Little-Known Facts About Wolves :x :x :x

Arguably no other animal on earth has been as important to humans as the wolf. They were gods in the Norse mythologies and nursed Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. Most importantly, the wolf was the first animal to ever be domesticated by man, a process still shrouded in mystery that took place well over 10,000 years ago. They have been our dearest friends and direst enemies, and yet there is still so much we don’t know about them.


10:Black Wolves

Fact: Black wolves don’t occur naturally.

A 2008 study at Stanford University found that the mutation responsible for black fur occurs only in dogs, so black wolves are the result of gray wolves breeding back with domestic canines. The mutation is a dominant trait, like dark hair in humans, and is passed down to the majority of offspring. It is not entirely clear what benefit black fur has for the animals; they do not seem to be more successful hunters, but do show a marked improvement in immunity to certain infections. Black wolves are far more common in North America than they are in the rest of the world.
9:Hybrid Wolf

Fact: A large percentage of coyotes are actually wolf hybrids.

In areas where wolves have been largely eliminated, coyotes have thrived. Over the last few years, large populations have moved east, into suburban areas and even major cities like New York and Chicago. Genetic testing on 100 coyotes caught in Maine revealed that 22 had some wolf ancestry. Coywolves are generally bigger than regular coyotes, but smaller than wolves, and are said to be extremely cunning. They exhibit a fearlessness of human civilization as seen in coyotes, but seem to maintain the wolf’s pack hunting instinct and high level of aggression.

8:Cannibalism

Fact: Cannibalism is common amongst wolves.

Wolves are extremely opportunistic carnivores, and they will not miss a chance at a meal. Living in some of the most unforgiving terrain on the planet, they are sometimes forced to eat sick or injured members of the pack, and any wolf that has died is generally fair game. Wolves caught in snare traps must be very quickly attended to by hunters or they will be torn apart by other wolves. When two packs come into contact, very often they will engage in a fatal battle, with the alpha males most often being killed. Sometimes they are even eaten by their own offspring.

7:Extreme Weight

Fact: The heaviest wolves can approach 200lbs.

Wolves increase exponentially in size the further they are from the equator. Wolves of the tropics are often no larger than medium sized dogs, but those of the far north (Alaska, Canada, and Russia) can be in excess of 120lbs. The largest wolf ever killed in North America was taken in Alaska in 1939 and tipped the scales at 175lbs. In the former Ukraine SSR, a still more massive wolf was killed that weighed 190lbs. There are unsubstantiated reports of 200lb+ specimens, presumably alpha males in areas that boast a steady food supply.

6:Rabid Wolves

Fact: Rabid wolves are extremely dangerous.

Although wolves are not a major vector of rabies, they can catch it from other species such as raccoons and fox. Unlike some animals, which display lethargy and disorientation, wolves fly almost immediately into a rage when they contract the disease. A significant number of attacks on humans are tied directly to rabies. Such incidents have dropped off precipitously over the years, but a few still occur every year. Although there are obviously treatments available for people bitten by rabid animals, the wolf’s propensity is to bite near the head and neck, and oftentimes the virus reaches the brain before medical help can be sought.

American Wolves

Fact: Wolves in the Americas are less likely to attack humans than elsewhere in the world.

There are very few verifiable records of wolf attacks in the US and Canada, but in Europe and Asia, wolves are far nastier. Historical accounts indicate over 3,000 people killed in France between 1580-1830. In the Middle Ages throughout Europe, special structures were built along highways for travelers to take refuge from roving packs. The wolves of India and Russia are also particularly well known to claim human victims. During World War I, soldiers from the Allied and Central Forces were occasionally forced to join forces fighting off starving wolves attracted by the scent of blood on the battlefield.

4:Dog Eaters

Fact: Wolves find dogs delicious.

Although they are closely related (practically the same species) and can readily interbreed, many wolves consider dogs prey items. In a fight, the even large dogs are generally outmatched, as wolves of equal size have larger teeth and a more devastating bite. In Russia, where stray dogs have become a serious problem since the fall of the Soviet empire, they have become a staple in the diet of wolves. Often, a single wolf will solicit a dog to follow, and lead it into an ambush by the remainder of the pack. Only the largest and fiercest livestock guardians such as Caucasian Shepherds generally have a chance defending themselves

3:Humans on the Menu

Fact: The black plague put humans on the menu.

