Amazing Animal Facts

Amazing Animal Facts  A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours. A bee must visit 4,000 flowers in order to make one tablespoon of honey. Humpback whales create the loudest sound of any living creature. Bald eagles may use the same nest year after year, adding more twigs and branches each time. One nest was found that had been used for 34 years and weighed over two tons. Great White Sharks can go as long as three months without eating. A bee can see the colors green, blue and ultra-violet - but red looks like black. A giant squid’s eyes have a diameter of 15 inches which are the largest of any animal. A zebra is white with black stripes. Mayflies live for a year or more as larvae; but as adults they live for only a few hours. Bats always turn left when leaving a cave. 3 out of 10 Dalmation dogs suffer from hearing loss due to inbreeding. Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards. Polar bears are the only mammal with hair on the soles of its feet. The African Elephant has a gestation period of 22 months while a short-nosed bandicoot gestates for 12 days. The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs  covering a meter a second. The mortality rate if bitten by a Black Mambo snake is over 95%. Ticks are second only to the mosquito as the most dangerous parasites to humans. According to one study, plant and animal species are becoming extinct at the rate of 17 per hour. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot. A dog’s sense of smell is 1,000 times stronger than humans. Killer Whales (Orcas) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode. Bald eagles can actually swim! They use an overhand movement of the wings that is very much like the butterfly stroke. Hummingbird’s consume half of their weight in food daily. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man. A large swarm of locusts can eat 80,000 tons of corn in a day. Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale. Female fleas consume fifteen times their weight daily. A cockroach can survive for about a week without its head before dying of starvation. When a dolphin is sick or injured, its cries of distress summon immediate aid from other dolphins, who try to support it to the surface so that it can breathe. The whale shark has over 4,000 teeth. Each tooth is only 3mm long. A rhinoceros beetle can support up to 850 times its own weight on it's back. That would be the equivalent of a man carrying 76 family-sized cars around on his back. Mosquitoes have been found to prefer biting people with smelly feet. A dragonfly can spot an insect moving 33 feet away. Certain Chinese and American alligators can survive the winter by freezing their heads in ice, leaving their nose out to breath for months on end. Polar Bears are capable of jumping as high as 6 feet and can run as fast as 25mph. Sea Otters use so much energy that they need to eat as much as one-third of their weight each day. The ‘crosshairs’ of gun sights were made of spider web filaments until the 1960’s. The sailfish, the swordfish and the mako shark have all been clocked at swimming over 50mph. Mosquitos are attracted most to the color blue. The male penguin incubates the single egg laid by his mate. During the two month period he does not eat, and will lose up to 40% of his body weight. Honeybees have hair on their eyes. The heart of a shrimp is located in its head. Over 10,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows. An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away, and warns off intruders or reunites scattered members of the pride. The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica. Some frogs are able to be frozen and then thawed, and continue living. A group of herring is called a seige. A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots. Cats prefer to eat their food at 86º F, which is why they don't immediately gulp down the half-eaten can of food from the refrigerator. A goldfish is the only animal that can see infrared and ultraviolet light. One in 5,000 North Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue. A snail can sleep for 3 years. A group of jelly fish is called a smack. The oceans contain 99 percent of the living space on the planet. The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene. There are 701 types of pure breed dogs. There are about 100 breeds of cats. A tiger's paw prints are called pug marks. Over 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles worldwide are killed by plastic rubbish every year. Marine life, in particular turtles, is prone to mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish, ingesting them and dying of intestinal blockage. Infant beavers are called kittens. The fastest bird, the spine-tailed swift, can fly as fast as 106mph. Slugs have 4 noses. Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex. Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray. Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific. A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime. A cheetah can reach a top speed approaching 70 mph. A newborn kangaroo is about 1 inch in length. Greyhounds can jump a distance of 27 feet. Yak milk is pink in color. An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes. Of the approximately 200 eggs laid by a female leatherback sea turtle an average of two will survive their youth and grow to sexual maturity. Dolphins sleep with one half of the brain at a time, and one eye closed. A woodpecker can peck 20 times per second. For every person there are rougly 200 million insects. An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts. The leech has 32 brains. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand. The Galpagos Tortoise has a potential life span of 200 years.  A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. The average outdoor only cat has a lifespan of about three years. Indoor only cats can live sixteen years and longer. The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract its claws. The praying mantis only has one ear. Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. It takes a lobster about seven years to grow to be one pound. The membranes in a dog's nose, if unfolded and laid out, would be larger than the dog itself. Large kangaroos can cover over 30 feet with each jump. A group of owls is called a parliament. Of all known forms of animals life ever to inhabit the Earth, only about 10 percent still exist today. A rhinoceros's horn is made of hair. On average, pigs live for about 15 years. Elephants have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean. Sharks apparently are the only animals that never get sick. They are immune to every type of disease including cancer. Kiwi birds are blind, they hunt by smell. A chameleon’s tongue is twice the length of its body. Roosters can't crow if they can't fully extend their necks. Male seahorses produce offspring. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet at all times. Giraffes have no vocal cords. A full-grown bear can run as fast as a horse. Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die. Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils. An albatross can sleep while flying. A dolphin's hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away. A mosquito has 47 teeth. No two zebras have the same markings. A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down. Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas. Butterflies taste with their hind feet. The sex organ on a male spider is located at the end of one of its legs. Birds do not sleep in their nests. They may occasionally nap in them, but they actually sleep in other places. Armadillos, opossums, and sloth’s spend about 80% of their lives sleeping. Lobsters can live up to 50 years. The ears of a cricket are located on the front legs, just below the knee. Bees have five eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.

