Category Kids Queries

Mess with a skunk and you’ll be sorry! Glands in their butts are loaded with an oily, sticky, stinky musk they can squirt up to ten feet (3 m) away. The spray reeks of sulfurous chemicals called thiols that can potentially knock out, burn, and even kill animals that take a direct hit. Skunks, which are nocturnal (active at night), developed this chemical weapon to deter predators that hunt using smell in the darkness. Most of the time, skunks don’t even need to use their butt blasters. An angry display is often all it takes to frighten away predators, which have learned to associate the skunk’s white stripe with an awful stink.

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Although researchers have taught captive dolphins how to read sign language, deciphering dolphin-speak is tricky because their language is so dependent on what they’re doing (whether they’re playing, fighting, or going after tasty fish). It’s no different for humans. Think about when you raise a hand to say hello. That same gesture could also mean goodbye. Crossing guards raise their hand to say stop. A salesclerk might do it to another planet trying to make sense of it all. Now you know what it’s like to study dolphin communication.

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Scientists suspect dolphins “talk” about everything from basic facts, like their age and gender, to their emotional state. When the going gets tough, they’ll call other pod members for backup. They even have names – so-called social whistle – to summon one another. Intensely social animals, dolphins probably communicate a lot about their relationships.

Though researchers don’t yet fully understand the complexities of a dolphin’s language, these creatures are universally regarded as highly intelligent. Because they are so smart, dolphins can use their voices to articulate relatively sophisticated ideas — for example, a dolphin that has been attacked may communicate what happened to others, then lead them in retaliation or retreat. Similarly, dolphins may use their voices to share information regarding the location of food or potential danger.

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Starting from birth, dolphins squawk, whistle, click, and squeak. Sometimes one dolphin will vocalize, and then another will seem to answer. Members of a pod will communicate in different patterns at the same time, like people chattering at a party. And just as you gesture and change facial expressions as you talk, dolphins communicate non-verbally with varied body posture, jaw snaps, bubble blowing, and fin caresses.

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IQ in animals is hard to measure, considering that they live in such different worlds from us. (A cuttlefish is an Einstein when it comes to blending in with its environment.) Scientists agree that the following creatures are especially brainy:

Octopuses: Octopuses are extremely clever when faced with puzzles (such as figuring out how to open a jar to get a tasty fish or escaping from aquariums). They’ll even gather shells, rocks, and other objects to fortify their lairs. Equipped with more complex brains than other invertebrates (animals without a backbone, such as insects, worms, and snails), octopuses are the smartest spineless creatures.

Orangutans, Chimps and Other Primates: Orangutans, Chimps and Other Primates lead busy social lives.

Nightingales and Crows: Nightingales and Crows are hardly birdbrained. Nightingales can learn to sing 60 different songs. Crows use tools to open nuts.

Pigs: Pigs are fast learners. Researchers have taught them how to play video games and even take a shower when they’re hot. (Turns out pigs don’t really “sweat like pigs.”)

Elephants: Elephants live in complex family groups (and have been known to paint pachyderm masterpieces when provided a few art supplies).

Dolphins: But one animal in particular, the dolphin, shares all these smarty-pants characteristics: tool-use, social networking, creativity, and communication. More than 30 species of dolphins including orcas (aka killer whales) and the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin made famous on TV and in aquarium shows – roam the world’s oceans and rivers. They team up in groups called pods to accomplish tasks. Their brains are nearly as large as ours. They complement their eyesight through echolocation: a method of bouncing sounds off obstacles and the fish around them. They even have their own extreme sport: acrobatic leaps and spins that would make freestyle snowboarders jealous. And they talk to each other using what seems like a learned language instead barks, yips, grunts, shrieks, and other sounds that most animals are born using.

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Actually, we have – but it’s not cheap. Wannabe (and well-to-do) astronauts can climb abroad the G-Force One to fly and bounce around the airplane’s cabin in simulated free fall. The modified 727 flies special acrobatic maneuvers that re-create weightlessness for up to 30 seconds at a stretch. Such “reduced gravity aircraft” aren’t new – NASA has been using them for decades to help astronauts adjust to the sensation of free fall – but a company called the Zero Gravity Corporation is offering civilians a similar experience for $5,000 a ticket!

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