There is a specific breed of goat that “faints” whenever it gets startled. It is a breed of domestic goat whose external muscles freeze for roughly 10 seconds when the goat is startled. Though painless, this generally results in the animal collapsing on its side with the side effect of everyone around laughing their asses off.
These unfortunate animals have a genetic abnormality which means that if they are scared, rather than running away they suffer a muscular reflex which causes the legs to stiffen & (particularly in the young goat) the animal to fall over, unable to move for around 10-15 seconds although the goat is fully conscious throughout. Believed to be a mutation originally caused by a form of rabies, the abnormality survived as the goats were kept by sheep breeders so that if a predator attacked the flock, the goat was literally sacrificed to allow the sheep to escape.
Although extensive research has been done on these goats, there have never been any conclusive results that indicate why they behave the way that they do. ‘Studies of an animalmodel of dominant MC (the myotonic goat) revealed reduced musclecell membrane chloride conductance as the basis of the disorder.This suggested the skeletal muscle voltage gated chloride channelas a strong candidate gene’
After knowing this misfortunate that these goats have, maybe we shall think twice before laughing at them. (though it is really amusing)
I love animals. I love them most when they are furry and warm, with whiskers and cute paws and small legs.Who can resist a bunny rabbit hopping around your legs begging you for food? Or a kitty cat snuggling into your arms for a rest? They’re simply irresistible. To do a write up about these cute animals, I might as well be setting up a website like cuteoverload.com, with pictures of baby rabbits, puppies and puggles. So on the contrary, I have decided to do a write up on the most disgusting creature I came across. This creature is by far the most heinous and repulsive, in all aspects, from its physical appearance, to its feeding habits, reproduction and most of all its defence mechanism! I present to you, the Atlantic Hagfish, also known scientifically as Myxine Glutinosa
The hagfish looks like an eel. In fact, it is very often mistaken for an eel and scientists have even debated whether or not it belonged to the fish family or the lampreys. It is the only animal with a skull but no backbone. Picture it as an underwater snake, if you will, with barbels (whisker like organ) instead of fins and a single nostril. Its colour ranges from grey to pink or brown, depending on the species and is found at a depth of 4000 feet underwater, making it a deep sea creature. The Atlantic Hagfish, as its name might suggest, is found on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean and can go as far up as Norway.
If its appearance is not enough to repulse you, it’s feeding habits might. Albeit relatively small (16 -32 inches), the hagfish possesses a very barbaric and monstrous way of feeding. The hagfish starts off by attaching itself to another healthy fish. Unlike the Remora, the Hagfish does not stay at the sides or underneath its host, feeding on its remains, but bores its way into the host fish. The hagfish then feed on the host fish’s flesh with its tongue, literally eating its host inside out. There are instances where deep-sea fishermen found thousands of hagfish (instead of flesh) inside their catch! Be careful the next time you’re eating a Cod.
Sex with the Hagfish can be confusing. This is because some are hermaphrodites. Yes, they have both male and female sexual organs. A study conducted by Scott I. Kavanagh et Al in 2004 revealed that the production of gonadotropin-releasing hormone is highly seasonal and differs in relation to its size class and stage of gonadal development: “In the medium and large class hagfish, there was an increase in GnRH concentrations during April and May that correlated with male and female gonadal maturity. Also in these size classes of female hagfish, there was a similar rise in GnRH in November and then again in January that preceded the highest incidence of large eggs.”
What is known is that the hagfish’s eggs attach together and the Hagfish will curl itself around the eggs but it is not known if they are taking care of the eggs.Sexual Reproduction in the Hagfish is rarely documented and further study is much needed to those who can withstand its slime and grime.
Yes, the most disgusting fact about the Hagfish? Aside from its confused sexual orientation, its beastly eating habits and its unsightly appearance, the Hagfish is known for its defence mechanism. The slime. When provoked, the Hagfish excretes a whitish substance that, when in contact with water, will develop into a thick, slimy substance that reminds you of your own mucus! A Study by S.Subramanian et Al., discovered that a major constituent of the hagfish extruded slime are trypsin-like proteases. They found that stress induced slime of the Hagfish contains “various innate immune parameters in comparison to its epidermal mucus”. The slime excreted from the hagfish not only protects it from its predators (thickness of the slime clogs predators’ gills), but also from other diseases and micro organisms that might cause infection! Interestingly, the hagfish escapes from its own slime by knotting itself up and pushing this knot through its body.
The video below shows a scientist and his research animal: the hagfish.
If the video doesn’t load, click here to view: Hagfish Slime
Look at how just a teeny bit of excretion did to a beaker of distilled water! Do not underestimate the power of slime.