The Black Plague, which devastated Europe in the Middle Ages, may explain much of the strained dynamic between wolves and humans. With corpses stacking up way faster than they could be buried or burned, it was only natural that wolves would gather at the edges of cities to feast on the dead. In doing so, whole generations developed a taste for human flesh and likely began viewing us as prey items. No doubt horrified, the highly superstitious people began spinning tales, contributing to already prevalent beliefs of werewolves, vampires, and ghouls.

2:Smallpox

Fact: Smallpox did too.

Smallpox brought to the Americas by European settlers had a devastating effect on the natives. Having had no contact with the disease in the past, their immune systems were defenseless, and of those who contracted it, 80 to 90 percent died. Swedish naturalist Peter Kalm, sent to America in 1748, records that in the period preceding the Revolutionary War smallpox was at a particularly devastating point along the east coast. Sensing an easy meal, wolves invaded the Indian villages, devouring the bodies and helpless sick. Although many Native Americans revered wolves, they also exhibited a healthy fear, especially in wooded areas, where one could encounter them unexpectedly and at close range.

1:Eaten Alive

Fact: Wolves eat their prey alive.

As reported above, wolves will eat nearly anything to stay alive, but their preferred meal is large ungulates (such as deer, moose, and elk). Unlike bears or big cats, wolves do not have an anatomical weapon capable of quickly dispatching such large animals. They kill by attrition, the entire pack swarming and slashing at the haunches and perineum, ripping away at the legs and the gut, until their victim collapses from exhaustion. They begin eating immediately, even though the prey is often still alive for quite some time.

Source: listverse.com

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Top 10 Animal Actors

Movies and television seem to have a never-ending supply of talking, dancing and singing animals. Often their performances are enhanced by computer graphics or robot doubles. While there is nothing wrong with that, before CGI, there were a number of animals that performed in front of the cameras with only the promise of a bone at the end of the day. On this list, our performers are free from CGI and animatronics. On television in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, many animals had their own television shows. If your favorite isn’t on this list, let me apologize now, and wait for the honorable mentions.

Names for these animal thespians can be confusing as many were billed not by their given names but by the role they played, or not billed at all.

The top five animal actors on this list are all dogs. These dogs all gave performances that many times went beyond doing tricks. The top dog on this list could shame Keanu Reeves, Matthew McConaughey, and many other A-list actors.

A tip of the hat must go to Frank Weatherwax, his better known brother Rudd, and Frank Inn. Together and separately, they trained many animals from at least the Thirties into the Eighties. Frank Inn started as an assistant to the Weatherwax brothers and later struck out on his own, training the animals for The Beverley Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Rudd Weatherwax is known to millions for his dog food endorsements with Lassie. These trainers are mentioned in this list more than once.

10:J Fred Muggs

NBC Television had launched The Today Show with Dave Garroway. Ratings were dreadful, until someone got the idea of adding a chimpanzee as a mascot. Ratings for the show improved dramatically, and television sales increased as well. J Fred didn’t do tricks, didn’t read the weather forecast, or laugh at Garroway’s jokes. He was, like many actors and artists, somewhat temperamental, but kept his job because he was ratings gold. He had at least one guest starring role as an actor on the television program, Tom Corbett Space Cadet. He was born in 1952 and first appeared on the Today show, wearing diapers, in 1953. In addition to his television work, J Fred Muggs is a painter, and created a cover for June 1960 issue of Mad magazine. I could not find an obituary for J Fred, and I have references to his living in Florida in 2004. This would make him the only living member of this list. When The Today Show had its 50th anniversary program, J. Fred was not invited.

9:Bamboo Harvester

Bamboo Harvester was the star, along with Alan Young, of the television program Mr. Ed. On the program he was not credited under his own name, but as the title character, “Mr. Ed.” Bamboo was trained by Les Hilton, who had also worked on the Francis The Talking Mule movie series of the 1950s, training the mule, whose actual name was Molly. Bamboo Harvester and Molly appeared to talk by having a nylon thread placed in their mouths which, when pulled by Hilton, made the animal move his lips. Bamboo was picked for the role of Mr. Ed as he was not temperamental and could work with the string in his mouth for hours without complaint. The reason Bamboo makes this list and not Molly is that, according to both Hilton and series star Alan Young, Bamboo eventually figured out that he was supposed to move his lips when Young stopped talking, and the thread was no longer needed. The thread can be seen in early episodes of the program, but not in later ones, bearing this out. When interviewed during the show’s production, Young stated the effect was achieved by putting peanut butter on the horse’s gums, but this story was used to keep the real method secret. Mr. Ed’s voice was supplied, unaccredited, by former cowboy star Allan “Rocky” Lane.

