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Some interesting facts about animals that you probably did not know!
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00:04When you think about it, spiders were one of nature's first true engineers.
00:09They make the toughest casters you can find on our planet.
00:12The silk spiders use to build webs is stronger than steel.
00:16They trap their prey in that web.
00:18They use it to dangle from the ceilings in our homes and haunt our dreams, too.
00:23Their silk is extremely stretchy.
00:25Considering how stretchy the silk is, plus the amount of force you need to use to break it,
00:30that combination shows the silk is so strong,
00:33it's able to take three times as much energy as Kevlar before it breaks.
00:38Now, Kevlar is a synthetic material used for tires and some other rubber products
00:43like cut-resistant gloves or flame and blast barriers.
00:46It's also a material used for sports gear.
00:49For example, it's the thing in your running shoes that helps you maximize your energy output.
00:53With Kevlar, boats are more tolerant of damage and lighter.
00:58It's extremely strong, five times stronger than steel, and lightweight at the same time.
01:04Dragline silk is an especially strong kind of spider silk.
01:07A dragline connects the spider to its web.
01:10It's something like a safety line in case a spider falls,
01:14and it needs to be strong enough to support the weight of the spider.
01:17A single strand consists of protein molecules,
01:20and they're aligned together really, really tightly.
01:23Each strand of spider silk is 1,000 times thinner than human hair.
01:28That's why you can break it so easily, even though it's really strong.
01:32But each strand is still stronger than many types of steel.
01:35You just have to get steel equally thin to truly compare it.
01:39Scientists believe that if we could make dragline silk,
01:43for instance, as thick as a pencil and 18.6 miles long,
01:47we would have material so strong, we could stop a jetliner in the middle of the flight.
01:52But the passengers probably wouldn't like it.
01:55When it's windy outside, and a wind or even just a light breeze catches the spider's sturdy dragline,
02:01it catches air and turns into some kind of an open parachute.
02:05That's when the adventure starts for a spider.
02:07Its dragline bends and stretches further.
02:10That way, it can send the spider to fly very far away, and it won't break.
02:15And this way, spiders can really fly away hundreds of miles.
02:24Since spider silk is so strong, it inspired researchers to come up with new material.
02:29It's known as something called elastomer, since it's elastic like rubber.
02:34This material has a structure just like a spider web,
02:38and that's what makes it durable and allows you to evenly distribute the stress you put on it without breaking
02:43it.
02:44Just like spider silk, it's both exceptionally tough and stiff.
02:48Stiff materials can take a lot of stress before you manage to deform them,
02:52whereas tough materials can absorb a lot of energy before you break them.
02:58For instance, glass is stiff but not tough.
03:02When it comes to commercial materials, it's mostly a trade-off.
03:06With higher stiffness comes lower toughness, and vice versa.
03:10The fact this new spider silk-inspired material is high in both of these features makes it even cooler.
03:21There are more extremely hard materials we're discovering or even inventing.
03:25For example, there's a new type of glass that's harder than even diamonds.
03:30Diamonds are generally the hardest of all natural materials.
03:33But now, scientists have made a new type of carbon they named AM3.
03:39It's now the strongest and hardest amorphous material we know about.
03:43Amorphous means material doesn't really have apparent organization or shape.
03:48For example, rubber, glass, wax, and plastics.
03:51Diamonds are that strong and durable, thanks to their extremely regular structure.
03:56You'd think this new material that's even stronger than that has a structure like a diamond too.
04:02But it's actually more similar to glass.
04:04You may have heard some people believe that glass is a liquid.
04:08It's not.
04:09But we really can't put it in the category of solid materials either.
04:13It's a peculiar amorphous material.
04:15So, the molecules aren't as disorganized as in a liquid, but they're not in strict order as you'd see in
04:21a solid.
04:22AM3 conducts electricity well, but just in some cases.
04:26That means we could potentially use it to get, let's say, solar energy.
