Little-Known Facts About Animals
Very few people know that crocodiles can’t stick out their tongues or that a shrimp’s heart is in his head. Or that a starfish has no brain. Even weirder: some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can’t find any other food. The world is full of animals that have traits uniquely their own, some of them very strange indeed. The octopus, for example, has triangular pupils. Do you know who shares that trait with them? Goats do.
Are animals right-handed, left-handed or do they favor no hand in particular? Well, for polar bears, it’s a fact that all of them are left-handed. And, another interesting fact about polar bears is that their livers are extremely poisonous because they contain too much vitamin C.
Many people know that the praying mantis female will kill the male but many people don’t know the reason: the male cannot perform with his head attached to his body. Speaking of mating many lions do so 50 times a day. And did you have any idea that human birth control pills also work on gorillas? Or that, during tests done in labs, constantly listening to hard rock music lead rats to homosexuality?
And the poor ferrets of the world! If a female ferret goes into heat but cannot find a mate she will literally die. A scorpion will go crazy and sting himself to death if you place a tiny drop of liquor on him.
Some animal trivia, although intriguing, has no explanation. Ducks’ quacks do not echo. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave. A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won’t. You can lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
Domestic animals, favored the most by people, have some interesting traits. Dogs and cats only see the colors blue and yellow. Cats have 32 muscles in each ear. Fleas can jump 350 times its own body length. Rats multiply so quickly that within 18 months a set of rats can have over a million descendants. And, they can last longer without water than even a camel.
Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump. The groundhog is only accurate, when predicting the weather, 28 % of the time. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than his brain.
Sharks never get sick – they’re completely immune to all known diseases. The giant squid has the largest eyes of any creature in the world. All porcupines can float in water. Dolphins sleep with one eye open. The whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal. A jellyfish is 95% water.
Humans are animals too and we have our own crazy quirks and odd facts. Like, we can’t hum with our noses plugged. And our stomachs must produce a new layer of mucus every couple of weeks or it will digest itself. The strongest muscle in the human body: the tongue. And, our hearts generate enough force, while pumping, to squirt blood over 30 feet.
Right-handed people live an average of 9 years longer than left-handed people. Extremely intelligent people have more copper and zinc in their hair. Many people fear spiders deeper than they fear the thought of death. Only one person in 2 billion will live to be 116 or older. And, our eyes are the same size when we’re born as they are when we are adults but our noses and ears continue to grow.
Although a lot of trivia is just tidbits of useless knowledge some of it may be good to know, one day. If not, at least you learned some of the lesser known facts, about animals, in the world. Possibly you can impress your friends and family with your recently gained knowledge or maybe you’ll just keep these tidbits to yourself. Regardless, you can find more trivial animal facts online or at the library.
