Nature

Yes, the Great Dane is the tallest dog breed in the world.

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A baby Coyote is called a whelp. A baby Eel is called an elver. A baby Kangaroo is called Joey… no, sorry… A joey. And a baby Goat is a kid… And it’s called a kid.

March 2, 2023August 28, 2020 by Unfakely

Puppets and their names

A baby Coyote is called a whelp. A baby Eel is called an elver. A baby Kangaroo is called Joey… no, sorry… A joey. And a baby Goat is a kid… And it’s called a kid.

Common names for baby animals.

This is going to be a little different from the usual article arrangement. It’s a yes right away. Yes, as in the names above are correct. An immediate spoiler. But then again, maybe it isn’t anything to argue about. The baby animal names are what they are. Peace.

So instead of reasoning and trying to go through a logical evaluation of all the proofs for or against, I will just list the different animals and the names of their cubs… And their kits, pups, whelps, fawns, calves, and all the others.

Here we go…

Calf

The cow’s baby is called a calf, and this is what etymonline has to say about the word:

Old English cealf (Anglian cælf) “young cow,” from Proto-Germanic *kalbam …, perhaps from PIE *gelb(h)-, from root *gel- “to swell,” hence, “womb, fetus, young of an animal.”

But the name, calf is quite common for many other animals, all within the vegetarian animal sphere. No predators have younglings that are called calves.

Camels
Elephants
Giraffes
Hippopotamuses
Deer
Moose, Elks
Rhinoceroses

These are all big grass-eaters. But the term calf is interestingly also used for water mammals, such as:

Whales
Dolphins
Walruses
Other larger Seals

Pup

Pup, or puppy, is the name of a young dog. Pup is actually the shortened form, and puppy is the original. Those small, helpless, unbearably cute little fur-balls that roll around the house, a few weeks after their mother has given birth. They are all pups, and it couldn’t be a more suitable name. So, let’s go to the list of all the other animals who have children named pups:

Agoutis
Anteaters
Armadillos

Bats
Coyote (Actually their children are also called whelps, just like the question in the introduction)
Gerbils
Guinea pigs
Hamsters
Moles
Prarie dog
Wolves (They too can be named whelps)

And this category has some water-living creatures too namely:

Seals
Sharks

It’s not as well defined as with calves. Pup is a more general name and on the list are many different kinds of animals.

Giving names to baby animals is sometimes quite random and illogical. It is also depending on factors that come with a tradition. And traditions are old and strange, and they deal with things that are important to the farming society, and close to a farmer’s everyday life. So most of the farm animals have their specific names. Even names that are different for various stages in the youngster’s development. As well as different names for the adults,

While animals further away from the farmhouse have to cope with more general names like hatchling or cub.

Chick

Next on the list of our names of baby animals, is chick: Its origin is probably chicken but it’s cut off to make it shorter and cuter. Chick is also a way to nominate a young woman, preferably good-looking. This meaning of the word came into use in the 20th century, but long before that “chick” could be used as a synonym for a child, of both sexes. Apart from young hens, the term is used for many other youngsters in the Aves class, i.e. birds. But it’s an exclusive name for the babies of birds. no other animal’s children are called chicks. Here’s the list:

Chickens (…of course. Also Pullet for a young hen and Cockrell for a young rooster)
Crows
Falcons
Finches
Larks
Nightingales
Parrots
Ostriches
Penguins

… And many others.

Fledgling, indicates the young bird when it has full-grown wings and is ready to fly. Insects can be fledglings too.

Fledgling also has the transferred meaning of inexperienced, amateur, just like the bird who tries his wings for the first time.

Nestling is consequently a bird before it becomes a Fledgling.

