Why do cats meow?

Different Cat Meows And Their Meanings

1) Demanding, loud meows

It usually doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what Kitty means when she issues a loud meow. It can usually be translated as "I want my dinner / a treat / let outside etc. etc. NOW!" Her body language and where she's standing will confirm the verbal demand.

2) Quiet, almost inaudible or even silent meows

There's usually no mistaking this one, either. Kitty is either saying "I'm really cute, give me immediate attention," or she's asking for something that she knows she shouldn't get - like some of your dinner while you're still eating it, for example. And heck, it works. She knows that you'll become putty in her paws the instant she pulls this little stunt.

3) Howls

A really loud howl may indicate Kitty is in pain, injured or seriously upset. You should always investigate when she howls loudly, to make sure she's OK.

Some clever cats learn that howling like a banshee gets them attention, so they'll do it solely for this reason. If yours falls into this category, still check up on her when she howls, but if she's just doing it for attention, don't give her any at that point. For advice on curbing excessive cat meowing, click here.

4) Screeching associated with fighting

Cat fighting screeches are frightening and unmistakable. Why do cats meow before and during a fight? Sometimes, if a cat screeches loud enough, he will frighten the other cat off before a fight has even begun. If not, screeching usually continues through the fight as it's adding to the cat's general aggressive behavior.

5) Hissing

Cat hissing is also unmistakable. It may be associated with cat fighting, or it may be telling a human, dog or other animal to back off in no uncertain terms. It is best to back off if a cat is hissing at you, unless you're trying to set an unusual new fashion trend in cat bites and cat scratches. You're best to let her calm down, and approach her later when she's in a less aggressive frame of mind.

6) Other meows

There are lots of meows that don't fall into the above categories. They can mean all sorts of things. By listening to Kitty's meows in different circumstances, and watching her behavior at the same time, you'll eventually be able to work out what many of them mean.

The answer to the question "why do cats meow?" isn't at all straightforward. Kitty is an intelligent, complex little creature, and you can have a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable time trying to figure her out.

Why do cats lick people?

When a cat licks you, it can serve several purposes. Grooming, affection (which grooming is a part of), tasting, and leaving their scent on you.

Especially kittens use licking to taste new things. Even if their sense of taste isn't as developed as that of humans, they still behave like human children and learn about new things by tasting them.

If you meet other cats while you're away, your cat will smell them on you -- even if you didn't really cuddle the other cat, since a cat's sense of smell is about ten times as acute as ours -- and will "mark" you as HER (or his) human, so the other cats don't think you're a stray and try to adopt you ;p If you did pet the other cats, your cat will cover their scent with her (or his) own, and at the same time learn as much as possible about the other cat.

Cats groom their kittens to care for them, to keep them healthy and to show them they are loved. A cat will do the same to you, of course, since she likes you and wants to show you that she cares about you. =)

I don't know that much about dogs and why they lick people though ^^ So I can't say if they have different reasons or not (well, slightly different, I guess).

Why do cats sleep so much?

There's no doubt about it: cats sure know how to sleep. Although the amount of time spent napping varies from cat to cat, and depends on the cat's age and personality, felines spend an average of 13 to 16 hours each day curled up in slumber. Only the opossum and the bat sleep more – napping away almost 20 hours a day.

Nobody is sure why cats sleep so much. Cats evolved from a long line of hunters and predators – and their sleep patterns reflect that. For one thing, they are crepuscular (most active at dawn and dusk), since most of their prey is active at these times. This gives them plenty of time to sleep during the middle of the day.

The cat's diet may play an important role in its sleep patterns. Large grazing herbivores must graze for hours to supply their bodies with enough food. But the protein-rich diet of the cat does not require such an investment of time, and allows him plenty of time for napping.

Of course, today's modern indoor cat sometimes sleeps out of boredom. You can help your kitty by providing plenty of stimulation during the day – this can be in the form of toys, a companion, or by spending quality playtime with you. If he has plenty to do during the day, he may prefer to stay awake then, and sleep more during the night when you do.

What Happens During Sleep

Sleep consists of two basic phases: Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, when dreams occur, and Non-REM (NREM) or deep sleep. If a cat is deprived of either sort of sleep, it becomes confused and irritable.

During NREM sleep, your cat's body repairs and regenerates itself. Kittens build their muscles and bones. The immune system strengthens and revitalizes. Kittens need more NREM sleep than adults and with advancing years the amount of NREM sleep diminishes.