8:Highland Dale

Highland Dale was the black stallion who starred in Black Beauty, in 1946. Born in 1943 in Missouri, Highland Dale acted from the 1940s until the 1960s, in both movies and television roles. Trained by Ralph McCutcheon to untie knots, play dead and whinny on command, Highland Dale later starred on the television show, Fury, with Peter Graves and Bobby Diamond. Highland Dale’s last credited appearance was guest staring on an episode of Lassie. Highland Dale passed away of respiratory problems in 1972.

7:Spike

Spike, a yellow Labrador, portrayed Old Yeller in the Disney movie of the same name. If you haven’t seen the film, have a hanky nearby. He was rescued from an animal shelter by Frank Weatherwax. In addition to Old Yeller he appeared in the movies A Dog of Flanders, The She-Creature and The Silent Call. He made television appearances as well, including an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club.

6:Golden Cloud

Golden Cloud appeared in movies before being purchased by Roy Rogers and renamed Trigger. Many movie cowboys had a trained horse, Tom Mix had Tony, William Hart had Fritz and Gene Autry rode more than one horse named Champion. These horses did jumping and riding tricks, but Trigger could take direction, and performed over a hundred tricks, such as untying Roy’s hands, walking on his hind legs, dancing and playing dead, all by voice command. His most incredible trick was that he was housebroken, which enabled Roy to take him in theaters and television studios. Trigger even had his own Dell comic book for a time. Trigger was stuffed after his passing and is now apparently owned by the cable channel Rural Free Delivery Television, which is opening a western museum.

5:Terry

Terry was a terrier who is most famous for playing Toto in The Wizard of Oz. She worked in over a dozen other films including Bright Eyes with Shirley Temple, and her last movie, Tortilla Flat with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamar. Terry was seldom credited under her real name and in Oz is credited as Toto. It was while working on Oz that Terry’s foot was broken by an actor playing one of the Wicked Witches soldiers. Terry recovered, and made many films afterward. An “autobiography” of Terry was released and occasionally is available at Amazon.

4:Pal

Pal was working as a stunt dog on the 1943 MGM movie Lassie Comes Home, with child stars Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor. Pal had lost the title role to a prized female show collie, however during production Pal was selected as the lead. There are conflicting accounts as to why this happened, but Pal proved to be a one-take wonder and starred in seven movies for MGM. Pal was owned and trained by Rudd Weatherwax, with assistance from his brother Frank, and later Frank Inn. When MGM stopped making Lassie films, they still owed Rudd money and he accepted the rights to the Lassie character, in lieu of payment. He took the Lassie character to television for a series that ran from 1954 until 1973. Though Pal’s son (named Lassie Jr.) had taken over his role in the movie series a few years before, Pal took the Lassie role one more time for the pilot episode, and apparently was present in the studio while his progeny worked the role. He was used as the occasional backup. Pal passed away in 1958.

3:Skippy

Skippy was a wire-haired terrier trained by original owners Henry and Gale East, with assistance from the Weatherwax brothers and Frank Inn. Skippy is best known from his role as Asta in the first two Thin Man Movies with Myrna Loy and William Powell. He was billed as Asta in those movies and look-alike dogs appeared later in the Thin Man series billed under that name. Skippy also appeared in many films, both before and after The Thin Man. He was an “extra” in some films and featured in others. A couple of his prominent roles, besides Asta, were as Mr. Smith the dog in The Awful Truth and as George in Bringing Up Baby, both with Cary Grant. Skippy suffered from inconsistent billing in his time, sometimes being credited as Skippy, Asta or not at all. After Skippy passed away, other terriers were credited as Asta. Skippy shows a good acting range in his movies, acting afraid, mad or doing an impersonation of a bloodhound.

2:Rin Tin Tin

The original Rin Tin Tin was a dark German Shepard owned and trained by a World War One veteran from Los Angeles, Lee Duncan. He brought the dog back from France after the war, training him to do tricks. He hoped Rin Tin Tin would follow in the footsteps of previous celebrity movie canines, Jean The Biograph Dog and Strongheart. The dog found work playing wolves in early features. Rin Tin Tin became hugely popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and his movies were big moneymakers for Warner Brothers, credited with saving the company, financially. The film series helped get Daryl Zanuck promoted to a prominent position within that studio as Zanuck was an early champion of the film series. (Perhaps without these movies, there would be no Time-Warner conglomerate today.) Rin Tin Tin appeared in a series of movies playing “Rinty” (also his real nickname), as well as taking other canine roles, such as “Scotty” in Tiger Rose in 1931. By 1930, he had his own radio program on the NBC Blue network. The radio reference book “The Big Broadcast” by Buxton and Owen references Francis X. Bushman as his co-star on that program. Rin Tin Tin played himself, barking and growling on cue. In 1932, Rin Tin Tin passed away. There had already been a transition to his son, Rin Tin Tin Jr., both on the radio show and in the movies. There have been many Rin Tin Tins since the original, all from the original bloodline. The original Rin Tin Tin has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The 1976 film comedy, Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood is a spoof on the Rin Tin Tin craze.

