In the world of animals, there are still many strange things that science still cannot explain.
- The Meerkat (Suricata Suricatta)
Unlike other animals, the Meerkat lives in the desert, gathers in large herds, and is orderly and united. Meerkat civets usually live in groups of 20-30 members.
The Meerkat also knows how to divide up and watch the young in the group. The adult Meerkat will be responsible for looking after and protecting the young from the ᴅᴀɴɢᴇʀs they cause when they are not instinctive enough. They will teach their young in their very own way. Specifically, Meerkat’s parents will bring nearly ᴅᴇᴀᴅ scorpions back to the den to teach their children to ʜᴜɴᴛ.
They will continuously bring more robust, more significant scorpions for their young to practice until they improve. In this way, the young Meerkat will know how to ʜᴜɴᴛ appropriately and learn how to remove the scorpion’s ᴠᴇɴᴏᴍ before being released by their parents to pursue it ʜᴜɴᴛ freely.
- The Sandhill Crane (Antigone Canadensis)
According to scientists, only 5% of species in the animal world have a monogamous relationships like humans today. And the gray crane in Elk Grove, California, USA, is one of the animals in this 5% group. Gray cranes follow a couple wherever they go.
When reaching adulthood, i.e., about four years old, the gray crane gets married. They never change mates. Monogamous live together until ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ, lasting an average of about 30 years. The reproduction rate of cranes is very low. Each family has a maximum of 2 children. Their children and grandchildren will live with their parents and grandparents to form a household. There are households with up to 20 children.
- Prairie Dogs (Genus Cynomys)
The Prairie dog, also known as the dog squirrel, is a rodent native to North America. Prairie squirrels are very social, they often live in large groups or form a “town”. The prairie dog’s family groups are the most basic units of their society. Members of a family group living on the same territory. A family group that interacts through oral communication or “kissing” and grooming each other. They do not engage in these behaviors with prairie dogs from different family groups.
Prairie dogs divide their territory. Territories with borders are carefully established by physical barriers such as rocks and trees. The males will be responsible for defending ʜᴏsᴛɪʟᴇ behavior with males in other families when ɪɴᴠᴀᴅɪɴɢ their territory. These interactions can happen 20 times per day and last about five minutes. When two prairie dogs ᴇɴᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀ each other at the edge of their territory, they will start glaring, making pawing movements, spreading their tails, grinding their teeth, and sniffing each other’s scent glands. When ꜰɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ, prairie dogs will bite, kick and bulldoze each other. The female will join the ꜰɪɢʜᴛ if their opponent is the same size or smaller. Otherwise, the female will signal to the male when she sees an opponent.
- The Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes)
Chimpanzees are closely related to humans. They live in West and Central Africa. Chimpanzees also live in small groups of 15 to 150 members. Their lives are divided into a strict hierarchy, with males ᴅᴏᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪɴɢ. A special feature of the chimpanzee population is that they can proficiently use tools to serve their lives. Chimpanzees use stones, grass, and leaves to create tools to collect honey and nuts or catch termites and ants and store water. They even know how to sharpen sticks to make spears to ʜᴜɴᴛ prey on tall tree branches.
In addition, a study published in 2022 showed that chimpanzees living in the rain forest actively dig wells in the ground to find drinking water. According to the team, well-digging behavior originates in an individual and then spreads among herd members. They observed a young female chimpanzee joining a herd of chimpanzees in the Waibira rainforest, continuously digging wells in standing water. They drink water directly from the well and absorb it with tools made of leaves, moss, or a combination. This behavior is rare, so scientists were surprised to see this scene.
- Ants
Ants know how to grow crops and raise pets just like humans. According to scientists, insects are very adaptable species to different environments because they have been on Earth for about 480 million years. During that time, they have evolved enough to appear in every nook and cranny, able to fly, burrow, and swim. In particular, the organization of ant and termite colonies is considered to be the most similar to human civilization.
According to the Independent, research conducted by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute shows that, about 25 million years ago, ants cultivated fungi to harvest protein-containing seeds for food. They often cut leaves into small pieces and put them underground to grow mushrooms. The reason is that the fungus that ants grow does not produce enzymes to digest wood, so they can only absorb substances from the leaves that the ants bring back.
In addition, aphids can produce a sweet substance that ants love, so they sometimes bring back a few aphids as pets to their nests.
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