During REM sleep, your cat's eyes move behind the eyelids, limbs twitch, and whiskers move around. Up to 60 percent of your cat's sleep is REM sleep, three times more than we have when we are asleep.

Cats Really Catnap

Newborn kittens sleep most of the time, but this keeps them safe in the nest and also keeps them quiet so that they don't attract predators. As they mature, young cats sleep patterns begin to conform to those of adults, with them tending to sleep in naps rather than having one long rest. Again this has to do with their predatory nature.

Cats in the wild must be on the alert in order to survive. When your domestic cat sleeps, his finely tuned senses are still active and ready to spring into action. Watch your cat while he's napping. His ears rotate as he stays in touch with his environment, and if he hears a noise or senses that someone is approaching, he will open his eyes to assess the situation before falling back to sleep. If you try to wake a sleeping cat, he can transform from deeply sleeping cat to one that's fully alert in a matter of seconds – and then back again.

*Cats Sleep...Anywhere

...any table...any chair...top of piano...window ledge...in the middle...on the edge...

Your cat looks for a place that feels comfortable and safe and has the right temperature. When the weather is warm, he seeks high shaded sleeping nooks, where he can stretch out. During the cool winter months he'll find a place bathed in the warm sunshine or sidle up to heat source, and there he'll curl up with face between paws to reduce body heat loss.

You can make a comfortable bed for your kitty or choose from the variety of plush feline beds at your pet store. However, if you are so inclined, you can let your cat sleep in his favorite place – your bed. In a recent poll, 60 percent of cat owners admitted that they share their beds with a cat. Advocates of this method say it strengthens the human-feline bond – not to mention the warmth and comfort your cat provides you.

Why do cats purr?

When your cat climbs into your lap, tucks in his paws under himself, and begins to purr, all is right in his world. This is one of the things we love about our cats; that feeling of contentment they share with us. When cats become soft purring bundles of warm reassuring fur, we feel calmer and more peaceful ourselves. We may not always hear the purring – a soft vibrating rumble – but we can feel it. But why do cats purr? And what produces this characteristic sound?

According to veterinarian Bruce Fogle, author of The Cat's Mind, the original function of purring was to enable a kitten to communicate with his mother that things are well. A kitten is able to purr by the second day of life, and although he can't meow and nurse at the same time, he can purr and nurse. And the mother cat often purrs back, probably to reassure the kitty.

There are many theories to explain how the purr is generated. One study determined that purring involves activation of nerves within the voice box. These nerve signals cause vibration of the vocal cords while the diaphragm serves as a piston pump, pushing air in and out of the vibrating cords, thus creating a musical hum. Veterinarian Neils C. Pederson, author of Feline Husbandry, believes that purring is initiated from within the central nervous system and is a voluntary act. In other words, cats purr only when they want to.

Purring is an integral part of the feline communication system and occurs for a variety of reasons. It is classified with the "murmur vocalization" group, which involves sounds produced by a cat while the mouth is closed. In addition to purring, this group of sounds includes grunting, calling, and acknowledgment murmurs. Domestic cats and some wild cats, like pumas and mountain lions (almost any big cat that cannot roar), are all able to purr.

As the cat matures the meaning of the purr changes. Some cats purr to indicate contentment or pleasure, but badly frightened cats and severely ill cats also purr, and so do females while they are delivering their kittens. It is not uncommon for cats to purr when they are close to death. This final purring may indicate a state of anxiety or possibly euphoria, states that have also been described in terminally ill people.

Animal behaviorists believe that when cats purr under stressful circumstances, they are reassuring or comforting themselves, much as humans may sing to themselves or hum when they are nervous. Frightened cats may purr to communicate submissiveness or non-aggressive intentions. A feral cat may purr to signal that he will not attack and other cats need not feel threatened. Older cats may purr when they play or approach other cats, signaling that they are friendly and want to come closer.

A more recent theory about purring is that it is caused by the release of nature's own morphine-like substances (endorphins) in the brain. Since endorphins are released under circumstances of pain and pleasure, this would explain the seemingly ambiguous expression of purring. This theory jives with Pederson's reasoning, that purring is initiated in the brain, and is also compatible with the more mechanical explanations for purring, as endorphins activate one of the main action systems in the brain (so thought is translated into movement). Whatever the explanation for purring, it seems to indicate cats' contentment and is associated with improvement in their affect at times of stress. Purring is one of cats' most endearing qualities.

