Portal:Biology/Previous did you knows


 * ...that a prokaryotic cytoskeleton has been found in prokaryote organisms by recent advances in visualization technology?
 * ...that the Champawat tigress and the Tsavo lions had suffered injuries that disabled them from pursuing their natural prey, leading them to become man-eaters?
 * ...that the aphid Brevicoryne brassicae has been called a "walking mustard oil bomb" due to its use of glucosinolates as a chemical defense mechanism against predators?


 * ...that the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the first bioterrorism attack in the United States, and one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans?
 * ...that Florida has over 20 official state symbols, including a state soil and a state wildflower?
 * ...that Adenovirus serotype 14 is an emerging virus, related to the common cold, that has recently caused 10 deaths in the United States, including at least one healthy young adult?
 * ...that three out of every seventy-seven rainbow runners (pictured) have five spines rather than the normal six?
 * ...that some capillaries, known as sinusoidal capillaries actually have gaps in them large enough for blood cells to fit through?
 * ...that Vitamin C, or L -ascorbate, is also widely used as a preservative?
 * ...that the Crabeater Seal is the second most numerous large species of mammal on Earth, after humans.
 * ...that Australia's bulldog ants can kill a human with 30 stings?
 * ...that the oldest fossilised dinosaur eggs ever found, belong to Massospondylus and were found in Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa in 1978, and also contain fossilized dinosaur embryos?
 * ...that the Bignose Unicornfish can change colors when frightened or asleep to help camouflage itself from predators?
 * ...that Polar Bears are so effective at retaining heat as to be nearly invisible in infrared light?
 * ...that viruses can have either DNA or RNA as their genetic material?
 * ...that the native mammal fauna of Puerto Rico consists exclusively of bats?
 * ...that the family Caponiidae is unique among spiders because its members usually have two eyes?
 * ...that a Blue Whale's tongue weighs around the same as a whole elephant?
 * ...that both the horn(s) of a rhinoceros and human fingernails are made of keratin?
 * ...that the sting of the rainforest shrub Dendrocnide moroides can cause severe and prolonged pain and has been reported to kill dogs, horses and humans?
 * ...that the native fauna of New Guinea does not include any large mammal predators?
 * ...that nearly 350,000 metric tons of Pacific ocean perch were caught in the Gulf of Alaska by Soviet and Japanese trawling fleets in 1965?
 * ...that the Organ Pipe Cactus (pictured) takes 150 years to reach maturity and can reach a height of eight meters?
 * ...that supernumerary body parts (pictured) can include fingers, toes, and ribs, or in some rare cases, additional sex organs or heads?
 * ...that the River Banksia (Banksia seminuda) was originally considered a subspecies of the Swamp Banksia (Banksia littoralis), as they share many similar characteristics?
 * ...that the Florida mangroves are vital to an estimated 75 percent of the game fish and 90 percent of the commercial fish species in South Florida?
 * ...that Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge supports the largest surviving population of the endangered Fender's blue Butterfly which feeds upon the threatened Kincaid's lupine?
 * ...that the fish Echiodon rendahli has a portion of its intestine protruding from its belly, so that while living inside sponges it can defecate outside its shelter without being exposed to outside dangers?
 * ...that the Helophilus pendulus (pictured) is a European hoverfly whose scientific name means "dangling swamp-lover"?
 * ...that Perfect Imperfection, a 2004 science fiction novel by Polish writer Jacek Dukaj, raises the issues of technological singularity, transhumanism and the anthropic principle, and presents a unique model of human evolution?
 * ... that the analysis of the FSH-receptor benefited from the work by Gilman and Rodbell for which they won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology?
 * ...that the Banksia menziesii (pictured), named after 18th-century physician and naturalist Archibald Menzies, is also known as the Firewood Banksia for its burning properties and abundancy?
 * ...that the Coastal Zone Color Scanner provided the first global view of phytoplankton concentrations?
 * ...that bay mud is a significant estuarine ecological resource, but went unstudied until humans began building high-rise structures near bays?
 * ...that casting is the regurgitation of fur, feathers, and other undigestible material by hawks, to clean and empty their crops?
 * ... that coccolithovirus, a giant double-stranded DNA virus, has 472 protein-coding genes, and is the largest known marine virus by genome?
 * ...that the Black slug is the only species of slug that when disturbed contracts into a hemispherical shape and starts to rock horizontally to confuse predators?
 * ...that Scleroderris canker is a fungal disease among coniferous trees, sometimes spread by imported Christmas trees, that can kill an entire forest within a few years?
 * ...that a female Western harvest mouse can potentially give birth to as many as forty to sixty offspring in a single year?
 * ...that the Madagascar hissing cockroach expels air from abdominal breathing pores to create a loud hissing sound?
 * ...that the red blood cells of a camel have an oval shape to facilitate their flow in a dehydrated state?
 * ...that wildebeest calves can walk within minutes of being born, and after a few days can keep up with the rest of the herd?
 * ...that hermaphrodite C. elegans worms have exactly 959 cells and that biologists know the developmental fate of each cell?
 * ...that Ernst Haeckel coined the word "Ecology" to identify the relationship between plants, animals, and their environment?
 * that the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a technique that allows researchers to amplify specific regions of DNA for analysis
 * the Black Tree Fern is the largest of the tree fern species, endemic to New Zealand?
 * natural selection can sometimes lead to disadvantageous traits, as in intragenomic conflict?
 * some cichlid fish, crocodiles and frogs keep their eggs or young in their mouths or stomachs?
 * Dolly the sheep was named after Dolly Parton, because Dolly the sheep was cloned from a mammary cell?
 * the sea otter often keeps a stone tool in its armpit pouch?
 * skunks cannot see objects further than three metres away, making them vulnerable to road traffic?
 * crustaceans and mollusks have blue, copper based blood?
 * woodlice (also known as pill bugs or roly-polys) are not insects but terrestrial crustaceans?
 *  Rhagoletis pomonella (the apple maggot) was an observed instance of speciation in the wild caused by the introduction of apples to America?
 * bombardier beetles create an explosive chemical reaction within their own bodies and use it as a defensive mechanism?
 * human chromosome 2 is a result of the fusion of two separate chromosomes, 2p and 2q, from our hominid ancestors?
 * the common mullein plant was burnt in France during celebrations on the second Sunday of Lent to protect against evil spirits and demons?
 * the epidermis of the mantle, an organ in mollusks, secretes the calcium carbonate that creates their shell?
 * Repenomamus may have been the largest mammal in the Cretaceous period and is the only mammal known to have eaten non-avian dinosaurs?
 * melasma is a skin hyperpigmentation commonly affecting pregnant women that is caused by the overproduction of melanin?
 * Albert Calmette developed "Calmette's Serum", the first antivenom developed against snake venom?
 * there are so many species of Murinae (Old World rats and mice) that it is said they are in the process of taking over the world, and humans just came along in the middle of it?
 * the Natural History Museum of Berlin is home to the largest mounted dinosaur in the world, a Brachiosaurus; and the most exquisitely preserved specimen of the earliest known bird, the Archaeopteryx?
 * ...that the water bear, in theory, could survive the vacuum of space?