04:31This material would come in handy for bulletproof windows that are up to 100 times tougher than the technology we
04:37currently use.
04:39Mass production of this material will certainly be expensive.
04:42Plus, we'll have to wait for researchers to test it more.
04:45But this new yellow-tinted glass is definitely a material we might see a lot of sometime in the future.
04:58The next one is Wurzite boron nitride.
05:01It's quite weird.
05:02It's harder than diamond.
05:04Some studies say 18% harder, which is a lot.
05:07And it's amorphous at the same time.
05:09But the craziest part is that it's extremely rare because it forms only during volcanic eruptions.
05:22Then we have Lonsdale light.
05:24Let's say there's a meteor full of carbon that contains a bit of graphite, too.
05:29It goes through the Earth's atmosphere and eventually collides with our planet.
05:33You probably think a meteor that's falling toward us is extremely hot.
05:37But in reality, only its outer layers become hot.
05:41The interior of this object remains cool throughout most of its journey toward our planet.
05:46When this meteorite hits the surface of Earth, the pressure in its interior becomes insanely big.
05:52It's stronger than any other natural process that can affect the shape of graphite or some other material.
05:57Like, if you squeeze it or try to shape it with whichever technology you'd want,
06:02you'd still don't get a force that's as strong as the pressure that occurs during this impact.
06:08Because of this, the graphite in that meteor compresses and now has a crystalline structure.
06:14It's not like a diamond.
06:15Even better.
06:16It turns out to be 58% harder.
06:19But for now, graphite that's harder than diamond is just a scientific theory.
06:24Scientists do study some real examples of graphite and its different shapes.
06:29But they have only those that are not that pure.
06:32That means there are lots of other elements in these materials that make this material softer than diamonds.
06:38But if there was a special pure graphite meteorite heading towards our planet and striking the surface,
06:45it would, without any doubt, create material way harder than any diamond we have ever found.
06:56And how about Dyneema?
06:58It's the strongest fiber in the world, 15 times stronger than steel.
07:02It's also nearly 40% stronger than aramid fibers.
07:06For example, Kevlar used for tires, the one we mentioned before.
07:10Dyneema is lighter than water, but is still great for things like ropes and towing lines for the shipping industry.
07:16It's a great material for nets, for fishing, and safety gloves in the metalworking field, too.
07:27Now, here's something called palladium microalloy glass.
07:31As we said before, there are two very important features all materials have.
07:36The first one is strength.
07:37That's how much force some material can withstand before you manage to deform it.
07:41The second one is toughness.
07:44This stands for how much energy you need to fracture or break it.
07:48Ceramics are mostly strong, but not very tough.
07:51Elastic materials, such as rubber, can hold a lot of energy, but you can deform them relatively easy.
07:57And they're not strong.
07:59And over a decade, researchers created a new glass with a combination of five elements
08:05that ended up as a material that's stronger than all types of steel.
08:09Yep, this glass will rather deform than break.
08:12This is actually the hardest material that doesn't include carbon.
08:20And meet bucky paper.
08:22In the late 20th century, we discovered there's a specific form of carbon that, once again, is harder than diamonds.
08:29It's called carbon nanotubes.
08:31If we bind carbon into a different shape than diamond,
08:35we get a structure that's way more stable than any other we know about.
08:39And putting these carbon nanotubes together, you create bucky paper,
08:43which is basically an incredibly strong, but also very, very thin sheet.
08:48It holds just 10% of the weight of steel.
08:51But at the same time, it's hundreds of times stronger.
08:56So, in the early 2000s, a geology major went on a field trip to the world's largest open-pit coal
09:03mine in Colombia.
09:05He picked up a piece of rock and noticed impressions of some prehistoric leaves on it.
09:10Then, he found more rocks, and each of them had the same pattern.
09:14Back then, the student could hardly know that his discovery would help describe the largest snake that has ever lived
09:21on Earth.
