If a flamingo eats blue food, will it turn blue?

In the colorful natural world, many mysteries of animals and plants are little known.

Why do squids change their appearance? Even in the entire natural world, squids' courtship methods and strategies are unique! When courting, larger male squids will display eye-catching zebra stripes on one side of their bodies to scare off competitors; while the other side of their bodies facing the female will display a mottled dot pattern that is very attractive to the female in order to please her... It's really amazing!

But what if it is a small male squid?

There is a way. These cunning little guys will change their color patterns to make their body shape round and dignified, just like a beautiful and decent female squid. Then, they slowly approach those affectionate couples, and when the males think that another female is approaching them and let down their guard, they quickly mate with the females and quickly escape. Today, this tactic has been tried and tested, and has become a universal method of courtship in the squid world, on par with the original courtship method. It seems that "finding a wife" depends not only on the limbs, but also on the brain.

Do plants have "hearing"? In 1973, a book called "The Secret Life of Plants" claimed that plants can not only hear, but they seem to prefer classical music to rock music. This claim was considered pseudoscience at the time and did not attract much attention. But now, more and more evidence shows that some plants may indeed have "hearing". For example, once it hears the sound of caterpillars munching, water celery will increase the content of its defensive chemicals, while the sound of wind or insects will not cause it to have such a reaction; sweet peas will respond quickly to the sound of buzzing, rapidly increasing the sugar content in their nectar. Not only that, pea plants are also very sensitive to the sound of running water. Even the sound of water flowing in a pipe will cause its roots to grow in the direction of the sound of running water. In the traditional sense, this ability of plants cannot be regarded as "hearing" because plants lack brains and ears, but they do have vibration-sensing receptors, so they can respond to sound to some extent.

Can flies really "sing"?

After research, scientists have confirmed that fruit flies can "sing", and "singing" is the key to fruit fly courtship. First, male fruit flies use pheromones to attract and chase the females they like, and tap on them to assess their reproductive status. After that, the key performance of the male flies begins - they use their wings to alternately produce ultra-high-speed vibrations to play a "love serenade" for the female flies. Scientists have recorded three different rhythms for the "singing" of male flies, and the highest frequency of their vibrations can even reach 6,000 times per minute. This vibration frequency is too high! This is a real "physical health show". The female fly will take some time to evaluate the other's "voice". At this time, the male fly will eagerly continue to perform, waiting for recognition and fine-tuning its song when necessary. When the female fly is satisfied with the male fly's singing, it will pause near the male fly, giving the male fly a chance to quickly grab itself with its forelimbs.

If a flamingo eats blue food, will it turn blue?

The bright colors of flamingos do come from the food they eat. The salt shrimp, larvae and algae that flamingos love to eat are rich in beta-carotene, a fat-soluble natural pigment that is absorbed by flamingos and eventually deposited on their skin and feathers. However, although flamingo feathers can appear white, orange or pink, you are unlikely to see blue. First of all, natural blue pigments are very rare in nature, and as for anthocyanins, although they can change the color of plants such as black currants, cabbage and corn, they will be broken down once they enter the animal's body.

Some people may ask: Isn't the skin color of the blue-footed booby's feet dark blue? Scientists have found that the blue-footed booby's dark blue color is caused by light shining on the collagen fibers in its skin. In fact, in nature, most blue colors are structural colors, which are caused by the structure of the skin or feathers of these animals. Therefore, even if a flamingo eats blue food, it will not turn blue.

Structural color, also known as physical color, is a kind of luster caused by microscopic structure. Structural color has nothing to do with pigmentation, but is an optical effect caused by the submicroscopic structure of organisms. The ridges, lines, facets and particles on the surface or surface layer of organisms can reflect or scatter light, thereby producing special color effects. Due to the extremely thin wax layer, punctations, grooves or scales on the body wall of insects, various colors are produced by the refraction, diffuse reflection, diffraction or interference of light waves, such as the metallic luster and glitter on the surface of the beetle body wall, which are typical structural colors.

What are the uses of a starfish's arms?

The starfish's arms are some of the most versatile, all-around limbs in the animal kingdom.

For those of us who are used to seeing mammals, the body structure of this slow-moving species is simply amazing. Whether they have 10 arms, 40 arms, or just the typical five star-shaped arms, sea stars are very fond of wandering in the rugged intertidal zone. Some unconventional species, such as blue sea stars and flint-footed sea stars, like to move in the deepest and muddiest areas of the ocean.

Under each arm of a starfish are many straw-like tube feet that move by changes in water pressure. Each tube foot has a suction cup at the end, which is used for feeding and movement. A starfish can have up to 15,000 suction cups! This not only allows the starfish to break open the hard shells of bivalves such as clams and taste delicious food, but also the super strong suction allows the starfish to stick to the rocks like "Velcro" and ignore the surging waves. When moving forward, the starfish will maintain its body balance by moving slowly like a tripod. The starfish's arms have eye spots at the tip, which respond to light, and the suction cups near the eye spots detect prey by sensing the chemicals emitted by the prey, while the rest are responsible for sensing touch, temperature, body orientation and seawater composition. By the way, there is another function that must be mentioned: the sexual organs on each arm of the starfish can release eggs or sperm into the water.

How do fish urinate?

Urine is a liquid that contains water and soluble nitrogenous waste products. Urine is produced in the kidneys of vertebrates, including fish.

Unlike vertebrates on land, fish can excrete harmful compounds through the ultrafine membranes of their gills, releasing salt and nitrogen-containing ammonia into the water flowing around their bodies.

Urinating is easy for freshwater fish, which flush their kidneys with large amounts of water, so they urinate a lot. But for marine fish, they either get limited fresh water from food or get a small amount of fresh water by drinking seawater and using energy-consuming metabolism to excrete excess salt in it. Therefore, water in the body of marine fish is very precious, and they may not urinate easily.

Why do aye-aye hands look so weird?

The aye-aye's weird hands always make people curious. The aye-aye's hands have an extra-long bony middle finger, which can be up to three times longer than the other fingers, and can hook insects out of the holes in the trunk and branches. Not only that, as a tree-dwelling primate, the aye-aye's hands are also good at climbing in the tree canopy. The aye-aye's hands also have a miniature thumb. This delicate "false thumb" is formed by the wrist bone and functions like an opposable thumb, allowing the aye-aye to firmly grasp the branches.

Although this kind of weird hand has not been seen in other primates, scientists have found that giant pandas also have a similar "false thumb" structure - they use it to grasp bamboo. Moles also use a similar method to increase the surface area of ​​their hands, making their shoveling work more efficient.

Can you spot the Imperial Silk Moth? A giant Imperial Silk Moth rests quietly on the ground in the vast rainforest of Yasuni National Park in Ecuador, known for its rich biodiversity.

However, you may not see anything, because this imperial silk moth looks like an ordinary leaf in the leaf litter. Not only does it have a similar shape to the fallen leaves, but the edges of its hind wings are also exquisitely shaped, almost blending in with the surrounding dead branches and leaves. The veins and spots of the imperial silk moth's wings are also very similar to the veins and spots of leaves, and its antennae are also very inconspicuous. Like other members of the huge silk moth family, the adult imperial silk moth does not forage for food. The mouthparts of adults are almost completely degenerate, and all growth has been completed in the five metamorphosis during the caterpillar period.

Speaking of which, there are also some species in the UK such as the horned moth, the armyworm and the hooked-wing moth that can imitate the shape of leaves.