Swimming birds often have their own names. Their babies are often associated with the name of their species:

Species – Baby

Swans – Cygnet (Cygnus is the Latin word for swan.)
Peacocks – Peachick (Sort of logical…)
Owls – Owlet
Ducks – Duckling
Mallards – Duckling (Well it looks like a duck… Kind of.)
Gooses – Gosling

Other bird names

Species – Baby

Hawks – Eyas
Partridges – Cheeper
Turkeys – Poult

Hatchling

When an egg hatches the normal name to give to whoever comes out of it, would be hatchling. And hatchling can be used for birds, fishes, amphibians, and a small group of mammals, only found in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. but is most commonly used for repìtiles.

Turtles
Crocodiles
Lizards
Snakes (…If they are hatched from an egg. If they are born as live offspring they are called Neonates.)

Cub

Cub is another of the more general names for animals’ kids. Interestingly this is what etymonline writes about it:

1520s, cubbe “young fox,” of unknown origin.

Nowadays the fox cub is sometimes referred to as kit or even pup. Cub is generally used for fury, large predators. Check it out:

Foxes (but they’re also called Kit or Pup.)
Bears
Lions
Tigers
Badgers (but they can also be called Kit.)
Hyenas
Leopards
Pandas
Raccoons

Joey

This is a cool name for baby animals. Joey, like a cup of coffee… It could be of native Australian origin but is more likely coming from the word Joey as a diminutive of Joseph, meaning anything that’s young and small. Possibly referring to the British politician Joseph Hume.

Joeys are mostly found in Australia and they are all marsupials:

Kangaroos
Wallabies
Wombats
Tasmanian Devils
Opossums
Koalas

Kit

A shortened form of Kitten, meaning small. It normally refers to a young or undersized fury animal.

Foxes (Also cub and pup)
Badgers (Also cub)
Squirrels
Skunks
Muskrats
Ferrets

Whelp

The word whelp is very old and is of Germanic origin. It was the typical name for a young dog, as well as other animals in that family. The German word for puppet is welpe. Nowadays it is mostly replaced by pup or puppet. But the kids of the wild dogs are sometimes called whelps:

Dogs (less common)
Wolves
Cayotes
Hyenas (even though they’re not dogs but cats)

Baby, Infant

Now, over to the animals that are so close to us that they got our names for their kids. The various species of monkeys, from the small tree-living species to the big primates have offsprings that are called just like our kids… Yeah, they’re called babies or infants.

Nymph, larva, nit, egg, and pupa

Here we are talking about insects, spiders, and centipedes e.g. Arthropods. About 80% of all animals are in this group. And all these very small creatures have their own different strategy to multiply and reproduce. Most of these strategies involve an egg and some sort of transformation. Some insects go through many phases before they become the final, flying queen, the butterfly, which is more or less the only part of its life that is appreciated by us humans. It can be egg – larva – pupa – butterfly in that sequence.

Others are eggs, and then they become nymphs, and finally full-grown insects without passing the pupa phase. They often still have to change the shell as they grow. And maybe they also have slow and active phases where they grow and change respectively.

In short, there are many ways to do this.

Love strategy

And the names are correspondingly illustrative. The egg is the first round ball, the egg. The larva is the long crawling thingy that eats our crop and kills our trees. This is the eating phase. Then it turns into a pupa. The pupa doesn’t eat anything. It just transforms. The last phase is the flying insect. This phase is all about reproduction. And that’s why it flies… And that’s why some of them don’t live very long. It just has to find a partner, lay the eggs, and that’s that.

(… To think that for us it can take 10 or 20 years to find the right one…. And some people never do.)

Getting back to the insects and spiders… They’re all called what they are in that special phase of their life: Larva, nymph, egg, insect, etc. There is no individual nomination. It’s the same word for all… An egg is an egg.

Although Oysters have Spats, and Jellyfishes have Ephyrae.

Other strange baby animal names.

Species – Baby

Pigeon – Squab
Llama – Cria
Elephant Seal – Weaner
Hare – Leveret
Rabbit – Bunny

and of course, the cutest of them all:

Cat – Kitten

And finally, the names of the baby animals on a farm.

Piglet

Not very difficult, at least not if you’ve read Winnie the Pooh. It’s the Pig’s baby.

Pigs
Boars

But they can also be called a shoat or a farrow.

