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They were actually bred to be tame so that they could harvest their pelts. Previously, the foxes were extremely difficult to raise in captivity and so a scientist began selectively breeding the foxes that didn’t bite him when he stuck his hand in the cage. Eventually, they became more tame and easier to raise for their pelts, and it additionally changed their appearance. It’s actually a fascinating study in evolution and genetics.

BBC Article: Soviet scientist created the only tame foxes in the world

They touch on the experiment in this documentary as well How Dogs Became Man's Best Friend: Genetics & Domestication

The model of vacancy chains was formulated by the sociologist Harrison White (who also had a PhD in physics and did a lot of work on mathematical and computational sociology). It was part of his 1970 book Chains of Opportunity where he mainly looked at how job openings within (and I think across) organizations got filled, through promotion or quitting for example. Person A quits. Person B would move into Job A, Person C would be Promoted into Job B, and a new person would be hired for Job C. You can apply the same models to housing, or romantic relationships in a small group, or, as we see here, hermit crab shells.

Ivan Chase, a very cool but very weird sociologist-turned-zoologist, ended up trying to transfer a lot of sociological theory to zoology. I think his three big successes were using sociological models of hierarchy/dominance in chicken pecking orders and among fish; coordination of tasks among ants; and, of course using, vacancy chains to look at hermit crab shells.

For the academically minded, a good introduction to research on vacancy chains is still probably Chase, Ivan D. (1991). "Vacancy Chains". Annual Review of Sociology. 17: 133–154.

Ivan Chase, the sociologist who worked with animals rather than people, has had an interesting career, though probably his work with animals kept him at associate professor rather than full professor. It's rare that models go from the social sciences to the natural sciences, but that's exactly what Chase did: he introduced a lot of sociological models to various fields of biology. You can see his most popular papers here on Google Scholar.

Edit: for people wanting to read more, I think Chase wrote a non-technical, popular article about this research in Scientific American: here's the PDF.

Yes, they get all of their water from plants, and don't drink standing water. I tried to present them with water once, and they had no idea what to do with it.

Edit: If you want to learn more about how animals get their water from food, I recommend the work of Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, who wrote the book "Desert Animals"

I think it has something to do with the danger of the job being performed. Pretty sure they let the older ants do the more dangerous jobs, but I don't have the source where I think I remember getting that information from, lol. I'll take a look around and hopefully find it for you.

Edit: Here's some confirmation of this hypothesis in the book "Secret Lives of Ants" by Jae Choe.

Some speculated that it was to keep it's sabres safe and moist. But we still don't know how looked, so it could've looked like this or like this. Coincidentally there is a prehistoric cat relative that had a similar chin called Barbourofelis.

There's actually a Studio Ghibli film about Tanukis called Pom Poko; it's one of my favorite animated movies. It's directed by Isao Takahata, who also directed Grave of The Fireflies.

It also features the only depiction of attack balls in a children's movie. Worth watching for that alone.

This picture isn’t wapiti/elk. The image source is vague, talking about both deer fawn and elk calves. The original source of the picture, as far as I can tell, is here and tagged as deer, specifically Cervus elaphus, the red deer. Wapiti/elk are Cervus canadensis. EDIT: Here are some baby wapiti with their mom in Yellowstone; the calves’ noses and ears are much darker than red deer.

Source!

While you're right in that the venom's putative function is to inflict pain/incapacitation between breeding males as a dominance/aggression tool, this review of literature on platypus venom cites three sources for the venom killing dogs used to retrieve platypus during hunting. I think that the source is open access, but in case it is not here is the relevant passage:

> the crural system is generally believed to be both an offensive and defensive weapon rather than a mechanism to immobilise prey. This is because the venom does not appear to have any digestive function, is far less virulent than other animal venoms, and it is produced in significant quantities only during the breeding season (Torres and Kuchel 2000). During this time the spurs appear to be used offensively to assert dominance over other males of the species. They can also be used defensively to avoid potential predators: there have been recorded deaths of dogs that were used to retrieve stunned O. anatinus during hunting (Grant 1995; Torres and Kuchel 2000; Gerritsen 2002). Unwary humans have also been spurred during the course of their duties as shermen, biologists and zookeepers, but as this is uncommon and there have been no human fatalities from O. anatinus envenomation

Here's my source!