1:Higgins

Higgins was the Tom Hanks of animal actors, with an acting range wider than that of many human professionals. He is best known for playing the title role in Benji. He had a regular role on the C.B.S. television comedy Petticoat Junction as Dog, and appeared in other movies and television programs. He was trained by Frank Inn, who also trained the animals on The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. Like many actors, Higgins started from humble beginnings, a mixed breed in an animal shelter. Frank Inn considered Higgins his best pupil. Although Higgins could do over a hundred tricks, he was much more than a well-trained dog. He also could show emotions on cue, acting afraid, interested, sad or bored as needed. He could sneeze or yawn on cue. He could do romantic comedy, or go full-tilt Rambo as required. The original Benji film (subsequent movies used other dogs) was not his only starring role, he also was the star of Mooch Goes To Hollywood, with Zsa Zsa Gabor and Vincent Price as his co-stars. Higgins played the title role. While working on Petticoat Junction, he developed a special relationship with co-star Edgar Buchanan and their work together in Benji could be one of the most natural performances by a canine and man on film. The urn with his ashes was buried in the casket of his trainer, Frank Inn.

Source:http://listverse.com

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Top ten Human Attributes Found in Animals

As humans, we are not the fastest or the strongest animal. Even our senses are outmatched by many creatures. Birds see better than us, dogs smell better, and many animals have senses that we do not have at all. Sharks feel magnetic fields, turtles sense electricity, and bees see ultra-violet radiation. Elephants can sense a lack of salt in their bodies in much the same way that we feel thirsty. The humble tortoise can outlive us by a hundred years or more. Basic medicine is used by woolly spider monkeys who eat certain plants for birth control and parrots who eat specific clays to cure poison. So what makes us special? Here we look at ten human attributes of which we are rightly proud, and briefly consider which animals share our abilities. Perhaps what makes us special is not any single factor, but the combination of all of these? Or perhaps it is our potential rather than what we already are?
10:Culture

Culture encompasses all behaviors and activities which are not genetically driven and which are found throughout a local population. The arts and humanities, religions, shared attitudes and practices are all facets of culture. The wonderfully wide variety of human cultures around the world is of great interest in itself; however, not all culture is human. For an activity to be deemed cultural, it must not be directly caused by genetics, it must be passed from one individual to another throughout a population, it must be remembered and not forgotten instantly after it has occurred, and it must be passed down through generations. Many primates have their own cultures and traditions, such as the rain dances some chimpanzee groups perform at the beginning of storms. In 1963, a single Japanese macaque monkey discovered the comfort of bathing in a natural hot spring, and since then the practice has spread completely throughout the troop and is still observed today.

9:Emotions

Humans experience a wide spectrum of emotions. From anger to grief to frustration to euphoria, we live our lives moving from one emotion to the next. Anyone who has kept a large pet, such as a dog or a cat, will be aware that these creatures experience fear, desire, panic, affection, embarrassment, and many other feelings. Dolphin mothers whose infants have died display all the trappings of grief, and bored octopuses will eventually begin to exhibit depression. Curiosity can be seen in reptiles and jealousy of parental attention between siblings is seen in great apes. Wild apes will adopt other orphaned apes, and captive apes will take pets for interest. Altruism has been shown by gorillas in two unrelated situations where, both times, a young child fell into their zoo enclosure. Each time, a gorilla patted and soothed the child and helped return him to the human zoo keepers. Chimpanzees similarly comfort each other after attacks. Emotions are far from an exclusively human experience.

8:Language

 

Language is used to communicate needs, wants, and ideas. Different groups have developed their own languages, and languages change and evolve over time. Humans use a wide range of languages, not all verbal. The Bubi people in Equatorial Guinea speak largely with hand gestures, similar to Sign Languages spoken by deaf communities. On La Gomera of the Canary Islands, whistled language is used. Certain animals use language too. Primates, whales, birds, and squid have been shown to use distinct words to identify objects, actions, and individual names, and chimpanzees even use syntax and grammar. As a case study, Washoe the chimpanzee was raised as a deaf human child. She learnt over 350 American Sign Language words and could combine them to form new words and sentences. In the wild, chimpanzees normally only use about 70 signs. Washoe often signed conversations with her toy dolls. One touching example, showing that she could associate abstract ideas like emotion to novel situations, was when her human instructor explained a long absence by signing “my baby died.” Washoe looked down for a while, then signed “cry” and touched her cheek.

