FACTS

Animals Facts

Among other well-known names, a group of fish can also be called a draught.
A porcupine heart beats around 190 times per minute, which reduces to around 20 during hibernation.
Kolas sleep up to 19 hours a day. They get fluids from eucalyptus leaves they eat.
South American anteater eats over 30,000 ants, per day.
Camels have three eye lids.
The koala bear is not really a bear, but is related to the kangaroo and the wombat.
The tusks of elephant grow through their life.
Grown-up kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.
Lions cannot roar until they reach the age of two.
At birth, the white whale is black.
Cats have more than one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs have only about ten.
The herring is the most widely eaten fish in the world.
A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect its eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn’t eat a thing. Afterwards, they feed the chicks a special liquid form their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest.
Just like fingerprints, every cat’s nose pad is different.
A snail can sleep for 3 years.
A penguin swims at a speed of approximately 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour).
The majority of cats do not have eye lashes.
The trunk of an elephant can hold up to two gallons (7.6 liters) of water.
The sea horse is the slowest fish, drifting at approximately 0.016 km/h.
When thirsty, a camel can swing down 25 gallons (95 liters approx) of water in less than three minutes.
Due to ocean’s natural ‘momentum’ salt water fish can’t swim backwards.
The animal with the largest brain in proportion to its size is the ant.
Corals take a long time to grow. Some corals only grow one centimeter in one year.
The sailfish can swim at the speed of 109 km/h, making is the fastest swimmer.
As ostrich has a 46-feet-long small intestine.
Never get a camel angry, for he or she will spit at you.
The crocodile’s tongue is unmovable as it is attached to the roof of its mouth.
Polar bears can eat as much as ten percent of their body weight in less than one hour.
Leopards are said to be seven times stronger than human beings.
The penguin is the only bird that can swim, but not fly. It is also the only bird that walks upright.
A baby caribou is so swift, it can easily outrun its mother when it is only three says old.
The process of a snake shedding its skin or a crustacean casting off its outer shell is called ecdysis.
The Kakapo (owl parrot) can’t fly, and builds its nest under the roots.
An average city dog lives approximately three years longer than an average country dog.
While playing poker, there is one chance in 500 of drawing a flush.
Giant flying foxes, a species of bats found in Indonesia, have wingspan of nearly six feet.
A baby grey whale drinks enough milk to fill more than 2,000 bottles day.
Cows do not have any upper front teeth. Instead they have a thick pad on the top jaw.
The fastest moving land snake is the black mamba, which can move up to 7 miles per hour (11 kms per hour approx).
It is estimated that a single toad may catch and eat as many as 10,000 insects in the course of a summer.
An average bee hive has 30,000 to 60,000 bees living in it. This population is easily maintained by a queen laying 1,000 to 3,000 eggs per day.
Ducks’ feet have no nerves or blood vessels. This means duck never feel the cold, even if they swim in icy cold water.
There are more than 2,400 flea species in the world.
The hippopotamus’ skin is protected by its own pink oily secretion known as “pink sweat”.
Leopards can leap 20 feet (6 meters) and jump 10 feet (3 meters) straight into the air.
An octopus will eat its own arms if it gets really hungry.
The hump of a camel can weigh up to 35 kilograms.
The male and female African elephants both have tusks.
A baby octopus is about the size of a flea when it is born.
When a porcupine is born, its quills are soft and mostly white, but harden within hours.
The only wild camels in the world are in Australia.
A horse is a member of the ‘equus’ family. This word comes from ancient Greece and means quickness.
The elephant is the only mammal that can’t jump.
A chameleon’s tongue is as long as its body and head can shoot it out as fast as sixteen feet per second.
One female mouse can produce up to 100 babies a year.
Sheep can survive for up to two weeks buried in snow drift.
A group of crows is called a murder.
When fully grown, an ostrich has one of the most advance immune systems known to mankind.
A crocodile can run at a speed of 11 miles per hour (17.7 kilometers per hour).
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A leech has 32 brains.
Spider usually have eight eyes, but still they cannot see that well.
The ocean sunfish can produce thirty million eggs at once.
The word ‘hippopotamus’ comes from the Greek word for river horse.
The anteater has no jaws or teeth.
The horned toad can shoot blood out of its eyes.
Turtles can breathe through their butts.
A giraffe was called a camelopard in ancient times since people thought it was a mix between a camel and a leopard.
The skeleton of a spider is located on the outside of the body and is called exoskeleton.
Polar bears are excellent swimmers. They have been known to swim more than 60 miles without a rest.
Pandas are born pink and hairless. They grow fur and develop their black and white coloring in about a month.
Dolphins hear by having sound waves transmit through their skull to their inner ear.
Goats do not have upper front teeth.
Mona Lisa has no eyebrows in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting. It was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off.
The snail’s reproductive organs are in its head.
The giraffe is able to clean its ear with its own tongue.
The chicken loses its feathers when it becomes stressed.
Catfish have taste buds located on their whiskers.
Ancient Egyptians used the spice, Thyme, to help preserve mummies.
Scallops have approximately 100 eyes around the edge of its shell.
Bats emit ultrasonic sounds to communicate with each other.
Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostrates.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile ding used by Egyptians in 2000 BC.
Humming birds have split tongues which they fold into a tube when feeding.
Beluga whales are born grey, but by the age of six, become completely white.
Dolphins can swim and sleep at the same time.
Hippos drink almost 250 litres of water in 24 hours.
Humpback whales can live for as long as 95 years.
A seagull can drink salt water because it has special glands that filters the salt out.
Gaboon Viper is the snake with the longest fangs that are almost two inches long.
A rabbit’s teeth never stop growing. They are kept worn down by gnawing on food.
The capybara is the world’s largest rodent. It can weigh more than 100 pounds (45 Kilograms approximately).
