Wildlife Promise » octopuses

Amazing Animal Hearts

Suzi Letouze — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:37:17 +0000

This Valentine’s Day, rather than look at animals’ weird mating rituals or focus on the possibility of a worldwide chocolate shortage, we’re going to stroll down memory lane to examine some amazing facts about animal hearts:

To learn more, see the original posts:

Update: The image above has been updated with the correct silhouettes for the blue whale and cheetah.

Photo of the Day: Beautiful But Deadly

Rachel Stemen — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:14:19 +0000

Blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena sp.) off the coast of the Malaysian states of the island of Borneo. Photo by Laurence Murphy. 2010 National Wildlife Photo Contest entry.

What makes it dangerous?

The blue-ringed octopus can kill a human with a single bite. The tiny cephalopod’s saliva contains a powerful toxin that causes muscle paralysis, including the muscles that control breathing.

Blue-ringed octopuses are not aggressive and will only bite humans if provoked or handled. When agitated, the octopus displays vivid, blue rings that pulsate as a warning to back off.

They can be found in shallow, sandy areas off the coast of Australia and in the western Pacific Ocean.

Check These Sources to Learn More:

5 Scary Wildlife Videos You Should Watch

Danielle Brigida — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:03:47 +0000

Even though Halloween is over, it’s always a good time scare yourself and learn about fascinating species. I figured I could tell you guys about some of the most fascinating animals to me that also haunt my dreams. I picked these animals because while I will probably never own stuffed animals of any of them, they are in fact important to their ecosystem and the habitat around them. These videos are really fascinating and hopefully will intrigue you enough to do some research and learn about them.

So here we go. Watch the videos and then click the links to learn more. These creatures are amazing.

5. House Centipede: Good to know*: House centipedes feed on silverfish, firebrats, carpet beetle larvae,
cockroaches, spiders and other small arthropods. If house centipedes
are seen frequently, this indicates that there is a substantial number of these small creatures living in your house.

4. Giant Pacific Octopus:

3. The Vampire Moth: This one’s video is on National Geographic’s page – New Discovery!

2. The Goblin Shark:

1. The Aye-Aye: * This one is my favorite. Absolutely mystifying!

10 Animal Heart Facts For Valentine’s Day

Danielle Brigida — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:58:46 +0000

We know that our emotional connection isn’t why the heart is important (to put it simply it pumps blood).
However, I wanted to take this opportunity (as I stare at my newly acquired Valentines scattered with pink and red hearts) to share with you a few facts that demonstrate why the heart is amazing. Please feel free to send me other neat facts about the heart and I’ll gladly post them!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day. (Believe me, this beats (ha!) me showing you some exposed wildlife hearts which I considered doing)

ADVISORY: The following facts make great date conversation.

The heart of a blue whale is as big as a car.
Frogs and lizards have three chambers whereas birds and mammals have four.
The human heart beats roughly 35 million times a year.
Octopuses have three hearts.
Dogs have a larger heart to body mass ratio than all other mammals.
Scientists have re-created the heart of a rat and it even started beating!
Pythons grow bigger hearts at mealtimes.
A blue whale’s heart beats six times a minute (next to a human’s 70 times)
A manatee‘s heart rate slows down by half during a long dive.
A giraffe depends on it’s powerful heart that weighs up to 12kg so that it can fight the force of gravity up that long neck to the head.