00:00Listen to this. Peacocks are visitors to space.
00:04This is how it would have happened.
00:06Peacock eggs kept in space ice would one day have crashed on Earth.
00:12They would then have mixed their genetic information with those that already existed on our planet.
00:17And there you have it. Peacocks were born.
00:21It may be exaggerated to claim that very intelligent peacocks are extraterrestrial beings.
00:28But the idea is based on a theory that has existed since ancient Greece,
00:32known as Panspermia.
00:35Panspermia is a hypothesis that says that life exists everywhere in the universe,
00:40and not just on planets.
00:42Thus, space dust, asteroids, and even spacecraft,
00:46all carry a little life to their surface.
00:49And as they cross the galaxy, they spread life.
00:53This current of thought has caused controversy,
00:56because it goes against the idea that all life is born here, on our planet.
01:01But if this new theory of the peacock is interesting,
01:04it does not bring much to the search for life on other planets.
01:08It is too hypothetical.
01:13Peacocks are actually incredibly old.
01:16The oldest known fossil belongs to an animal that lived about 300 million years ago.
01:21Let's be clear that it was before our friends the dinosaurs traveled to planet Earth.
01:25And that's not all.
01:27The arms of the peacocks each have their brains.
01:30Indeed, two-thirds of their neurons are in their arms, and not in their heads.
01:35This means that their arms can solve the problem of opening a shell
01:39while their owner takes care of something else.
01:43Multitasking at the ninja level.
01:45In addition, like chimpanzees and dolphins,
01:48peacocks are able to maneuver tools,
01:51for example by picking up old shells and using them as a shelter.
01:56Of course, humans are the most intelligent animals.
01:59This is their opinion.
02:02But let's not give enough credit to pigs.
02:05Pigs are super smart.
02:07They can even play video games.
02:09No, not Minecraft.
02:11As part of a university study,
02:13scientists asked four pigs to play with a joystick.
02:17They had to manipulate it so that a moving ball reached a wall.
02:21And then they were given a treat.
02:23The pigs did very well on the test, to the surprise of the scientists.
02:27The pigeons also did an impressive test.
02:30They were trained to differentiate a Picasso painting from a Monet painting,
02:34which did not cause them any problems.
02:36They were then able to apply their knowledge
02:39by identifying works of art that they had never seen before.
02:43This means that they really understood the difference between each painter.
02:47And to say that they are always considered as parasites.
02:51If kangaroos were placed in a contest of the most amazing aptitude of an animal,
02:55they would win.
02:57Mainly because they break the rule of the four legs.
03:00A particular species of kangaroo, the kangaroo wheel,
03:03uses its tail to propel forward.
03:06It has four limbs, but in practice it uses five.
03:10Kangaroos naturally use their tails as a fifth limb,
03:14because it is made up of jointed vertebrae and muscles.
03:18Of course, it had to be an Australian animal.
03:23Joke aside, Australia houses a unique variety of animals,
03:28like the most venomous snake in the world.
03:30This not-so-cute reptile is known as the Taipan of the desert,
03:34and its venom would kill a hundred adults.
03:38Still in the field of dangerous animals,
03:40the continent also houses one of the most venomous spiders in the world,
03:44the black-winged spider.
03:47It is found not far from the city center of Sydney.
03:49Ouch!
03:51The little mermaid may have shown us that it is good to live under the sea,
03:55but she did not say anything about the strange bites of the boar.
03:59Boars are fish with a huge nose in the shape of a whip
04:03connected to the frontal part of their body.
04:06It looks like they always wear a lantern in front of them,
04:09except that the light of this little lantern is a bioluminescence.
04:13And it is far from romantic,
04:15because boars use it to attract smaller fish and feed them.
04:23It was in 1999 that scientists discovered that these little beings
04:27spent most of their lives upside down.
04:30They had never seen anything like it.