References:
Scott I. Kavanagh, Mickie L. Powell, Stacia A. Sower, (2005) “Seasonal Changes of Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone in the Atlantic Hagfish Myxine Glutinosa” General and Comparative Endocrinology, Volume 140, Pages 136-143.
S. Subramanian, N.W. Ross, S.L. MacKinnon, (2008) “Comparison of the biochemical composition of normal epidermal mucus and extruded slime of Hagfish (Myxine Glutinosa)” Fish & Shellfish Immunology, Volume 28, Pages 625 – 632
Non-human primates(monkeys) have been touted as the closest animal kin to human beings. Studies on the tool-using behavior of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Thailand shows that we have more in common than we probably realise.
In the old Buddhist shrine of Prang Sam Yota, Lopburi, Thailand, female long-tailed macaques have been observed to floss using human hair pieces, doubling the time spent flossing when their infants are in proximity. This suggests that the mothers are intentionally passing on the skill to their young (also known as tool use learning).
“I was surprised because teaching techniques on using tools properly to a third party are said to be an activity carried out only by humans,” said Professor Nobuo Masataka. (BBC 2009)
Fig. 1.(Taken from Watanabe, Urasopon, Malaivijitnond 2007;942)
A monkey using hair for dental floss (top, left and right), juvenile monkey using coconut shell fiber (bottom left) and pulling women’s hair (bottom right).
The macaques displayed an amazing amount of consciousness over the act of flossing, showing an uncanny similarity to such human actions. To floss, the macaque has to sort through hair lengths, hold the string taut before edging the hair between teeth and finally pulling it off to one side to remove lodged bits of food. “Reinsertion’ of the make-shift floss is also noted. In addition, fibers from coconut shells were similarly used (Fig. 1).Flossing was notably prolonged when baby macaques are nearby. The magnification or ‘looming’ of a particular action (also known as motionese) enhances the transmission of cultural information, accounting for the ubiquity of macaques flossing near the temple site.
It is interesting to note that when presented with hairpieces, some macaques appear to remove only a few strands of hair, demonstrating an awareness of the type of tool they require for the task (similar to how people break off an appropriate length of floss from the spool of dental thread). Also, since monkeys cannot see what they are doing, they have to rely on tactile senses to fine-tune and readjust the flossing process, just as we do. (video: Mother Monkey flossing)
This atypical behaviour of the macaques is attributable to the unique environment that the monkey live in. [Kawai, 1965] The religion of the people in the Lopburi area views monkeys as servants of God, offering up huge amounts of foods every day. The worship of these shrine monkeys explains why the monkeys have been able to survive in the city area and allows them to engage in activities that would not be tolerated otherwise.
Kunio Watanabe, Nontakorn Urasopon, and Suchinda Malaivijitnond, 2007.Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) use human hair as dental floss. American Journal of Primatology, 69; 940-944.
Masataka N, Koda H, Urasopon N, Watanabe K, 2009. Free-Ranging Macaque Mothers Exaggerate Tool-Using Behavior when Observed by Offspring. PLoS ONE 4(3): e4768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004768Kawai M., 1965.
Newly acquired pre-cultural behavior of the natural troop of Japanese
monkeys on Koshima Islet. Primates 6:1–30.
While humans without their GPS in a barren desert are often as good as “sitting ducks”, the Desert Ant Cataglyphis fortis is able to navigate their way back to their nest in the absence of landmarks for guidance essentially saying they are able to navigate in the dark, a truly remarkable feat!
Foraging Cataglyphis fortis combine the use of visual cues and olfactory landmarks in their navigation systems to help them locate food and their nest.
Photography: Copyright Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Markus Knaden
Researchers Kathrin Steck, Bill Hansson and Markus Knaden from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany showed that Desert Ants incorporate both local smells and visual cues into their navigation systems to help guide them home. In the paper published, they used gas chromatography to verify that desert microhabitats do have unique odour signatures that can guide the ants back to their nest.
After identifying some of the odours present in these microhabitats, the researchers trained ants in field experiments to recognise these odours that points to a hidden nest entrance. The results showed the ants learned to associate their nest entrance with a single odour and discriminated the training odour against non-training odours. They even picked out the training odour from a four-odour blend. Although, the ants were less focused when faced with a blend rather than the pure scent of home, they still performed better in their search than those tested with the solvent control (trail with no odour).
“We are amazed to discover that while keeping track of the path integrator and learning visual landmarks, these ants can also collect information about the olfactory world.“ said Knaden, who hopes to investigate the interaction between visual and olfactory information in future research.
