Elephants are now being trained for bio-detection in South Africa. They are being tested to see if they can utilize their heightened sense of smell to look for poachers, land mines, and explosives. Elephants have 1,948 genes dedicated to smelling, whereas dogs only have 811 and humans have under 400.
In 2006, an analysis of cats’ tongues showed that they do not have the taste receptors that react to sweet-tasting things. Every feline from lions to tigers down to the domestic house cat cannot taste anything sweet.
The octopus, the squid, and the salmon all die soon after giving birth. For the most part, males die soon after fertilizing the females’ eggs, and the females only live long enough to birth their young before dying.
Baby hedgehogs are born with quills but they are soft and flexible.
Crocodiles can hold their breath underwater for up to two hours if they need to. The colder the water, the longer they can stay under because a cold crocodile uses less energy and oxygen than a warm one.
The Sparky Editor: Are windmills, solar, and nuclear taking over energy production, LL ?
The Luna Cat: No, people could get just as much energy from the moon. The sources mentioned are okay for houses or small projects, but not to run a large country.
Explanation: Globular star cluster Omega Centauripacks about 10 million stars much older than the Sun into a volume some 150 light-years in diameter. Also known as NGC 5139, at a distance of 15,000 light-years it’s the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. With a yellowish hue, Omega Centauri’s red giant stars are easy to pick out in this sharp telescopic view. A two-decade-long exploration of the dense star cluster with the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed evidence for a massive black hole near the center of Omega Centauri.