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The blue whale is the largest animal on Earth – it can grow as long as ten cars parked in a row.


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Squirting urine at others is acceptable behaviour if you're a lobster. Researchers have discovered that lobsters greet each other by squirting urine. This behaviour appears to help them to both avoid fights and select mates. Scientists have long wondered why many marine animals have bladders to store urine when they could just allow it to leak out into the water. To discover the answer, researchers glued catheters onto lobsters to measure the animals' urine release. Their findings showed that lobsters do not urinate when predators may be nearby, but that when two males meet, their urine carries a record of who is the boss. As well, males and females squirt urine at each other before choosing mates.
MARCH 20, 1999, P. 20
New Scientist
MARCH 20, 1999, P. 20

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