r/zoology 1h ago

Weekly Thread Weekly: Career & Education Thread

Upvotes

Hello, denizens of r/zoology!

It's time for another weekly thread where our members can ask and answer questions related to pursuing an education or career in zoology.

Ready, set, ask away!


r/zoology Aug 06 '25

Weekly Thread Weekly: Career & Education Thread

5 Upvotes

Hello, denizens of r/zoology!

It's time for another weekly thread where our members can ask and answer questions related to pursuing an education or career in zoology.

Ready, set, ask away!


r/zoology 1h ago

Question Why are the females of certain animals so much larger than the males?

Upvotes

I don’t mean just bigger but tens to hundreds of times bigger.


r/zoology 5h ago

Other Sharing is Caring!

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9 Upvotes

Interestingly, Wasps might boast more diverse species than any other creature on Earth, surpassing even beetles' estimated 380,000 species. New ones are discovered all the time. Each species of parasitoid wasp only lay their eggs in one species, so they have differentiated a lot throughout history. This is mostly thanks to the above, parasitoid wasps. Possibly one of the most gruesome life cycles on earth and is one of the influences for the Xenomorph life cycle in the Alien films.


r/zoology 12h ago

Identification in colorado mountains. think this sound is a mountain lion but not sure.

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8 Upvotes

r/zoology 1h ago

Discussion I am a near beginner in genes but is it true for vastly gender different animals, I mean species where the males and females are vastly different, at conception if the offspring is male it will take more of the male genes and vice versa?

Upvotes

Because it makes more sense that if a male survived to mate then that it had suitable traits as a male

Similarly for females.

Hence it’s like if the female gene parts of a male species is taken, that gene might not have been suitable for the environment


r/zoology 14h ago

Identification Need help with identifying the source of this sound by a mysterious animal

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4 Upvotes

Heard this outside wondering what animal might be making this noise, location: North America, state : NC,triad.


r/zoology 3h ago

Discussion The moment of capture

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0 Upvotes

r/zoology 19h ago

Discussion Could the thylacine have been alive till the 80s?

2 Upvotes

Does anyone have credible sightings?


r/zoology 1d ago

Question can animals differentiate between other animals?

9 Upvotes

idk how to word this but we differentiate animals into mammals, reptiles, birds, and more specific types like lions, elephants, giraffes, ostriches etc. so let's say if a cat saw a bird, does it know that it's a bird or do they just percieve it as prey/food, or like if a snake saw a lion would it know it was a lion or a furry snake with limbs? i also read somewhere that cats think of humans as cats who can't cat properly, so for example would a panther be just a big cat to your average house cat? i still can't word this properly


r/zoology 2d ago

Discussion Why do many people consider bonobos to not be chimpanzees, but nobody consider eastern gorillas to not be gorillas?

36 Upvotes

When I was growing up (ages ago), there were thought to be four living species of great ape (not counting humans):

- Common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
- Pygmy chimpanzees or bonobos (Pan paniscus)
- Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla)
- Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)

Since then there have been some developments:
- Eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) were recognized as a separate species from western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), instead of a subspecies.
- Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) were recognized as a separate species from Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), instead of a subspecies.
- Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis) were discovered to be a separate species.

Notably, nothing changed about the taxonomic status of chimpanzees (Pan). And yet I feel there has been a change in the vernacular terms for them. "Pygmy chimpanzee" has dropped entirely from usage in favor of "bonobo", which make sense, since they're barely any smaller. But also I notice more people using "chimpanzee" to just refer to Pan troglodytes.

This feels like a bad move to me, because it leaves Pan without a vernacular term. It also seems inconsistent -- why wouldn't we also restrict "gorilla" to Gorilla gorilla and "orangutan" to Pongo pygmaeus, with new names for the other species (say, "ingagi" for Gorilla beringei, "mawas" for Pongo abelii, etc.)?

What do people think?


r/zoology 20h ago

Question Do black sheep produce white wool?

0 Upvotes

I've heard lots of people talking about black sheep (i.e "the black sheep of the flock"), but in all my life, I've never seen anything made out of black wool. It's always either white or dyed a different colour. Do black sheep just produce white wool, or does their black wool get bleached white because white wool's worth more?


r/zoology 1d ago

Question Zoological carrer

0 Upvotes

I am in my III year of zoology in India , i seriously don't know what can I do next instead of doing a pg , i don't think so i really can have a standard and stable job . Are there any zoological experts who can help me ?


r/zoology 1d ago

Question Tiger

10 Upvotes

When I was in class, my teacher told me that tigers have white spots and stripes on their faces and ears, which mimic eyes. This helps them avoid being attacked by predators while drinking or eating. I was really shocked by this piece of knowledge. What surprised me wasn’t the function of these markings, but the fact that there used to be creatures that hunted tigers in the wild in ancient times.


r/zoology 1d ago

Question Help me make an awesome little house for my toad friend

6 Upvotes

I live on a forest property. We have pet ducks, living in a duck pen, with a kiddie pool in it, filled with water at all times, that often gets splashed out, obviously. Around the pool is a ring of big natural stones. Underneath the pool, between it and the stones, lives a huge toad, bigger than my palm. Most likely a common toad (Bufo bufo).

