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The human hearing range describes the range of frequencies that can be heard by humans, which is commonly given as 20 to 20,000 Hz. Several animal species are able to hear frequencies well beyond the human hearing range. Some dolphins and bats, for example, can hear frequencies up to 100 kHz. Elephants can hear sounds at 14- 16 Hz, while some whales can hear subsonic sounds as low as 7 Hz (in water).
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Salmon sense the Earth’s magnetic field to guide them home.
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Bees can sense the electric field of a flower and use it to find pollen.
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Mantis shrimp swing their arm out at 80 kph when they punch, wich is about the same acceleration as a .22 caliber bullet.
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Elephants can lift almost 300 kilograms with their trunk.
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Dung beetles can pull over 1,000 times their body weight. This is similar to an 80 kg man pulling 80,000 kg.
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Dragon millipedes can shoot cyanide at their predators.
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Geckos and lizards can re-grow lost tails. Geckos can walk up walls and windows due to electrostatic forces between thousands of tiny hairs on their feet and the surface.
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Swifts (family of highly aerial birds) have been known to fly nonstop for nearly 200 days.
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Electric eels can generate electric shocks up to 600 volts.
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The horned lizard can shoot blood from its eye.
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Some insects, such as gerridae (water striders), are able to walk on the surface of water.
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Butterflies taste food by standing on top of it! Their taste receptors are in their feet.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MOSQUITOES
There are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes. It is interesting to know that only female mosquitoes bite. Male mosquitoes have shorter lives and less complicated mouth parts than females. They both feed mainly on fruit and plant nectar. However, female mosquitoes need the protein in blood to help their eggs develop. A mosquito can suck blood three times its weight and can lay up to 200 eggs.
Mosquitoes have antennae that detect the carbon dioxide released when people or animals exhale. They also use heat sensors to detect the warmth of the body. Mosquitoes prefer O-type blood and victims with high body heat.
The female mosquito has six mouthparts besides the labium, which is like the lower lip. Four mouth parts are used for piercing the skin and locating the blood capillary underneath: the mandibles that have pin ends, and the maxillae that are toothed blades used to cut the skin.
The other two mouth parts are tubes, one is used to pump saliva with anticoagulant to prevent blood clotting and the other one (called the labrum) is used to suck the blood. This amazing mechanism is available in an insect that weighs less than 2.5 milligrams.
Mosquitoes cause more deaths than any other animal in the world. They are carriers of diseases, including malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, which can be transmitted to humans and animals when the mosquito feeds on blood.
The following verse in the Quran invites you to reflect on the miraculous creation of this tiny insect.
God does not disdain [or not ashamed] to coin the similitude even of a mosquito or anything that should surpass it in smallness or greatness. Those who believed know that it is the truth from their Lord; but those who disbelieved say: What does God intend by giving such an example? He misleads many by it, and He guides many by it; but He does not mislead by it except the defiantly disobedient.
Quran, 2:26
MUHAMMAD SAID:
My similitude in comparison with the other prophets before me, is that of a man who has built and completed a house except for a place of one missing brick. When people see the house, they admire its beauty and say: how splendid the house will be if the missing brick is put in its place. So I am that brick, and I am the last of the Prophets.
(Narrated by Bukhari 4.734, 4.735)