7:Humour

 

Humour is a staple of life for many people. Often difficult to define, there are many strains of humor, providing amusement and often resulting in laughter. The ridiculous, the unexpected, or the juxtaposed can elicit such a feeling. Chimpanzees, like humans, are no stranger to laughter. They often tickle each other and give unmistakable laughs as a result. However, although humor often provokes laughter, laughter does not imply humor. Even rats have been shown to be able to laugh. Nevertheless, chimpanzees too can find situations humorous. Several great apes in captivity have been observed to laugh at situations removed from themselves such as seeing a clumsy fellow ape embarrass itself.

6:Tool Use

 

One of the defining characteristics of humans is the ability to use tools. We have created great cities, refined farming, secured the passing on of cultural knowledge through writing, and even gone to the moon. For many years, humans were defined as the only tool-using animal. We now know this is not the case. All great apes, crows and ravens, dolphins, elephants, and even octopuses are verified tool users. Often this tool use is cultural, that is, the tools used and their manner of use will vary from one population to the next within a species. Chimpanzees use stones as hammers and anvils and fashion spears for hunting, gorillas will use walking sticks, ravens make their own toys, gulls will use bait to fish with, dolphins use shells to catch fish in and eat from, octopuses will use coconut shells as a shelter, and elephants make water vessels to drink from.

5:Memory

 

Humans are able to mentally capture their sensory information at a particular time and store it away for later use. That is, humans can remember things. We use memories to determine the best course of action in situations we have encountered before, such as remembering which foods taste nicest and thus picking the best one when given a choice. Animals, too, have memories, as any pet owner will tell you. Domesticated creatures can be taught to remember commands, and even goldfish have been shown to have memories lasting months. Chimpanzees remember images and numbers better than university students, and crows remember shapes better than adult humans also. Some jays and squirrels have superb spatial memories, allowing them to remember months later where they buried thousands of seeds across areas of dozens of square kilometers. Cats have short-term memories at least ten times longer than those of humans. Interestingly, pigeons seem to base superstitions on their memories. If a pigeon is doing something like turning around when it is given food two or three times, it will remember what it was doing and begin to spin obsessively in the hopes of obtaining more food.

4:Self-Awareness

 

A jellyfish, most will agree, is not strongly aware of itself as a definitively separate being. It has no thoughts, if any, beyond its basic drives. Self-awareness was considered a human domain for many years, but we now know better. One simple illustrative test is the mirror test: seeing if an animal can recognize itself in a mirror. A self-aware animal will realize that the movements of its reflection match its own, and deduce that the reflection is an image of itself. The animal often has a mark on its face, and if it realizes that the reflection is it itself, it will reach towards its face to feel or remove the mark. Human children do not pass this test until the age of 18 months. Animals which pass this self-awareness test, and a variety of other such tests, are all great apes, some gibbons, elephants, magpies, and some whales.

3:Intelligence

 

Humans are homo sapiens, the wise man. We can think and reason to our great advantage. There are, of course, many different kinds of intelligence and ways of using them. There exist many definitions of intelligence, but generally it is thought to be the ability to think, reason, plan, assess, and learn. However, humans are not the only animals with intellect, nor are they the best in all its categories. Pigeons easily outdo humans with both visual searching and geometric recognition. Ants estimate huge numbers very accurately to determine the numbers of enemy ants from past encounters, and elephants use arithmetic. Crows show great causal reasoning; they can observe a new and complicated mechanism and mentally deduce how to deal with it correctly rather than relying on the more time-consuming trial and error. They can unlock doors and find hidden objects based on a single period of observation, outperforming many humans.

2:Farming

 

Farming is the basis of modern human civilization. Believed to have been begun nearly ten thousand years ago, it allowed humans to settle in one place rather than live nomadically as they followed herds of animals for food. This in turn allowed them more time in which they could develop writing, mathematics, the wheel, farming implements, and other necessities of farming on a large scale. This spread around the world rapidly. However, ants had already been farming for millions of years. They capture, herd, raise, and care for the health of groups of caterpillars kept in a special chamber of their nests so that they may use their sugary excretions as a food source, much like we use cows. Termites cultivate fungi to eat which are so specialized they grow nowhere else on Earth.

