Hi, we're here from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes.

I'm Cody Gough.

And I'm Ashley Hamer.

Today you learn about how some animals evolved to amputate their limbs and self-defense,

how dogs literally have human friendship in their DNA. and

English words that don't exist in other languages.

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

It turns out there's an evolutionary reason

why some animals amputate their limbs in self-defense.

And although we humans are capable of doing it too, not all self-amputation is created equal.

As reported by the conversation,

it turns out this extreme tactic is pretty widely used in the animal kingdom,

from lizard species to crabs, insects, and spiders.

They'll ditch appendages to escape a predator

or even to get rid of an injured arm or leg that's just slowing them down.

And this behavior has inspired engineers to design safety features that fail on purpose.

For example, they've designed sign posts that are engineered to break when they're hit by a car,

which helps protect drivers and passengers.

But back to animals that amputate their own limbs.

It does help them escape a potentially fatal encounter,

but shedding an appendage can also make the animals slower

and increase its risk of infection.

...