Animal Tales – October 2019

91

It turnsoutbirdsdogettired

fromflyingaftera while.Luckily,

theyhavea strategyto prevent

exhaustion:Togolongdistances,

birdswillflyin largegroups

assembledin a “V”shape.The

frontpointof the“V”is themost

tiringspot,astheleaderis theone

thathasto initiallybreakthrough

thestrongaircurrents,sobirds

willeachtaketurnsflyingin the

leadposition.Thebirdsbehindthe

leaderdon’thaveto usea lotenergy

becausetheycansimplyrestalong

theairflowcreatedbytheleader. So

whenevertheleadergetstired,they

justswitchspotswiththe

re-energizedbirdsin theback!

Doyouhaveaquestion

about

ananimal?We’d

lovetoanswer

itforyou!Sendyour

question

toCritterQ&A,Animal

Tales,

4 NewYorkPlaza,

2ndFloor,

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mail@animaltalesmag

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Can any male animals have babies?
— LILLY, 12, OH
In nearly all animal species, offspring are carried by females
until birth. But for fish in the Syngnathidae family (which
includes seahorses and the leafy seadragon), males perform this
function! A female seahorse will deposit eggs in the male seahorse’
“brood pouch.” Seahorse babies gr s
protects them and gives them oxygen and nutrients such as calcium.ow in the male’s pouch, which
When it’s time to give birth, the pregnant male seahorse even has
contractions, like human females, to help push the babies out!

Why do narwhals

have tusks?

— ALEYNA, 11, FL

Narwhals are known as the “unicorns of the ocean” because of

the long tusks that pr

otrude from their heads. For a long time,

scientists couldn’t figur

e out why exactly they even had these

horned accessories. But in 2017, scientists finally captured footage

of narwhals using their tusks. Their purpose? To scare prey! Using

jagged, quick movements, narwhals will hit fish with their tusks to

“stun” them. The abrupt movements force the fish to pause, which

gives narwhals enough time to swoop in and eat them up.

Why do bats sleep upside-down?

— MARIAM, 7, CA

Bats sleep upside-down for several reasons. Unlike birds,

bats cannot launch their bodies into the air from the

ground because their wings don’t produce enough lift to

take off. A running start won’t help because bats’ hind legs

are too tiny to gain enough speed. This leaves bats with no

choice but to use their claws to climb to a high spot, let go

and simply fall into flight. If sleeping bats need to escape

quickly, hanging upside-down means they are already in

the perfect position to spread their wings and fly away!

Do birds get tired

from flying?

— MARIELLE, 11, CO