Fish that don't work hard will be punished by their leaders | Natural Trumpet

1) India suffers from high temperatures, nearly 40 monkeys drowned while trying to find water

2) Fish that don’t work hard will be punished physically

3) Dogs need food rewards, as well as praise and pats on the head

4) A three-legged lion breaks a swimming record

5) Tiger shark spits out echidna, killing it instantly

6) A mysterious creature whose neck can stretch 30 times longer than its body

Indian heatwave

Recently, a heat wave in India caused nearly 40 monkeys to drown in a well.

Monkeys seeking water | Mirror

This tragedy started with the continued high temperatures. Since March, the temperature in many parts of India has been above 40°C , and in some areas it has even reached 50°C. Most water sources have dried up, and the animals are desperately looking for water. A group of monkeys found an irrigation well with water, and they jumped in one after another for a life-saving water, but this water source that brought them hope became their burial place - they could not escape after jumping in, and eventually drowned, and the autopsy also confirmed that there was water in their lungs.

Under the unprecedented high temperature, it is not only monkeys that have died, but also humans and wild animals are experiencing a great disaster. According to local news reports, at least 40,000 people have suffered from heat stroke in the past three months, and more than 100 people have died . The number of wild animals who have died is even greater, and there are reports that fruit bats, fish, etc. have died in large numbers.

Many people collapsed due to heat stroke | Mirror

India is not an island in the heatwave. Other countries and regions in Asia have also seen record-breaking temperatures recently, and average temperatures in other continents are also higher than in previous years. Many countries have issued heat warnings. In May this year, the global average temperature was 1.52℃ higher than before industrialization.

Fish corporal punishment

Workers have a hard time, and the same goes for “working fish” - they may even be subject to corporal punishment.

Even if you are a fisherman, you still have to work | Osaka Metropolitan University

Neolamprologus savoryi adopts a cooperative breeding method - the dominant fish is responsible for reproduction, while the subordinate fish have to provide all-round assistance, including defending territory, building shelters, and caring for eggs. They can be called hard-working "working fish."

In a recently published study, researchers found that if a worker fish is isolated for a period of time, it will be attacked by the leader fish when it returns to the school. After being punished, the worker fish will immediately show submissive behavior and work harder to assist in the next work. Moreover, the leader fish not only punishes idle subordinates, but also punishes their offspring mercilessly if they find that they are not helping.

In some experimental conditions, the "worker fish" will be isolated behind transparent glass before being released, so that the "leader fish" can see that it is idle but not working. | References [2]

Researchers believe that this corporal punishment is a means of promoting help from the same kind. When everyone finds out that they will be attacked if they don't do a good job of assisting reproduction, no fish dares to "fish" secretly. Moreover, this concept is deeply rooted in the fish society, and it is also inevitable that they are beaten by their parents when they were young - when the little fish find that they will be punished if they are idle, they will become conscious "working fish" when they grow up .

Dogs need praise

Take a break from work and go praise your dog now! (Those without dogs can go play!)

Praise me! Now! | Apurv013 / Wikimedia Commons

A recent study found that dogs need encouragement and education, and that emotional value is important in addition to food rewards .

The researchers found a group of puppies and used two different methods to train them to learn a command. One was the "praise-type education method": the trainer gave the dogs snacks while constantly praising and petting them, and never scolded them. The other was the "control-type education method": the trainer had clear rewards and punishments and was impartial. If the dog did the right thing, he would give it snacks, but never praise or pet the dog; if the dog made a mistake, he would be scolded immediately.

Dog in training | Timea Kovacs / ELTE Eötvös Loránd University

After the training, the dogs slept in the laboratory, and the researchers used electrodes to record changes in their brain waves. The results showed that "controlled" training would cause stress to the dogs . After the training, they would try to seek opportunities to be close to their owners, and they needed more sleep to relieve emotional stress. However, no matter what style of training they received, the dogs always learned better in the first training, which confirms that the information received in a similar environment is always easier to remember if it is learned first.

After the training, electrodes are attached to the dogs’ heads to measure their brain waves, and they can fall asleep in the company of their owners. | References [3]

For dogs, snack rewards are not the only purpose of learning. The owner's praise is also their motivation. After all, what bad intentions can dogs have? They learn the instructions seriously, just wanting a pat on the head from their owner.

