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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Is 94% of male giraffe sexual behaviour homosexual?

I've been trying to track down the source of a claim that research has shown giraffe exhibiting a really high rate of male homosexual relations. Going through the blog spam leads me to a site without any references claiming to publish on science,…
Kit Sunde
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Is the "dancing squid" odori-don dead?

In these videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug6pVj0Lq9w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzj95jHuPiw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqphVlp2VJI (shows what I think is the brain) Soy sauce is poured onto a squid and its tentacles start waving…
user5194
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Has there ever been a cryptid proven to exist?

Has there ever been a cryptid proven to exist? A creature that general scientific consensus had regarded as being a myth for a long time, but finally proven to be real.
luvieere
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Why do cats and dogs fight?

From our daily experience we know that most of the time cats and dogs are involved in fights rather than in expressions of affection. Is there an evolutionary basis(justification) for this? Why would two species of animals fight each other…
AIB
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Can lions sense menstruating women?

I had an interesting chat today with a young woman from a traditional circus family, who explained she could not grow up to become a lion tamer, because lions could smell when women are menstruating and are then likely to attack. I found this claim…
Oddthinking
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Have cats hunted at least 33 species to extinction?

I heard recently that cats have hunted numerous species to extinction, but I couldn't find a reliable source for this. Several sources say that they have been blamed for these extinctions, but is there any reliable source showing that this is…
James Westman
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Does eating vegetarian kill more animals than eating meat?

Read in an Italian magazine: The University professor who conducted the study, such Mike Archer, showed instead that the production of plants consumed by humans can kill a number of animals 25 times higher per kilogram of usable protein produced,…
Sklivvz
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Can any fish climb trees?

I recently came across the following quote on the twitters, attributed to Albert Einstein: Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. I doubt that it's…
Andrew Grimm
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Did Catherine the Great die of injuries from a horse?

Perhaps I have been reading the wrong kind of scurrilous literature, but I have seen it asserted that the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia died from injuries received by committing unnatural acts with a stallion. Is there any truth in this…
Brian Hooper
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Bumble bees shouldn't be able to fly?

There is a common belief that according to the known laws of physics, bumble bees should not be able to fly. The quote usually goes something like this: “Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know…
MSpeed
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Are some breeds of dog inherently dangerous, despite training?

On another SE site, this report was cited as evidence that some breeds of dogs are inherently more dangerous than others. I have some serious issues with that report (not least of which is that it is clearly heavily agenda-laden, and that it cites…
Beofett
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In WWI, did the British Board of Invention and Research propose conditioning seagulls to associate a submarine's periscope with food?

One of the more unusual ideas proposed by the BIR [British Board of Invention and Research] involved dragging a dummy periscope behind a ship while food was discharged nearby. The aim was to attract a flock of seagulls to the periscope and,…
Rebecca J. Stones
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Can a pair of rats multiply to 200 within a year?

A story on the BBC News website makes the following claim: Brown rats are one of the planet's most serious mammalian pests, ruining crops and harbouring disease. Expert jumpers, climbers and swimmers, a single pair can multiply to 200 within a…
Tom77
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Do ducks' quacks echo?

I have read about this in an app on my android phone which gives out random interesting facts. This particular fact sounded kind of stupid, but I can't find any information about it on the internet.
Vahan Lcf Harutyunyan
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Did travelers by troika throw passengers before the wolves, to save others?

In several places, I have seen reference to the story that in the past in Russia, travelers by troika might throw one of the travelers before chasing wolves in order to save the other travelers (wolves will be busy for a little while eating one of…
gerrit
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