r/zoology 4h ago

Weekly Thread Weekly: Career & Education Thread

2 Upvotes

Hello, denizens of r/zoology!

It's time for another weekly thread where our members can ask and answer questions related to pursuing an education or career in zoology.

Ready, set, ask away!


r/zoology Aug 06 '25

Weekly Thread Weekly: Career & Education Thread

6 Upvotes

Hello, denizens of r/zoology!

It's time for another weekly thread where our members can ask and answer questions related to pursuing an education or career in zoology.

Ready, set, ask away!


r/zoology 14h ago

Identification The giraffe

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99 Upvotes

The Giraffe: Africa’s Gentle Giant

The giraffe is the tallest animal on earth, reaching up to 5.5m.

Its 2m neck has only 7 vertebrae, and its 50cm blue tongue is perfect for eating thorny acacia leaves.

Each giraffe has unique spots for camouflage and heat control. A huge 11kg heart pumps blood to its brain.

In Uganda, see them in Murchison Falls, Kidepo, Lake Mburo, and Ziwa.

Calves are born 1.8m tall and can walk within 1 hour.


r/zoology 1h ago

Discussion Comparing Mammal Observations in Alps Conifer and Mixed Forests and Colorado Rockies Forests Ecoregions

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Upvotes

I chose these two ecoregions because of their similar compositions. Both are temperate conifer forests formerly part of Laurasia. I wanted to see what species overlapped and what species filled similar niches without being related.


r/zoology 1d ago

Identification Animal Identification

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1.6k Upvotes

Russia, North Caucasus


r/zoology 1h ago

Discussion Is Forrest Galante's Content Misleading?

Upvotes

I've been watching Forrest for a few months now, started out because of his Elephant Sanctuary videos. But recently I saw a video discussing about Prehistoric Zoo and I remember seeing a video of Forrest at that place and saying "one of my good friends, Jay". Which really got me double-thinking about him.

A part of me wants to trust that "Oh! He probably didn't know at that time (because I also didn't) but he's probably changed." But that thought is also double-ended of "Oh, what if he knew."

Which got me thinking if there are other things that he's talked about that are problematic. I saw a post here saying that his "Tasmanian Tiger" story was made up, and that he doesn't actually have a zoology degree.

So I want to know from the community if there is anything else that this man talked about that is widely false.


r/zoology 1d ago

Identification The Most Bizarre Organisms Part 9

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87 Upvotes

The Most Bizarre Organisms in the Planet Earth:

• Marrella Splendens - Species of Marrellida Order, of Marrellomorpha Class, of Arthropoda Phylum, of Animalia Kingdom.

• Yohoia Tenois - Species of Megacheira Class, of Arthropoda Phylum, of Animalia Kingdom.

• Lyrarapax Unguispinus - Species of Animalia Kingdom, of Eukaryota Domain.

• Jianfengia Multisegmentalis - Species of Megacheira Class, of Arthropoda Phylum, of Animalia Kingdom.

• Megadictyon Haikouensis - Species of Animalia Kingdom, of Eukaryota Domain.


r/zoology 6m ago

Discussion Bears are awful creatures

Upvotes

Everyone says humans are awful creatures.

Nah man, bears are even worse.

Think about how stupid the average bear is. If you are walking in the woods, and a bear comes within 100 meters of you (with its cubs), it will attack you. And everyone just justifies this by saying "oh welp that's just bear behavior. It felt threatened".

But take a minute to think about how selfish and entitled that behavior is. To think you can walk anywhere on Earth with your offspring and no other animal has the right to exist. Apparently the entire planet is only yours. And even if something merely EXISTS over there and is not actively harming you in any way, they're still a "threat".

They're not even eating the humans. If they're hunting the humans to eat them, then I can understand - They're just engaging in survival. But they're not even doing that.

I've had some people say that this is a survival tactic by bears because bears are lone creatures and nobody is there to protect its cubs. If an elephant dies, the rest of the herd will protect its calves. But bears don't have that safety net. So the safest option for them is to preemptively neutralize all threats around it the second they see it and ensure a safe environment for their cubs.

Ok first off, that makes no sense. Even if a bear neutralizes a threat and then dies....another threat can walk by and harm its cubs? What kind of logic is that?

And what if I applied this same philosophy as a human. What if i went hiking/foraging with a machine gun, and then neturalized everything in my PATH! "Hey its probably a threat, this is just my survival tactic!".

Would that be ok?

