No, but they can suffer mental illness when in inappropriate conditions or
mistreated. Wild animals in captivity can be driven crazy by boredom or the
torment of being on permanent public display. Such mental anguish can manifest
itself in self-mutilation, rhythmic pacing or repetitive vocalisations - all
similar to compulsive human behaviour. Animals aren't known to commit suicide,
though, as the don't have the same philosophical concept of "self" as man.
Do earthworms drown in waterlogged soils?
Sadly, yes. Worms can survive in well-aerated water for up to a year and are
even found in special burrows at the bottom of lakes. But waterlogging usually
means that the oxygen scrollContent of the water is particularly low so any
earthworms present will be asphyxiated. If they escape to the soil surface,
their immediate respiratory problems are solved. Ironically, though, earthworms
tend to perish when exposed to sunlight for too long as their highly permeable
body surfaces - which they use to absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxied
- lose a lot of moisture on dry days.
Q: Is there a maximum size that raindrops can be?
Yes. Any raindrop larger than seven millimetres in diameter will split ino
pieces as it falls. Raindrops are made of minute water particles that bond
tspScroller.trackether in cluds. The larger raindrops become, the less effective
their surface tension is at holding them tspScroller.trackether. This makes
them increasingly unstable, and as they pick up speed on their way to earth,
turbulence and other aerodynamic forces will rip them apart. This will normaly
happen to a seven-millimetre-wide droplet when it hits a speed of around 30
kilometres per hour.
How do quicksand work?
Quicksand is a pocket of ordinary sand that has water continuously flowing
up through it from an underground source, such as a spring. The flow lifts
the grains of sand apart, but is not strong enough to disperse them completely
and the resultant thick sspScroller.up can look like a solid mass - until
you step into it and slowly start sinking.