Why do animals have tails?

Animals have tails for assisting in balance and steering, propulsion,
grasping, grooming (swatting flies is one example) and for display. One of
the gaudiest tail displays I can think of is the male peacock's tail. Believe
it or not, we still have remnants of tails because or ancestors did. This is
a good example of a useful characteristic (the tail) evolving in our ancestors
but not being retained in the descendants (us!) because of a loss of evolutionary
selective pressure. Because we can modify our environment, it is unlikely that
we will evolve to regain tails! What other uses for tails can you think of?

Why do animals hibernate?

Grizzly black bears, hummingbirds and squirrels hibernate in the winter because a long, chilly season of little food and warmth is no picnic for these animals.

Unlike the warm seasons of spring and summer that provide an unlimited amount of food for these critters, the winter season only provides a cold, frozen ground where food is extremely scarce.

In addition, the wintery days are frigid and short while the hours in the dark night seem to drag on for a chilly eternity. Searching for grub often leaves the stomachs of these animals empty because by the end of their search their bodies end up burning more calories than the animals get back from the food when and if any is found. So instead of starving or freezing to death, these animals decide to pack in all in for the long haul and hibernate during the winter months.

Hibernation helps these animals survive in the roughest and toughest conditions. By hibernating, an animal decreases its body.s energy needs to a bare minimum. Hibernation is a process of lowering an animals body temperature and slowing down its heartbeat into order to conserve energy during times of scarcity and stress.

Every animal hibernates in different ways. While squirrels can wake up every four days to grab a bite to eat and take a trip to the bathroom, black bears can stay dormant, or inactive, for up to seven months with no food, water, or visits to the bathroom.

Why are zoos good?

Humans have an insatiable fascination with wild animals. Every year, millions of people go on safaris, board whale-watching cruises and watch Jeff Corwin get attacked by snakes on Animal Planet; others drive to their local zoo for a full day of animal gazing.

This interest in animals is nothing new: Zoos have been entertaining people with exotic animal collections as far back as 1250 B.C. [source: Fravel]. Later, in early 13th-century England, Henry III moved his family's royal menagerie to the Tower of London for public viewing. For a small fee, visitors would be treated to glimpses of animals like lions, camels and lynxes. And if they brought a dog or cat to feed the lions, they got in for free.

The first modern zoo -- the Imperial Menagerie in Vienna, Austria -- was established in 1752 and continues to attract visitors to this day. Nearby, in Germany, is the world's largest animal collection: Zoo Berlin (formerly The Berlin Zoological Gardens) houses more than 15,000 animals from almost 1,700 species.

All U.S. animal exhibitors, like the 265-acre (107-hectare) Bronx Zoo just a subway ride away from Fifth Avenue, must apply for and receive a license from the Department of Agriculture. Millions of people visit the thousands of zoos around the world, proving that we simply never grow tired of observing wildlife.

Depending on your point of view, though, zoos are either sanctuaries of education and entertainment or unnecessary prisons. While some people argue that zoos play an important role in conservation and research, others counter that they do more harm than good.

So which is it? Are zoos good or bad? And how do you differentiate between what's good for one animal versus what's good for the entire species? It's a delicate question and one that can't easily be answered. Let's start with the good news.

Zoo Pros: Education, Conservation, Entertainment

Zoos have improved significantly in the last 4,000 or so years. Gone are the old steel-bar enclosures and cold cement cages. Most zoos these days use natural-looking barriers like moats or ditches to separate animals from people, and have mini-habitats that resemble the animals' natural environment.

Successful breeding programs brought the Pere David's deer back from extinction. Though this Asian deer ceased to exist in the wild, Chinese and European zoo programs enabled four of the deer to be released back into the wild in 1985, where they're now self-sustaining.

What Perfume Are You Wearing?

As zookeepers at the Bronx Zoo discovered, cheetahs have a strong affinity for Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men. When they sprayed the cologne on logs and grasses as part of a stimulation exercise, the females went crazy, rolling and pawing at the scent and defending the sprayed object against approaching male cheetahs. Observers think the cologne's musk, an ingredient also naturally secreted by animals, could be what makes it so irresistible.

Some zoos also take in abandoned animals that wouldn't otherwise have a home. Both the Baltimore Zoo and the Detroit Zoo have taken in polar bears rescued from a traveling circus, and the Bronx Zoo took in an orphaned snow leopard from Pakistan in 2007. The cub, Leo, now spends his time frolicking and chasing small animals that wander into his enclosure.

