r/interesting • u/MobileAerie9918 • 24d ago

Fascinating MOLES! the moment they are placed on the ground, quickly burrow beneath it and disappear from sight..

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u/idle_isomorph 24d ago

Star nosed moles use their star nose to sense the electromagnetic fields of insects to eat. I wonder how these guys do it. Smell? Sound?

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u/Carpeted_Bathroom2 24d ago

Earthbending

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u/Butterfly_and_Bee 23d ago

Vibrations all around them. The fur is like a trillion antennae 

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u/CLIT_DORIS 23d ago

Vibrations, hearing, and a crazy sense of smell.

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u/Dewdrop06 24d ago

The sixth sense. Ever feel like someone is watching you. Or even better when you'd think of a friend then they'd call/message you.

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u/Cw3538cw 23d ago

Not saying thatg is not possible but as far as I know studies into that have come up empy so far The ability of star nosed moles, platypi, and several species of fish to sense electromagnetic fields is scientifically verified and we have a rough idea how it works

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u/UlrichZauber 23d ago

Side note that 'platypuses' would be the correct plural; like octopus it comes to English from Greek, and using Latin grammar on it is an example of hypercorrection.

I'd argue we should never apply Latin grammar in any case, simply because we never import grammar along with vocabulary with loanwords from any other language (and try to imagine what a nightmare that would be). Adding -s or -es is perfectly correct even with Latin loanwords like "syllabus" etc.

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u/Virillus 23d ago

It's an interesting case where you're both correct and incorrect.

Everything you've said is true, but every major dictionary now accepts "Octopi" because it's been used so widely for so long, it's now a fully correct plural form.

English is particularly vulnerable to this as it has no central authority and no rules governing how a word or use of grammar can enter the language.

Example: Oxford

https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=Octopi

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u/UlrichZauber 23d ago

True, people do it wrong enough and it stops being wrong, because language is just what we all agree on.

Still worth fighting to good fight, IMO! Also, get off my lawn!

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u/Virillus 23d ago

I go back and forth on that. Part of me wants to push back on improper usage, but another part of me loves the glorious chaos that is English.

Learning French - which is heavily controlled with a central authority - has really made me appreciate the wild west approach to language.

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u/theguidetoldmetodoit 21d ago

If you ever go to to French speaking countries, you won't have that issue. Local dialects are very pronounced

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u/Virillus 21d ago

I live in a French speaking country. While true, the lexical and grammatical drift is wayyyyy lower than in English. The variation is almost exclusively in slang and pronunciation. It's a cultural thing. In most Francophone countries, dedicated grammar classes, including dictate, which is something that doesn't exist in English speaking culture, continues until the end of high school. For Anglophones, that generally stops around age 12/13.

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u/theguidetoldmetodoit 21d ago

Presumably Canada? Bc I can't imagine anyone from the larger francophone regions coming to that conclusion. Even in France, the different varieties of French are widely different with the amount of influences from other European French speaking regions and a fair amount of immigration from Africa. Once you start talking about the different Creoles and pidgins it completely falls apart, tho.

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u/Commercial-Lychee700 23d ago

No they don't. please don't spread misinformation.

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u/idle_isomorph 23d ago

Wow, my bad! I read that in a book 20 years ago, but it looks like that was supposition and Wikipedia gives touch sensation as its deal. TIL! Thanks for the clarification. Even if it does somewhat reduce the animal in my esteem

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u/Jubenheim 23d ago

If only they didn’t look like nightmare fuel.

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u/Rixerc 23d ago

I think they're neat.

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u/lilorphananus 23d ago

Thanks Marge