Foal

Foal is the name of the Horse’s offspring. Zebras, Asses, and other horse-like animals can also call their cubs, foal. Just like I reasoned before about the farm animals having much more and precise names, the horse’s small ones can be called stat, stag, youngster, yearling, or hogget… As well as colt if it’s a male and filly if it’s a female.

Lamb

That’s the sheep’s kid.

Kid

Yep, the Goat’s offspring is called Kid. Its origin is Old Norse, kið, meaning young goat. A grown male, intact goat is called a Billy…

I see a funny combination of these two names…

… And the fish babies, what are they called?

Just like insects and spiders, the fishes go through various stadiums before they reach adulthood. These are normally egg, larva, fry, and fingerling. The egg is an egg. The larva is when the fish is hatched but can not eat. Fry is when it eats by itself, and fingerling when it has developed working fins and scales and practically is ready to swim away.

That is, as long as it’s not an eel. In that case, it’s called Elver.

https://youtu.be/kXmqwRj0o4E

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Conclusion

Yes, a baby Coyote is called a whelp. A baby Eel is called an elver. A baby Kangaroo is called a joey. And a baby Goat is called a kid.

Many people do not agree about these names though, and there are many local variations as well as generational differences. The discussion about the correct nomination of the smallest members of our world continues… Sometimes very vividly…

Here’s more on the same subject…

sources

Do dogs have sweat glands on the tongue? Is it the evaporating sweat that cools the dog?

October 4, 2022August 3, 2020 by Unfakely

Do dogs have sweat glands on the tongue? Is it the evaporating sweat that cools the dog?

How does a dog keep its cool?

Do dogs sweat? The dog is completely covered with fur. That is one of the things that make it so cuddly and cute. Well, there are hairless dog breeds. In fact, at this time there are three recognized dog breeds without fur: The Chinese Crested Dog, the Xoloitzcuintli, and the Peruvian Inca Orchid. But all the rest have fur… Long, short, curly, straight, and wire-haired.

Fur can keep the cold out. But it can also keep the heat out. But if you opt for sweating as a way to control your body heat, you will inevitably run into problems. When your whole body is covered with hair, you will have to invent something else. So, dogs use practically two cooling systems. One is under the paws and the other is in the mouth.

Do dogs sweat?

The cooling system under the paws is much like ours. The dogs do sweat, and the sweat evaporates. To evaporate it absorbs energy from the skin, and the temperature decreases. Exactly the same as with us humans. But the paws of a dog are small and insufficient and they are not enough to regulate the body temperature.

The second way is to pant. And here we have the myth about them sweating through their tongue. No, dogs don’t sweat through the tongue. There is no need for it. On the tongue and in the mouth there is quite enough moisture to function as an evaporator, exactly as the sweating system. And the effect is exactly the same.

If you notice the dog opening its mouth, it’s beginning to feel hot. As the temperature rises, it will start panting, faster and faster until it’s pushing and pulling like a steam engine. At this point, the moisture has become rivers of saliva and it can be quite a sloppy experience, at least with certain dog breeds.

Dogs can suffer badly from overheating though.

These systems are not as efficient as our whole-body-sweating plant, though. A dog can suffer badly from overheating. They can even die from too much heat. The classical and very tragic cases are dogs left in cars. Many people do not realize that the inside of a car can reach 60-70° celsius ( 140-160* Fahrenheit) on a hot summer day. Even after 10 minutes, the dog can start showing symptoms of overheating and dehydration. And it can die from a heart attack if time is prolonged and the dog isn’t assisted.

The problem here is often that the driver doesn’t remember about the dog. If you absolutely have to leave your dog in the car, the rules are:

Park in the shadow
Lower the windows
Limit the time the dog is alone in the car
Leave a bowl of water for your friend

The summer can be a hard time for a dog. And if the temperature is tropical, and the heat is unbearable, even our four-legged friend needs some attention in the hot season. Avoid long walks and if you still have to go, plan for plenty of rest. No running, plenty of shadow and lots of water to drink and to play in.