1:Building

 

If nothing else, humans are fantastic builders. The cities, roads, and factories that adorn our planet are a testament to that fact. What other animal could build skyscrapers, towering hundreds of metros above them? Or highways and roads stretching for thousands of kilometers? Some animals build too. Certain birds and apes build sophisticated nests, rabbits dig warrens to live in, and ants will even prune and cultivate trees to grow in a way which suits them as a home. The greatest builders, however, are Nigerian termites. They build fantastically huge mounds with internal ventilation, heating, and cooling systems through specially designed tunnels so that the termites living inside enjoy a pleasant climate at all times. They even have self-contained nurseries, gardens, cellars, chimneys, expressways, and sanitation systems. A termite is less than half a centimeter long yet its mound is 4m tall. For comparison, that is like a group of humans making a building over 1.5km tall.

+:Abstract and logical thinking

To clarify, abstract thinking is not random and incoherent thought. It means taking a concrete idea, such as an apple, and thinking about an attribute of it as a higher concept such as deliciousness, which might then be applied to many concrete objects. Logical thinking is the cornerstone of this. This is naturally difficult to measure in non-humans, but thus far no animal has been able to perform nearly as well as humans in purely abstract terms. Logical and reasoned thinking with abstract ideas are the great achievement of humanity, as we far surpass other animals thanks to the frontal lobes of our brains, which relative to the rest of our brains are the largest of any living species. Perhaps what truly makes us human is our ability to think rationally, to question our own assertions and consider others, and to always strive for what is reasoned and logical and true, no matter what that truth may be.

Source: listserve.com

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How many species have been identified on earth?

How many species are there in the world?

Answer by Liz Osborn (© Current Results Nexus): 
Scientists have described over 1.7 million of the world's species of animals, plants and algae, as of 2010.
The list below gives the number of species known in the world for each major category of animals and plants.
The numbers most accurately represent all living species of mammals, birds and coniferous plants. Only for those groups have scientists almost completely identified all the world's species.
Biologists have yet to describe many species of plants, invertebrate animals and lichens. So the number of these species known to science increases substantially every year.
The greatest species diversity exists among insects, which account for one million of the earth's species known to science. Mammals make up one of the smallest groups, with just 5,490 members.
Altogether the earth's oceans, lakes, continents and islands support over 62,000 identified species of vertebrate animals and 320,000 species of plants.

How many species are known to currently exist in the world.

Category	Species	Totals
Vertebrate Animals
Mammals	5,490
Birds	9,998
Reptiles	9,084
Amphibians	6,433
Fishes	31,300
Total Vertebrates		62,305
Invertebrate Animals
Insects	1,000,000
Spiders and scorpions	102,248
Molluscs	85,000
Crustaceans	47,000
Corals	2,175
Others	68,827
Total Invertebrates		1,305,250
Plants
Flowering plants (angiosperms)	281,821
Conifers (gymnosperms)	1,021
Ferns and horsetails	12,000
Mosses	16,236
Red and green algae	10,134
Total Plants		321,212
Others
Lichens	17,000
Mushrooms	31,496
Brown algae	3,067
Total Others		51,563
TOTAL SPECIES		1,740,330

The species totals do not include domestic animals such as sheep, goats and camels. Nor do they include single-celled organisms such as bacteria.

Reference

The World Conservation Union. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Summary Statistics for Globally Threatened Species. Table 1: Numbers of threatened species by major groups of organisms (1996–2010)

Source: http://www.currentresults.com/
Answer by explorebiodiversity.com: 
This is a very good question, but the truth is, its very hard to know, or even estimate. Currently there are about 1.4 million species described. Yet, we're probably far from being close to the actual number of species.

Take this into consideration. In a famous study conducted in Panama, 19 trees were "fogged" with insecticide and the dead were collected as they fell through the canopy. In this study, nearly 1,200 species of beetles alone were collected. Of those, 80 percent were not known to science. While it may be dangerous to extrapolate numbers like these to other places, it gives at least a high estimate of the number of species that could exist on earth - that high estimate being around 100 million species. A low estimate is 2 million. The best estimate might be around 10 million. But even if that’s the case, it means we've only known about a small fraction of what is presently there.

Many of the species that we're discovering live in areas that are not often studied. Take the sea floor for instance. Hydrothermal vents along the floor provide a type of chemical energy for bacteria. These bacteria use this energy like plants use the energy of the sun. They then form the base of a giant food web thousands of feet below the surface. Only until recently have we been able to discover this new habitat. Now scientists believe there could be as many as a million species just in on the ocean floor.

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Why do fireflies light up?

 Why do fireflies light up?  