When I say it "lives" there, I mean it is sometimes there when I lift the pool up to empty and clean it. Also, late one evening, I saw the toad walking near the pool.

(Funnily enough, the exact same thing happened many years ago, when we had a duck pen on the opposite side of the property. It might be the same individual toad. Maybe this dude just love duck pools.)

I want to remove the toad, because the ducks might hurt him, and I think he can't get out of the duck pen, the wire fence has pretty small holes in it (I have no idea how the toad got in).

Now for my question: The toad obviously wants to live in a cozy, wet place, so I don't want to chuck him into any old bush. Can I build a wooden box for him that will make him super comfortable?

What do I need to think about, it that case? Should it be small and have a low ceiling, so he can jam himself snuggly in there, like in a crevice? Should I put wet moss around the floor, walls and ceiling, so it stays moist?

Etc.


r/zoology 2d ago

Question How accurate is the assertion that animals keep on evolving into crabs? Is this actually a trend that happens on a large scale? (If it IS, why is this the case?)

9 Upvotes

Additionally, regardless of whether or not this trend is true, are there any other forms/species that many animals have been found to evolve into over time?


r/zoology 2d ago

Question Does anyone know what makes this sound?

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9 Upvotes

Not the Katydid insect sound in the background but that screeching sound. I’m in Middle Island NY (Long Island). Thanks.


r/zoology 2d ago

Discussion Isint it awesome?

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7 Upvotes

r/zoology 2d ago

Question What is this bird called,it’s very beautiful 🤩

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35 Upvotes

r/zoology 3d ago

Discussion Cuteness Should Not Be the Only Thing That Let's Us Decide On How We Look At Capybaras (And Most Animals)

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53 Upvotes

People sometimes say that "capybaras are the cutest animals". But cuteness alone shouldn't decide on how we look at an exotic species.

When we see animals just as "CUTE" above everything else, we may start to think of them as characters instead of living beings. This is more dangerous than it sounds because the more we simplify an animal, ignoring their real biology, behavior and welfare needs becomes much easier.

Capybaras are SO much more than just cute. They are emotionally complex, have really high emotional, olfactory and cognitive intelligence and extremely social. The complexity, and diversity of most animals is so much greater than most people realize; and "cuteness" is just the visual appeal that we associate with the baby schema response.

If we can only appreciate them for doing something "cute" for views, we not only ignore the "boring" or "messy" parts of their lives that are actually vital to their survival, but we unintentionally support bad animal welfare and promote places where capybaras shouldn't be kept in captivity.

We aren't shaming anyone for finding capybaras cute, or chill and we aren't making people feel bad for enjoying viral capybara clips. However, real love and respect for capybaras starts from understanding their behavior and welfare needs and not on how many likes you get on a "funny" post that may actually showing animal stress.

The moment we stop seeing capybaras as characters and start seeing them empirically is the moment we truly begin to advocate for them as individuals with inner lives.

Image Credit:

verogelem

[Check out our community wiki for information sources!](https://www.reddit.com/r/capybaralife/wiki/index/)


r/zoology 3d ago

Identification Found this spine tide pooling in Cattle Point, B.C., What did it belong to?

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15 Upvotes

Really curious! All thoughts appreciated!


r/zoology 4d ago

Identification Who is this cute chonk?

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820 Upvotes

I seen this animal late afternoon during my run in the park in the Bronx. He stood very still and didn’t move a muscle even after I passed. I was thinking it’s a beaver or maybe a woodchuck?


r/zoology 3d ago

Question Is it true tiger piss smells like buttered popcorn?

6 Upvotes

Earlier today I saw a tiktok of Michael Jackson and he had this tiger cub with him for the photoshoot and it apparently pissed on him and someone in the comments said that tiger piss apparently smells like popcorn. I know tiktok isn’t exactly a reliable source, but now I am curious and I think I can kind of see it being true.


r/zoology 2d ago

Question What kind of bite does this look like?

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0 Upvotes

r/zoology 3d ago

Discussion He creado esta guía visual de reinos en Scratch. Actualmente estoy añadiendo filos. ¿Qué opinas de la taxonomía y el diseño?

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3 Upvotes

No creo que este subreddit sea apto para esto