Dinosaurs like stegosaurus and ankylosaurus had spikes or clubs on their tails to deter predators, are there any modern animals that use their tails in a similar way? I feel like there ought to be but I can't think of any.

I’ve heard lions might use theirs for signaling but I can’t find much information on why other animals would have them, like jerboas.

We know that birds that cache their food tend to have larger hippocampi than those that do not. Do we know if animals that build their homes (such as burrowing animals, those that create lodges, etc.) have any sort of psychological "superiority" over those that do not?

Looking for reference photos of pincers, I noticed that in scorpions, the "hinged" half of the claw would be on the bottom, pinching up into the static claw, while in crabs it was the opposite. The top claw being mobile and pinching down onto the static claw.

Does anyone know why that is, or if there even is an evolutionary reason for the different construction of these two kind of arthropod pincers?

Hi everyone I come here seeking some advice.

I have a major fear of bats despite knowing they are generally harmless and good for our ecosystem.

I live in Florida, On Saturday night 3/18/23 I was walking my dog in the dark (pitch black). And while walking facing forward I heard a loud whirring/buzzing similar to a bee or hummingbird noise behing me and whatever it was was big enough to move my hair. Of course the first place my mind goes to is bat and rabies.

In my frantic internet searching all I could come across are cheesy bat screeches and flapping cuts from Halloween sound tracks. But what do bats actually sound like in flight? I know there's a colony in my neighborhood as I watch them hunt (from inside my home) at dusk. I read an article about a buzzing bat but they live in Europe.

I guess I just need some reassurance since when I called the health department about it they said if I can't identify an animal/source I don't need any rabies treatments. But how can one identify something behind you. Anyway. Thanks for your time!

I'd like to hear from other amateur (or professional?) zoologists who have theories on how animals, specifically freshwater fish, have made it across the ocean, who evolved after the continents divided. I have my own theories, what are some of yours?

I was driving home from work, it’s been nice weather. I had my window down going 55 on a country type highway. I literally was just chilling listening to the radio and then all of a sudden I get smacked, right across the front of my face. I looked over and saw the bird still flapping around. I was stupefied that anything like that could happen. I rolled my windows down still trying not trip out I got punched in the face by this Quail. And I saw it jump to my back seat. I don’t hear anything so I am assuming it either died in my car or flew out. I pull over where I finally can at another cross road. And it was dead in my back seat. What a strange way to end my work day.

What was/is y'alls majors?

I am searching for a book about the italian flora and fauna. Any suggestion?

I'm looking for an old article about a tiger skin allegedly from Sudan but I can't find it. Spolia Zeylanica Volume 26 apparently has it but I couldn't find that volume online. Does anyone have it?

I was just thinking that, if octopuses, monkeys, elephants, and some birds are generally considered to be the most intelligent animals, what do they have in common?

I realized they can all manipulate their surroundings, birds less so but beaks seem to be a better tool for manipulating/moving things than the mouths of most other animals. I think this is especially true for the smartest types of birds, corvids, which have straighter more forcep like beaks. The rest are kind of self explanatory with tentacles, trunks, and longer digits that can grasp although not necessarily just for tool use.

I’ve tried to do research on it but can’t find anything linking the ability to interact with the physical world to intelligence, but from an evolutionary standpoint it sort of makes sense. I say this because if an organisms body is capable of manipulating the environment to improve its situation would the brain not also evolve to strengthen that advantage through logic and more complex thought?

This could be a total crackpot theory, but if there’s any further information/research about this out there or you have your own thoughts I’d love to hear it!

Since "arachnid" drives from "arachne", meaning spider, does this mean that spiders are the first of this group to be classified and so it was named after them?