Skeptics Stack Exchange
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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 pigs have 30 minute orgasms?

A widely circulated internet meme (see e.g. the oatmeal) states that pig orgasms can last up to 30 minutes. I've been trying to find any source or reference to back up (or refute) this claim, but haven't been able to find anything.
Juan A. Navarro
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Has a mole stored over a thousand earthworms in its underground larder?

On the wikipedia article for moles, I found some remarkable assertions: Because their saliva contains a toxin that can paralyze earthworms, moles are able to store their still-living prey for later consumption. They construct special underground…
Vivek Shende
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Can venomous snakes be determined by these pupil, nostril and scale patterns?

This image was recently shared by an Australian Facebook friend: The source appears to be a Facebook post of a man from India with a staggering 380,000 shares from around the world! There are many different species of venomous snakes (and I…
Oddthinking
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Do dolphins have homosexual "blowhole" sex?

In his comedy act, Ricky Gervais shows examples of homosexuality in nature, all of them from the book "Biological Exuberance, animal homosexuality and natural diversity" by Bruce Bagemihl. One of the examples is homosexuality among dolphins, having…
SIMEL
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Is chocolate bad for dogs?

I once had a dog that was fairly frequently given chocolate, and I never noticed any consequences. I heard somewhat recently that chocolate is bad for dogs. Is this true? Certainly, too much chocolate is bad, but isn't everything bad in excessive…
Peter Olson
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Can a frog be slowly boiled alive without it noticing?

It's commonly believed that a frog will not perceive a rise in temperature, and will boil alive. And, of course, if it were to be put in already-boiling water, it will immediately jump out. Any truths to this?
Sal Rahman
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Did Louis Pasteur keep a gun in the laboratory while developing the rabies vaccine?

Is it true that while developing the vaccine for rabies Louis Pasteur kept a gun in his laboratory and had instructed all his lab assistants to shoot anyone in the head who accidentally got infected with the virus? I could only find this in a Reddit…
baba
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Is Australian fauna more dangerous?

It's a popular meme, "in Australia everything tries to kill you", often backed up by the list of dangerous animals, such as box jellyfish, variety of spiders, salt water crocodiles and sharks. However it's purely anecdotal, and one could imagine…
vartec
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Does a lobster feel little/no pain when boiled alive?

Image Source I have just read Cracked.com's "9 Ridiculous Cooking Myths You Probably Believe", that claims: [...] because [the lobster's] nervous system isn't very complex, so it's feeling little to no pain. Emphasis added It references an ABC…
Oliver_C
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Has it ever rained fish?

There have been several reports of "raining fish" where fish fall from the sky (usually during a rain storm). An example such as this 2010 video from National Geographic seems unlikely at best. Has this really happened, or is it a popular hoax? If…
Logic Knight
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Can cats be herded?

On the site for this year's Amazing Meeting, there's a little joke about how organizing skeptics is like herding cats It's a common belief that (possibly) due to their strong will and independent nature, cats cannot be herded as say, sheep can. In…
Monkey Tuesday
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Can tortoises become deformed by growing up inside rings of plastic?

I found these images on this image aggregator, which states that the photo credit is unknown for both images. The tortoises are implied to have become deformed from growing up inside the rings of plastic. Are these images authentic, and is it in…
March Ho
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Do wild dogs use trains to commute to and from Moscow?

An article in The Sun describes how wild dogs near Moscow have been living in the suburbs, yet commuting daily to the city via trains. These complexes were used by homeless dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their houses.…
Beofett
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Did an ostrich pull off its own head?

In The Runaway Brain by Christopher Wills, the author illustrates the fact that ostriches aren't too bright by saying that an ostrich has been recorded as getting tangled in the fork of a tree, panicking, and pulling off its own head. Is there any…
FumbleFingers
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Do other animals have non-reproductive sex?

At about the 11:40 point in the class day 2009 lecture by Robert Sapolsky the claim is made that humans are the only species that engage in non-reproductive sex. Is there solid evidence for or against the idea that only humans have non-reproductive…
Russell Steen
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