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Someone told me that mosquitoes have 47 teeth? Do you think this is true?

Of course they don't have teeth, just a suction tube, but sometimes it surely feels like they have many more than just 47!!

I Have seen on a web site about mosquitoes that have 47 teeth as well as a suction tube !!!!

Of course it depends on what you define as "teeth".

If one defines teeth as the hard skeletal "extentions" that we see on ourselves and other animals with bony skeletons then the mosquito has no teeth.

But if one defines teeth as sort of as a "cutting instrument to break up whatever needs to be broken up", then one can say that mosquitoes have teeth, and it seems that they have four "sets".

This USA Today page probably explains it the best that I could find in my quick search. And this Minnesotan Department of Natural Resources page does a good job of explaining as well.

These sets surround the one thin needle-like proboscis which the female (yes, it is only the females that bite - the males are real peace-loving creatures eating only nectar ) plunges into the host, using one small tube to pump an anesthetic to kill pain and an anticoagulant to keep the blood from clotting and closing the wound, and the other small tube to suck out your blood.

But 47 teeth? Rumours and falsehoods are unfortunately spread far too easily on the internet, and one should read with extreme caution whatever one sees. First of all take a GOOD look at the site, making an informed decision on why it should be trusted to give you information, and not just whatever the author decided to suck from his/her thumb and put down in words. The internet is both a wonderful knowledge store (vastly more complete and informative than any encyclopedia ever printed) and a quagmire of rubbish at the same time.

A beaver can hold it's breath for 45 minutes.

This thread is far too interesting!

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Did you know?...The female bedbug has no sexual opening. To get around this dilemma, the male uses his curved penis to drill a vagina into the female.

How romantic

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Hope she never fell for your 'excuse' TW.

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Over and above the lack of stamina, the main reason a cheetah cannot keep its top speed for long is because it does not sweat and its body temperature (retained internally) rapidly rises to near lethal temperatures.