Chihiro Jun registered this headline number in mid-July, initially writing articles and micro-headlines, and opened the [Q&A Earnings Permission] at the end of September, so he switched to "Wukong Q&A" to focus on answering questions about wild animals. In more than a month of Q&A experience, found a common phenomenon, that is, netizens are easily confused by some rumors and misunderstandings, the real situation of some animals is completely unknown, I have also carried out many times to refute rumors, but the effect is not ideal, because these rumors have a long history, after several times of processing and promotion of various self-media people in recent years, it has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, almost becoming the consensus of a large number of netizens.
My avatar
As an animal lover and a netizen who has been involved in the Network for many years, Qianxunjun has long been accustomed to these rumors, in the past I would ignore them, but now, the platform gave me [Q&A revenue permission] and [original debut] permission, and gave me the yellow V certification of creators in the high-quality scientific field when there were only more than five hundred fans, the platform is so important to me, then I should take on the responsibility of popularizing animal knowledge, so I deliberately listed some of the various animal rumors and misunderstandings circulating on the current network to talk about the truth I know To take everyone to understand the more real natural world.
If you feel that I am not right, if you have sufficient arguments, you are welcome to comment and correct.
<h1>giant panda</h1>
Rumor:
Giant pandas have super combat strength, are "iron-eating beasts", bite the third of the combined force bear family, are not afraid of tigers and leopards, can play with three or four wolves as cushions, and the plateau running speed has raced liu xiang!
I don't know when, the giant panda began to be called the object of "respect" by many netizens, but the way they respected is very special, the cute national treasure is shaped into a fierce beast with strong combat effectiveness, and by virtue of the ancient name of the giant panda "iron-eating beast", the bite force of the giant panda is raised to the third position of the bear family, this group of people is denounced by opponents as "panda blowing", then, how is the combat effectiveness of the giant panda, is it blown out?
The truth I know:
Giant panda bite force is indeed very high, there is no doubt that the giant panda skull is wide, the zygomatic arch is developed, the temporal muscle attachment area is large, and feeds on bamboo leaves and bamboo branches, the molars/split teeth have a strong ability to chew and grind food, but the canine teeth are degenerate, so the bite force of the giant panda is mainly derived from the split teeth rather than the canine teeth. In ancient times, giant pandas often entered the homes of mountain people to lick the salt left on the iron pot, so they were called "iron eating beasts".
Millions of years of bamboo-eating habits have made the giant panda's aggressive and attack skills lost, but the giant panda is a large animal after all, and the adult wild male giant panda weighs about 70-110 kg, which is enough to fight against medium and large carnivores. Jackals rely on team superiority to besiege giant pandas, leopards mainly attack juvenile pandas, and tigers and brown bears are larger than giant pandas, enough to threaten adult pandas, but giant pandas and them have no competition in food and territory, so they are rarely attacked by tigers and brown bears. As for the rumors on the Internet that the giant panda was bitten through the belly by the yellow-throated mink, there is no exact basis.
Therefore, the giant panda has more than enough self-defense and insufficient attack, and the combat effectiveness of the giant panda should be treated rationally, and should not be exaggerated and degraded.
<h1>hippopotamus</h1>
Hippos are also wild animals that are deeply endangered by rumors.
Myth 1: Hippos are the most murderous animals in Africa, killing 3,000 people a year!
Truth: This is the misleading of certain documentaries and self-media, and hippos are not so terrible.
The picture above is a record of human and wildlife conflicts in Mozambique in a certain year, in which crocodiles killed 134 people and injured 36 people, and hippos killed 12 people and injured 10 people. Hippopotamus kills behind Nile crocodiles, elephants and lions.
The picture above is the number of animals killed by animals and humans in Zambia in a certain year, the column is the number of animals killed, the black column is the number of animals killed by humans, and the fourth column is hippo, which kills 65 people and kills 115 heads by humans.
In Africa, hippos kill only half as many crocodiles a year, about 300-500 people. The animal that kills the most is undoubtedly the mosquito, and the various diseases transmitted by mosquitoes cause more than 800,000 deaths every year.
Myth 2: Hippopotamus is the king of African rivers and can bite crocodiles in two in one bite!
Truth: Hippos' incisors and canine teeth are scary, but they don't have the ability to cut crocodiles in two, hippos can kill crocodiles, crocodiles can also attack hippopotamus pups, and most of the time, the two are safe.
<h1>brown bear</h1>
Myth 1: Kamchatka brown bears became extinct in 1920 due to massive human hunting!
