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The most interesting creatures on Earth...

13

Comments

  • #62
    tayto lover
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 57,077 ✭✭✭✭tayto lover


    summerskin wrote: »
    They lick their own shit and then lick you.

    Not sure who's less intelligent, dogs or their owners that believe the dogs love them for any reason other than that you feed them.

    Had a Border Collie once who saved the life of a neighbour's two year old child by pulling her in off the road after someone left their gate open.
    He could lick as much **** as he liked after that.


  • #63
    Silverfish
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,698 Mod ✭✭✭✭Silverfish


    Duggy747 wrote: »
    Hmm, I guess I'd have to pull out the cutest one of them all, the Blobfish!

    The blobfish only looks like that because he's been pulled out of the water, where he has to exert external pressure to stop from being crushed by the weight of the water, so when that pressure is lifted, his body collapses.

    Here's what he actually looks like. D'awwww!!


  • #64
    Funglegunk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,566 ✭✭✭Funglegunk


    Axolotls? I love those immortal little guys.


  • #65
    kumate_champ07
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,150 ✭✭✭kumate_champ07


    http://tardigrade.acnatsci.org/tardigrades/pic311.png

    Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of close to absolute zero (−273 °C (−459 °F)),[7] temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals,[8] and almost a decade without water.[9] Since 2007, tardigrades have also returned alive from studies in which they have been exposed to the vacuum of outer space for a few days in low earth orbit.


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade


  • #66
    Funglegunk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,566 ✭✭✭Funglegunk


    kumate_champ07 wrote: »
    http://tardigrade.acnatsci.org/tardigrades/pic311.png

    Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of close to absolute zero (−273 °C (−459 °F)),[7] temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals,[8] and almost a decade without water.

    Awwww, he wants a hug.


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  • #67
    Viral Vector
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 187 ✭✭Viral Vector


    The Bowerbird

    I saw it on a Attenborough production and it was amazing!

    The male bird makes a nest out of berries and animal poo to woo a female into intercourse!

    About a years work for five seconds of sex!


  • #68
    Funglegunk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,566 ✭✭✭Funglegunk


    Viral Vector wrote: »
    The Bowerbird

    I saw it on a Attenborough production and it was amazing!

    The male bird makes a nest out of berries and animal poo to woo a female into intercourse!

    About a years work for five seconds of sex!

    I know plenty of humans who do the same...


  • #69
    44leto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,137 ✭✭✭44leto


    Originally Posted by Viral Vector viewpost.gif
    The Bowerbird

    I saw it on a Attenborough production and it was amazing!

    The male bird makes a nest out of berries and animal poo to woo a female into intercourse!

    About a years work for five seconds of sex!

    5 whole seconds he must do it twice.


  • #70
    Sonic the Large Cock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 33 ✭Sonic the Large Cock


    If Aliens came here they would Jurassic Park us and take the Raptors home with them and leave us fighting mamoths and what not and watch us on their ET Sky Network, we would probably be a hit with the mutants from the Orion nebula


  • #71
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,387 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Chuck Stone wrote: »
    That's true but cats don't usually try to lick the faces and mouths of humans unlike dogs.
    True, but dogs don't tend to climb all over your kitchen surfaces either. Thank fcuk. Having a full grown alsation on the sink unit would be a bi of a WTF moment.
    smash wrote: »
    I thought Dolphins did? I know they're smarter than whales too.
    Eh humans? Compared to us, cetaceans are swivel eyed windowlickers grunting in the dark.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



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  • #72
    KeithAFC
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,239 ✭✭✭✭KeithAFC


    Nothing. Aliens planted us, so...


  • #73
    MadYaker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,341 ✭✭✭✭MadYaker


    My dog only has 3 legs.


  • #74
    The_Thing
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,017 ✭✭✭The_Thing


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBDgQL2FDug


    The Leafy Sea Dragon has to be one of the weirdest creatures I've ever seen. They seem to me so utterly fragile and vulnerable that to even gaze upon them for too long would cause them harm.


  • #75
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 99,589 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    dem yokes that live around black smokers

    mantis shrimp

    butterfly

    in the same way that Europeans named animals after familiar ones at home, perhaps they'd like something that resemebled their own animals.

    on earth we have a lot of convergent evolution so maybe they won't see stuff as being so different.


    perhaps the sheer size of a Blue Whale might impress


  • #76
    Sindri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,059 ✭✭✭Sindri


    Full.Duck wrote: »
    Whales!

    They have the most sophisticated form of communication on this planet.

    There speech patterns (or capability to utilise phonemes), if that is the correct word(?) I think is more complex than humans, but there actual communicative lexicon is not.
    Full.Duck wrote: »
    If aliens came down the first thing to do would be to find the easiest way to communicate with a species. That would be the whales.


    Surely the easiest animal to communicate with would be a dog?

    Or possibly any other animal that may resemble their physical constraints, so probably humans I'd imagine.

    If a whales speech is complex would that not make it harder?

    An alien may in fact have quite a primitive command of language as we know it, and possibly the structure of their language may make it seem relatively primitive to ours, our incredibly complex, or maybe even they're telepathic?


    The most magnificent animal I am (partially) aware of would be some extinct species related to modern crocodiles. Current estimations for some of there lengths goes as high as 43 feet. I think that's pretty cool. Humans would have found it difficult to become apex predators with these things around. (**** you Chuck, I don't care if it doesn't count because they're extinct, I play by my own rules!)


    Also Fungi.


  • #77
    kowloon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,187 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    I give youy the Lyrebird


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOFy8QkNWWs


  • #78
    Jarren
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,689 ✭✭✭Jarren


    Swans,not many left mind you.


  • #79
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 99,589 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Sindri wrote: »
    Humans would have found it difficult to become apex predators with these things around
    Megalania was a lizard that was a little smaller at 7m , and could have weighed up to 2 tonnes. But unlike a croc it was a land animal. It's smaller cousins today chase down rabbits , it's size and the heat of the outback means it was more or less warm blooded. With a croc you are safe enough when you put some distance between you and the water.

    Oh and if that wasn't bad enough it was quite possibly the largest venomous creature that has ever existed. As to why something that big needs poison as well , well that's Australia for you where everything seems to be over kill. Love the way Dylan Moran went on about "swimming knives"



    It went extinct around the same time humans arrived in Oz.


  • #80
    revell
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 221 ✭✭revell


    ladybug, as elegant as a lady but as cute as a bug:)


  • #81
    WindSock
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,239 ✭✭✭✭WindSock


    RichieC wrote: »
    Ravens and Crows, scary intelligent, tool users in many cases, devilish problem solvers.

    As are Kea's

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twg4Yg4gFoo


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  • #82
    Discodog
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,134 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    Given that any arriving Alien would be of vastly superior intelligence to anything on Earth they would chat to the Whales & then wipe out the humans & give the planet back to the animals :eek:

    We measure "intelligence" using human interpretation. We are just beginning to realise that many animals are highly intelligent. No one could of watched the Bonobo using a sign board to communicate on the recent BBC Program "The World's most intelligent animals" without a sense of wonder. Or the Chimp that can solve problems way quicker than any human. Us dog owners know that our dogs are incredibly perceptive & just because they don't respond to training style tests does not mean that they are unintelligent.

    I tend to agree with Stephen Hawking that we should be wary of announcing our prescience to Aliens.

    By the way the common Crow is intelligent enough to remember & recognise the face of someone who caught it 5 years ago.


  • #83
    44leto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,137 ✭✭✭44leto


    Discodog wrote: »
    Given that any arriving Alien would be of vastly superior intelligence to anything on Earth they would chat to the Whales & then wipe out the humans & give the planet back to the animals :eek:

    We measure "intelligence" using human interpretation. We are just beginning to realise that many animals are highly intelligent. No one could of watched the Bonobo using a sign board to communicate on the recent BBC Program "The World's most intelligent animals" without a sense of wonder. Or the Chimp that can solve problems way quicker than any human. Us dog owners know that our dogs are incredibly perceptive & just because they don't respond to training style tests does not mean that they are unintelligent.