But what about the other animals?

Every child of mother nature has its own strategy. Many animals are poikilotherm and they skip this problem more or less altogether, as their body heat adapts to the surrounding temperature. These are most reptiles, insects, fish, spiders, snails, amphibians, and others. Actually, most animals on earth are poikilotherm.

Among homeotherms, the animals who maintain a constant or close to constant temperature inside, no matter the temperature of the environment, there are various ways to affront the temperature problem.

Dogs do not sweat very much, but other animals do.

Primates have sweat glands all over the body, just like we do… And horses. If you’ve ever seen a horse after a race, you know what I’m talking about. It’s all wet.

Pigs roll in the mud. The water in the mud evaporates and cools the skin. After that, the hard mud protects against the hot sun. Hippos do the same and they also emit a red-orange secret to protect the skin against the ultraviolet rays of the sun. That’s another myth… Hippos don’t sweat blood. It just looks that way.

If you don’t sweat and don’t have water, you can use other wet substances. Feces, urine, saliva… Well, it’s gross but still true. Some birds use a mixture of urine and feces on their legs to cool them off.

Many other birds have very superficial blood vessels on their legs and they can cool the blood by flying or standing in water.

Kangaroos have superficial blood vessels on their arms. When it gets hot, they simply lick their forearms and let the sun evaporate the saliva. (That’s a good trick even for us. Put your pulse under running cold water and you will immediately feel relieved.)

Some dessert dwellers have very big ears. Cooling the blood through vessels just under the skin is good economy in an environment where there is no water.

… And stay in the shade.

Apart from all the interior tricks, we still have the classical wind, water, and shade. Jumping into the cold water on a hot summer day is a bliss. And resting in the shades of the Acacia tree on the Savannah is a good way to keep cool… As is getting up on the hillside where it’s windy.

Then, of course, a good air conditioner…D

Conclusion

No, dogs do not sweat through the tongue. But they pant and the panting creates a heavy current of air, the saliva evaporates and cools the dog.

sources

Do dogs sweat Do dogs sweat Do dogs sweat Do dogs sweat Do dogs sweat

Is the naked mole-rat an animal that actually never dies? An immortal being, just like Wolverine?

October 5, 2022May 2, 2020 by Unfakely

Is the naked mole-rat an animal that actually never dies? An immortal being, just like Wolverine?

The naked mole-rat

The naked mole rat lifespan is eternal. Not that it lives forever, but it seems to age very slowly, if it ages at all. Almost blind, and tube-formed… The Heterocephalus glaber, is an animal so strange that it defies the very laws of nature. It’s objectively hideous, but it’s a creature with a multitude of extraordinary features, a wonder of God’s creation.

They live in the horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Kenya, in dry, desert-like biotopes. There they dig tunnels underground. A single network can reach out as long as 3 miles (5 km). They eat tubers and they reap them from underground, so there’s no need to ever stick the head up in the sunlight. They are small, about 3 – 4“ (10 cm) long, and weigh about 35 grams. And the body is perfectly tubular. Suited to life in a tube.

A naked mole-rat

Their family life is also out of the ordinary. Just like bees and ants, there is just one female that reproduces. To help her with fecundation she has a few male rats at her side. All the others are workers for the benefit of the cluster. The females are reproductively suppressed. Their ovaries are not fully mature. Should the Queen die, another of the females, normally the biggest and strongest, becomes Queen and develop sexual functions. This is called eusociality, and this hairless mole rat is the only mammal on earth, that has this behavior.

The new Queen, after the coronation, slowly becomes bigger. But only in length. Growing in girth would make her stick in the tunnels. Gestation is about 70 days. After birth, the Queen feeds the youngsters for 30 days. Then they have to rely on other nutriments… They eat feces until they’re big enough to eat solid food… it’s a way to economize resources.

Actually, also the adults eat feces, and it has a very special purpose. Tubers are hard to digest. Eating poop serves as a second digestion system, a bit like the cows and their four stomachs.