Truth: Kamchatka brown bears live well, there is no extinction at all, it belongs to the network misinformation, and the current IUCN assessment of Kamchatka brown bears is low risk. The picture above is the weight record of wild Kamchatka brown bears from 1997 to 2000, if The Kamchatka brown bears became extinct in 1920, where did the above data come from!
Myth 2: The Kodiak brown bear is the largest bear, larger than the polar bear.
Comparison of the largest sizes of brown bears, American black bears, and polar bears
Truth: Polar bears are far larger than Kodiak brown bears, both in terms of average weight and maximum weight.
Kodiak brown bear weight data by age group
"North American Mammals" records that bears over the age of 6 weigh an average of 312 kg in summer in males and 202 kg in females. Does it feel a little smaller, because it is measured in the summer, while brown bears accumulate fat in the fall, giving a quarter to a third of the weight gain? The largest individual recorded in the record is 611 kg, measured in the fall. The most credible weight record in the past was 751 kg, which is also the largest weight record for brown bears (800 kg on the Internet is a rough number, 1134 kg can not be verified).
Polar bears in Fox Bay are the largest, averaging 510 kg and 803 kg (generally known as 810 kg). This is the largest polar bear ever discovered during a scientific expedition. The largest polar bear recorded was 2210 pounds, which is equal to 1002.44 kg (above).
<h1>Lighthouse jellyfish</h1>
Rumor: Lighthouse jellyfish can live forever!
Truth: Lighthouse jellyfish are able to transform from adults to juveniles (hydra bodies), and this ability to "rejuvenate" is actually asexual reproduction, which can theoretically repeat this process indefinitely, but in reality, it cannot be achieved! The "immortality" of the lighthouse jellyfish is a widely spread rumor based on an imprecise scientific conclusion that has been spread through the Internet.
<h1>Sharks and dolphins</h1>
Rumor: Sharks don't eat dolphins because dolphins attack with sonic waves (which sounds fake), they hit sharks in teams, they have a higher IQ than sharks, and they swim faster than sharks; dolphins' big brother is killer whales, and sharks are afraid of retaliation.
Juvenile great white sharks bite dolphin carcasses
Hammerhead sharks chase dolphins
Truth: Large sharks often kill small and medium-sized dolphins, and no other dolphins have been found to kill sharks except killer whales and pseudo-killer whales (both of which belong to the dolphin family); dolphins attacking sharks with sound waves is pure nonsense, and rumor-mongers have big brain holes.
Sharks and dolphins cooperate to prey on sardines
In short, big sharks eat small dolphins, and big dolphins can drive away small and medium-sized sharks; killer whales can eat almost all sharks and dolphins; sharks and dolphins coexist peacefully when they are of comparable size and rich in food.
If you are interested, you can check out the debunking articles I have written about this rumor before.
Why can such obvious rumors as "sharks don't eat dolphins" become so popular? Because reality is too harsh
<h1>Siberian tiger</h1>
Rumor has it that the Siberian tiger is the largest tiger subspecies, with an average weight of more than 300 kg.
Truth: The Siberian tiger is very powerfully mythologized, the Siberian tiger was once the largest subspecies of tiger, but in recent decades, the Siberian tiger has once been surpassed by the Bengal tiger. Genetic loss due to population reduction, inbreeding, and lack of food due to habitat loss have all led to a serious decline in the size of Siberian tigers (only wild, not reared).
The above figure is the weight data of tigers in various regions, Russia is the Siberian tiger (Amur tiger), before 1970, the average male weight of wild Siberian tigers was 215 kg, and the average 300 kg was pure nonsense! Only a few wild Siberian tigers of more than 300 kilograms have been found, and the authenticity cannot be confirmed, and the 384 kilograms of Siberian tigers are large satellites.
The average weight of the Siberian tiger dropped to 176 kg at its lowest, far below the large population of Bengal tigers (India, Nepal, Bengal region in the picture) At present, the number of Siberian tigers is steadily rising, the size is also recovering, and it is just around the corner to return to the peak. The Siberian tigers in zoos have always been large, but not representative.
<h1>Far Eastern Leopard</h1>
Rumor: The Far Eastern leopard is the largest leopard subspecies, up to 130 kg!
Truth: The largest leopard subspecies is the Persian leopard, with males weighing an average of 66 kg and a maximum of 115 kg. The Unit of Far Eastern leopard weight of 130 is Russian pounds, about 52 kilograms.
The figure above shows weight data for 5 of the 8 subspecies of leopards – the African leopard, the Indian leopard, the Ceylon leopard, the Indochinese leopard, and the Far Eastern leopard. At the bottom is the Far Eastern leopard, with an average of 51.6 kg for males and 36.7 kg for females. The weight data of domestic encyclopedias on animals generally have different degrees of exaggeration, and everyone should not be gullible.