Three-legged lion looking for a mate

In order to find a mate, a lion with only three legs swam 1.5 kilometers.

Jacob the Brave Three-Legged Lion | Alex Braczkowski

Jacob, who lives in Uganda, and his brother Dibu have crossed the Kazinga Channel six times, with the longest swim being 1.5 kilometers , an incredible achievement for lions, whose longest swim is only 100 meters, not to mention Jacob is missing a leg.

Brothers Jacob and Tibbo | Alex Braczkowski

Jacob and his brothers' journey was fraught with danger. The Kazinga Canal was full of crocodiles and hippos, which were fully capable of killing lions in the water. The researchers' thermal imaging camera recorded that the brothers had tried twice before successfully swimming across the canal, but were forced to turn back each time because of encounters with crocodiles or hippos . Fortunately, they finally succeeded in crossing the river. Jacob, who only had three legs, was always a little behind his brothers, but they still completed the journey together.

The Kazinga Canal in danger | Laika ac / Wikimedia Commons

Jacob's loss of his leg is actually a tragedy caused by humans. In the past few decades, poaching has been rampant in the area. In 2020, Jacob lost a leg in a poacher's trap. The number of lions in the area has dropped sharply, so much so that there are only about 40 lions left in the national park, of which the number of males is twice that of females. This has brought great courtship pressure to male lions, forcing them to wade across the river to find females elsewhere.

Tiger shark swallows echidna

A tiger shark did something magical right in front of researchers - it vomited up a spiky echidna!

Yes, tiger sharks vomit animals like this | Wildlifecartoons / Wikimedia Commons

Echidnas are land animals, so how could a tiger shark in the sea spit out an echidna? And it was a complete echidna! The shocked researchers speculated that the tiger shark may have accidentally swallowed an echidna when it went to shallow water. From the appearance of the echidna, it is clear that it is not a delicious thing. Sure enough, after swallowing it, the tiger shark found that its throat was itchy, so it quickly spit it out, but it died right in front of humans.

Tiger shark: A delicious eater who eats everything | Brian Channell / Wikimedia Commons

This is the first time researchers have seen tiger sharks spit out echidnas, but it's not the first time tiger sharks have swallowed strange objects. They are scavengers with a very wide range of diets. With teeth and jaws that can even bite through turtle shells, they are willing to eat almost anything, earning them the nickname "garbage cans of the sea." Some researchers say they have even seen tiger sharks swallowing rocks for no apparent reason.

But because they are not picky eaters, some people have found license plates and old tires in the stomachs of accidentally caught tiger sharks, which is not a good thing for tiger sharks.

Tiger sharks have serrated teeth that can chew anything | Stefan Kühn / Wikimedia Commons

After the researchers checked, they found that although the echidna was covered with spines, the reckless tiger shark was not injured. So they installed an acoustic tracker on the tiger shark to further study its activities.

Flexible neck

This is the swan worm (Lacrymaria olor), a magical single-celled organism that is good at catching food with its "long neck" that can be extended and retracted at will .

Swan's Long-beaked Bug (Really Long) | bbnchasm.com

The swan's long-beaked worm is usually only about 40 microns long, but when necessary, it can quickly extend its neck-like structure within 30 seconds , and the extended body length can even reach 1200 microns .

Scientists discovered this amazing ability of the swan beetle more than 100 years ago, but for a long time, no one knew how they did it. Although the cell membrane is very flexible, it actually has little elasticity, which makes the swan beetle's extended skills seem even more mysterious.

In the recent issue of Science, a study finally revealed the principle of the mysterious skill of the swan beetle. Through careful imaging research, scientists found that the cell membrane of the swan beetle formed a spiral origami structure , and it was the folding and unfolding of this structure that gave it the ability to stretch its "neck" to an extremely long length.

Of course, the cell membrane alone cannot maintain the origami structure. The fixed shape relies on the cortical cytoskeleton composed of microtubules under the cell membrane.

Schematic diagram of spiral origami structure | ELIOTT FLAUM AND MANU PRAKASH

The authors also used paper models to recreate the spiral structure, demonstrating how it unfolds and collapses:

ELIOTT FLAUM AND MANU PRAKASH

In addition to satisfying curiosity, researchers also believe that this origami structure can bring new inspiration to mechanical design.

Author: Cat Tun, Window Knocking Rain

Editor: Mai Mai

Title image source: Osaka Metropolitan University

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)