04:32They hovered above the bottom of the Pacific Ocean,
04:35at a depth of about 5,000 meters,
04:37where there is almost no light.
04:39They do this because, as they live near the bottom of the ocean,
04:42their integrated lanterns illuminate the ground when they are looking for food.
04:46They may be weird, but rather cunning.
04:50Recently, scientists have discovered an animal species
04:53that has neither a brain nor a head,
04:55and yet it is very intelligent.
04:57It is called the offure.
04:59This five-armed creature is a real pack of nerves.
05:03During an experiment,
05:05researchers reduced the light at the time of feeding offures
05:08with their favorite snack, delicious shrimps.
05:11After 10 months of conditioning,
05:13these creatures came out of their hiding place
05:15as soon as the scientists turned off the light in the room.
05:19They hoped to taste a good meal.
05:21We should not judge a brain by its size.
05:24Or, in this case, by its absence.
05:28There is a phenomenon known as the behavior of the orange cat.
05:32And apparently, it is not a simple meme.
05:35So far, scientists have been able to understand
05:38that the color of the fur is related to the sex of the feline.
05:41And since the orange is a chromosome X,
05:43orange cats are usually males, like Garfield.
05:47The behavior of the orange cat
05:49describes the red cats as agents of chaos.
05:52Again, it's a bit like Garfield.
05:54But no conclusive study has been carried out
05:56to find out if these two things are really related.
05:59In terms of vision,
06:01mantis shrimp probably have the most psychedelic vision of all animals.
06:05These funny-looking creatures have 16 varieties of photoreceptors,
06:09five of which are reserved for the ultraviolet or UV spectrum.
06:17Ultraviolet rays have very short wavelengths,
06:20invisible to humans.
06:22What science still does not understand
06:24is how these mantis shrimp perceive the world around them.
06:27Of course, they can perceive a large number of colors,
06:30but they cannot necessarily distinguish all these colors from each other.
06:34It is possible that they simply see
06:36a large number of very vivid and very blurry colors.
06:39But we have not yet found a way to verify it.
06:42To say that lazy people are cute is an euphemism.
06:45They may be the nicest animals in the jungle,
06:48but that's not all.
06:50If you look closely at their fur,
06:52you will notice green spots.
06:54These green spots are actually tiny algae.
06:57They allow these animals to better camouflage in the jungle,
07:01but they also feed them.
07:03The small cracks in the fur of the lazy people
07:06are a perfect environment for these algae.
07:09And scientists have discovered species of algae
07:11that do not exist anywhere else.
07:13Here are some examples.
07:15In the heart of the Sahara desert,
07:17you will find a small creature known as fennec.
07:20This big-eared animal is perfectly adapted
07:23to survive in its hostile environment.
07:26Its ears help it to dissipate the unbearable heat of the desert
07:30and to hunt underground prey.
07:32Look at this handsome boy.
07:34Contrary to what his name might suggest,
07:37he is a very cute creature.
07:39He is a very cute creature.
07:41Look at this handsome boy.
07:43Contrary to what his name might suggest,
07:45the panda bear is closer to the raccoon than the giant panda.
07:49You will find a large number of these creatures
07:51the size of a cat in the region of the Himalayas.
07:53They jump from tree to tree
07:55and fight each other
07:57to warm up in this very rigorous climate.
08:00They are sweet and friendly like their cousins the pandas
08:03and they love bamboo.
08:06And then there are the bees.
08:08Compared to that of humans,
08:10the brain of bees is the size of a pinhead.
08:13However, they are capable of amazing things.
08:17Let's suppose that a bee runs out of energy after a long flight.
08:21This bee desperately needs a drop of honey.
08:24But, clever as it is,
08:26it does not need to go back to the hive.
08:28It can ask this drop to one of its companions
08:31and continue to fly.
08:33This type of decentralized system
08:35allows them to build very efficient societies.
08:38A society in which bees do not need to queue in front of the alveoli, for example?
08:43Oh yes!
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