And although zoo animals aren't treated quite like guests at a four-star hotel, their care has improved tremendously. Zookeepers now understand that many animals, such as monkeys, bears and elephants, need engaging activities to prevent boredom and mental deterioration. This is why you'll often see chimps playing with toys or tigers "hunting" for a meal.

Aside from taking care of captive animals, many zoos also contribute to the care of their wild counterparts. The Toledo Zoo, in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy, is helping to restore butterfly habitats in Ohio, and the Bronx Zoo has channeled more than $3 million toward conservation projects in central Africa.

Zoos also present an opportunity for scientists to conduct research. In 2002, zoos participated in 2,230 research and conservation projects in more than 80 countries. The information they gather helps them to develop new medicines and techniques to improve animal health.

Beyond the positive impact zoos try to have on animals, they often affect the people visiting as well. Zoos don't just entertain, they also aim to educate. With a variety of programs geared toward children and adults, zoos teach people about the needs of animals and the importance of conservation. And if people get excited enough, the thinking goes that they'll be more inclined to donate money to conservation efforts -- another zoo pro.

The fact that zoos impact people in a positive way is nice, but it's not the people critics worry about -- it's the animals.

Zoo Cons: Wild Animals Are Meant to Be Wild

For evidence of some zoo cons, you need look no further than Maggie the elephant. Until the Alaska Zoo finally caved in to public pressure in 2007, Maggie was forced to spend days on end in a small indoor enclosure because of the frigid outside temperatures. Perhaps as a form of protest, she refused to use the elephant-sized treadmill the zoo brought in to encourage her to exercise.

Even in optimal conditions, some experts contend, it's incredibly difficult to provide for the needs of animals like elephants. If Maggie and her captive compatriots lived in the wild, they would wander as much as 30 miles (48 kilometers) a day in large groups, grazing on leaves and stopping to splash in the occasional watering hole. As it is, they're lucky to get a few acres and a roommate or two.

While conditions have improved from the years of bars and cages, detractors take issue with other items. Although the natural-looking habitats are certainly more attractive, people like David Hancocks, a zoo consultant and former zoo director, describe them as mere illusions, arguing that they're not much of an improvement in terms of space [source: Lemonick]. Indeed, many captive animals exhibit signs of severe distress: People have witnessed elephants bobbing their heads, bears pacing back and forth and wild cats obsessively grooming themselves.

Animal behaviorists maintain that their distress is understandable. Animals like zebras, giraffes and gazelles were designed to run across miles of open terrain, not live out their lives in captivity. Despite a zoo's best efforts, its animals often are deprived of privacy, confined to inadequate spaces and unable to engage in natural hunting and mating activities. Forced to live in artificial constructs, many animals succumb to what some people refer to as zoochosis, the display of obsessive, repetitive behaviors.

In addition, many animals have precise needs that zookeepers are just beginning to understand. Some, like the aardvark, survive on a limited diet that zoos have a hard time fulfilling; others thrive only in certain temperatures and environments that aren't easy to recreate.

Even zoos' conservation efforts leave something to be desired. Of 145 reintroduction programs carried out by zoos in the last century, only 16 truly succeeded in restoring populations to the wild [source: Fravel]. The condors mentioned on the previous page? About two-thirds of them were actually strong enough to survive in the wild.

Zoos may not even benefit people as much as once thought. According to one study, many visitors don't pay much attention to the animals -- they're actually talking to each other about unrelated things and spending only a few minutes at each display.

It's a toss-up whether zoos are good or bad for animals. As you've seen, it depends a lot on what zoo you're talking about. It also depends on whether you're referring to the well-being of a single animal actually living in a zoo or an animal, thousands of miles away, benefiting from the zoo's research and conservation efforts. If you had the communicative power of Dr. Doolittle, Leo the snow leopard would likely tell you that zoos are great; however Maggie the elephant might respond by slapping you with her trunk.

Why are zebras striped?

As a child I was always full of questions. I remember asking my parents why zebras were striped or why did giraffes have such a long neck. Most of the time the answers were elusive and I used to be very irritated. I could never get the right answer to satisfy my curiosity. I now realize why my parents could not give me a concrete answer. You see I happened to be in the same dilemma when my three-year-old daughter asked me the same question! I was faced with the difficult task of giving her half-baked answers or finding the right answers this time.

The most obvious question to ask about zebras is why are zebras striped? Unfortunately nobody really knows the answer. Looking at zebras in the zoo, the striped pattern seems very conspicuous and could hardly be thought of as protective.

Zoologists believe the stripes on a zebra could be one of several reasons. It could be basically for camouflage very much like the military fatigues. The bold wavy lines of a zebra blend in with the tall wavy grassy plains of Africa where these animals live. The bold stripe may even serve to break up the shape of the Zebra. If a zebra is standing still in such surroundings, a lion, its chief predator, may overlook it completely.

It doesn't matter that the zebra's stripes are black and white and the grass are dusty brown or green, because the lion is colour blind!

However this may benefit an individual zebra in some situations but is it likely a large zebra herd would be able to escape a lion's notice? This is exactly where it helps the zebra most. Zebra herds are very large but they stay very close to one another.

When all the zebras stick together in a herd, the pattern of stripes blends in with the stripes of the zebras around it. This is confusing to the lion! All it can see is a large, moving, striped mass instead of many individual zebras. The lion has trouble picking out individual zebras and it's harder still for the lion to recognize which way each zebra is moving!

Each zebra pattern is unique like a fingerprint. Also like a fingerprint, the patter varies from zebra to zebra and no two zebras are exactly alike. What is truly amazing is that zebras can recognize other zebras from their body stripe! A mother can instantly spot her colt in a herd!

There are three species classified according to the variations in the arrangement of the stripes - the Imperial or Grevy's zebra, the Plains or Common zebra and the Mountain zebra - and several subspecies. The mountain zebra is the smallest of these averaging only four feet. It has silver-white stripes with black markings that extend to every part of the body except the stomach and the inner part of thighs. Plains zebras travel in large herds and are pale yellow with broad black stripes. This specie has several variations: some have stripes down to the hooves while the lower legs of the others are solid white without any stripes.

Do you know that people of Africa think of zebras as black animals with white stripes whereas people outside Africa consider them as white animals with black stripes! Black stripes or white, the fact remains that zebras are extremely unique and are among the fastest and most graceful of runners in the African bush land.

Why are unicorns called unicorns?

A horse with a small rounded horn is a Moyle. "Uni" means one, and "Cornus" is Latin for horn, so "Unicorn" means "one horn."

Why are there no cats in the bible?

There is no direct mention of cats in the translated Bible. It is known that the Israelites distrusted everything associated with the Egyptians, who ruled over them. The fact that the Egyptians held cats in such high esteem encouraged the occupied population to despise them almost as much as they hated the occupiers, so this may be the reason why they are not mentioned in the Bible.

Why are there no snakes in Ireland?

Legend has it that St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland. Sometime back in the fifth century he stood on a hill, the story goes, and used a staff to herd the slithering creatures into the sea, banishing them for eternity. It's true, aside from zoos and pets, there are no snakes on the emerald isle. In fact, there never were any snakes in Ireland. This state of affairs probably has more to do with the vagaries of geography than any neat tricks performed by St. Patty.

Snakes first evolved from their lizard forebears about 100 million years ago during the late Cretaceous period, about the same time that Tyrannosaurus rex first appeared. Early snakes were small and wormy, resembling modern blindsnakes (suborder Scolecophidia). Ancient snake fossils are found only on southern continents, suggesting that snakes first radiated from Gondwanaland—a former supercontinent comprised of modern-day Antarctica, South America, Africa, India, and Australia. Migrating to Ireland wasn't an option at this time, as the area was completely underwater. The chalky sediments that would eventually become the 700-foot Cliffs of Moher on Ireland's west coast were being laid down at the bottom of the sea.

During the Cenozoic era, beginning 65 million years ago, the world's climate gradually began to dry out, and vast tracts of grasslands and other open habitats came to dominate much of the northern hemisphere. Large dinosaurs went extinct, opening the door to new groups of animals. By the Eocene epoch, 50 to 35 million years ago, the predecessors of boas and pythons (called the basal Macrostomatans) were widespread throughout the northern hemisphere. Explosive radiation of snakes in the suborder Colubroidae, including vipers and cobras, occurred during the Miocene epoch, 25 million years ago. Now snakes are found in deserts, grasslands, forests, mountains, and even oceans virtually everywhere around the world. Everywhere except Ireland, New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica, that is.

One thing these few snake-less parts of the world have in common is that they are surrounded by water. New Zealand, for instance, split off from Australia and Asia before snakes ever evolved. So far, no serpent has successfully migrated across the open ocean to a new terrestrial home. As the world's oceans have risen and fallen over the millennia, land bridges have come and gone between Ireland, other parts of Great Britain, and the European mainland, allowing animals and early humans to cross. However, any snake that may have slithered it's way to Ireland would have turned into a popsicle when the ice ages hit.

The most recent ice age began about three million years ago and continues into the present. Between warm periods like the current climate, glaciers have advanced and retreated more than 20 times, often completely blanketing Ireland with ice. Snakes, being cold-blooded animals, simply aren't able to survive in areas where the ground is frozen year round. Ireland thawed out for the last time only 15,000 years ago. Since then, 12 miles of icy-cold water in the Northern Channel have separated Ireland from neighboring Scotland, which does harbor a few species of snakes. There are no snakes in Ireland for the simple reason that they can't get there.

Snakes and Myths

So where did the myth of St. Patrick and the snakes come from? Most scholars agree that snakes symbolize paganism, which St. Patrick is also credited for banishing from Ireland. Snakes as symbols of evil are prevalent throughout Judeo-Christian mythology, most notoriously in the Garden of Eden as a tempter of Eve. Other societies have viewed snakes with more favor. Snakes were venerated in ancient Egypt, and many gods were represented by snakes, such as the cobra goddess Neith, founder of the universe. More recently, Ben Franklin advocated making a rattlesnake the symbol of the United States.

Mythology aside, herpetologists (scientists who study snakes and other reptiles and amphibians) like to point out that snakes play an important role in many ecosystems throughout the world. Snakes benefit humans by controlling rodent populations, and snake venom has been used to treat various diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and hemophilia. Unfortunately, some 200 species of snakes are considered threatened or endangered, the biggest threat being habitat loss resulting from human activities. Unless humans start taking more of an interest in their survival, real-life snakes may find themselves banished from more places than just Ireland.

Why are some eggs brown?

White eggs come from white chickens and brown eggs come from brown-ish chickens. Most of the eggs in your supermarket come from the following breeds of chickens: the White Leghorn, the Rhode Island Red, the New Hampshire, and the Plymouth Rock.

White Leghorn chickens are white and lay white eggs. Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire and Plymouth Rock chickens are all reddish brown and lay brown or brown-speckled eggs.

Let's get weird for a second and pretend you have a chicken sitting beside you. Imagine this crazy chicken is kind of an off-white brownish yellow. You're no chicken expert and you have no idea what breed you're looking at. Here's the secret to predicting the color of eggs a chicken will lay: look at their earlobes. This is true stuff. The pigments in the outer layer of the eggshell will always approximate the color of the earlobe of the chicken that laid the egg.

A natural follow-up question would be "Is one color of egg healthier than the other?" According to the Egg Nutrition Center in Washington, D.C., the answer is a pretty firm "no". The color of the shell has nothing to do with egg quality, nutritional value or flavor. They say the reason brown eggs cost more is because the brown-egg variety of chickens are bigger eaters and cost more to feed. The cost is then pushed forward to the consumer. I happen to believe the real reason is that the health food industry is perpetuating the myth that brown eggs are healthier. There, I said it.

Why are flamingos pink?

Flamingos are pink because of the food they eat, which is shrimp and algae.

Additional Input

It's not the the color of the food that makes the flamingo pink, but the chemicals inside.

Flamingos are pink if they have a lot of food containing beta carotene in their diet (i.e shrimp).

The coloring is actually a derivative of a class of plant-produced compounds called carotenoids-that is, carotene and its chemical cousins. Flamingoes in the wild eat shrimp, which is pink. The flamingo body may not process other colorful chemicals the way it processes carotene. Often times when flamingos are fed at a zoo, their diets are much different than their diet would be in the wild. Flamingoes in the wild eat shrimp, which is pink. Therefore flamingos in a zoo habitatand that aren't fed shrimp lose their pink color, so zookeepers must add food coloring to the food!

The depth and shade of their pink depends on how much suitable carotenoid they eat. In order to have flamingoes that remain pink in captivity, various colouring agents are fed to them; normally the same agents that are fed to farmed salmon so they have pink meat.

This answer is completely wrong! I'm pretty sure shrimps do not contain beta carotene. Beta carotene is an orange (not pink) pigment found in carrots and is a precursor to vitamin A. Whereas Astaxanthine is a pink pigment produced by plants and algae. It is Astaxanthine that give Flamingos their pink color. When shrimps eat algae the astaxanthine contained in them is incorporated into their chitin shell. When the Flamingos eat the shrimps the flamingos then incorporate the pigment into their feathers. Incidentally this is also why the meat or muscle of an adult wild salmon is pink. Farmed salmon raised on meal lacking the pigment have white appearing muscle. This is also why when you cook shrimp or lobster or crab they turn bright pink to red in color. Shrimps and lobsters don't look pink at first due to proteins in the shell obscuring the pigment. When the protein is denatured (cooked) it reveals the wonderful color. This is also true of the leaves of fall. When the green chlorophylls in the leaves are destroyed the reds and oranges and yellows of fall are revealed in their splendor! What about pink you say? I'll explain this next.

Both astaxanthine and beta carotene are Carotenoids, a group of pigment molecules produced by plants and algae that range in color from yellow to red (the leaves of fall). They help absorb light and pass the energy to chlorophyll. They can be divided into two groups, xanthophylls and carotenes. The former containing oxygen and the later lacking. The coloration of these molecules is due to the length of their carbon chain with alternating single and double bonds, called conjugation. This chain absorbs light of various colors (energies). The more highly conjugated or the longer the chain the more red the pigment looks. The shorter the chain the more yellow the pigment. Changing the length changes the light absorption spectrum and therefore the color. Vitamin A (retinol) alpha and beta carotene, lycopene, and lutien are all vitamins and antioxidants as well as Carotenoids.

Why are elephants afraid of mice?

Elephants are afraid of mice.

I've heard that one since I was a little kid. So to check it out, we went looking for some elephants.

We found them at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, where the head clown let me ask the audience.

The resounding answer from the audience: "Mice. Mice. Mice."

Many people, however, learned about elephants fearing mice from cartoons like "Dumbo."

But why would a big animal fear such a small one? Well, it seems logical to us or at least plausible because if you think about it, as adults we are afraid of little bugs.

And what would one of these elephants do if we showed it a mouse?

Not much. Troy Metzler, the circus' elephant trainer, let me take one white mouse and show it to an elephant that only looked bored by it all.

Metzler says he's seen mice around the elephants. They like the hay, but he's never tested the myth up close.

"We've never really gave it a thought," Metzler said. "I'm glad we got the chance."

Seemed to me the elephant was more likely to inhale the mouse than fear it.

Metzler showed mice to several of his elephants, and not one of them seemed to care much.

He's trained elephants for 24 years and says, elephants fear no animal.

"They're the kings of the jungle because they have no natural enemies," Metzler said.

Why are mules sterile?

First thing you have to realise is that all mules are NOT sterile. Most mules certainly are, but there have been numerous authenticated accounts of mules giving birth to perfectly healthy foals.

Next thing to do is to ignore those people saying that it is because they are hybrids or because horses and donkeys are different species. Numerous species are perfectly interfertile despite being far more distantly related than horses and donkeys and having far more widely differing chromosomes numbers.

Thirdly ignore those people saying that mules are clones. Mules are the product of sexual reporduction. If they were clones then by definition they would be either entirely horses or entirely donkeys.

And finally mules have perfectly functional reproductive organs so that isn't the reaosn.

So why are mules sterile?

That’s pretty complicated and to be quite honest we still don’t know the whole story. The basic problem is that after the ancestors of donkeys and horses split the chromosomes of BOTH species fused and then those fused chromosomes re-split. That has led to a situation where the information originally carried on a single chromosome in the ancestral species is now found on 2 different chromosomes in mules and 2 totally unrelated chromosomes in horses.

Normally a developing foal embryo would receive two copies of each piece of genetic information: one from the mother and one from the father. In the case of a mule foal it receives a random number of copies. It will receive three copies of some pieces of information: 2 from the mule parent and one from the horse/donkey parent, or it will receive only a single copy from the horse/donkey parent.

Because of that mismatch of genetic material the embryo has a hard time developing. Some traits it will lack sufficient information for since it has only half the required genetic information, while other traits will be overdeveloped because there are 3 or more genes where there should be only two. All mules will get pregnant if mated, but the embryo develops for just a few days and then dies because it lacks the correct genetic instruction to develop further.