Showing posts with label bbc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bbc. Show all posts

Ants - life underwater | BBC wildlife



Do you know that:
Ants started farming long before human beings.
Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.
Around 700,000 members can be found in a typical Ant colony of Army ants.

Sometimes soldier ants use their heads to plug the entrances to their nests and keep intruders from gaining access.
Ants lived alongside the dinosaurs over 100 million years ago.
Certain ant species defend plants in exchange for food and shelter.

Every ant has two stomachs. In the first one it stores food for itself and in the second it stores food that is to be shared with other ants.
The total biomass of all the ants on Earth is roughly equal to the total biomass of all the people on Earth.
The ants have very strong legs. They help them to run very quickly.

Ants sometimes herd or tend to insects of other species, like aphids or leafhoppers.
The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt a spray of formic acid.
Ants are capable of enslaving other ants, keeping them captive and making them do work for the colony.

The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days.
Some ants form "super-colonies,". These are massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.
If a worker ant has found a good source for food, it leaves a trail of scent. The other ants follow those scent trails laid by scout ants to gather food.
At night the worker ants move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest to protect them from cold.

March of the Penguins and "Flying Penguins"



Do you know that:
Penguins can adapt to various climates.
They waddle while walking.
Baby penguins have soft feathers. Those feathers are known as down.

Penguins live in large colonies called rookeries.
Penguins spend most of their lives in water.
Penguins have the ability to walk faster than humans.

Penguins use body language to communicate with each other.
They don’t fear humans but are endangered by oil spills, water pollution, and the over harvesting of ocean fish.
Penguins have more feathers per square inch and that keeps them warm in frigid waters.

Penguins are very social creatures.
Their body is insulated with a thick layer of blubber that keeps them warm.
Penguins can hold their breath under water - for about 20 minutes.

Rockhopper penguins have very loud calls and are very noisy.
Penguins are dresses in classic white and black. They are counter-shaded for camouflage.
The baby penguins count on their parents for food until they grow up with waterproof juvenile feathers.

Penguins can leap out of water while swimming.
They pick up stones and store them in their crop. This helps them to float when they are in water.
Penguins can control their blood flow through the amount of fat in their bodies.

Here is a very funny video – BBC: Penguins April fool joke: