The animal kingdom has always been a curiosity to us as humans. To get to know these animals and what they do better, we have spent countless hours researching animal behaviors. Sometimes, we find out why animals do what they do quickly; others baffle our minds. This list is a countdown of the weird, unexplained behavior in the animal kingdom.
4. Crows can Recognize Faces in a Crowd
Crows have always been at the forefront of intelligent species across our world. They have been known to make and use tools; they can communicate in ways many birds do not, including the adoption of dialects within their speech. They have even shown the ability to solve puzzles on the level of a human child.
Science cannot explain the crow's ability to recognize and remember human faces. Crows have shown their ability not only to recognize human faces, but they can also pick out specific humans in a crowd.
This talent might not seem like a tremendous skill for us, but if you swapped places, would you find it easy to pick out a crow's face in a crowd of them? I think not. Not only can the crow distinguish between individuals, but these birds also associate a "good vs. evil" mentality with people they remember. This means that crows not only recognize faces; they remember them.
Science has always given crows credit for their intelligence; however, we still need a theory about how crows can pick people out of a crowd even after not seeing them for long periods.
3. Same-Sex Partnership
As we have grown and evolved as a human race, we have been able to get out of survival mode and have found that it is okay to use our hard-earned energy resources to have fun; we no longer need to only think of procreation. In the animal kingdom, wasting time or energy on anything but producing a litter is a death sentence for most any animal category.
So, why do we see same-sex partnerships in nearly every significant species on the planet, if it means the doom of their class if they don't produce offspring?
The answer: we don't know.
The leading theory is that most animals evolved from a common ancestor. This ancestor, both male and female, would have grown in very similar ways; size, shape, smell, etc. Due to this, the common ancestor mated with both males and females because they couldn't recognize the difference.
This theory could be why same-sex relationship actions are witnessed in most major species, simply because the ancient ancestor couldn't tell male from female.
Or maybe penguins want to have fun, too; science may never know.
2. Ants will Die of Loneliness
Some say ants are leading the population war on the planet, with some estimates stating there are 10+ quadrillion ants on earth. Having such a dense population on the planet, you would think there would be some lone wolfs of the ant kingdom.
However, scientists are conducting experiments on this as we speak; what they have discovered is astounding. Isolated ants will die of loneliness, and we can't figure out why.
An ongoing study has shown that ants have a tenth of a life span length when they are alone compared to their friends living in groups.
Some think it's because they have no pheromone direction, so they are lost at what to do next. Another idea presented is that the insect must expend more energy when alone for survival.
It's not that crazy to think it would be easier to get things done and find/eat food in a group. What is unexplained about lonely ants is how they use, or rather don't use the energy provided by an energy source when alone.
When ants intake food or sugars, they store it in their body in a crop. The crop then lets out these sugar stores to fuel the ant's activities. When the insect is alone, it will not release the sugars stored in its crop; it will starve to death with food on its back.
The idea that a bug can have the resources it needs to continue to survive but does not use them for some biological reason or because it's lonely, is truly an unexplained mystery of our world.
1. Animals Predicting Natural Disasters
It is common knowledge that a tsunami could be approaching when the tide goes abnormally far out. This visual cue, among other warning signs, has helped develop a system to ensure we stay safe during natural disasters. Animals, however, have been known to head to high ground long before the warning signs make themselves visible.
How do they know what is about to happen?
In some cases, like earthquakes, seismic waves, or P-waves, can be sensed by the heightened senses of animals. Other times creatures can tell the drop or gain in temperature, atmospheric pressure, and other weather anomalies are bringing something dangerous.
However, we can't explain when animals can sense these happenings days or weeks before they happen. Farm animals have been known to head to safety and alert others up to 20 hours before an event. Some wild animals have been studied exhibiting weird behaviors days, or even weeks before!
The way the animal kingdom can predict natural disasters is at the top of unexplained animal phenomena for due reason. There is nothing we can do to explain it besides maybe a heightened necessity of survival that we lost ages ago when we became an "intelligent race.”
