Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [zoology]

Use this tag for questions involving animal biology; evolution, ecology, physiology, behavior, genetics, and marine biology.

Zoology the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems.

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Did dragons exist?

Dragons have been common to many cultures and mythologies. Some famous are St. George slaying a dragon and Chinese dragons, such as the symbol used for the Emperor of China. Creationists and Bible literalists do assert that dragons existed and that…
user6327
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Do electronic bug repellers work?

Possible Duplicate: Ultrasound pest control devices Do electric insect repellers example work? For context, I live in a rented house that has several of these installed. My personal observation is that they do nothing to repel bugs, but actually…
Joel Coehoorn
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Are dog silhouettes effective at keeping geese away?

Canada Geese are a big nuisance where I live (despite living several hours away from Canada). To keep them away, I've seen more and more places put down black wooden dog silhouettes like this one from the New York Times: Some of them look more like…
Laurel
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Did Finding Nemo encourage people to flush pet fish down the toilet?

A Smithsonian article about goldfish starts out with (emphasis added): The 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo popularized the misconception that all drains lead to the ocean, encouraging young fans to flush their pet fish down the toilet in an…
Barry Harrison
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Do dogs tend to distrust men with beards?

I have heard that dogs are often less friendly and generally less trusting of men with beards. Today as I walked past a dog and its owner on the way to my apartment, the dog growled at me; this made me wonder: Is there any scientific evidence to…
DaaaahWhoosh
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Does the Humane Society of the United States provide only 1% of their budget to pet shelters?

This is a meme going around Facebook. From the HumaneWatch's Facebook page: Does the Humane Society of the United States only budget 1% for actually helping animals as claimed here?
Chad
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Is there enough tetrodotoxin in a single fugu (blowfish) to kill 30 people?

As a section about Fugu fish in the "Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods" article on the Time magazine website suggests The toxin is so potent that a lethal dose is smaller than the head of a pin, and a single fish has enough poison to kill 30…
Vahan Lcf Harutyunyan
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Do Vitamin B1 patches prevent mosquito bites?

Possible Duplicate: Is Vitamin B12 an effective mosquito repellent? This Denver Post article suggests that mosquitoes dislike biting people who have excess vitamin B1. The notion behind the Don't Bite Me! patch is that mosquitoes don't eat…
Ali Ma Ma
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Were rats in Kowloon addicted to street drugs?

The book Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of History’s Greatest Buildings by James Crawford has a chapter about the walled city of Kowloon in Hong Kong, and there is also an article based on this published at Atlas Obscura. The claim I'm doubting…
Brian Z
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Will a shark kept in a fish tank have stunted growth?

There is a widely recited saying that sharks kept in fish tanks won't grow to their full size. For example, author and motivational speaker Bob Harrison posted: A shark in a fish tank will grow 8 inches, but in the ocean it will grow to 8 feet or…
J. Doe
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Do geoducks increase sex drive?

Geoducks are a species of clam from North America, sold as aphrodisiacs, but are they? 1987 UPI article: Saving the geoduck from the sexually hungry 'The geoduck is threatened with extinction due to a voracious international appetite for…
user16959
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Do a diver and a clownfish share a 10 year friendship?

A YouTube video from The Dodo, called Clownfish Named Nemo Has 10-Year Friendship with This Diver shows footage of a New Caledonian scuba diver, Marino, who claims to have a special relationship with a clownfish, who will come out of the reef when…
user318936
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Can Male Giraffes Breed at 18 Years of Age?

From the NY Times Article detailing a big game hunter's kill of an 18 year-old giraffe, the hunter Tess Thompson Talley reportedly claims in an email to news organizations that an 18 year old giraffe is too old to breed (assumed in the wild). The…
Jimmy M.
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Does gaunyle, derived from cow urine, work as a disinfectant?

The Times of India reports: Union minister Maneka Gandhi has asked her ministerial colleagues to opt for a "natural disinfectant'' made from extracts of cow urine instead of the "chemically bad'' one in government offices. In a letter to her…
Soham
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Are the USHS and/or PETA secretly against all pets?

This is a rumor I've heard amongst reptile keepers. Both organizations are openly opposed to keeping reptiles as pets. These reptile keepers claim they are against all pets, but know that going against keeping dogs and cats as pets would be a…
rootmeanclaire
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