While usage of environmentally derived olfactory landmarks has been shown for pigeons, ants are normally known to rely on self generated pheromones trails. However, in the case of Cataglyphis, these ants roams over 100 meters in search for food in the salt pans of Tunisia. As a result of high temperatures and the unpredictable distribution of food, pheromone trails become ineffective as a tool for navigation (at such high temperatures, the pheromone trails evaporate very quickly). This might be an evolutionary choice for survival favouring the usage of more stable olfactory landmarks to pheromone trails as means for navigation due to presence of extraordinary environmental pressures.
Truly amazing how nature adopts itself…
You can read more about navigation and homing behaviours in Cataglyphis fortis by following some of the links below:
Frontiers in Zoology. “Desert Ants Smell Their Way Home.” ScienceDaily28 February 2009. 11 April 2009 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226210035.htm>.
Kathrin Steck, Bill S Hansson and Markus Knaden, 2009. Smells like home: Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use olfactory landmarks to pinpoint the nest. Frontiers in Zoology, Vol 6:5
H Wolf and R Wehner, 2000. Pinpointing Food Sources: Olfactory and Anemotactic Orientation in Desert Ants, Cataglyphis Fortis, Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 203, Issue 5 857-868
The work of Desmond Morris fascinated me ever since I got hold of a copy of “The Naked Ape” from the school library and read it in hiding since it was not considered kid stuff at that time. I have been collecting his books ever since.
Apart from his multitude of books about human behaviour, there are few purely animal behaviour books including Animal Watching, Cat Watching and Dog Watching. Desmond Morris born in 1928 is most famous for his work as a zoologist and ethologist, but is also known as an author.
He achieved fame in 1967 with his book “The Naked Ape”. The book is a bold look at the human species focusing on humanity’s animal like qualities and our similarity with apes, and for explaining human behaviour as largely evolved to meet the challenges of prehistoric life as a hunter-gatherer. His later studies, books and shows have continued this focus on human and animal behaviour, explained from a bluntly zoological point.
The Illustrated Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal. Desmond Morris. Review by Janet Dunaif-Hattis. American Anthropologist. Sep 1987, Vol. 89, No. 3: 732–733
Morris, D. (1996). The Human Zoo. Kodansha America Inc. ISBN 1-56836-104-1
“Although odours are a common form of communication in every other vertebrate animal, the possible use of scent to convey social information is an exciting addition to the study of avian behaviour.”
The basic assumption is that vision and hearing are the main senses that birds use to signal each other, e.g. the colour of plumage; the sound of birdsong. This is questioned by new experimental evidence observed in the Crested Auklet, an arctic seabird.
The citrusy smell of Crested Auklet feathers only occurs during the breeding season. Research showed that the birds were repeatedly drawn to the scent of natural feathers and to the chemical components that make up the auklet’s characteristic odour. The seasonal “ruff-sniff” display, may perhaps act as a useful mechanism to obtain odour information about a potential mate.
See also:
Hagelin, J. C., I. L. Jones & L. E. L. Rasmussen, 2003. A tangerine-scented social odour in a monogamous seabird. Proc Biol Sci., 270(1522): 1323–1329.
“Crested Auklet birds rub tick-repelling perfume on their mates during courtship.” ScienceDaily, 24 Aug 2007.
Crested Auklets from St. Paul Island, in the Alaskan Pribiloffs. Photo by Philip Witt
“Subtle chemical signals, or pheromones, have long been known to draw pairs together within the same species. In mice, for example, experiments showed that pheromones acted as attractants between males and females who were genetically similar except for a difference in a certain type of immune system gene – the HC (major histocompatibility locus). This pairing gives their offspring an advantage in beating back disease organisms.”
So the question is, can humans smell out complimenting partners?
Abstract – “Scents are the primary means of communication in mice. They underlie most aspects of their social behaviour and are particularly important in mediating aggressive interactions and status differentiation among males. This competitive aggression can be a major welfare concern and source of uncontrolled variation among laboratory mice. Scents also play an invisible role in priming reproductive physiology and development, with additional consequences for immunocompetence, introducing another potential source of uncontrolled variation that could influence many types of experiment.”
“Here, I provide a brief explanation of how wild mice use scents to recognise each other and to control competitive interactions. I then discuss the consequences of this for aggression among laboratory mice and recommend ways to minimize problems through management practices. Known reproductive priming effects are also summarised to show how exposure to scents and cage group size can influence sex hormone levels, reproductive cycling and development. Careful consideration of husbandry and experimental design can also reduce this source of variability.”