09:22The student took his findings to a local scientist, who called up the Smithsonian Institute and invited them for a
09:29fossil hunt.
09:30He wasn't that surprised, as he knew there were fossils in the pits of Serihan.
09:35Back in 1990, another geologist found a fossil there and brought it to his office.
09:40He wasn't sure of what it was and called it a petrified branch.
09:45Years later, a paleontologist saw an image of this branch.
09:49He knew it wasn't a branch at all, but a fossilized jawbone of an animal.
09:54The scientists got so excited about the fight that he flew all the way to Colombia.
10:00He wanted to examine the fossil, but no one had the key to its glass display case.
10:05The scientists couldn't wait, so they broke the glass and confirmed that it was a fossil of an animal that
10:12lived millions of years ago.
10:14After Herrera's finding, they knew exactly there were more fossils in the area.
10:19It took the team of scientists about two years to figure out they were all a part of a giant
10:24snake and not a crocodile, as they thought because of the size.
10:29They managed to establish it by looking at the vertebrae and ribs of around 30 giant snakes.
10:35Now, you might think that fossils would get easily destroyed in an open-picked coal mine.
10:41But in fact, they were found under the coal that served as a protective layer for them.
10:46Sadly, the scientists couldn't find the titanoboas skull.
10:50Unlike jaws, which are extremely powerful thanks to their muscles, snake bones are pretty fragile.
10:57That's why they usually crumble long before the sediment can appear over them.
11:01But still, the researchers managed to find three skull fragments.
11:05Thanks to this discovery, they've made a full-scale replica of the snake's head,
11:10which supported the theory that it used to be one of the largest predators of its time.
11:15If you're starting to freak out, don't worry, so am I.
11:19They also established it was related to modern boas and anacondas.
11:23That's how titanoboa got its name.
11:26It's basically a titanic boa.
11:28The huge snake was officially described in 2009.
11:33Titanoboa was thriving around 60 million years ago,
11:376 million years after the Tyrannosaurus rex roamed the planet.
11:40Back then, it enjoyed the climate of the area in South America, which is now Colombia and Peru.
11:47It got almost as long as a bowling lane, 50 feet, or twice as long as the biggest snake living
11:53today.
11:53It was as heavy as four giant anacondas.
11:57It got this long and this heavy thanks to a lucky coincidence.
12:01Snakes are cold-blooded animals, so they need a warm client to live and grow in.
12:05Northeastern Colombia was perfect.
12:08It was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit when titanoboa was alive.
12:13Titanoboa wasn't that fast, especially on land.
12:16But it most likely spent much time in or near the water.
12:20Our hero could swim at a speed of up to 12 miles per hour.
12:24Like present-day snakes, it could wriggle around and change direction really quickly.
12:29Scientists still aren't sure if it could climb trees.
12:33Paleontologists believe that titanoboa had brownish or grayish skin.
12:37It was the perfect color for the serpent to hide in the muddy rivers of the tropical rainforests.
12:43But then again, I don't see why it would have to hide from anyone, given its size.
12:48The largest snake ever wasn't venomous, but it didn't stop it from hunting any animal it wanted.
12:55And although it could choose pretty much anything, its favorite meal was most likely fish.
13:02Scientists decided so, based on the snake's palate and the number and type of its teeth.
13:07You can't recreate the giant's diet today, as all of those fish types are also extinct.
13:13When it wanted to spice up its menu, titanoboa dined on other reptiles.
13:18It sneaked up on its prey and got them down with one quick strike.
13:23Its bite had a very special design.
13:25The structure of its jaws let titanoboa clamp down on the body of its prey, so there was no escape.
13:33Titanoboa also had a mean set of thin and pointed teeth.
13:37They bent inwards in the snake's jaw like fishing hooks.
13:40This little feature helped titanoboa get a grip on its prey and prevent the slightest chance of its running or
13:47swimming away.