The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract its claws. Catfish have 100,000 taste buds. A baby bat is called a pup. Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes. The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds. The poisonous copperhead snake smells like fresh cut cucumbers. Almost 65% of Central America has been cleared to create pastureland for grazing cattle. Mosquitoes prefer children to adults, and blondes to brunettes. Hummingbirds are the smallest birds - so tiny that one of their enemies is an insect, the praying mantis. Mockingbirds can imitate any sound from a squeaking door to a cat meowing. The male platypus has venom strong enough to can kill a small dog and cause excruciating pain among humans. The average human eats eight spiders in their lifetime at night. The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. The venom of the stonefish can kill a human in two hours. Polar Bears cannot be detected by infrared cameras, due to their transparent fur. The mouse is the most common mammal in the US. If a shark doesn't continually swim, it will sink. Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue. Worker ants may live seven years and the queen may live as long as 15 years. You should not eat a crawfish with a straight tail. It was dead before it was cooked. One square mile of rainforest has more types of butterflies than all of North America. A newborn giant panda is only the size of a stick of butter. The honeybee kills more people world-wide than all the poisonous snakes combined. Each year, insects eat 1/3 of the Earth's food crop. It would require an average of 18 hummingbirds to weigh in at 1 ounce. Moles are able to tunnel through 300 feet of earth in a day. Beaver teeth are so sharp that Native Americans once used them as knife blades. A woodchuck breathes only 10 times during hibernation. The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue. Rats like boiled sweets better than they like cheese. A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body. Honeybees may collect pollen from as many as 500 flowers, all of the same species - in a single trip. The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark. Most brands of lipstick and some kinds of fruit drinks are tinted with extract from the cochineal insect. The hummingbird's brain, 4.2 percent of its body weight, is proportionately the largest among birds. Squirrels are immune to rabies. A snail only mates once. Flamingos are not naturally pink. They get their color from their food -- tiny green algae that turn pink during digestion. Flies have 4000 lenses in each eye. USDA sources reveal that flies contaminate or destroy 10 billion dollars of agricultural products each year. There are 6,500+ species of fly living in Britain alone. (There are over 16,000+ in North America) The weight of insects eaten by spiders every year is greater than the total weight of the entire human population. Shrimp can only swim backwards. Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. There is a genetic link between the two. Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life! What about milk, you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living! It is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly -- so says City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, California. The calories burned daily by the sled dogs running in Alaska's annual Iditarod race average 10,000. You can hypnotise a frog by placing it on it's back and gently stroking it's stomach. The owl can catch a mouse in utter darkness, guided only by tiny sounds made by its prey. Ants are said to never cross a chalk line. So if you've got ants, draw a line on the floor with chalk or wherever the ants are coming in and see for yourself! They won't cross the line. Baking soda works, too! Coral reefs are massive limestone structures that provide shelter for over 25 percent of all marine life. The koala is the world’s fussiest eater and feeds uniquely on eucalyptus leaves. An elephant's tooth can weigh as much as 12 pounds. Adult fleas can live for up to 2 years during which time the female can lay up to 1,200 eggs. Elephant seals are air-breathing mammals, but they can hold their breath for up to two hours while diving. Apart from humans the only land animal that cries is the elephant. The longest snake is the reticulated python, which can reach over 33 ft. Dragonflies have the largest eyes and sharpest eyesight of any insect. Each eye is made up of more than 30,000 separate rod-like units. The collective name for a group of frogs is an "army of frog"; in the case of their warty cousins, it’s a "knot of toads". Strands of spider web are stronger than steel wire of the same thickness. The female green turtle sheds tears as she lays her eggs on the beach. This washes sand particles out of her eyes and rids her body of excess salt. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants. The color a head louse will be as an adult can depend on the color of the person's hair in which it lives. The temperature of the saltwater crocodile's egg will determine the sex of the newborn crocodile. It takes a sloth two weeks to digest the food it eats. The optimum depth of water in a birdbath is two and a half inches. Less water makes it difficult for birds to take a bath; more makes them afraid. Squirrels can climb trees faster than they can run on the ground. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. Unlike other four legged mammals, kangaroos cannot walk backwards. When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny. Just like people, mother chimpanzees often develop lifelong relationships with their offspring. Cats have more than one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten. The biggest member of the cat family is the male lion, which weighs 528 pounds (240 kilograms). The mating call of a male toadfish, who are underwater, is so loud that it can be heard by humans above water. Cheetahs make a chirping sound that is much like a bird's chirp or a dog's yelp. The sound is so an intense, it can be heard a mile away. Platypuses can consume their own body weight in food in a 24 hour period. The Kinkajou's tail is twice as long as its body. Every night it wraps itself in its tail and uses it as a pillow. As a general rule in the animal kingdom, the more complex or relatively big the eye in relation to the body, then the smaller the rest of the brain. Catfish are the only animals that naturally have an ODD number of whiskers. Nearly three percent of the ice in Antarctic glaciers is penguin urine. Centipedes always have an uneven pairs of walking legs. Rattlesnakes gather in groups to sleep through the winter. Sometimes up to 1,000 of them will coil up together to keep warm. A mother dingo regurgitates food for her puppies. A mature male gorilla is called a Silverback. This refers to the silver-colored hair covering his back, which occurs when he’s about 10-12 years old. The hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher, and the grebe are all birds that cannot walk. A squirrel has no color vision. It seesonly in black and white. Every part of its field of vision, however, is in perfect focus, not just straight ahead, as with man. A chicken once had its head cut off and survived for over eighteen months, headless. Octopus and squid are thought to be the most intelligent of all invertebrates. You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day than in any other weather. A duck's quack doesn't echo anywhere, and no one knows why. Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not sweat by salivating. They sweat through the pads of their feet. The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car