    I tend to agree with Stephen Hawking that we should be wary of announcing our prescience to Aliens.

    By the way the common Crow is intelligent enough to remember & recognise the face of someone who caught it 5 years ago.

    I seen that programme Liz Bonnin presented it, but they are all one trick ponies. When it comes to intelligence nothing out there is even remotely close to humans. It was a good programme the dog on the skateboard looked weird.


  • #84
    Discodog
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,134 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    44leto wrote: »
    I seen that programme Liz Bonnin presented it, but they are all one trick ponies. When it comes to intelligence nothing out there is even remotely close to humans. It was a good programme the dog on the skateboard looked weird.

    I totally disagree. They are one trick ponies because that it all we have tested for. How can you measure the intelligence of a great Whale ? But in any event the Aliens would want to see how we have used our intelligence - I don't think that we would pass the test. I wonder how animals would define intelligence ?


  • #85
    44leto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,137 ✭✭✭44leto


    Discodog wrote: »
    I totally disagree. They are one trick ponies because that it all we have tested for. How can you measure the intelligence of a great Whale ? But in any event the Aliens would want to see how we have used our intelligence - I don't think that we would pass the test. I wonder how animals would define intelligence ?

    By having the ability to understand the world around you, above and below you even understanding the abstract world. Whales maybe clever and very smart hunters but they would never develop a net because they can't think abstractly.

    To make a net you must first perceive a net, no animals appart from us apes can do that. You could never train or a whale or a chimp to do that.


  • #86
    Amirani
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,622 Mod ✭✭✭✭Amirani


    Humans are only the third most intelligent beings on Earth, after dolphins and mice of course. Sure the planet was only built based on consultation with the mice?


  • #87
    44leto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,137 ✭✭✭44leto


    NiallSparky wrote: »
    Humans are only the third most intelligent beings on Earth, after dolphins and mice of course. Sure the planet was only built based on consultation with the mice?

    I loved the title of that book

    "So long and thanks for the fish" the fourth book in the hitchhiker trilogy.


  • #88
    Owen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,678 ✭✭✭✭Owen


    Kangaroo Rat is pretty awesome too - doesn't need to drink water.


  • #89
    Discodog
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,134 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    44leto wrote: »
    To make a net you must first perceive a net, no animals appart from us apes can do that. You could never train or a whale or a chimp to do that.

    Whales make nets & use them. They were doing so long before man existed. We make nets from cord & it involves a lot of work. Whales make theirs from bubbles & it takes seconds - plenty of videos on youtube. Whales make nets because it makes feeding easier. They are not going to try & make something that they don't need.

    They have evolved for longer than us & have way bigger brains. We have no idea of how intelligent they are.


  • #90
    44leto
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,137 ✭✭✭44leto


    Discodog wrote: »
    Whales make nets & use them. They were doing so long before man existed. We make nets from cord & it involves a lot of work. Whales make theirs from bubbles & it takes seconds - plenty of videos on youtube. Whales make nets because it makes feeding easier. They are not going to try & make something that they don't need.

    They have evolved for longer than us & have way bigger brains. We have no idea of how intelligent they are.

    They are not smart enough tp avoid a harpoon.


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  • #91
    Discodog
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,134 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    44leto wrote: »
    They are not smart enough tp avoid a harpoon.

    They didn't evolve to avoid harpoons. Until man arrived & used his "intelligence" they had nothing to fear. They can't avoid a harpoon because they have to surface for air. Man is intelligent but he can't dodge a bullet.

    But they do have the intelligence to realise that not all humans pose a threat. The Grey Whales that come to meet tourists in California & bring their young to show them us, bit like us being in a zoo, are old enough to remember being hunted in the past.


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