The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid found in the grasslands of southern Brazil. Its markings resemble those of foxes and wolves, yet it's neither related to wolves nor foxes despite its appearance and name, but is actually closer to dogs. And, unlike other large canids, the maned wolf does not form packs. It hunts alone, usually between sundown and midnight, and kills its prey by biting on the neck or back. Interestingly, a large fraction of its diet (over 50%, according to some studies) consists of vegetable matter, including sugarcane, tubers, and fruit; this is unusual for canids.

The maned wolf is generally shy and flees when alarmed by humans, and it poses little direct threat to humans. Luckily, the animal is w ...

It's a common knowledge that different breeds of chickens lay different colored eggs. Here I'll explain what chemicals and conditions give rise to these differences.

White eggs

All eggshells are made of calcium carbonate and the white ones have no pigment added.

Brown eggs

The brown colour is caused by protoporphyrin IX, from the hen's haemoglobin, and is coated on the outside of the egg as it moves through the oviduct.

Blue eggs

Blue eggshells have the pigment oocyanin, which does permeate the shell, so the blue coloring will be all the way through.

Green eggs

If a brown layer and a blue layer are crossbred, chances are you will get a green egg when the protoporphyrin IX layer is deposited over the blue oocyanin shell.

Pink eggs

The pinkish tint ...

A hiccup is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm that typically repeats several times a minute. The sudden rush of air into the lungs that's created by each spasm causes the glottis to close, creating the "hic" noise. A bout of hiccups generally resolves by itself, although many home remedies are in circulation to shorten the duration. The medical term for hiccuping is singultus.

While many cases develop spontaneously, hiccups are known to develop often in specific situations, such as eating too quickly, taking a cold drink while eating a hot meal, eating very hot or spicy food, laughing vigorously or coughing, or drinking an excess of an alcoholic beverage. Hiccups may be caused by pressure to the phrenic nerve (located in the neck regi ...

If you're not an insect lover, this is your final chance to turn your head!

The giant Malaysian katydid (Macrolyristes corporalis) is one of the largest insects in the world, with their bodies growing to 15 cm (6 inches) long with a 25 cm (10 inch) long wingspan. Though the last thing you want to hear is that this giant insect is carnivorous, they pose absolutely no threat to humans (aside from haunting your dreams, of course).

Relatively speaking, the males of this species have the largest testes of any known animal at 14% of their body weight. If humans had the same ratio, a 91 kg (200 lb) man would have testes that weighed nearly 13 kg (28 pounds)!
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The idea that a chimpanzee and human can interbreed, forming a hypothetical hybrid species known as a humanzee, is not uncommon. Since chimpanzees and humans are closely related species (sharing 95% of their DNA sequence, and 98% of coding DNA sequences), it has lead to contested speculation that a hybrid is possible, though no specimen has ever been confirmed.

While there is a commonality in gene sequence between us and chimpanzees, humans still have one fewer pair of chromosomes (46 chromosomes) than other apes (48 chromosomes). This makes conception between the two species naturally impossible. However, a different numbers of chromosomes is not an absolute barrier to hybridization. Similar mismatches are relatively common in existing spec ...

Well, obviously it's white, but take a look at its bill!

The attractive 7.5-inch-long bill is possessed by both male and female toucans. Interestingly, they use them during a mating ritual, pitching fruit to one another, but has very limited use as an excavation tool. Toucans make their nests in tree hollows found in rain forest regions of Southern Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean region to which they are native.

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The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) is carnivorous mammal endemic to Madagascar. It is a member of the Eupleridae, a family of carnivorans closely related to the mongoose family. Its classification has been controversial because its physical traits resemble those of cats, yet other traits suggest a close relationship with viverrids (e.g. bearcat).

The fossa is the largest mammalian carnivore on the island of Madagascar and has been compared to a small cougar. Adults have a head-body length of 70–80 cm (28–31 in) and weigh between 5.5 and 8.6 kg (12 and 19 lb), with the males larger than the females. It has semi-retractable claws (meaning it can extend but not retract its claws fully) and flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down tre ...

The tough-yet-fragile physical properties of the tadpole-shaped pieces of glass known as Prince Rupert’s drops have puzzled physicists for as long as, well, there have been physicists. Bash the head with a hammer, and a drop gets barely a scratch. But break off its thin tail, and it shatters into fine powder.

Researchers long ago realized that the strength of the drops - named for Prince Rupert of Bavaria, who presented five of them to Britain’s King Charles II in 1660 - has something to do with stresses in the glass created when a drop is made by letting a blob of molten glass fall into water, so that it cools rapidly.

Twenty years ago, a pair of researchers took high-speed video of a drop disintegrating showing that, when the tail is brok ...