13:48It could most likely easily swallow even large turtles and crocodiles.
13:52Now, all that sounds pretty scary, but we have nothing to worry about, as titanoboas are long extinct, right?
14:00Well, technically, as the temperatures on Earth are going up, it's quite possible that snakes might also grow in size.
14:09They love heat more than anything, so they should feel comfortable here.
14:13Of course, that would be a completely different snake, but it's not impossible that we'll see something similar to titanoboa.
14:21But before you think of escaping to another planet, remember that huge snakes would need something huge to eat.
14:29Such giants prefer to wrap around something huge and swallow it.
14:33Most people would be simply too small for them.
14:36So unless the huge snake was starving, I don't think it'd waste its energy on attacking anything too little.
14:43Plus, like any other snake, titanoboa had a sharp and delicate sense of smell, needing exceptional conditions, and was sensitive
14:51to vibrations.
14:53A little too smelly, too noisy, too cold, too dry or too wet.
14:57And the snake wouldn't go near this place unless absolutely desperate.
15:02So, if you live in a big city, your chances of meeting a huge snake like titanoboa are about zero.
15:09Rural areas are something different, but the only place where the giant serpent would consider living would be near the
15:15equator.
15:16We already have some pretty giant snakes in the warmest regions of the world.
15:21Amethystine python, or less poetically, scrub python, is a gentle giant.
15:26It's the largest snake in Papua New Guinea in Australia.
15:30It can grow to the enormous size of 28 feet and weigh up to 77 pounds, which is about as
15:37heavy as a dalmatian.
15:39Scrub pythons are pretty curious, sometimes slithering inside people's homes in Australia.
15:45But they're mostly harmless to humans.
15:47Their favorite food is rodents, bats, and birds that come to streams for water.
15:53Until then, pythons quietly lie in wait.
15:56They have heat centers in the pit of their muzzles.
15:58They help the pythons better see warm-blooded animals they can have for dinner.
16:04The African rock python is one of only 11 living species of its kind.
16:09It's currently the second-largest snake on the planet.
16:12This huge brown snake reaches lengths up to 20 feet and weighs about half as much as the giant panda.
16:19It's very serious about its meals, as it can catch an antelope and eat it whole.
16:24Even the cold-blooded crocodiles are afraid of this beast because it can easily eat one of their kind, too.
16:32In 1958, a zoologist found a 4-foot-long young Nile crocodile inside an African python's stomach.
16:40According to the scientist, the python said,
16:42Well, I don't know about you, but I find this whole thing hard to swallow.
16:47Actually, that's not true.
16:49Pythons can't talk, as far as we know.
16:51The reticulated python holds the record as the longest of all the living snakes in the world.
16:58The largest of these guys made it into the Guinness World Records in 2011 with a length of 25.2
17:05feet.
17:05Its name is Medusa, and it lives in a zoo in Kansas City, Missouri.
17:10An adult reticulated python is large enough to swallow a human whole.
17:15Or a whole human, either way.
17:17But these snakes are mostly quite peaceful and prefer to lie down without much movement.
17:23Although many pythons have dwarf forms that are much smaller than their full-grown cousins,
17:29reticulated pythons also have super-dwarf forms.
17:32You can keep one of those as an 8-foot-long pet.
17:35Yes, it's considered a dwarf form, although it's longer than the average human is tall.
17:41You know, somehow, I still don't find that comforting.
17:44Want to check how well you know the animal kingdom?
17:47This fun quiz will help you.
17:49You'll need to guess if the statement is true or false before I reveal the truth.
17:53Don't forget to keep the score and share it in the comments.
17:58The head of the flamingo has to be positioned upside down when the bird eats.
18:02Hmm, what do you think?
18:04Could it be possible?
18:06Yep, that's the truth.
18:07You'll always recognize flamingos by their specific position.
18:10They tend to stand on one leg in shallow waters.
