\n\nty kinney, of course, makes terrfic sense about the differences beetween humans and other animals and would worth be re-reading.  \n\nOf course, without any applicable citation, which would seem to be fairly easy to find, your insistence on the behavior of cattle weakens the argument, particularly when you assert such detail as "the male/male behavior documented never culminates it penetration! therefore it is not sexual in nature."  From your reaction to other posts, I assume you're after some sort of penetration?\n\nI must point out that an insistence on male/male penetration omits other non-dominance behaviors practiced by other animal species, such as courtship. \n\nTREE SWALLOWS:  Full cloacal contact has been observed by Wilson and Bull in  male Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), complete with  the “ticking” vocalizations which are apparently reserved for  heterosexual copulations in Tree Swallows.  They also note that dominance behaior among Tree Swallows is very different.\n\nLIZARD: A. carolinensis engage in both homosexual courtship and copulation -- with one male exhibiting the male behavior in courting being the mounter and the male exhibiting the female courtship behavior being mounted. Previous studies (Noble and Bradley in 1937) dismissed this as hierarchical behavior, but more recent observations (Cooper, 1977, and Sigmund, 1987) show a more thorough understanding of A. carolinensis society, including polygamy and consistent homosexual behavior in the absence of dominant males.\n\nBISON: Courtship, mounting, and full anal penetration between bulls is common among American bison. My Lakota brothers and sisters call them pte winkte —pte =bison and winkte is the word for two-spirit, their description of the transgendered  in their Nation.\n\nFEMALE CATTLE:  Mounting of female cattle in heat by other cows is common among domesticated cattle.  (Obviously, since no marital aids have been documented, no actual penetration occured.)  The same has not been observed among wild cattle in a study by Queensland College in Australia.  Although stress was cited by the observers, they also admitted the possibility of domestication as a factor -- so perhaps civilization figures into it.\n\nBONOBOS: Barbara Fruth and Gottfried Hohmann observed same-sex genital contacts in wild female bonobos.  They have already been mentioned here, I just thought I would give the citation, even though no penetration happened.\n\nZOO ANIMALS: The penguins, koalas, rabbits and others that have been documented as exhibiting homosexual behaviors have most often come from zoos or domesticated situations.  This does not necessarily indicate a corrupted or aberrant social system, but (Occam's Razor) they can be more easily observed.\n\nHYENAS: Actually, Ploss and Bartels have seen hyenas licking each other's genitals.  Hyenas are of particular interest in this discussion because, according the Bestiary of Barnabus, hyenas were believed to have predominantly homosexual sex, and were associated with homosexuals.  This view was strongly held in the time of Augustine, who was a zealot advocate of conversion.
561888
Many mammals are altricial, that is, they're born with closed eyes and ears, and unable to move for themselves. Many others are precocial, that is, they are born with open eyes and ears, good motor coordination and are able to follow their mother a short time after being born. \nThese two evolutionary strategies are not correlated with the "furry" quality; indeed you can find examples of both in closely related species, such as rabbits (altricial) and hares (precocial); or rats (altricial) and guinea pigs (precocial).  All of these are quite furry :-)\nThere is no clear phylogenetic correlation for these traits, which means that not all the species descended from one particular clade have the same strategy. It's very probable that they represent different evolutionary adaptive strategies: animals that give birth in open habitats and/or are exposed to predators often have precocial young (also dolphins and whales,for obvious reasons); whereas other species that use burrows or give birth in otherwise sheltered places have altricial young. The duration of pregnancy also varies; generally precocial young are born after relatively longer pregnancies, which means greater stress on the mother's body and higher vulnerability for her before delivery. \nIn the case of human infants, I guess (but it's just my guess) that since vision is our strongest sense and visual communication is so important, it starts to develop right at birth. However, we're altricial in other respects and human babies depend completely on their mothers.
130942
Squirrels aren't very smart.  Their instinct when they sense danger is to run to the last safe place they have been.  They just don't have the brains to figure out the which side of the road is closer or that they will get smooshed if they turn around.  They get scared, and instinct takes over.\n\nRemember, squirrels evolved over millions of years, and when been chased by a larger, faster predator, going to the nearest safe place is usually the best plan.  They have only been dealing with cars for a hundred years, and haven't updated the planbook yet.
386509
Tricky question.  No, they won't breed in the wild for the reasons given above.  However, in a loft, they may try to breed if the food is adequate and if extra light is given to them.  However, if the ambient temperature is not much above the outside air, then success is usually minimal.  Some parents are very, very good about covering the youngsters and they will thrive for the first week or so.  However, often when the parents begin to leave the nest and try to breed their second round, the young can't maintain enough body heat *since their own feather covering is minimal* and they freeze.  \n\nMost breeders will separate the sexes during the winter to stop breeding.  When I bred birds in New England, I often found that wasn't even necessary since most will not attempt to breed at all.  Also, if you put them on barley and corn (maize), you often find they don't want to breed anyway.\n\nSo, to answer.  Yeah, they might try to rear young in very cold climates given extra food & light, but success is usually very minimal.  There may be others who've had better success, but without specially heated buildings, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't something to be expected.
