Ability to swim
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Swimming is the ability to move through water's surface while partially or totally submerged in it. In a lax sense the ability to maintain oneself afloat may be included in the definition.
Swimming is an activity that is both useful and recreational for many species. Its primary uses are bathing, cooling, travel, fishing and escape. An individual's ability to swim can be judged by speed or stamina.
Animals with lungs have an easier time floating than those without.[1] Almost all mammals can swim by instinct. Bats, kangaroos, moles and sloths can swim, despite their rather strange shapes. The few exceptions include apes and possibly giraffes. Land birds can swim or float for at least some time. Ostriches, cassowaries and tortoises can swim.
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[edit] Humans
- See main article Swimming
[edit] Apes
Gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and at least some gibbons are among the few mammals which lack the instinctive ability to swim, although they can wade upright in water. There are reports that siamang can swim. There are numerous reports of apes in zoos falling and drowning in water moats without any struggle. Humans, similarly, do not swim instinctively. In contrast, many monkeys can naturally swim and some, like the proboscis monkey and crab-eating macaque, swim regularly.
[edit] Beetles
Many Beetles are able to swim effectively in water. Some species of diving beetle spend most of their time in the water.
[edit] Camels
Although there is speculation to the contrary, a number of eyewitnesses have confirmed that camels, including Dromedaries and Bactrians, can indeed swim, despite the fact that there is little deep water in their natural habitats.
[edit] Cats
Although most cats hate water, adult cats are good swimmers. The fishing cat is one wild species of cat that has evolved special adaptations for an aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle - webbed digits. Tigers and some individual jaguars are the only big cats known go into water readily, though other big cats, including lions, have been observed swimming. A few domestic cat breeds also like swimming, such as the Turkish Van.
[edit] Horses
Horses are very powerful swimmers.
[edit] Elk
Elk are very powerful swimmers as well, and can travel long distances in the water. [2]
[edit] Dogs
The method of swimming used by dogs is known as the dog paddle. Some breeds of dog swim recreationally. Umbra, a world record-holding dog, can swim 4 miles (6.4 km) in 73 minutes, placing her in the top 25% in human long-distance swimming competitions.[3]
[edit] Rabbits
Given proper motivation, both domestic and wild rabbits can swim. Domestic rabbits are sometimes trained to swim as a circus attraction. A wild rabbit is even known to have attacked a United States President via swimming on at least one occasion, when the animal was threatened in its natural habitat and swam angrily towards Jimmy Carter's boat in the Jimmy Carter rabbit incident.[4]
[edit] Guinea pig
The Guinea pig (or cavy) is noted as having an excellent swimming ability, though domestically-kept cavies are rarely given the opportunity to.[5]
[edit] Elephants
Elephants are capable of swimming, even in deep waters.
[edit] Snakes
Many species of snakes are aquatic and live their entire lives in the water, but all known terrestrial snakes are excellent swimmers as well.[citation needed] The larger pythons and anacondas spend the large majority of their time in the water; their skeletons are not able to support their body weight well on dry land.
[edit] Mice
Mice can swim quite well, despite not naturally having to. They do panic when placed in water, but many lab mice are used in the Morris water maze, a test to measure learning. When mice swim, they use their tails like flagella and kick with their legs.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/oct98/908233991.Zo.r.html
- ^ http://www.flickr.com/photos/arabella/715829503/
- ^ http://www.sdogv.com/swim.html
- ^ http://www.newsoftheodd.com/article1021.html
- ^ Harkness, John E. (1995). The Biology and Medicine of Rabbits and Rodents. Williams & Wilkins, pp. 30–39. ISBN 0-683-03919-9.