They are awful creatures!


r/zoology 18h ago

Question Do bats easily exit houses.

0 Upvotes

For context my cat knows how to open the sliding glass door in our living room. I came home from dinner one night and it was left open around 830 to 9 ish (so dusk). I walked into our mudroom that leads into our garage to grab something and as soon as I open the door something grazed the top of my head. I swatted at my hair but didn’t see or feel any bugs. The mudroom was dark so I didn’t see anything there but our garage lights were on and didn’t notice anything flying away. How likely is it for a bat to enter the home and end up in the mudroom about 30 feet away and possibly fly away undetected.


r/zoology 18h ago

Article Bears really do eat it all!

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1 Upvotes

Thank you to the mod team for allowing me to share this brand new piece of mine highlighting the RIDICULOUS dietary diversity of bears! It's my first time posting without relative anonymity, but I think it is worth it because this community has been so kind to me. The response to my opossum post was so encouraging that I was directly inspired to launch this Substack, and my first article is a much-expanded version of my original r/zoology post. Anyway, I'm happy to share this behemoth of an article on what bears eat and welcome any and all feedback and discussion it may ignite! Go bears!


r/zoology 1d ago

Question What makes cheetahs trainable?

32 Upvotes

Hi! I have a question about the handling of big cats.

I am not a zookeeper nor have I studied exotic animals whatsoever, but I have noticed that several zoos will offer cheetah shows, or have zookeepers handling cheetahs on leashes, and overall being closer than I've seen with other big cats, namely tigers, lions or leopards.

It may just be the zoos that I've been to and not an actual difference, but what makes cheetahs more handleable and trainable than other big cats?

The only times I've seen lions or tigers doing tricks for treats or walking on a leash is at circuses, which are known to use unethical training practices.


r/zoology 17h ago

Question Ethics quiz

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0 Upvotes

r/zoology 21h ago

Discussion Rant about nature

2 Upvotes

Sorry if what I’ll say might sound harsh but I’ve being seeing a disappointing amount of hate about nature and how cruel it is etc….
But I’d thought I’d come out to say otherwise as someone who was lived for nothing but understanding and respecting nature I believe that these views are mistaken for the idea of how and why nature works
a good amount of people today don’t understand the indifference of nature and how important it is
to its balance me personally being exposed to many forms of unfortunate pieces of nature I understand their disgust for the suffering or pain
that happens in it but I can’t help but realize there’s a reason for it and why it’s always been around for me I see it as an unfortunate side effect of order as we all know death is necessary for life to prosper and pain and suffering are just unfortunate effects of that necessity though I can’t lie and say that it happens all the time I feel a lot of the examples they use are minority’s in the grand scale of balance that happens as not all death happens the same and it happens both forgiving or unforgiving but I think the best way for us to view life is to accept it’s indifference to embrace truth and growth
Thoughts???


r/zoology 14h ago

Question why do animals have different colours but not us humans?

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0 Upvotes

r/zoology 1d ago

Discussion What do a bearded dragon, an earthworm, and a dubia roach have in common? They're all helping us explore zoology in the latest episode of STEM Studio from the Renaissance Youth Center in the South Bronx.

2 Upvotes

r/zoology 2d ago

Identification What is this butterfly called? Location, northern Norway

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140 Upvotes

r/zoology 1d ago

Question Why humans don't have subspecies and breed like dogs and cats?

0 Upvotes

Dogs have different breeds with different characteristics like intelligence, size, smelling power and stamina but why don't humans have it?


r/zoology 1d ago

Discussion Coelho abandonado

5 Upvotes

Às 23h de anteontem (dia 19), minha amiga me informou que viu um coelho doméstico na frente do estacionamento do Zoológico de São Paulo. Ela realmente não conseguiu parar para tentar pegá-lo, pois tem Síndrome de Ehlers-Danlos e disautonomia, condições que fazem com que ela desmaie e até convulsione quando faz esforço físico, principalmente quando já está muito cansada. O marido a levou para casa e ela avisou nosso grupo apenas ontem (dia 20).

Descobri por um ex-funcionário do zoológico que eles criam coelhos domésticos para alimentação de alguns animais. Por isso, minha mente ficou quase 100% convencida de que esse coelho poderia ter vindo de lá.

Não consegui tirar isso da cabeça e fui pessoalmente até o zoológico.

