Page 88 - World of Animals - Issue #29

Animal answers

questions@animalanswers.co.uk

What are the most A number of minerals, including
sodium, are vitally important for

butterfly reproduction
interesting collective
nouns for animals?

There’s nothing quite like an unusual or quirky collective noun and
the animal kingdom is bursting with weird, unusual and downright
hilarious examples. First off there are the rather simple ones
including a gang of elk, an army of frogs, a herd of antelope, a bed
of clams and a tower of giraffes (not to mention a cete of badgers

or a smack of jellyfish).

Then there are the ones bound specifically to physical traits of

a given creature: the plural for flamingos? A stand, of course. How
about a group of porcupines? That’ll be a prickle. And a group of
hippos? A bloat, naturally. Finally, there are the downright strange
and wonderful ones, including a shrewdness of apes, a streak of
tigers, an ostentation of peacocks, a romp of otters, a business of
ferrets, a charm of goldfinch and a deceit of lapwings. And the less

said about an intrusion of cockroaches, the better.
The collective noun
for a group of cats is a
clowder or a pounce

What do butterflies eat?

Butterflies don’t eat in the conventional sense. Instead, they get almost
all of their nourishment from drinking nectar and water. In order to fill

up on tasty nectar, adult butterflies use a long narrow tube that extends

from its mouth, known as a proboscis, which it uses to suck up liquids.
Butterflies will eat almost anything that can dissolve in water, including

tree sap, rotting fruit and even dung.
How do
giraffes drink?

With their elongated necks and
spindly legs, it’s easy to assume
most activities are pretty awkward
for a giraffe, so how does it manage

to keep itself hydrated without

collapsing? First off , a giraffe’s neck
might appear long but it’s actually
a lot shorter than its torso and legs
combined, so it can’t simply lean
over and start gulping down water.

Instead, a giraffe will perform an
awkward manoeuvre where it splays
its front legs out on either side and
slowly lowers its mouth to a water
source. However, this action puts
the creature at great risk of being Giraffes must spread

attacked by a predator – it will only their front legs in
drink once every few days. order to bend down
and drink
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