254565
I think you are right. Tazmanian devils are funny little things. I also get a good laugh from hedgehogs. But I think the weirdest looking animal has to be the anteater!!! :-)
553963
i think you're referring to deer stands and their use.\n\na deer doesn't perceive "threats" from above.  therefore, they would not look up to see incoming problems.\n\ni've seen them look "up" before.  would appear to be beyond the 15 degree mark stated.
296024
A few years ago while living on a farm, the owners raised rabbits, tons of rabbits, too many rabbits, they had a huge long line of rabbit cages along the back of their barn, and were getting worried about having too many rabbits and there were dozens of new baby rabbits born just that week, well to make a long story short, that night there was a terrible storm and a bolt of lightning shot down and hit a tree at it's roots that was beside the rabbit cages and I thought I saw a tiny little streak of lightning shoot off from the main bolt and zip towards the cages. Well, I was right! After the storm, we went out to inspect the tree, but there wasn't anything wrong with it, there wasn't even a mark! But when we looked at the rabbits, every single one was dead, the old ones, the young ones, the new borns, all instantly electrocuted by that little streak of lightning that ran off the big bolt! It solved the farmers dilemma about what to do about all those rabbits, but what a way to go! The vet said they didn't feel a thing, it was so quick!
464287
The colouration may not make as much sense on land, when they are waddling about, but in the sea as they 'fly' through the water in search of fish and squid and other yummies, it is actually a highly effective form of camouflage.\n\nCalled counter-shading, it makes them pale from below, blending into the brighter background of the surface, and dark from above, blending into the stygian blackness of the abyssal depths.\n\nA lesser form of counter-shading is common in many terrestrial critters as well, where belly fur is often paler than the pelage on the dorsal surface.  Dogs, kitties, even squirrels and bunnies often show this same pattern.\n\nIn the watery environs of a pelagic predator, it is even more effective due to the greater degree of contrast in the environment, and the lack of effective cover in which to hide.  \n\nCounter-shading can be seen in critters like sharks, dolphins, swordfish,  and tuna.\n\nHere's a picture of a tuna showing counter-shading http://www.panamafishingandcatching.com/tuna/preultimo-tuna-tunalarge.jpg\n\nAnd one of a shark http://na.nefsc.noaa.gov/sharks/img/27.jpg\n\nProbably the best examples of counter-shading would be the orca (aka killer whale), and the manta ray.  Like penguins, they are very distinctly black on the back and white underneath.\n\nManta ray http://www.no-pest.com/MantaRay.jpg\n\nOrca http://orca-voyance.auraciel.com/orque2a.jpg
623456
You for got to mention a dog trying to catch his tail also goes around counterclockwise--sometimes universal movement lol
167800
I don't know if there's a proven fact if animals could laugh but I'm sure they could as well as any human beings.\n Just as we could teach our pets certain things, so are wild animals have their own kind of communication on how to survive from predators and who knows one of them might be laughter. Seems like some birds do know how to laugh too.
312551
because they don't care.....an endangered animal is endangered because they are popular of some sort of a way...\nmaybe the furs look great....
205230
I like the boys to stay exactly where I left them.  I don't wanna be sitting on them by accident should they go flopping about while I'm not paying attention.  Thus I wear my tightie whities.\n\nI am kinda wondering why this question is in Zoology though.
597457
If we assume evolution as by Darwin is basically right. Animals evolve to best survive in a certain ecological niche. In that respect intelligence was an adaptation to survive and prosper in response to certain environmental factors, and our species was the winner in that race to develop. In the same light why don’t all animals develop flight or gills etc. Other animals haven’t developed the same type of intelligence because they don’t need it. The Lingula sp. (a seashell) has existed in its current shape for well over 500 million years, as compared to our ½ to ¾ million years, it perfectly fills a certain niche and has no need to evolve further.\nHowever your question hits upon a salient point. Where is the actual evidence for this species development? We should have examples of inter-species e.g. super smart bunnies still able to breed with normal bunnies to create cleverer off spring. This missing link worried Darwin for his entire life and eventually caused him to doubt his own theory.
214374
Cows were first domesitcated about 5,000 years ago.  I think if they were wild and allowed to run free, maybe they would behave alot like Bison or Wildebeasts.  They would probably stay in herds that graze in open grasslands, with sub-groups of a Bull and females.
541994
They are social creatures and likely to hang out where everyone else does - like people!  They tend to gather in flocks too.  If it's near intersections my guess would be that's because it's between two clear fly zones, where there are not tall trees or buildings to get in their way as they fly.  They like to stay relatively close to the ground for warmth, water, food, action...and wires are everywhere so they are used to hanging out there.  \n\nAnother thought...People are not going to bother them or threaten them if they are sitting on electrical or telephone wires - those birds who sat there learned that, and the birds who chose the buildings and windowsills didn't fare as well.  The survivors spread the wisdom to their offspring (a Darwinian explanation, but makes sense even if you're not a Darwinian).