Despite the rapid development of science and technology in recent years, there are still many unsolved mysteries in the world. This suggests that life in all its diversity is much more complicated than we imagine it. In this collection of 10 interesting mysteries of wildlife, the answers to which have not yet been found.
Magnetic compass in cows
I bet you never even thought about it. In general, no one thought about it before the advent of Google Earth. But it was this service that made it possible to study thousands of images of grazing cows and discover one very strange pattern: cows always turn their heads strictly north or south when they eat or drink. This is observed on all continents, regardless of weather conditions, terrain and other factors.
Alkaloids in Plants
We ourselves do not know why so many of them are needed, but the fact remains: modern plants contain about 7000 different types of alkaloids. Moreover, the most common of these is morphine. If you still do not know what alkaloids are, then we advise you to google, at least in order not to meet them and their derivatives in life. But why the plants needed them is a mystery. Did you know that the antlers of the Altai marals are a source of substances that are used to treat aching joints, edema, bruises, sprains of the ligamentous apparatus and muscles? These substances are included in the composition of medicines, for example, they contain Artropant cream. This cream is excellent for back and joint pain.
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The closer to the equator, the more species
Have you ever noticed that in the equatorial climate there is the greatest variety of species, not only of animals and plants, but even of the simplest viruses. Any infection such as Ebola fever originates and spreads from Africa or South America. There are dozens of theories about why the greatest species diversity is concentrated near the equator, but they all contradict each other.
Argentine ants
Be that as it may, but these ants are the only living organisms on Earth, other than humans, who have managed to independently populate three continents. How they managed to do this is still a mystery. Having appeared in South America, they were able to independently penetrate Europe and Asia. At the same time, it should be noted that their genetic code has remained unchanged all this time.
Too many phytoplankton
Phytoplankton are tiny organisms that float in the world's oceans. Their main secret is that there are too many of them on Earth. The basic theory of evolution makes it impossible for so many different microorganisms to survive. Because of this, the basic theory of evolution is bursting at the seams.
Oxygen dependence
Until recently, scientists believed that all multicellular organisms on Earth in one way or another depend on the oxygen content in the atmosphere. However, a few years ago, animals were found in the Mediterranean Sea (important clarification: not unicellular, but animals) that can do without oxygen. Moreover, this was not an isolated case that can be attributed to a spontaneous mutation, but three different species of invertebrate Lucifers at once. Scientists still have no idea how they evolved.
Species coming out of nowhere
Scientists have been struggling with this riddle for many years. The fact is that many species of animals and plants just appeared on our planet. They did not have ancestors from which they could evolve, they just appeared. This was the case, for example, with amphibians: the stage at which the fish gave birth to amphibians is not exactly known. The very first land animals appear already with well-developed limbs, shoulder and pelvic girdles, ribs and a distinct head. And at once a dozen different types. It's the same with mammals. The earliest mammals were small animals that led a secretive life back in the era of the dinosaurs - 100 million or more years ago. Then, after the alleged cataclysm about 65 million years ago, which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs,in the fossil history at the same time - about 55 million years ago - several different groups of mammals appear at once.
The Amazing Balance of the Universe
And here we are talking not only about the Earth, where we observe an incredible consistency of various parameters and factors that made intelligent life possible. We are talking about the entire Universe, which also remains simply perfectly balanced in all respects. Take the Sun for example. If the nuclear forces of atoms were only a few percent less, there would be no fuel for solar energy, and therefore life on Earth. And if there were a little more nuclear forces, the Sun would explode. According to the most subtle calculation, the magnitude of nuclear forces is precisely in that narrow range where neither one nor the other catastrophe can occur. A change in the distance from the Sun to the Earth by only 2% would make life on our planet impossible. And these are just the main parameters of that “finest tuning”. Why everything in the universe is so perfectly coordinated is a mystery.
Why are mammoths extinct?
The fact is that until now, in northern Siberia and Alaska, scientists sometimes find completely intact, perfectly preserved carcasses of mammoths. It can be both adults and small mammoths. But the most interesting thing is that in the stomachs of these mammoths, and not only in the stomachs, but even in the mouths of some specimens, undigested and even under-chewed greens were found. This suggests that these animals died quite unexpectedly, and all at once, literally at their own dinner table. Why this happened is still unknown to scientists.
Cambrian explosion
Roderick Murchison was the first to discover this oddity. Studying the fossils of ancient times, found in the corresponding deposits, he found that the layers of these deposits are separated by a sharp boundary. Below this border, they are extremely poor in biological remains and demonstrate the ubiquity of only the simplest single-celled organisms - bacteria and algae, and then, starting from the Cambrian era, about 550 million years ago, they suddenly acquire an unprecedented wealth of new biological forms. Modern science has dispelled some of this mystery by establishing that many of the groups of animals that are found in the Cambrian strata lived in the Cryptozoic. It's just that most of them were soft-bodied creatures that did not have a hard shell or skeleton. But the mystery of the Cambrian explosion still remained, it's just that now the conversation is not aboutthat complex life forms appeared out of nowhere, but why so many of them suddenly acquired a mineral skeleton.