Answer1:  Marc Branham, an assistant professor in the department of entomology and nematology at the University of Florida, explains.

Fireflies produce a chemical reaction inside their bodies that allows them to light up. This type of light production is called bioluminescence. The method by which fireflies produce light is perhaps the best known example of bioluminescence. When oxygen combines with calcium, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the chemical luciferin in the presence of luciferase, a bioluminescent enzyme, light is produced. Unlike a light bulb, which produces a lot of heat in addition to light, a firefly's light is �cold light,� without a lot of energy being lost as heat. This is necessary because if a firefly's light-producing organ got as hot as a light bulb, the firefly would not survive the experience.

A firefly controls the beginning and end of the chemical reaction, and thus the start and stop of its light emission, by adding oxygen to the other chemicals needed to produce light. This happens in the insect's light organ. When oxygen is available, the light organ lights up, and when it is not available, the light goes out. Insects do not have lungs, but instead transport oxygen from outside the body to the interior cells within through a complex series of successively smaller tubes known as tracheoles. For a long time it was a mystery as to how some firefly species manage such a high flash rate, considering the relatively slow speed of the muscles that control oxygen transport. Researchers fairly recently learned that nitric oxide gas (the same gas that is produced by taking the drug Viagra) plays a critical role in firefly flash control. In short, when the firefly light is �off," no nitric oxide is being produced. In this situation, oxygen that enters the light organ is bound to the surface of the cell's energy-producing organelles, called the mitrochondria, and is thereby not available for transport further within the light organ. The presence of nitric oxide, which binds to the mitochondria, allows oxygen to flow into the light organ where it combines with the other chemicals needed to produce the bioluminescent reaction. Because nitric oxide breaks down very quickly, as soon as the chemical is no longer being produced, the oxygen molecules are again trapped by the mitochondria and are not available for the production of light.

Fireflies appear to light up for a variety of reasons. The larvae produce short glows and are primarily active at night, even though many species are subterranean or semi-aquatic. Fireflies produce defensive steroids in their bodies that make them unpalatable to predators. Larvae use their glows as warning displays to communicate their distastefulness. As adults, many fireflies have flash patterns unique to their species and use them to identify other members of their species as well as to discriminate between members of the opposite sex. Several studies have shown that female fireflies choose mates depending upon specific male flash pattern characteristics. Higher male flash rates, as well as increased flash intensity, have been shown to be more attractive to females in two different firefly species.

The adult fireflies of some species are not luminous at all, however, and instead use pheromones to locate mates. The use of pheromones as sexual signals appears to be the ancestral condition in fireflies with the use of luminous sexual signals as being a more recent development. There are species that employ both pheromonal and luminous components in their mating systems. These species appear to be evolutionarily intermediate between the pheromone-only fireflies and flash-only fireflies.
Source:http://www.scientificamerican.com/


Answer2: Fireflies or lightning bugs make light within their bodies. This process is called bioluminescence and is shared by many other organisms, mostly sea-living or marine organisms. Fireflies light up to attract a mate. To do this, the fireflies contain specialized cells in their abdomen that make light.

The cells contain a chemical called luciferin and make an enzyme called luciferase. To make light, the luciferin combines with oxygen to form an inactive molecule called oxyluciferin. The luciferase speeds up the reaction, which occurs in two steps:

The luciferin combines with adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is found in all cells, to form luciferyl adenylate and pyrophosphate (PPi) on the surface of the luciferase enzyme. The luciferyl adenylate remains bound to the enzyme:
luciferin + ATP -------------> luciferyl adenylate + PPi
The luciferyl adenylate combines with oxygen to form oxyluciferin and adenosine monophosphate (AMP). Light is given off and the oxyluciferin and AMP are released from the enzyme's surface:
luciferyl adenylate + O2 -------------> oxyluciferin +AMP + light
The wavelength of light given off is between 510 and 670 nanometers (pale yellow to reddish green color). The cells that make the light also have uric acid crystals in them that help to reflect the light away from the abdomen. Finally, the oxygen is supplied to the cells through a tube in the abdomen called the abdominal trachea. It is not known whether the on-off switching of the light is controlled by nerve cells or the oxygen supply.

The luciferin-luciferase chemical reaction has been used for years to measure the amount of ATP produced in cells and by various chemical reactions. Recently, the gene (section of DNA coding for the protein) for the luciferase enzyme has been isolated, placed in the genes of other organisms, and used to follow the synthesis and/or expression of other genes (i.e. used as a reporter gene).
Source:http://animals.howstuffworks.com/

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Why can't animals talk like humans?

