Every year, researchers come up with new findings about the strange, cool, sometimes hilarious behaviors animals display, and the year 2022 will be no exception.
The strange behavior of animals is often difficult to understand, but after research, it turns out that this behavior is part of the species' adaptation to the environment, or a self-defense mechanism.
Here are seven findings of strange animal behavior in 2022, quoted by us from Scientific American.
Octopuses throw each other
Octopuses living in crowded conditions off the coast of Australia may communicate with each other by throwing objects. Underwater cameras capture the cephalopods collecting shells, mud and algae with their tentacles or hands and hurling them at each other using a jet of water from a siphon.
Researchers even observed octopuses that received a throw ducking to avoid being hit. Scientists don't know exactly what motivates the behavior, but suspect it is a form of communication.
Spider sexual cannibalism
Some male spiders who wish to reproduce have difficulty having sexual intercourse as it can end up with them being eaten by their partners. This practice is called sexual cannibalism.
However, males of the orb-weaving spider species (Nephila pilipes) have found a way to avoid a tragic end after intercourse. They store energy in their forelimbs to catapult themselves to avoid hungry females in a matter of seconds.
"Imagine a 1.8-metre tall man catapulting himself 530 meters in one second," said lead author of the study Shichang Zhang, a behavioral ecologist at China's Hubei University.
"That's what these male spiders do. And they live to mate another day," he added.
Sea sponges devour fossils
The researchers were in for a big surprise when their underwater cameras showed the presence of deep-sea sponge colonies. They blanket extinct volcanoes and are in extreme conditions at the bottom of the frozen Arctic Ocean.
How do these creatures survive in an area known for its lack of food? Turns out they had bacteria that helped them digest the long-extinct fossil tube worms.
Aye-aye extreme nose picking
Not only humans who like to pick their nose. Some animals also have this habit. An aye-aye, a type of lemur, is seen on camera 'digging' its nose.
However, he picks his nose in a terrible way. This animal does it with its 7 cm long middle finger. These hands are usually used in night game hunting to dig up insects in logs.
When inserted into the aye-aye's nose, the finger can reach down to the throat! Scientists aren't sure why aye-aye picks its nose so much. Allegedly the aye-aye do it just because they can.
Setting up microbial slime traps
Technically, mixoplankton are not an animal species. However they are living organisms and exhibit many peculiarities. Mixoplankton are protists, which are basically eukaryotes aka organisms with one or more cells that have a nucleus and organelles. They get energy through photosynthesis and eat other microbes.
This year scientists discovered a species of mixoplankton named Prorocentrum cf. balticum that builds mucus bubbles around its body overnight, then lures its prey (microbes) into these bubbles. The bubbles are rich in carbon that was deposited on the ocean floor after the slime was spilled.
The cockatoo rummaged through the trash
In Australia, parrots are very clever at opening trash cans and rummaging through them with their beaks and legs. Upset to see the streets littered with garbage caused by the parrots, residents tried to find ways to outsmart these animals, including placing heavy rocks on the lids of trash cans.
But since then, the cockatoos have learned to beat this strategy. Cockatoos demonstrated that they can learn and adapt, forcing humans to seek more sophisticated methods of counteracting them.
Sheep walk in circles
The flock virus in Mongolia runs in circles for twelve days non-stop, leading scientists to investigate. One scientist says there are possible explanations for this phenomenon.
"It looks like the sheep have been in the pen for a long time, and this may lead to stereotyped behavior, with repeated repetition due to the frustration of being in the pen and confined conditions," said Matt Bell, a professor in Hartpury University's Department of Agriculture in Gloucester, England.
Others speculate that a disease that causes some animals to appear confused and start spinning is called listeriosis. This disease can irritate one side of the brain and cause sheep to behave strangely.
Sheep behavior like this is not the first time this has happened. In Sussex, England, a flock of sheep caused a similar stir last year when they were seen standing in concentric circles.
Scientists have also long studied why some other animals, such as sharks and turtles, move in circular patterns. However, they had yet to come to a conclusion about the reason.