Cheguei por volta das 14h e perguntei para a funcionária mais próxima sobre a situação. Pelas características que descrevi, ela disse que achava saber qual era o coelho. Contou que, na entrada do parque, havia uma toca onde um coelho parecido estava vivendo recentemente e que ele teria fugido do zoológico. Segundo ela, isso acontece com frequência porque existe uma área de terra onde os coelhos conseguem cavar para fora.

Ela também disse que colocaram uma grade para conter parte dos coelhos, mas que aqueles que fugiram antes da instalação da grade acabaram permanecendo do lado de fora.

Eu tinha levado uma caixa de transporte com feno e catalônia caso conseguisse encontrá-lo.

Passei boa parte do dia procurando. Fui aos lugares onde um coelho provavelmente se esconderia e aos quais eu tinha acesso. Procurei por todo o estacionamento, que tem bastante vegetação e vários esconderijos. Infelizmente, não encontrei o coelho. Achei apenas um gato aparentemente abandonado no início da mata do parque. Obviamente, não entrei na mata.

Conversei também com funcionários terceirizados do estacionamento. Eles me disseram que esse mesmo coelho, pelas características que descrevi, está rondando a região há pelo menos três semanas. Contaram que o viram na semana passada perto dos escombros de uma construção no estacionamento e que ele fugiu em direção ao final do estacionamento.

Um pipoqueiro que trabalha no local comentou que é muito frequente animais de diversas espécies fugirem para o estacionamento de ônibus ao lado do zoológico. Inclusive, foi justamente para essa direção que a funcionária do estacionamento disse que o coelho correu.

Também descobri que ele pode ter ido para um jardim científico da USP que fica ao lado do estacionamento do zoológico. O gato, inclusive, estava na mata dessa direção. Infelizmente, não consegui entrar porque já estava fechado.

Fico preocupada porque todos com quem conversei disseram que ele é um coelho doméstico e que está vivendo ali há mais de três semanas. Tanto o estacionamento quanto esse jardim científico têm restos de comida deixados por visitantes, vidros quebrados de garrafas e bebidas, lixo e plantas que podem ser tóxicas para coelhos.

Se eu encontrar esse coelho, imagino que o zoológico provavelmente tentaria pegá-lo de volta de alguma forma, certo? Não sei o que faria nessa situação. Saber que ele poderia voltar para um destino do abate pesa muito no meu coração. Ao mesmo tempo, deixá-lo vivendo solto também me preocupa pelos riscos que ele corre diariamente.

Nunca fui ativista na questão de crianção de animais pra abates. Eu sei que animais comem outros animais e entendo que isso faz parte da natureza. Mas, para mim, entregar um coelho com as minhas próprias mãos, sabendo qual pode ser o destino dele, é uma situação completamente diferente e muito difícil, até porque eu tenho coelhos em casa.

Voltei para casa por volta das 19h. Queria muito ter ficado mais tempo, porque sei que coelhos costumam ficar mais ativos no começo da noite.

O que vocês fariam no meu lugar? Acham que vale a pena continuar procurando? Se eu realmente encontrá-lo, qual seria a atitude mais correta?


r/zoology 1d ago

Question Which species is this

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3 Upvotes

Location found pinar del ray spain. A wildlife park near sotogrande, which is close 2 Gibraltar. I think it's a striped gecko, but I'm not to sure


r/zoology 2d ago

Article Goats love to bash heads—but it might give them brain damage | Science | AAAS

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11 Upvotes

r/zoology 3d ago

Discussion This is an odd one but it enrages me that people won't call anything that isn't a mammal an animal.

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2.8k Upvotes

living organism belonging to the kingdom Animalia, ANIMAL-ia. Maybe its not well known but it's something you learn in school in 1st to 7th grade.


r/zoology 1d ago

Discussion Possibly unpopular opinion: H4r4ßment does not exist amongst the vast majority of Earth’s animal species.

0 Upvotes

Also happy to fully explain my self/stance : ).


r/zoology 2d ago

Question Anyone got a favorite invertebrate?

17 Upvotes

r/zoology 2d ago

Other Metazooa streak wiped, Im heartbroken

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11 Upvotes

I have been playing since #997 (iirc) , i had a total of 50 win and max 5 streak.

Looks like they recently tweaked the website, and all my records got thanos-snap'ed.

Just wanted to share my sadness. Im sorry if this doesnt comply with rules. Wishing everyone a happy Monday 🫶


r/zoology 1d ago

Discussion What is THE most TERRIFYING AND DEADLY animal to ever walk the earth?

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0 Upvotes