18:14They have to use the bristles located on the top of their beaks
18:17when they want to filter the muddy water they accidentally take along with the actual food.
18:22That's why they eat in a way where their head goes down.
18:25Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to filter their meal properly.
18:30Do animals have fingerprints?
18:32It's true, animals do have fingerprints, but only some of them,
18:36like koalas, gorillas, and chimpanzees.
18:40The other name for fingertips is dermal ridges.
18:43They increase friction when we touch a certain surface.
18:46When you increase the size of the contact area between the surface and the fingers,
18:50it's way easier to hang on to things and have a firm, safe grip.
18:55About 5 million years ago, before primates started to move upright and left trees,
19:00they needed to have an extra strong grip.
19:03They had to leap from tree to tree without falling down or be able to grab a rock
19:07or some other tool they needed at that moment.
19:10Coolest thing, though?
19:12Koalas have fingerprints so similar to those of humans,
19:14they can actually taint crime scenes.
19:18Here's a relatively easy one.
19:20Do wolves howl at the moon?
19:22Well, this one is a myth.
19:24Wolves do howl at night,
19:25but what else are they supposed to do if that's the time when they're the most active?
19:30Again, they do look up while howling,
19:32but not because they're looking at the moon,
19:34but because this helps the sound travel farther.
19:37This way, other wolves can hear them even when they're more than 7 miles away.
19:41This is how these animals communicate.
19:44Wolves even have a specific sound they use if they lose their pack.
19:50Opossums are such nice animals,
19:52and they look so cute while hanging on their tails.
19:55But do they?
19:56It's just a myth.
19:58Once this animal is completely grown,
20:00it can't support its weight for more than a few seconds.
20:03The opossum becomes too heavy and they can't use its tail this way.
20:07But these animals do use their tails for balance,
20:09to hold on to tree branches when climbing.
20:12The goldfish has a three-second memory.
20:15True or false?
20:18Although that's how they're pictured most of the time,
20:20it's a myth.
20:22These fish can actually remember stuff for months or even years.
20:27Overall, goldfish are pretty intelligent animals.
20:29If you feed a goldfish at one side of the tank all the time,
20:33it quickly learns it needs to stay on that side if it wants to get food.
20:37Also, if you show it that pushing a blue paddle will get it a reward,
20:42which is, again, food, and pressing a red one doesn't,
20:46a goldfish will learn pretty fast what to do to get its meal.
20:50When a dolphin is asleep, half of its brain is awake.
20:53Is it true or false?
20:56This time, it's not a myth.
20:58Dolphins are marine mammals, but they breathe with the help of their lungs,
21:02unlike fish that breathe through gills.
21:05Dolphins can hold their breath for a really long time, that's true,
21:08but they still need to rise up to the surface to get some air.
21:11That's why the dolphin's brain is never fully asleep.
21:15It needs to have enough motor control at every moment
21:18so that the animal is aware when it has to go up to the surface to take a breath.
21:23Dolphins also have one eye open all the time they're asleep.
21:28Parrots are selfish and greedy.
21:30They're not into sharing things with other members of their species.
21:34This is a myth.
21:36It depends on the species, but many birds, including African gray parrots,
21:40always selflessly help each other out.
21:43They're truly and honestly motivated to help others,
21:46even if other birds aren't actually their friends.
21:51Some people are sure that ghost crabs can use the small teeth they have in their mouths to growl.
21:56What do you think about this?
21:58Is it true?
22:00Well, it's a myth, but half of it is true.
22:04These crabs indeed growl, but they do it using their teeth in their stomach.
22:08They can intimidate other animals with their claws,
22:11but when that doesn't work,
22:12they produce scary sounds with the help of the teeth that are in their stomachs.
22:16They have three main teeth, two lateral and one medial,
22:20that are hard and elongated,
22:22and they belong to the gastric mill apparatus in the crab's stomach.
22:27These teeth also grind up food by rubbing against each other.
