Incredible Animal Facts

1. Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
2. African elephants have bigger ears than Indian elephants.
3. Tigers can see 6 times better at night than humans.
4. African elephants only have four teeth to chew their food with.
5. Goats were the first animals to be used for milk by humans.
6. If you have a fear of chickens, then you actually have Alektorophobia.
7. A dik-dik is a tiny antelope that lives in East Africa, Namibia, and Angola.
8. Male dogs will raise their legs while urinating to aim higher on a tree or lamppost because they want to leave a message that they are tall and intimidating. Some wild dogs in Africa try to run up tree trunks while they are urinating to appear to be very large.
9. A completely blind chameleon will still take on the colors of its environment.
10. Worldwide, more people eat and drink milk from goats than any other animal.
11. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year’s supply of footballs.
12. The ostrich has two toes on each foot which gives it greater speed.
13. The dumbest dog in the world is the Afghan hounds.
14. The flamingo can only eat when its head is upside down.
15. During World War II, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs.
16. An elephant can smell water up to 3 miles away.
17. Dogs have sweat glands in between their paws.
18. Baby whales grow to a 1/3 of their mother’s length in the womb.
19. Dogs are about as smart as a two or three-year-old child.
20. The animal on the Firefox logo is not a fox, but a red panda.
21. According to records, there are 50 million monkeys in the world!
22. Hyenas regularly eat the faeces of other animals.
23. The Big Five is a group of animals of Africa: cape buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino.
24. Dog nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints and can be used to identify them.
25. Dogs can see in color, though they most likely see colors similar to a color-blind human.
26. Most young fireflies feed on nectar and pollen, although adult fireflies do not need to eat to survive.
27. Turkeys have a poor sense of smell, but an excellent sense of taste.
28. Approximately 100 people die each year when they are stepped on by cows.
29. Dogs have about 1,700 taste buds.
30. The phrase “raining cats and dogs” originated in seventeenth-century England. During heavy rainstorms, many homeless animals would drown and float down the streets, giving the appearance that it had actually rained cats and dogs.
31. The turkey is one of the most famous birds in North America.
32. The female lion does ninety percent of the hunting.
33. On average, dogs have better eyesight than humans, although not as colorful.
34. Reindeer milk has more fat than cow milk.
35. Goats were the first animals domesticated by man in 10,000 B.C.
36. Fireflies are the only creatures that give off light without generating heat.
37. The starfish is the only animal capable of turning its stomach inside-out.
38. A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.
39. Tuna fish can swim 40 miles in a single day.
40. Dumbledore isn’t only the Headmaster of Hogwarts; in fact, a Dumbledore is an old English term for a type of bee.
41. Blue whales have large enough aortas (the main blood vessel) for a human to crawl through.
42. Giraffes have no vocal cords.
43. About two-thirds of shark attacks on humans have taken place in water less than six feet deep.
44. You can tell a turtle’s gender by the noise it makes. Males grunt, females hiss.
45. A ‘haw’ is the third eyelid of a cat, which can only be seen when the cat isn’t well.
46. Lonomia obliqua is the world’s deadliest caterpillar.
47. There is a butterfly in Africa with enough poison in its body to kill six cats!
48. Animals generate 30 times more waste than humans which is 1.4 billion tons every year.
49. In Alaska, it is illegal to whisper in someone’s ear while they’re moose hunting.
50. Every day of the year, 100 whales are killed by whale fisherman.
51. The honey bee has been around for 30 million years.
52. Snakes are carnivores, which means they only eat animals, often small ones such as insects, birds, frogs and other small mammals.
53. Gorillas can catch human colds and other illnesses.
54. The blue whale weighs as much as thirty elephants and is as long as three Greyhound buses.
55. A woodpecker can peck 20 times per second.
56. A garden caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head.
57. Oysters can change from one gender to another and back again depending on which is best for mating.
58. Only 5 to 10 percent of cheetah cubs make it to adulthood.
59. Whale milk is 50% fat.
60. There are roughly twenty-four thousand species of butterflies.
61. The lifespan of 75% of wild birds is 6 months.
62. Ailurophobia is the fear of cats.
63. Hummingbirds are the only birds who can fly backwards.
64. The lifespan of a bush baby is 14 years.
65. There is no visual difference between male and female herons.
66. The scales of a crocodile are made of certain, the same substance that hooves and fingernails are made of.
67. Greyhounds are the fastest dogs on Earth and can run at speeds of 45 mph.
68. A squid’s eye can get as big as a basketball.
69. Dogs can see better when the light is low.
70. Shark corneas are being used in human eye transplants.
71. French poodles did not originate in France – they came from Germany.
72. Sharks are immune to cancer!
73. When young abalones feed on red seaweed their shells turn red.
74. George Washington’s teeth were made of elephant ivory and walrus tusks.
75. The smell of a skunk can be detected by a human a mile away.
76. The scientific name of the red fox is Vulpes vulpes.
77. A skunk will not bite and throw its scent at the same time.
78. The longest recorded lifespan of a slug was 1 year, 6 months.
79. A rodent’s teeth never stop growing.
80. Birds can recognize landmarks, which they use to help them navigate.
81. Starfish have eight eyes – one at the end of each leg.
82. Goat’s milk is higher in calcium, vitamin A and niacin than cow’s milk.
83. 79% of pet owners sleep with their pets.
