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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Do bedbugs spread disease?

The CDC (the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) asserts that: Bed bugs should not be considered as a medical or public health hazard. Bed bugs are not known to spread disease. Can the risk of disease transmission be categorically…
user1975053
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Can dolphins learn a symbol based language?

I recently stumbled across the following article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1240334/Dolphins-clever-humans--treat-like-people-say-scientists.html which makes the claim that dolphins are almost as clever as humans and: In one…
Kenshin
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Can a dog remember 1400 names of toys?

In the video PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, at approximately 06:12, the woman says that there is/was a dog that was trained to have memorized 1400 names of toys. Its master would call out the name of the toy, and the dog would…
Armen Tsirunyan
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A question about chicken eggs, which ones are best?

The eggs from my own chickens are different to the ones they sell in the stores. They are much smaller, have a whiter shell, have less egg white, and the yolk is lighter yellow. They also taste different. People from the chicken egg industry argue…
BaGi
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Can whales send each other 3D images?

I recently asked this question on Biology Stack Exchange but didn’t get any answers. Russell Arnott, apparently an oceanographer, who currently works as a project manager at the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge University (UK), wrote in his piece…
Araucaria
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Can water buffalo be hypnotized as depicted in Crocodile Dundee (1986)?

In the fictional movie Crocodile Dundee (1986), the character Mick Dundee is seen "hypnotizing" a water buffalo with hand movements. Is this possible in real life?
digest
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Are cheap scallops made from flounders or stingrays?

Jaws the book (1974) claimed that if you use a cookie cutter to punch holes from flounder wings, you can create fake scallops and that these are commonly sold in restaurants: 'I was just looking at the scallops, or what they claim are scallops. …
lambshaanxy
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Is there an anti-masturbation dolphin mascot named Fappy who was arrested for public masturbation at Sea World?

Christian Anti-Masturbation’s Mascot “Fappy” Arrested For Public Masturbation While Swimming Naked With The Dolphins At Sea World In San Diego From his Facebook page, he seems to be a stand-up comic, but there are also several pictures shown there…
Dronz
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Are dogs excellent wingmen?

I was just watching the Youtube video The Science of DOGS by the channel AsapSCIENCE. It was a pretty interesting video, but something that really stuck out to me was said in the first 10 seconds of the video. The video's narrator says In fact,…
michaelpri
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Did cats evolve meowing in order to manipulate humans?

My girlfriend told me last night that cats evolved meowing specifically in order to mimic the sound of a baby's crying to get us to feed them and so forth. Considering the meme of throwing shoes at loud, stray cats in American cartoons, in many…
durron597
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Is Science Diet cat food brand a nutritionally poor and relatively unhealthy option for cats?

Rebecca Watson, a cohost on the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, recently made a claim that Hill's Science Diet was not a healthy choice to feed to your cat. She later explained her answer on a blog post On a recent episode of The…
pooter03
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Do roaches die (naturally) on their backs?

First, a major qualifier here; by naturally, I mean not forced to die on its "stomach" (like by being stepped on). Secondly, I live in the U.S., so maybe this applies to only American roaches. Literally every time I remember having seen a dead roach…
Just Some Old Man
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Are sharks immune to almost all known diseases?

According to Did You Know.org: Sharks are the only animals that almost never get sick: they are immune to almost every known disease. Is this true or is it a myth?
Hari Nandha
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Is there as significant danger to frequent close contact with a pet dog?

An article in the National Geographic here talks of the dangers of dog licks. On the other hand, this NYT article states that dog owners tend to live longer and healthier than non-pet owners. Is it dangerous to get licked frequently by a pet dog?…
LN6595
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Are Common House Geckos poisonous?

The Common House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) is a South-East Asian lizard. In some parts of India, there are various beliefs about the them, or their urine, being toxic to eat. Wikipedia describes them as superstitions: Geckos are considered…
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