Monkeys in Indonesia use rocks as 'sex toys'

4 billion-year-old chunk of Earth's crust found below Australia | Which animal has the largest brain relative to its body size? | Why do cats 'play' with their prey? Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( August 23, 2022 CONNECT WITH LIVESCIENCE  [Facebook]( [Twitter](  [LIVESCIENCE]( Amazing science every day [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [WEBSITE](  [] Top Science News [] [4 billion-year-old chunk of Earth's crust found below Australia]( [4 billion-year-old chunk of Earth's crust found below Australia]( (Droellner, et al. Terra Nova, 2022 A 4-billion-year-old piece of Earth's crust the size of Ireland is lurking beneath Western Australia, new research finds. This piece of crust is among the oldest on Earth, though not the oldest. That honor goes to rocks of the Canadian Shield on the eastern shore of the Hudson Bay, which have been dated to 4.3 billion years old. (The Earth is 4.54 billion years old.) Because Earth's crust is constantly being churned up and pushed back into the mantle by plate tectonics, most of the planet's rocky surface was formed within the last couple billion years. Full Story: [Live Science]( (8/22) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( Just the Facts, Ma'am "I stopped watching TV news a year ago, so sick of the bias everywhere. But in doing so, I was out of the loop. I decided to give 1440 a try & I've not been disappointed. Finally, Walter Cronkite style reporting! Just the facts. I also love that I can click a link to see more on many stories. Keep up the good work!" [Join for free now](. ADVERTISEMENT: [] Life’s Little Mysteries [] [Which animal has the largest brain relative to its body size?]( [Which animal has the largest brain relative to its body size?]( (Jennifer Santolla via Alamy Stock Photo) If terms like "bird brain" and "harebrained" are any indication, animal brains present fascinating and diverse examples of one of the most complex organs known to science. Animal brains differ not only in overall size but also in their size relative to the animal's body mass. At 18 pounds (8 kilograms), on average, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) has the largest brain, but has an overall body mass of 45 tons (40 metric tons), giving it a brain-to-body-mass ratio of 1:5,100. But which animal has the biggest brain relative to its body size? Full Story: [Live Science]( (8/22) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] [Why do cats 'play' with their prey?]( [Why do cats 'play' with their prey?]( (Angelo DeSantis via Getty Images) If you've ever owned an outdoor cat, you've likely seen your feline friend's predatory instincts in action: While wandering through the yard, your kitty suddenly leaps forward, batting at a small bird or mouse, perhaps a lizard. The feline toys with this creature for several minutes, knocking it to and fro long after it stops moving. Then, they pick up their prize, trot to the front door and lay a tiny carcass on the welcome mat. For cat owners, this behavior is proof that their feline furballs are lovable, if misguided, doofuses. But for many conservationists, this is the act of an invasive killing machine with four feet full of knives. This difference in perception has sparked a fierce debate between conservationists and cat enthusiasts over whether cats should be allowed outdoors. 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Only four of the 154 people infected between 1962 and 2021 survived. Full Story: [Live Science]( (8/19) [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Email]( [] Curious Creatures [] [Monkeys in Indonesia use rocks as 'sex toys']( [Monkeys in Indonesia use rocks as 'sex toys']( (Nora Carol Photography via Getty Images) Monkeys in Indonesia get their rocks off using actual rocks, supporting what's known as the sex toy hypothesis, a new study finds. Researchers studying long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) found that the monkeys repetitively tapped and rubbed their genitals with stones to pleasure themselves, according to the study first reported by New Scientist. This finding provides further evidence for the sex toy hypothesis, proposed by the same researchers in an earlier study, that presents the activity as a form of tool-assisted masturbation. 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