All the weird things that this extraordinary little buddy does.

naked mole rat lifespan — Courtesy of Larry Koester

Here’s a list of all the strange qualities these extraordinary naked mole-rats have:

They are not really hairless. They actually have a few almost invisible hairs that help them to feel the surroundings inside the tunnel.
Their skin lacks neurotransmitters. That means that they don’t feel pain from acids. The skin is also extremely elastic.
They are poikilothermic, meaning that their body temperature adapts to the surrounding environment. But if the surrounding temperature rises over 92° F (28°C), a homeothermic cooling system kicks in to avoid too high body temperature. This is very rare among mammals.
They can run as fast backward as forwards.
One-quarter of the total muscle mass consists of the jaw muscles.
The teeth can move independently of each other. And the lips close behind the teeth. This is so that earth doesn’t enter the mouth when digging.
They sleep in any position, even belly up, upside down.
They are extremely resistant to foul air. They can live for hours in air with so low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels, that it would be lethal to other mammals. It survives a considerable time even with no oxygen, using fructose in an anaerobic glycolysis process. It’s not fully understood how this is done.

And what about their immortality? Is that really true?

Apart from all the rest, the most astonishing fact is the incredible naked mole rat lifespan. They have an almost magical longevity. The naked mole-rat can live for more than 30 years. Compared to 3 years for a mouse, and 6 years as the expected life-length considering its size. Furthermore, it has no higher risk of death as the years go by. All other animals are more likely to die the older they get. And that is from any cause… Falling, starving, biting, etc. We just die easier with age.

But the naked mole-rat seems to be as fit and vital at 30 as it is at 2. It still catches diseases, fights with others, gets eaten, and suffers from all other kinds of disasters. But the chance of one particular hairless rat dying is the same if he’s 3 or 30 years old. It doesn’t matter.

Researchers have studied this phenomenon in search of some crucial detail, the reason why, something that could be applied to humans, and make us live forever.

It’s still debated, but it is believed that it has to do with its ability to reduce its metabolism when needed. And doing so, the damage from stress is prevented. Instead of hysterically trying to survive they simply shut down and wait…

And the cancer immunity?

This marvelous hairless mole rat is resistant to cancer too, although it’s believed that it’s not completely immune. The reason for this could be three-fold.

Living organisms have over-crowding genes. If a tumor starts its uncontrolled cell proliferation, this gene stops cellular reproduction if it gets too crowded. That way, the tumor cells can’t continue to grow. This is a very important resistance mechanism to cancer. The hairless rat has two of those genes, the p16, and the p27, and therefore a double barrier.
It has ribosomes that are able to produce perfect or close to perfect proteins, and thus less prone to mutations.
It produces something called high molecular weight hyaluronan (HA). The theory is that these high levels of HA accumulate in the skin, to help it keep elastic. As a side effect, it also prevents cancer.

Conclusion

The naked mole-rat does get old. But age has no or very little impact on its physical well-being and therefore on its resistance to body failure. If it gets seriously sick, it will die. It will also die from cold, from heat, from bites, or from any other normal damage. In that way, it’s not like the Wolverine.

But the possibility that an individual dies doesn’t increase with age. It seems that a very old naked mole-rat is physically as strong and fit as a young one. They are therefore the most long-lived rodent on earth. These hairless rats live for at least 30 years. And the maximum life span isn’t known since they don’t die from old age only.

So, although it’s not immortal, it seems to be immune to aging.

No, the naked mole-rat is not immortal like Wolverine. And it doesn’t have instant healing powers, but it doesn’t get old as we do. It seems it stays young, if not forever, at least for very long.

Watch this video on YouTube

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naked mole rat lifespan naked mole rat lifespan naked mole rat lifespan naked mole rat lifespan

Which is the largest living organism on earth? Could it be a mushroom?

October 5, 2022April 28, 2020 by Unfakely

Which is the largest living organism on earth? Could it be a mushroom?

How do you measure large?