22:31Your dog has fewer taste buds than you do.
22:36Tick-tock, waiting for your answer.
22:39It's true.
22:40It may seem that your pet has a similar dinnertime experience as you do,
22:44but in reality,
22:45these animals actually have a different arrangement of taste buds.
22:50Dogs only have 1,700 taste buds,
22:53whereas humans have close to 9,000.
22:56But they still can distinguish the same four basic tastes.
23:00And they're not fond of salt.
23:04Speaking of dogs,
23:05they are colorblind.
23:06True or myth?
23:09This time, it's a myth.
23:11A lot of people believe that dogs see in black and white,
23:14which is not true.
23:16Pooches also see blue and yellow,
23:18which kind of makes them colorblind in the same way some people are.
23:21Dogs have two types of color receptors in their eyes,
23:24while people, on average, have three types.
23:28Hens don't have teeth.
23:30There's this old saying,
23:31rare as a hen's teeth,
23:32which isn't exactly how things are in real life.
23:36Hens can grow teeth.
23:38They had chompers about 70 to 80 million years ago.
23:41Even though those are gone now,
23:44hens still have the necessary genes,
23:46which means they can potentially regrow their teeth.
23:49If cows had stripes like zebras,
23:52flies would have avoided them.
23:54Could be or not.
23:57This one's true.
23:58Cows deal with pesky flies all the time.
24:02And zebra stripes are some kind of a natural bug repellent.
24:05It seems that the stripes work as some sort of disguise.
24:09It messes with insects' vision and confuses them.
24:13Optical illusions baffle us in a similar way.
24:17Speaking of cows,
24:19do you think they're social animals
24:20or ones that prefer to avoid others
24:22and enjoy their own peaks?
24:25They're creatures with strong social ties
24:27that love being around friends.
24:29One study from 2013
24:30showed that it was really stressful
24:32for cows to be separated from their BFFs.
24:35Aw, don't we all feel like that?
24:39The octopus has two hearts.
24:41Or does it have one like we mammals do?
24:45Neither is correct
24:46because the octopus has three hearts.
24:50These animals use two of their hearts
24:52to pump blood to their gills.
24:54And the third heart transfers blood
24:56to other parts of the body.
24:58If you think that's unusual,
25:00what will you say about the fact
25:01that octopuses have nine brains?
25:03Besides the central brain,
25:05they have a mini-brain in each of their eight arms.
25:08This helps their arms act independently.
25:12Here's one more fact about these animals.
25:14Their blood is blue.
25:17That's because the protein in their blood
25:18that carries oxygen around the body
25:20contains copper.
25:22Octopuses can also taste with their arms
25:24and move at a speed of 25 miles per hour.
25:29Polar bears have the thickest fur of all animals.
25:32Would you agree with that?
25:34It may seem like that at first.
25:36After all,
25:37they need a lot of protection
25:38to survive in such harsh conditions.
25:40And still, this is false.
25:42The fur of the polar bear has two layers
25:45and is designed in a way
25:46that traps air right next to the skin.
25:48That's why their skin remains dry.
25:50Cool!
25:53Bulls get angry when they see the color red.
25:55True or false?
25:57You're definitely not alone
25:59if you think they get angry
26:00when someone waves something red in front of them.
26:02But the truth is,
26:03bulls are actually red-green colorblind,
26:06just like other cattle.
26:08What really triggers them is the movement,
26:10not the color.
26:12If you touch a frog or toad,
26:14you can get warts.
26:16You've probably heard it many times.
26:18Sounds a bit far-fetched.
26:21It actually is,
26:22because it's a myth.
26:24And it probably appeared
26:25because many toads and frogs
26:27have bumpy, lumpy skin.
26:29And people used to think
26:30these bumps were contagious.
26:32As for warts,
26:34they're not something animals
26:35and humans spread to each other easily.
26:37the boys
26:37have a good word.
26:37herramient for the