The only lizard that has a voice is the Gecko.
An alligator has about 80 teeth in its mouth at one time.
Some dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Sharks have upper and lower eyelids, but they do not blink.
The vampire bat has fewer teeth than other bats because it doesn’t chew food.
A butterfly’s taste sensors are located below their feet.
Gorillas have unique nose prints just as humans have unique fingerprints.
The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.
An elephant’s tooth can weigh as much as three kilograms.
Adult cats are lactose intolerant as their bodies do not produce enough lactase enzymes that helps digest milk.
Cattle can produce up to 180 liters of saliva in one day.
Sharks can survive without food for up to six weeks.
There are five toes on a tiger’s forefeet and four on its hind feet.
Squids move through the ocean using a jet of water forced out of the body by a siphon.
Sheep can survive for up to two weeks buried in snow drifts.
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
The Clouded Leopard has the longest canines amongst cat species.
The hydra, related to the jellyfish, can re-grow its body in a couple of days, if it’s cut in half.
Mules have one horse and one donkey for a parent.
The name ‘leopard’ comes from the Greek works for lion (Leo) and panther (Pardos).
Dolphins hear by transmitting sound waves through their skull to their inner ear region.
The snakehead fish can survive up to three days outside water.
Iguanas can recognize their human handlers and greet them differently, compared with strangers.
A cow has four compartments in its stomach.
The color of a kitten’s eyes changes as it grows older.
A gold fish can live up to 40 years.
A female eagle is ten to twenty per cent larger than a male eagle.
Female alligators lay about 40 eggs that hatch in 60-70 days.
A lion feeds once every three to four days.
The male platypus has poisonous spurs on its legs.
Pigs have no sweat glands, which is why they stay in water or mud to keep cool.
Desert snails can stay in their shell for up to three years.
If a lobster loses an eye or a claw, it can grow a new one.
A group of tigers is called a streak.
An Orca whale can hold its breath for up to 15 minutes.
A worm has no eyes at all.
Sharks can sense a drop of blood from a mile away.
A baby kangaroo is called a joey.
The original name for the butterfly was “Flutterby”.
Rats can survive for up to 14 days without food.
The only species of turtle that lives in open ocean is the sea turtle.
The tuatara lizard of New Zealand has three eyes, two in the center of its head and one on the top of its head.
A chicken loses its feathers when it becomes stressed.
Lake Malawi has the largest number of fish species in the world.
Octopus blood is light blue in color.
The Australian box-jellyfish has eight eyes.
Snake venom is 90 percent protein.
Lizards use their tongues as sense organs.
Reptiles do not perspire and do not have any oil glands.
Foxes can hold up to one kilogram of flesh in their stomachs.
For self-defence, a cobra spits its venom into the eyes of its enemy.
Despite the size of its ears, an elephant’s hearing is poor.
A dime has 118 ridges around edge.
A shark’s teeth are usually replaced every eight days.
Guinea pigs and rabbits can’t sweat.
Centipedes always have an uneven pair of legs.
Cows can mimic sounds made by other birds and animals.
An adult blue whale’s heart beat only about 5-6 times a minute.
An octopus can protect itself temporarily by blinding its attacker by squirting ink at it.
A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.
Octopuses are deaf, but have excellent eyesight.
The largest dog in the world is the Irish Wolfhound.
A baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth.
Snail eats with a rasping mouth which has thousands of teeth.
Dogs’ sweat glands are found between their toes.
A rabbit cannot vomit.
A wood pecker can peak twenty times in a second.
Cats can sleep for up to 16 hours a day.
Mocking birds can imitate sounds of other birds.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
A blue whale’s tongue is so large that fifty people could stand on it.
Snails can sleep for 3 year without eating.
Snails eat with a rasping mouth which has thousands of teeth.
Armadillos can walk underwater.
The colour of a giraffe’s coat tends to become darker with age.
Canadian porcupines kiss one another on the lips.
An elephant’s trunk contains over 50,000 muscles.
Cat’s jaw moves only up and down, there is no side to side grinding.
The tallest snake is the King Cobra, which can rear itself up to six feet and spread its hood nine inches wide.
An octopus has absolutely no bones. The only hard anatomical structure on an octopus is the beak around the mouth, which made of similar tissue to fingernails.
An adult flea can only survive for one to four days but the pupae and larvae can be around for over three months.
Australia’s box jellyfish has toxins more potent than the venom in cobras. A person who is stung can die within minutes.
According to tests, dogs and cats, like people, are either right-handed or left-handed; that is, they favor either their right or left paws.
Ostriches can run up to 70 kilometers per hour and can outpace most pursuers, such as lions, leopards and hyenas.
Giraffe’s are the only animals born with Horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead. Both male and female giraffes have horns.
The dromedary camel can drink as much as 100 liters of water in just 10 minutes.
Roaches can live without food for a month but will only survive a week without water.
The largest living organism ever found is a honey mushroom, Armillaria Ostogae. It covers 3.4 square miles of land in the blue mountains of eastern Oregon, and it’s still growing.
Approximately 50% of all organisms have fractured bones, a result of falling off from trees on a regular basis.
Some toads make themselves look bigger in self-defence. It stands on tiptoes; take a deep breath and puffs up its whole body.
A cat can run about 20 kilometers per hour (12 miles per hour) when it grows up.
The sloth (a mammal) moves so slowly that green algae can grow undisturbed on its fur.
A swan has up to 25,000 feathers but a humming bird has the fewest feathers of all birds – only about 1,000 feathers.
Snakes do not have any eyelids. A transparent scale protects their eyes.
The teeth of marine snails are the world’s strongest natural material. They can handle pressures that would turn carbon into diamond. Snails use them to grind down rock as they feed.