When searching for the largest organism on earth, there are many ways to determine various aspects of the living thing you explore. And we need to agree on what it means.

It has to be living.
It has to be one, single organism
It has to be large.

So, first, let’s determine large.

you have mass, the weight. Something heavier is bigger than something lighter. But a living agent can be very dense or it can be fluffy. Birds are all lighter than land animals. Their volume can be bigger. An adult Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle typically is 25 “ in length (63 cm) and weighs 90 lbs (40 kg). A large Bald Eagle can be 35” in height and have a wingspan of 8 feet (2,44 meters). Still, it only weighs 15 lbs (7 kg). Which is bigger?

Then, you have to decide what distance to measure. A Rottweiler dog is about as big as a Reticulated python, if big is the same as heavy. The python can be over 6 meters in length (20 feet). So, which is bigger?

largest organism on erath — Courtesy of Andy Morffew

What is a living organism?

A living organism normally consists of millions of cells of different kinds, working together for the benefit of the total life form. But when do different parts of one single agent become more than one organism?

If you cut down a tree and from the trunk, new shoots eventually become many new trees. Are those one or many?

Sea Anemones can host Algae. It is those who give the anemone its color. The Algae enters the animal and lives in symbiosis with it. Researchers have found that if there are Algae present, the anemone moves towards the light.

Is it one animal? Or is it two? Or many?

Is an anthill one or many? One ant can’t reproduce and it can’t survive for long.

The largest living organism on earth.

So, the largest organism on earth can be many, depending on how you define large.

The heaviest animal is the Blue Whale. It can reach a length of 98 feet (30 meters) and a weight of 173 metric tons.
The longest animal is the Lion’s Mane Jellyfish measuring 112 feet (34 meters).
The biggest single plant is the Giant Sequoias tree. And of those, General Sherman is regarded as the biggest (they have names…). It is 275 feet (84 meters) high, 32,7 feet (10 meters) in diameter, and has a volume of 52.508 cu ft (1.486 m3).
The biggest plant having the same root is Pando. It is a colony of one single individual of the Quaking Aspen covering 106 acres (43 hectares) in Fishlake National Forest, Utah, USA.

The largest living organism on earth is a mushroom.

The largest organism on earth is a fungus of the species Armillaria. That is if we calculate the surface it covers. It could also be the heaviest living thing on earth… Or maybe I should say, in earth.

The small, round things we pick in the forest and put in the stew, are actually just the reproductive structure of the fungus, the fruit. The mycelium of the living organism is underneath our feet, in the ground. There it spreads out and depending on the type of fungus, it can be big or small.

This particular mushroom, Armillaria Ostoyae, forms a big mycelium… Enormous. In Malheur National Forest in Oregon, USA, there is one that covers an area of 3.4 square miles (8.8 km2). That would be the biggest living organism on earth. It could also be the heaviest with a weight of over 30.000 metric tons.

These are all estimates though. As we can’t examine its extension down there. We actually do not even know if it’s one single fungus, with all parts of the mycelium connected. But if it is, then the Armillaria Ostoyae is by far the largest organism on earth…

And it’s scary. All mushrooms feed on decayed organic matter. Some fungi, instead of feeding on what’s already dead, kill. In that way, they have a constant flow of nutrition that never runs out. And that’s why they can become so big.

They infect the trees with white rot, then they eat them, slowly. Mycelial cords – white long tentacles run from one root to another. It’s like a horror movie.

Fortunately, they don’t attack humans… Not for now.

conclusion

If you define large as volume, and you define volume simply as the distance from one point to another. Not measuring the density of the organism within its spread, then the honey fungus of the species Armillaria Ostoyae in Malheur National Forest in Oregon, USA is the biggest living thing on the planet.

Yes, the largest living thing on earth is a mushroom and it’s called Armillaria Ostoyae

sources

Do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?

February 28, 2023April 5, 2020 by Unfakely

Do ostriches bury their heads in the sand?

The “Ostrich head in sand” myth.

