Myths of the Animal Kingdom (1)

• Think you know your animals?
• Camel’s humps store water.
• Chicks touched by humans will be abandoned.

Think you know your animals?

The animal kingdom is amazing, varied and exciting, but many of its citizens are misunderstood.

Camels' humps store water
Take, for instance, the idea that camels' humps contain water. In fact, these humps are large, energy-storing fat deposits, weighing up to 36 kilograms. While this fat can produce water, it cannot hydrate the animal. The camel's low body temperature allows water to be retained by the camel for seven days without a drink.

Chicks touched by humans will be abandoned
Another myth is that leaving our smell on a baby bird by touching it causes its mother to abandon it. The fact that birds hardly use their sense of smell puts this false idea to rest. Adult birds protect their young no matter what creatures come into contact with them.

Bats are blind
Many of us are well aware of bats' ability to navigate by echolocation. They also have remarkable senses of hearing and smell. But they are not "blind as a bat" because their eyes, though sometimes poorly developed, are completely functional.

Info Cloud
One unique feature of English is that it has a special term for almost every kind of baby animal. For example, the word chick can be used to describe a baby eagle.

But there’s actually an even more precise term for a baby eagle, eaglet.

But, let’s face it. Eaglet is not exactly part of everyday English. So while it may be interesting to find out the name of say a baby eel, which is elver by the way, we don’t really need to memorize all the baby animal names.

But, we should know some of the more popular and basic ones.As mentioned, chick can refer to a baby eagle but it can also refer to any young bird or chicken.

Umm. The word calf is useful and that it can refer to a young antelope, cow, elephant, hippo, rhino or even a whale.

Another useful baby animal term is cub, which can be apply to a young bear, panda, lion, tiger even a baby shark.

And since so many people have dogs and cats for pets, we should know the name of a baby dog, which is puppy and a baby cat, kitten.

A few more popular once a baby pig is a piglet, a baby duck is a duckling and a baby rabbit is a bunny.

If you know all the ones we just mentioned, great! But don’t worry, if you can’t remember a particular baby animal name, you could always put the word baby in front of any animal name to describe its young.

Language Lab
myth n.
an idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true
- Many people believe the myth that bulls hate red. Actually bulls are easily agitated by sudden movements.
- Contrary to the common myth, women are not bad drivers, but more cautious.

retain v.
to continue to have or use (something) : keep
- If left covered with a thick cloth, these rolls can retain heat for hours.
- The hotel still retains its art deco look of the 40's.

hydrate v.
/ˈhaɪˌdreɪt/
hydrated adj.
- stay hydrated
- Remember to stay hydrated. [=to drink enough water]

abandon v.
to leave and never return to (someone who needs protection or help)
- The police are still looking for the parents who abandoned this baby.
to stop doing or having (something) : to give up (something) completely
- Our company had to abandon this project due to insufficient funds.
abandoned adj.
- Sherry felt abandoned after her boyfriend dumped her.

functional adj.
working properly
- The alarm system in this building is fully functional.
designed to have a practical use
- The furniture is not only fashionable, but also very functional.

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