Terrestria: The Earth's Brand

Among the many kinds of defense and hunting mechanisms of the animal kingdom, one of the most famous and feared is the use of venom. It is used to dissuade predators and to debilitate preys by animals of all sizes and groups. If you want to learn more about the most toxic animals in the world, keep reading. Photo by: Leszek Leszczynski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 10.- Pufferfish: Pufferfishes are widely known for their ability to inflate when they feel threatened and the fact that they have sharp spines covering their body. But if that is not enough, they have another defense mechanism. In their internal organs, they have a very strong neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which name comes from the name of the order formed by these fishes. When it enters the body of any animal, it blocks sodium channels of the neurons. This inhibits the generation of action potentials, which are responsible for the transmission of nervous impulses. This inevitably leads to the fa...

During our existence as a species, we have found many substances with a wide variety of effects in our organism physiology and psychology. These substances are known as drugs. Some are legal, like medicines and some illegal (except alcohol and tobacco), and are known as recreational drugs. Some are artificially synthesized and others, like cannabis, among many others, are present in nature. Although recreational drugs use may seem exclusive to humans, this is not completely true. There are many examples of substance use in the animal kingdom and, in the following paragraphs, we are going to tell you about some of them. If you find this topic interesting, keep reading. Photo by: Milo & Silvia in the world https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ 1.- Dolphins and pufferfishes: Being one of the most intelligent species in the world, it should not be a surprise that dolphins are on this list. Dolphins carry and carefully squeeze pufferfishes in order to force them to...

Giraffa is a genus of big mammals which members are commonly known as giraffes. The number of species in this genus is an open debate in the scientific community. There are four different lines of though: each line affirms that the genus is formed eaither by one, three, four or eight species. However, all of them agree that giraffes are animals with very particular characteristics that make them unique. If you want to learn more about this amazing genus of animals, join me during this article. One of the most outstanding characteristics of giraffes is their huge size. In fact, they are the tallest land animals on the planet. They can reach heights ranging from 14.1 to 18.7 ft (4.3 and 5.7 m). The tallest giraffe ever recorded was 19.3 ft (5.88 m) tall. Their weight is not negligible either, these animals can get quite heavy. Males are heavier than females, with an average weight of 2,268 lb (1,192 kg) and females are slightly lighter, with an average weight of 1,825 lb (828 kg). ...

Photo by: David https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Penguins form a family of birds called Spheniscidae. They are very special species as they are aquatic birds with specific adaptations to swim. The inevitable consequence of these features is that penguins have lost the ability to fly. All the species of this family are found in the Southern hemisphere, except for the Galapagos penguin, which lives in the Northern hemisphere. Despite the mental image most of us have and although it is partially true, not all penguins live in extremely cold environments. Some species live in mild temperature areas, although it is only possible due to cold water currents originated in the Antarctic. Even though there are many interesting facts about penguins, today we are going to focus on their breeding process and their parental care. Penguins have a very interesting breeding process, which is an exception to many rules of the animal kingdom. Photo by: David Stanley https://crea...

Dendrobatidae is a family of toxic frogs formed by 16 genera and around 200 species. They are native to Central and South America and they generally live in tropical rainforests, although they are found in other environments too, as we will talk about later. They are known as poison dart frogs, poison frogs or poison arrow frogs. Their name comes from the fact that indigenous Americans used their toxins as venom for their darts by poisoning the tip. If you are interested in learning more about their colors, their toxins and their habitats, stay with us throughout this article. Strawberry poison dart frog over a leaf.  When one of these frogs is observed, the featured that stands out the most about them is their flashy and bright colors. These colors, as beautiful as they are, are not there to delight our eyes, but rather to warn us. This characteristic is called aposematism, which is basically to be as flamboyant as possible to avoid predators. By showing these colors, po...