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Thanatosis
Apparent death, colloquially known as playing dead, feigning death, or playing possum, is a behavior in which animals take on the appearance of being dead. It is an immobile state most often triggered by a predatory attack and can be found in a wide range of animals from insects and crustaceans to mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Apparent death is also referred to as thanatosis, animal hypnosis, immobilization catatonia, or tonic immobility, the latter of which is preferred in the scientific literature on the subject. Apparent death is separate from the freezing behavior seen in some animals. Apparent death is a form of animal deception considered to be an anti-predator strategy, but it can also be used as a form of aggressive mimicry. When induced by humans, the state is sometimes colloquially known as animal hypnosis. The earliest written record of "animal hypnosis" dates back to the year 1646 in a report by Athanasius Kircher, in which he subdued chickens. Desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grass Snake (Natrix Natrix Helvetica) Playing Dead (14178349634)
The grass snake (''Natrix natrix''), sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Fauna of Asia, Eurasian non-Snake venom, venomous Colubridae, colubrid snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians. Subspecies Many subspecies are recognized, including: ''Natrix natrix helvetica'' (Bernard Germain de Lacépède, Lacépède, 1789) was formerly treated as a subspecies, but following genetic analysis it was recognised in August 2017 as a separate species, ''Natrix helvetica'', the barred grass snake. Four other subspecies were transferred from ''N. natrix'' to ''N. helvetica'', becoming ''N. helvetica cettii'', ''N. helvetica corsa'', ''N. helvetica lanzai'' and ''N. helvetica sicula''. Description The grass snake is typically dark green or brown in colour with a characteristic yellow or whitish collar behind the head, which explains the alternative name ringed snake. The colour may also range from grey t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pisaura Mirabilis
The nursery web spider ''Pisaura mirabilis'' is a spider species of the family Pisauridae. Description Striking characteristics of ''Pisaura mirabilis'' are its long legs (the fourth one being the longest) and its slender abdomen (opisthosoma). The male is between 10 and 13 mm, while the female is 12 to 15 mm. After final ecdysis, the male spiders weigh on average 54 mg and females 68 mg. The prosoma (cephalothorax) is variable in color, ranging from light to reddish brown and from gray to black. A lighter stripe is visible down the middle of the prosoma. The opisthosoma (abdomen) is long and narrow and tapered towards the rear end. The female spiders has a dark patch (epigyne) on the underside of her abdomen that includes the copulatory organs. Male genital openings can be found at the same location, but remain inconspicuous. Patterning and coloration varies due to polymorphism. These patterns, which can be caused by hair and pigments, change with the g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hognose
Hognose snake is a common name for several unrelated species of snake with upturned snouts, classified in 2 colubrid snake genera and 1 pseudoxyrhophiid snake genus. They include the following genera: *''Heterodon'', which occur mainly in the United States and northern Mexico *'' Leioheterodon'', the hognose snakes native to Madagascar *'' Lystrophis'', the South American hognose snakes. The North American ''Heterodon'' species are known for their habit of thanatosis: playing dead when threatened. Species Genus ''Heterodon'': *Mexican hognose snake, '' Heterodon kennerlyi'' ( Kennicott, 1860) *Gloyd's hognose snake, ''Heterodon nasicus gloydi'' ( Edgren, 1952) *Western hognose snake, ''Heterodon nasicus'' ( Baird & Girard, 1852) *Eastern hognose snake, ''Heterodon platirhinos'' ( Latreille, 1801) *Southern hognose snake, '' Heterodon simus'' (Linnaeus, 1766) Genus '' Leioheterodon'': *Speckled hognose snake, ''Leioheterodon geayi'' ( Mocquard, 1905) *Malagasy giant hogn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Swift
The common swift (''Apus apus'') is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar contextual development. The swifts' nearest relatives are the New World hummingbirds and the Southeast Asian treeswifts. Its scientific name ''Apus'' is Latin for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of swallow with no feet (from Ancient Greek α, ''a'', "without", and πούς, ''pous'', "foot"). Swifts have very short legs which they use primarily for clinging to vertical surfaces (hence the German name ''Mauersegler'', literally meaning "wall-glider"). They never settle voluntarily on the ground, where they would be vulnerable to accidents and predation, and non-breeding individuals may spend up to ten months in continuous flight. Taxonomy The common swift was one o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unconsciousness
Unconsciousness is a state in which a living individual exhibits a complete, or near-complete, inability to maintain an consciousness, awareness of self and environment or to respond to any human or environmental Stimulus (physiology), stimulus. Unconsciousness may occur as the result of traumatic brain injury, Cerebral hypoxia, brain hypoxia (inadequate oxygen, possibly due to a brain infarction or cardiac arrest), severe intoxication with drugs that Depressant, depress the activity of the central nervous system (e.g., Alcohol (drug), alcohol and other hypnotic or sedative drugs), severe fatigue, pain, Anesthesia, anaesthesia, and other causes. Loss of consciousness should not be confused with the notion of the Unconscious mind, psychoanalytic unconscious, cognitive processes that take place outside awareness (e.g., implicit cognition), and with altered states of consciousness such as sleep, delirium, hypnosis, and other altered states in which the person responds to stimuli, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asleep
Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness, with sleep displaying different, active brain patterns. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Although REM stands for "rapid eye movement", this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of the body. Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; these are vital processes that maintain mood, memory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nasonia Vitripennis
''Nasonia vitripennis'' (or ''Mormoniella vitripennis'', or ''Nasonia brevicornis'') is one of four known species under the genus '' Nasonia'' - small parasitoid wasps that afflict the larvae of parasitic carrion flies such as blowflies and flesh flies, which themselves are parasitic toward nestling birds. It is the best known and most widely studied of the parasitoid wasps, and their study forms a vital part of the information used to describe the order Hymenoptera, along with information from bees and ants. This parasitoid behaviour makes the wasps an interest for the development of biopesticide and biological systems for controlling unwanted insects. The biosynthetic pathways for sex pheromones in Hymenoptera, determination of sex in development, and many protein and gene product comparisons to other insects have been studied using ''N. vitripennis'' (most often contrasted against the Western honey bee, ''Apis mellifera''). ''Nasonia vitripennis'' also has a high variety of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gryllus Bimaculatus
''Gryllus bimaculatus'' is a species of cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae. Most commonly known as the two-spotted cricket, it has also been called the "African" or "Mediterranean field cricket", although its recorded distribution also includes much of Asia, including China and Indochina through to Borneo. It can be discriminated from other ''Gryllus'' species by the two dot-like marks on the base of its wings. The species is popular for use as a food source for insectivorous animals like spiders and reptiles kept as pets or in zoos. They are easy to raise and do not require prolonged exposure to cold in order to complete their life cycle. Behavior Fighting In the wild, male crickets do not tolerate one another and will fight until there is a winner. The loser usually retreats without serious injury. The fighting method involves opening the mandibles as wide as possible, gripping the opponent's mandibles and pushing with the hind legs. Chirping Male crickets of this speci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opossum2
Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North America in the Great American Interchange following the connection of North and South America. The Virginia opossum is the only species found in the United States and Canada. It is often simply referred to as an opossum, and in North America it is commonly referred to as a possum (; sometimes rendered as ''possum'' in written form to indicate the dropped "o"). Possums should not be confused with the Australasian arboreal marsupials of suborder Phalangeriformes that are also called possums because of their resemblance to the Didelphimorphia. The opossum is typically a nonaggressive animal. Etymology The word ''opossum'' is borrowed from the Powhatan language and was first recorded between 1607 and 1611 by John Smith (as ''opassom'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuptial Gift (animal Behavior)
A nuptial gift is a nutritional gift given by one partner in some animals' sexual reproduction practices. Formally, a nuptial gift is a material presentation to a recipient by a donor during or in relation to sexual intercourse that is not simply gametes in order to improve the reproductive fitness of the donor. Often, such a gift will improve the fitness of the recipient as well. This definition implies neutral gifts, costly gifts and beneficial gifts regarding the fitness of the recipient. Nuptial gifting is at the intersection of sexual selection, nutritional ecology, and life history theory, creating a link between the three. Edible and inedible nuptial gifts Many nuptial gifts are a source of nutrition for the recipient. In many species of animals, including birds, insects, and spiders, this takes the form of a food item that is transferred from a male to a female just prior to copulation. This is a behavior known as courtship feeding. Inedible tokens may include items ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brown Bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is known as the Kodiak bear. It is one of the largest living terrestrial members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear (''Ursus maritimus''), which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on average. The brown bear's range includes parts of Russia, Central Asia, the Himalayas, China, Canada, the United States, Hokkaido, Scandinavia, Finland, the Balkans, the Picos de Europa and the Carpathian region (especially Romania), Iran, Anatolia, and the Caucasus. The brown bear is recognized as a national and state animal in several European countries. While the brown bear's range has shrunk, and it has faced local extinctions across its wide range, it remains listed as a least con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nimbochromis
''Nimbochromis'' is a small genus of haplochromine cichlids mostly endemic to Lake Malawi in East Africa. They are known as sleeper cichlids or ''kaligono'' ("sleepers" in Chichewa) due to their unique hunting behaviour. These piscivorous species are often seen lying motionless on the lake bottom near rocks where mbuna live, even adopting an unusual sideways position rarely seen in living fish. If smaller fishes approach, the ''Nimbochromis'' will "wake up" and try to seize them. Their coloration has an irregular dark cloudy pattern on lighter background; for one thing, this provides camouflage, but it is also suspected that it is – at least in some – evolving into aggressive mimicry (apparent death) by imitating a rotting fish carcass and thus luring scavengers to their demise. Species There are currently five recognized species in this genus: * '' Nimbochromis fuscotaeniatus'' (Regan, 1922) (Spothead Hap, Fuscotaeniatus Hap) * '' Nimbochromis linni'' ( W. E. Burges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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