I know, I know. I’ve said it a hundred times before, at least. But. As owner and operator of this digital space, I am allowed to repeat myself.
The Universe is a big place. There. I said it.
And our world Earth — as tiny as it is in comparison — is an incredibly big place in its own right.
Here’s another thing you may have noticed besides the fact that I repeat myself.
I like animals. They are wonderful, and wild, and smart. I love getting to know them.
But we can’t always predict how animals will act. For instance. We had some people over on Memorial Day for a cookout and a swim party. And my little dog Louis unexpectedly walked over to someone’s towel hanging from a chair and peed on it. Yes. He did.
Okay. Be that what it may. Most animals can be unpredictable. It always alarms me when I see someone taking a selfie with a bison at Yellowstone. Don’t these people realize that bison is a 2,000-pound wild animal? But leaving human stupidity aside for a moment, there are a few examples of rare behavior that comes naturally to animals.
Let’s start with squid. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in person besides at the aquarium. Swimmers, they are. But did you know they can fly? Scientists have yet to learn much about this behavior because it happens so randomly and so quickly. But at least six species of squid fly, and maybe dozens more.
The flying isn’t just a little jump out of the water. No. They travel for extended distances. One marine biologist described the squid as shooting out of the water and arcing through the air. They can reach a height of two meters and cover a distance of ten meters. That is fifty times its own length. The squid extend their fins and flare their tentacles in a radial pattern while airborne. Ten meters is about 33 feet.
And speaking of water. We typically don’t think of spiders as being water beings, but some varieties hang around water and love it.
There is a species of spiders that actually catch fish. This happens on every continent except for Antarctica. These spiders catch small freshwater mosquito fish by anchoring their hind spider legs to a stone or plant. And then, those spiders start “fishing” with their front legs on the surface of the water. Mosquito fish are about two inches long, just so you know. One variety of this spider is called Dolomedes triton — also known as a six-spotted fishing spider.
Anyway, after dragging that mosquito fish onto land, it often takes the spider several hours to eat it. Why does it take so long? Because, on average, these fishing spiders catch fish at least twice as long as themselves.
Finally, from sea to air. Let’s talk about some bees.
Sometimes, hornets will attack a bee nest or hive. And when this happens, a little alarm must sound inside the hive because hundreds of worker bees come rushing out, and they swarm into a ball around the hornet. And then, they roast the hornet alive with their body heat. This behavior is known as a “hot defensive bee ball” (I didn’t make that up) and was first documented in 1995 in Japan. The bees rapidly vibrate their wing muscles for upwards of half an hour. By doing this, those bees are able to reach temperatures of 46 degrees Celsius, which is enough to kill the captive hornet. (That’s about 115 degrees Fahrenheit.)
There are hundreds, maybe thousands more stories about unique animal behaviors from all around the world.
But in the end, just give me my little dog Lou.
Even if he does pee on my family’s beach towel every now and again. If it is any consolation, he doesn’t even weigh eight pounds. So it’s just a little tiny bit of pee. And to put it in perspective, some humans most likely peed in the swimming pool anyway.
Animal behavior. Unpredictable.
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Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.
— Plato
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If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.
— James Herriot
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They do what they do, amazingly.