Why can't animals talk like humans?
Answer by ZOMBIE55:
Here's a scientific question to you all: Why is it that animals (well apart from parrots and maybe some other minor exceptions) cannot speak like humans can?

Why can't animals also understand what we are saying to them?

Also, do you know, why can't human beings understand the language of animals? I've read a lot of speculations that say that we human beings still lack the necessary intelligence to "understand" the simpler means of communication of non-human animals, but is that really the case? And do we humans need to be criticized for it?

And do you know, why is it that when people say that human beings do not understand the "language" of animals, it is like people say from France do not understand Spanish?? When in reality, ANY human being can learn a foreign (human) language when they study enough to do so (after all, I come from Russia and before I moved to UK, I hardly knew a word of English, but I have learned it and I can speak it now) but cannot tell what elephant says when it rumbles for instance?

Also, not to devour animals in any way or accuse them of lacking intelligence, but does anyone seriously think that animals communicate in ways even remotely similar to humans? I mean, I'm pretty sure than unlike human beings, animals don't talk about things like politics or contemplate about the universe, Jesus Christ or what kind of music they like among other things. They don't go on internet discussing value of Britney Spears and how she affects the modern society, nor do they talk about how great The Beatles or The Rolling Stones are. I'm pretty sure for most of them, their "dialogue" is limited to stuff like "Food", "leave me alone", "there's danger over there" and "sleep time".

(Though seriously, if they could speak like us, and their brains were also a bit more developed to convey the thoughts and philosophise, they may even be able to save themselves from humans' bad deeds towards them like cruelty and butchering, whether for the good of us or otherwise.)

So anyways, apart from parrots and maybe other minor exceptions, why can't the majority of animals talk like humans can?
Source:http://rateyourmusic.com/
Can animals talk, and what do they say? 
Plenty of them can – although not exactly the way we do. We still can’t understand most of them, or what they’re saying, but a lot of it seems to be about food, fighting and lurrrrrve.

Can’t some of them talk we do, like parrots? I even saw a cat say ‘hello’ once on the Internet...
Animals don’t have the same equipment as we do for talking. Many have tongues, of course – but tongues are just for shaping the sounds of words that start as vibrations in our throats. Most animals lack complex vocal cords like we have in our throats, so they can’t make smooth vowel sounds. Parrots and a few other animals can make noises that sound like words, but they’re really just mimicking us, and they don’t really understand what they’re saying.


How do they talk, then?
Lots of animals can ‘talk’ by making noises that they can understand, even if we can’t. Birds do this when they chirp and sing, cats when they meow and purr, and dolphins when they click and whistle. Many of these noises translate to simple phrases like ‘I’m hungry’, ‘I’m angry’, ‘feed me’ and ‘leave me alone’. But some may be quite complex: dolphins chatter to each other constantly as they play, and seem to give each other instructions when they hunt fish together in groups.

Other animals use signals and sign language to talk to each other. Bees do a complicated dance to tell other bees in which direction to go to find food. To us, it just looks like a figure of eight with a bum-waggle in the middle. But, if the bee ‘draws’ the eight upright, it means ‘head towards the Sun’; if it draws it at an angle, that tells the other bees what angle from the Sun they should head away from the hive at. (So, for example, an eight on its side would mean ‘head off at 90° to the sun’). A gorilla leading a troop through the forest will do a similar thing – by thumping two trees, one after the other. The line between the two trees tells the other gorillas which way they’re headed for the day, and they all understand at once.

Not bad. But that’s not real sign language is it? It’s still just giving directions. What about words and sentences?
Scientists have managed to teach a few chimpanzees some basic, human-style, sign language. But they can only do a few words, and don’t seem good at putting sentences together. It may be that only humans have evolved the bits of brain that deal with making and understanding whole sentences.

Or it could be that animal sentences just look different.

How d’you mean?
Well dolphins and whales have pretty complex brains, too, and we still don’t understand what all their clicks and whistles mean, so they could be talking in full sentences for all we know. Some types of octopus and squid might even be able to do it. Some cuttlefish can hold ‘conversations’ with up to four friends at once, by using different sides of their bodies to make patterns of light and colour 21 – patterns that change so fast we can hardly see them. Could be a lot going on there.

Will we ever be able to understand them?
Maybe, one day. It’s possible that, in the future, we’ll have computers so powerful that they’ll be able to decode the dolphin clicks – even translate Cuttlefish into English.

Crazy. I wonder what they’ll say?
Maybe something like: ‘Do you mind? I wasn’t talking to you...’
(http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/)

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