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For evolutionary biology and zoology it is vitally important to better understand some species, in addition to their origin, to offer better answers about them.
Here are 6 discoveries about the animal kingdom that happened in 2021, some of them truly surreal.
Discover more stories at Business Insider Spain.
The animal kingdom is amazing, from those most similar to human beings to others that have nothing to do with it, even if they had the origin.

Unfortunately, according to the United Nations (UN), 25% of the planet's species are at risk of extinction, amphibians being the most affected, since 41% are at risk.

With the great impact of human beings on planet Earth, due to constant CO2 emissions, it is estimated that 95% of the natural habitat of marine species that inhabit the oceans will cease to exist in the year 2100.

If this path is followed, the future of the planet would see something similar to a mass extinction of species, although in this case not caused by volcanoes or natural climatic phenomena, but by the footprint of humanity.

The Earth lived a "volcanic winter" 250 million years ago with the disappearance of almost 90% of the species, in the worst mass extinction in history

However, there are some species that would survive such as the well-known tardigrades or water bears, which are capable of withstanding even high radiation levels for humans.

Although here we will not talk about them, but about other species that have been protagonists of expected or surreal discoveries for zoology and evolutionary biology.

 

How meows are interpreted

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Believe it or not, there are people who are dedicated to studying whether cats have something to say. This is the case of Susanne Schötz, a vocalization researcher at Lund University (Sweden), who has been researching this for almost a decade.

Well, after collecting 538 different vocalizations from 3 cats, he discovered that felines were capable of processing paralinguistic information, through different combinations.

This finding led the researcher to be awarded the Biology Prize of the IG Nobel, for which Harvard University (United States) awards absurd or very surreal studies.

The mysterious balloons that flood the seas

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The Mediterranean Sea has been watching them since 1985. In the North Sea they were observed 2 years ago. And no one knew what these huge, gelatinous drifting balloons represented.

However, a study published in Scientific Reports in March cleared up the mystery. The balloons were part of a species of squid known as Illex coindetii. In this sense, each of them can contain hundreds of thousands of tiny eggs.

In other words, such gelatinous masses are part of the reproductive process of this curious squid species. In summary, they discovered 4 different stages of development inside the globe, a finding that provides a better understanding of the reproductive process of squid.

The origin of reptiles

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231 million year old lizard skull discovered. Martínez et al
Ricardo Martínez was lucky to take another look at the skull in his hands. In 2001, while taking a walk through the Ischigualasto Provincial Park (Argentina), he represented a small stone that aroused his curiosity.

When he held it, he was surprised to see that it was a lizard skull. Although he did not give it more importance.

However, in 2020, as a result of the pandemic, he decided to continue his investigation to fully find the complete and healthy skull of a reptile similar to a lizard, although with an age of 231 million years.

His team recently published the conclusions of their study in Nature, which could shed light on the origins of lizards, snakes and tuataras.

The giant penguin that existed 28 million years ago

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Something similar to what happened with the previous lizard happened with a group of schoolchildren from the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club in Kawhia Harbor (New Zealand). In 2006, when they went on a field trip, they found the remains of a penguin.

Since that year, researchers have studied its fossil remains and it was not until 2021 when they published their findings in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Thus, using 3D techniques, they dated the fossil between 27.3 and 34.6 million years, with a probable height of 1.4 meters, that is, enormous. Inadvertently, some children have found an ancient fossil and a new species.

The animal that regenerates completely

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New species always bring pending discoveries about zoology. Such is the case of this sea squirt or syringe, a marine invertebrate animal discovered by a team from Tel Aviv University (Israel).

Interestingly, this species, Polycarpa mytiligera, is capable of regenerating all its organs in a short period of time. At an evolutionary level, these invertebrates are the most similar to human beings, which is why the finding is wonderful.

According to their study published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, they separated the animal into 3 parts: the nervous center, the heart and the digestive system. To his surprise, the sea squirt managed to regenerate.

Now, not as you are imagining, but creating 3 completely different animals that have been born from one. Thus, it is the first time that such regeneration has been observed in a species that has sexual reproduction.

Survival without sexual reproduction

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I present to you Oppiella nova, a species of asexual oribatids. The funny thing is that a team made up of zoologists and evolutionary biologists has been surprised by this fact: they have managed to survive millions of years without sex.

Through genomic analysis, they demonstrated in PNAS that the survival of an asexual species is not impossible. This is because sexual reproduction favors genetic diversity, while asexual species are at risk of soon becoming extinct.

Oppiella nova is the big exception, as it is believed to have differences in chromosome sets, which is known as the Meselson effect.

 

Link: https://www.businessinsider.es/6-descubrimientos-animales-2021-967677

 

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