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/22151681_Hemocyanin_of_the_horseshoe_crab_Limulus_polyphemus._Structural_differentiation_of_the_isolated_components

P.S. Thanks to /u/Alantha for the typo fix. =)

First, I think that most people who work routinely with animals don’t doubt their intelligence or ability to display strong personalities. That’s not new. What is new is the ability to prove these things scientifically! If you take this study to a sheep farmer, odds are they’re going to say “Yeah, we knew that already. Why did you spend thousands of dollars to tell me something I’ve always known?”

But I always get excited to see these studies become more mainstream because they are super interesting and very important. They are the basis to improving the well-being of animals by giving researchers and farmers/producers tools to improve management of animals.

So I think we (scientists, farmers, producers, etc.) are trying to improve the lives of livestock animals - I just think it doesn’t always get communicated well. I think there are a lot of people in the industry who recognize that animal agriculture in the past (and sometimes in the present) focused too much on efficiency - how can we make each individual animal as efficient as possible - without knowing how that would affect the health of the animal. Now though, I see a lot more focus on health.

There’s a great article that talks about how Perdue is changing practices to meet welfare standards. But the most exciting part about that article to me is the fact that they’re working to change the breed of chickens used. Breeds that thrive in “free range” conditions and are more active than those used currently. So not only will the chickens live in better environments, but they will actually be able to thrive and have better welfare in those conditions.

Source : The official description of the aptly named Wunderpus Photogenica published in 2006

More about dynamic skin patterns and chromatophores in Wunderpus Photogenica and other cephalopods!

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Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/fennec-fox

More Facts about Fennec Foxes;

Like other canids, male fennecs mark their territory with urine and become aggressive competitors when mating season arrives each year.
Fennec foxes are the smallest of the fox species ... but their ears can grow to be half the size of their bodies.
Their distinctive, batlike ears radiate body heat and help keep the foxes cool. They also have long, thick hair that insulates them during cold nights and protects them from hot sun during the day.

Joke of the Day: What do you call a fox with a carrot in each ear?

Anything you want because he can't hear you!

😂

Bubble Wrap, if you are bored: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/64798962/

Giant petrels are not just sexually dimorphic, they are the most sexually dimorphic of all seabirds. (source) Feeding strategies are very different between males and females as the source /u/IchTanze provided states, though they can switch roles if the circumstance requires a male to hunt, or if a female discovers a particularly tasty carcass. The majority of a giant petrel's diet on land consists of carrion from seal carcasses, so calling them top land predators is not accurate. I hope that clarifies the 'partly true' tag.

Source: https://blog.nature.org/science/2018/01/22/meet-the-takin-the-largest-mammal-youve-never-heard-of/ (Paragraph 8)

Fun Bubble Wrap: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/64798962/

Joke Time: Did you hear about the racing snail who got rid of his shell? He thought it would make him faster, but it just made him sluggish.

Thank you all so much for 80,000 karma! I never could’ve made it this far without you guys liking my posts. <3

Source:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/05-0381/abstract;jsessionid=35BBBA17F1737C8EE0144C33F976ED8A.f02t01

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/7144259_fig1_Figure-3-Survival-plot-for-Pacific-treefrog-larvae-in-each-tank-in-the-bioassays-A

^ This one has more graphs 0_o

I would say the cub here looks most like a Persian Leopard. Here's some pictures of Persian Leopard cubs to compare https://www.befunky.com/a/AXhdiwI-158687510068212/

Here's the one I have. I use the big rounded toenail one, which has the bigger grit, but tiny hamster nails might only need the middle one, depends on how tough their nails are.

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Hey everyone. Thought I’d share the video I took of some clam worms we had in the lab. I think the species is Alitta succinea.

If you guys want a source for any of the other facts in the video, I can get those, too.

Source: Walker P, Wood E. The Coast. Facts on File, Incorporated, 2005. Page 57.

Also, if you saw this post earlier, the reason I resubmitted is because I had several people mention that the audio levels made it difficult to hear, so I went back and adjusted the volume and re-uploaded the video. Hopefully it sounds better!

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All pinnipeds have remarkably sensitive and moveable whiskers (or "vibrissae," which is the technical term) that they use not only to detect objects, but to orient themselves properly, detect water currents, and aid in communication via facial expressions. They are really amazing structures, probably the most highly adapted whiskers in the animal kingdom (I'm sure someone else will be able to correct me on this if I'm wrong).

I don't see too many posts about how cool they are, so thanks for this one! Love these guys.

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Vibrissal_touch_in_pinnipeds

This animal and Pangolin shields from Borderlands are the reasons that I discovered one of my most prized possessions.

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Pangolin

https://www.amazon.ca/Cyclus-Pangolin-Backpack-reused-lining/dp/B006563RRQ

Source Another source