Animal_Tales_-_February_2020

91

Is it true that turtles

ha vebeen

ar oundas long

as dinosaurs?

—MADISON,10,CO

That’sright!Theworld’s first
turtlesroamedalongsidethedinosaurs.
They’vebeenaroundformore than
100 millionyears!Theseturtles
belongedtoa groupofancient
reptilescalledArchelon,
whichis closelyrelatedtothe
modern-dayleatherbackseaturtle.

Whena rattlesnakewants

tosenda warningsignto

predators,it’llmakerattling

noiseswithitstail.The“rattles”

aresegmentsofkeratinthat

fit looselyinsideoneanother

attheendofthesnake’stail.

Thesesegmentsknockagainst

eachothertoproducea

buzzingsoundwhenthesnake

liftsupitstailvertically!

Doyouhaveaquestion

about

ananimal?We’d

lovetoanswer

itforyou!Sendyour

question

toAnimalTales,Critter

Q&A,

4 NewYorkPlaza,

2ndFloor,

New York, NY 10004

oremail

mail@animaltalesmag

.com.

Do pet fish

recognize

their owners?

—MICHAEL,8,IL

A (^2016) studysays,
yes,theyprobablydo!
certain Researchersfound
fish,likethearcherfish,canrecognize
facefromdozens afamiliarhuman
ofnewfaceswithsurprising
scientificfinding accuracy.This
isabigdeal, because fish have relatively tiny
brains and it’s the first time they’ve demonstrated this abilit
y.
Which animal poops
the most?

— GREGGY, 7, ND

Whales may have the

biggest poop, but moose

ar

e the animals that poop

the most often. A moose

will poop up to 21 times in a single day.

That’s like taking a poop every 74 minutes!

Ho w do

rattlesnakes’

tails make that

rattling sound?

— HARRY, 9, NM