84. The Basenji is the worlds only bark-less dog.
85. Female bald eagles are 25% larger than males.
86. Crocodiles have brains no larger than a cigar.
87. Female harp seals get in groups to have their babies one mating season is over.
88. Before they’re even born, sand tiger sharks eat their twin brothers and sisters!
89. Jellyfish evaporate in the sun. They’re 98% water.
90. There are an estimated 400 million dogs in the world.
91. There are currently over a million animal species on planet earth.
92. More than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the US at Thanksgiving.
93. The largest giant squid ever found weighed 8,000 pounds.
94. The American Kennel Club, the most influential dog club in the United States, was founded in 1884.
95. If you cut off a snail’s eye, it will grow a new one.
96. Baby horses can walk and run after just a few hours of being born.
97. Canis lupus is the scientific name for a grey wolf.
98. A lion in the wild usually makes no more than twenty kills a year.
99. The Latin name for moose is Alces alces.
100. Elephants are covered with hair.
101. Chocolate, macadamia nuts, cooked onions, or anything with caffeine is harmful to dogs.
102. The blue whale is the largest of all whales and is also considered the largest animal to have ever existed in the world.
103. Goats do not have teeth in their upper front jaw.
104. Polar bears are the world’s largest land predators.
105. Many species of owls have special feathers for flying silently.
106. The oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years.
107. A polar bear’s outer fur is called ‘guard hair’.
108. A group of frogs is called an army.
109. Moose have very poor vision. Some have even tried to mate with cars.
110. There are no ants in Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica.
111. The color red doesn’t really make bulls angry; they are color-blind.
112. Goats are quite agile creatures and in some cases, they can jump over 5 feet.
113. The average dog can run about 19 mph.
114. Cat owners are 30% less likely to suffer a heart attack.
115. Penguins can jump 6 feet out of the water.
116. Alligators cannot move backward.
117. Small quantities of grapes and raisins can cause renal failure in dogs.
118. The great horned owl has no sense of smell.
119. There is an average of 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas.
120. Apple and pear seeds contain arsenic, which may be deadly to dogs.
121. Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.
122. At birth, a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.
123. A butterfly has 12,000 eyes.
124. Fireflies are also known as lightning bugs.
125. One survey reports that 33 percent of dog owners admit they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on answering machines while they are away.
126. The Tyrannosaurus Rex went extinct 65 million years ago.
127. There are over 210 breeds of goats in the world.
128. Alternate American names for the Elk are the moose and the Wapiti.
129. A full-grown bear can run as fast as a horse.
130. Millions of trees are accidentally planted by squirrels that bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.
131. There are approximately 450 million goats around the world.
132. The crocodile’s tongue is unmovable, as it is attached to the roof of its mouth.
133. Even though a polar bears average body temperature is 37°C; they don’t give off any detectable heat, so they won’t show up in infrared photographs.
134. Barn owls hunt mostly small mammals such as the short-tailed vole.
135. Flamingos are pink because shrimp is one of their main sources of food.
136. The most popular dog breed in Canada, America, and Great Britain is the Labrador retriever.
137. An elephant’s trunk has around 15,000 muscles. 200 liters of water is drunk from it per day.
138. Hummingbirds beat their wings 60 to 80 times per second.
139. In 2003, Dr. Roger Mugford invented the “wag-o-meter” a device that claims to interpret a dog’s exact mood by measuring the wag of its tail.
140. At birth, baby kangaroos are only about an inch long – no bigger than a large water bug or a queen bee.
141. Male rabbits are called “bucks,” females are “does.”
142. It is much easier for dogs to learn spoken commands if they are given in conjunction with hand signals or gestures.
143. Turtles, water snakes, crocodiles, alligators, dolphins, whales, and other water going creatures will drown if kept underwater too long.
144. Scientists have performed brain surgery on cockroaches.
145. A large group of goats is called a herd.
146. When a male tiger and female lion mate they make a tigon, when a male lion and female tiger mate they make a liger.
147. Butterflies can only see the colors red, green and yellow.
148. The owl has a small brain.
149. It costs approximately $10,000 to train a federally certified search and rescue dog.
150. You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.