<h1>baikal</h1>
Myth 1: Lake Baikal has a lot of marine life, and there are sharks in it, because it used to be part of the ocean, and these marine creatures were trapped in the lake after the change of land and sea.
Baikal seals
Truth: Lake Baikal is a fault lake, not a sea trace lake. According to Soviet research, there are only two species of marine life in the lake - seals and Omur fish, which swim up the Yenisei River into Lake Baikal. The Baikal shark is not a shark, it is a dufar fish, and the shark is 18,000 miles away!
Myth 2: The Baikal seal is the only type of seal that lives in fresh water.
The ringed seal in Lake Saimaa, Finland, taken in the last century
Truth: Freshwater seals are also found in Lake Saima and Lake Ladoga in Northern Europe, two freshwater subspecies of the ringed seal. It's just that compared to the Baikal seal, the fame is much smaller, so many people don't know it's quite normal, but rushing to add the word "only" to the Baikal seal is suspected of eyeballs.
<h1>Sunfish</h1>
Rumor has it that the sunfish is a very fragile animal with all kinds of strange ways to die.
Truth: The sunfish is the largest bony fish in existence, and it is very fertile, laying 25 million to 300 million eggs at a time. The growth ability is also very strong, the hatchlings that break out of the eggs are only 0.2 cm, and when they reach adulthood (calculated by 3 meters), their body length has increased by 1500 times. The newborn juvenile only weighs 0.04 grams, and if you count the adult fish by 2000 kg, its weight has increased by 50 million times! If you calculate it according to the maximum 3500kg, it will increase by 87.5 million times! The sunfish is not fragile, and all the strange ways to die about the sunfish on the Internet are fabricated.
<h1>shoebill</h1>
Rumors: The whale-headed stork is the "bird world two ha", eating fish is difficult, because it is too stupid to play itself as an endangered animal, when it sees people, it bows, pulls out feathers and sends people.
The truth:
Whale-headed storks in zoos
The whale-headed stork is really funny, but its predatory ability is not weak at all, and it can prey on small crocodiles, catfish, lungfish and frogs. The whale-headed stork is not an endangered animal and is currently vulnerable in its class.
Whale-headed storks in zoos "bow" under the guidance of keepers
Whale-headed storks bowing and plucking feathers are special behaviors of a small number of captive-bred individuals and are not representative of the entire whale-headed stork race. And the clumsy whale-headed storks in zoos are no representative of wild whale-headed storks.
<h1>hawk</h1>
Rumor has it that the article "The Rebirth of the Eagle" says that the eagle will grind off its beak at the age of 40, pull off its claws, pluck out its feathers, endure 5 months of hunger, and then get a new life and live for another 30 years.
Truth: Fiction throughout, pure chicken soup text, deeply rooted in the true biography of Shen Shixi.
<h1>Spotted</h1> hyena
Rumor: Spotted hyena bite force is bigger than tiger lion!
Teeth of spotted hyenas
Truth: Spotted hyenas have underdeveloped teeth and low bite force, which is far worse than tigers and lions, but due to long-term scavenging, molars/split teeth have a high bite force and can bite bones.
<h1>sperm whale</h1>
Rumor has it that the sperm whale is the deepest diving cetacean and is the king of mammal diving.
Marine Mammal Dive Record
Truth: The 1970s measured sperm whales had a record diving record of 2,200 meters, which was considered the deepest diving mammal at the time. But in 2005, a southern elephant seal dived to a depth of 2,388 meters, breaking the diving record for sperm whales.
Koch's beaked whale
In 2012, a Koch's beaked whale dived to a depth of 2,992 meters, breaking the diving record for southern elephant seals. The sperm whale is so famous! The Koch's beaked whale is obscure in comparison.
So at the moment, the mammal diving champion is the Koch's beaked whale, the runner-up is the southern elephant seal, and the sperm whale is only the third place.
The above is only part of the rumors circulating on the Internet, but the more widely circulated part, you must have heard of a few of them. The rapid development of network technology has brought about an unprecedented explosion of information, and in the midst of the explosion, there will inevitably be smoke and ashes, and we must polish our eyes and see through the truth in the smoke and ashes. As long as we have a little bit of biological common sense, the rumors that deny the laws of nature, ignore the laws of survival, and are purely subjective cannot be spread.
If you have any animal rumors that cannot be judged to be true or false, you can post them in the comment area, as long as I know them, they will be answered one by one.
I am Encyclopedia Qianxunjun, pay attention to nature, love nature, more wonderful content, please pay attention!