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

In today’s article we are going talk a little bit about the physiology, particularly in relation to the reproductive process, of one of the most unique genera of fishes there exisy. They are known as seahorses, which is the translation of their scientific name Hippocampus (from Greek hippos meaning “horse” and kampos meaning “sea monster”). The reason for this name is the fact that their head, neck and snout are shaped like those of horses. They are usually found in shallow and warm saltwater areas around the world. Especially in places in which they can easily find shelter, such as coral reefs, mangroves, etc. If you want to learn more about these fascinating and unique creatures, continue reading the article. Seahorses vary greatly in size among the 45 species of the genus. They can be from about 0.6 to 14.0 in (1.5 to 35.5 cm) long. As I mentioned before, their head and neck shape reminded scientists of horses, therefore earning them their name. Unlike the vast majority

Although most people do not think of sharks that way, they are actually fishes, but they are a little bit different to the ones most of you will probably have in mind. Unlike the tipical fish that we all recognise as such, which are Osteichthyes (bony fishes), sharks are Chondricthyes, which means that they are cartilaginous fishes. Their skeletons aren not made out of bone, but out of cartilage. They are related to other fishes such as rays, skates or chimaeras. Photo by: Elias Levy https://flic.kr/p/oHVLa6 The fact that their skeleton is made out of cartilage makes them more flexible and lighter, which makes swimming less energy demanding for them. However, there are parts of the shark that, due to mechanical stress, need to be a little bit more rigid and, therefore, have evolved in such a way that they have a similar strength to bones. The jaw, for example, is covered in a layer of hexagonal plaques made of calcium salts known as tesserae. Depending on the size of the shark, t