Head in sand or Putting your head in the sand supposedly comes from Ostriches’ habit to bury the head in the sand when danger occurs. But do they really do that? Isn’t that stupid? Well, birds are not always very smart, and ostriches are among the least intelligent so maybe they really could do something that irrational. But first, let’s look at the nature of this amazing bird.

The Ostrich

The Ostrich is the largest bird on the planet. It can weigh up to 350 pounds and reach up to 9 feet in height. It’s also one of the oldest bird species still around today. Ostrich-like birds existed already 60 million years ago.

The various Ostrich species live in Africa, north, and south of the Equatorial rainforest area, where they occur in a wide range of different open habitats.

It’s a very powerful animal adapted to life on the large open spaces of the African Savanna. Its strong and muscular legs can run at a maximum of 43 mph (70 km/h). It can keep a slower pace of 30 mph (50km/h) for hours.

Ostriches actually don’t need to bury their head in the sand.

The Ostrich is in no way defenseless. The big predators of the African continent are a constant threat to the grasseaters. Every Gnu, Gazelle, or Antilope needs to have a defense strategy, and the Ostrich is no exception.

ostrich head in sand — Courtesy of Jason Rojas

First of all, it can run. It has extremely good eyesight so it spots the enemy from kilometers away. And even though it can’t outrun a cheetah or even a lion, its extraordinary stamina makes it difficult prey for wild dogs and hyenas.

Then if it is caught, it still has a fair chance to get a kick in from its powerful legs. The two-toed foot is equipped with a 4-inch long claw. A kick from an ostrich can kill a lion.

The Ostrich buries its head in the sand – What does it mean?

To bury the head in the sand is an expression that comes from the ostrich’s supposed habit of just sticking the head into the ground if danger approaches. It’s sometimes attached to an idea that the ostrich connects what it sees with what the seeing agent sees. “If I don’t see the Lion, the lion doesn’t see me”.

The metaphoric meaning is someone who avoids confrontation or even avoids doing anything when facing a problem. Sticking your head in the sand is not being able to face reality… Pretending that the issue isn’t there. It is an attribute for not acting at all when some sort of intervening is necessary… To hide and not face the obstacle or the difficulty.

Why is the myth about ostriches false?

The whole idea from a naturalistic, self-preservation point of view is absolute nonsense. To be able to stick the head into the ground, it would have to be soft soil, desert sand, runny, and dry. The African savannah is hard and flat, and burying anything is difficult and time-consuming. It’s not for defense. Then, if you stick your head under the ground, you’re left without vision and without mobility, as well as without air. It would be an utterly stupid thing to do.

Where does the “ostrich head in sand” myth come from?

The myth could originate from Ostrich’s defense behavior in certain situations. During the mating season, the male makes a shallow pit on the ground. He then tries to attract the females to lay their eggs there. The alpha male and alpha female incubate the eggs for around 40 days.

They have to turn the eggs periodically, and often they keep adjusting and moving the eggs around. From a distance, as the ostrich stands in a shallow pit, it can seem like the head is under the sand.

What does the ostrich do if he’s attacked during nesting?

If attacked during this period the Ostrich may just lie down in the nest instead of running away, to protect the eggs. Stretching the head and neck as close as possible to the bottom of the nest could give the illusion that he/she is actually hiding the head in the sand.

Another plausible explanation for the “head in the sand” phenomenon could be that the head of the Ostrich is very small, compared to the body. It would be enough that the huge bird eats something from the ground, and it could easily seem like it’s sticking its head down into the soil.

Still, Ostriches do have some strange features.

As said before, the Ostrich is not very bright. The brain is as big as a walnut. And they can be quite aggressive and establish territory. That is good to know if you would try to keep them at your farm. So, if you have to face the ostrich and approach it for any reason, bring a broom or a rake or anything else that is long. Keep it straight up and the Ostrich will think that you’re taller than him and leave you in peace.

Conclusion

No, Ostriches do not stick their heads in the sand if danger occurs. Though not very intelligent birds, they’re not that stupid.