An elephant takes the same amount of time to empty its huge bladder as a cat - despite holding 3,600 times more urine. That's a whole lot of pressure.
The controlling factor of urination duration is the length of the urethra, which gets longer at a predictable ratio as an animal gets bigger. All animals have urethras of the same aspect ratio: a length-to-width ratio of 18. This is rare among animals. Usually, body parts change in relative size, such as the eyes and brain.
As the urethra gets longer, the effects of gravity increase and there's more pressure pushing out the urine.
This is the semi-transparent eyelid of the red-eyed tree frog, Agalychnis Callidryas. Frogs aren't the only creatures with 'third eyelids' that keep their eyes moist without blocking vision completely. Sharks, cats, crocodiles, polar bears and camels have them too.
As a secondary school educator, I often see students sharing their drinks with one another. This bugs me more than anything because it causes germs to be easily spread from one person to another. The problem is, students have this misconception that if they are not sick, then the person they are sharing their drink with won't get sick either. Sounds rational, but is it true? Definitely not. Each person's immune system is unique, and so is our microbiome (as described in the video below). What may be harmless to one person may not be so much to another. I believe this video does an excellent job demonstrating that not only are humans unique in a sense that we each have our own personalities, have different occupations, and come from differe ...
Meet the Australian turtle frog, in all its pink, stubby, Muppet-faced glory. Their courting sessions last an impressive FOUR MONTHS before any mating takes place.
Fire rainbows are a rare phenomenon that only occur when the Sun is higher than 58° above the horizon and its light passes through cirrus clouds made of ice crystals.
These captivating atmospheric displays are scientifically known as circumhorizontal arcs. While the name "fire rainbow" might suggest a connection with fire or rainbows, it's essential to understand that this phenomenon has nothing to do with fire and isn't a true rainbow.
The process behind fire rainbows is intricate. When sunlight interacts with ice crystals in cirrus clouds, the light is refracted, or bent, in a specific way. For a circumhorizontal arc to form, the Sun must be at a relatively high angle in the sky, usually exceeding 58 degrees. This angle allows sunlight to e ...
Every ship sails a mile a minute. A nautical mile is one minute of arc measured along any meridian. In other words, a nautical mile is based on the circumference of the planet Earth. If you were to cut the Earth in half at the equator, you could pick up one of the halves and look at the equator as a circle. You could divide that circle into 360 degrees. You could then divide a degree into 60 minutes. A minute of arc on the planet Earth is 1 nautical mile. This unit of measurement is used by all nations for air and sea travel. ...
The Principality of Sealand is a tiny, self-proclaimed nation that started on an old sea fort in the North Sea. A former British Army major declared it independent in 1967, and it's known for its quirky history. Even though it hasn't become a recognized country globally, Sealand has its own currency, passports, and devoted fans. In fact, for £99.99 you can become a knight of Sealand! It's a unique story of a small place dreaming big and capturing people's imaginations.
Opossums, when they play dead, can emit an odor that resembles the scent of rotting carrion. This behavior is a defensive mechanism known as thanatosis or "playing possum." When threatened or cornered, opossums may go limp, fall to the ground, open their mouth, and emit a foul-smelling liquid from their anal glands. This odor, resembling that of decaying flesh, is believed to deter predators, as many animals prefer fresh prey over carrion. ...
