Uncommon Animal Facts

Talk about nature and wildlife you've seen or read about. Discuss specific plants, animals, natural places and wildlife in general, or follow the instructions in the Nature Photography subforum to submit your own photographs.

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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by Quivira » Wed Jul 06, 2011 8:56 pm

Make sure these facts are true, also. Going to correct a few. Try to find correct sources for these facts. ;)
Snakes have one lung
A more realistic statement is that most snakes have only one functional lung. Most snakes have two lungs, but the left is usually very small and doesn't function like the right, which is greater in size. Sometimes, the left lung will be absent.
I think most of you know this already, but if a worm is cut in half, the two halves will become individual worms and continue living after they've healed.
This is only true for the Planaria worm, though the tale that if you cut an Earthworm in half that the two halves become two worms is not true.
• Seals share the same ancestors as jackals
Not sure if this one is true. Looked it up and saw nothing about how they are a related species. Mind to post a source?
Spermwhales will only eat squid
They won't only eat squid. They are known to eat rays, octopi, sharks, and other large fish. Squid is just the main diet of the Sperm whale.
-Pigs are the smartest animal alive.
Actually, chimps and other primates are, after humans.
-A birds feathers are water resistant
Bird feathers are not water resistant, but birds will cover their feathers in oil from an oil gland at their tail base, but the oil doesn't last forever and the birds have to re-oil their feathers a few times a day. Some birds don't even have this gland, like Anhingas.
• For every human, there are about 50 beetles.
I'm pretty sure it would be a greater number. Care to show me a source of that one, also?
• Mice go longer without water than camels.
It depends what food the mouse has been eating and how much moisture the food contains. But in general, mice cannot live as long as camals can without water.
• Cats domesticated themselves. They probably saw all the rodents around human camps, so they hunted there. Then we made them a common compainion.
Humans technically domesticated cats by taking them into villages to get rid of pests.
• Hummingbirds can't walk.
They can walk, just not very well.
• If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.
This is actually a myth, a seagull, or any bird, would just vomit it back up.
• A duck's quack does not echo.
Another very well-known myth. A duck's quack does echo, even though it's small and quick. Plus, a male's quack and a female's quack are very different so how does this myth make any sense?
• Kiwis are blind and hunt by smell.
Kiwis aren't blind, they just can't see as well as most birds can.
• Penguins can jump as high as 6 ft.
It's best to put the specific breed, Rockhopper Penguin.
• Dinosaurs never died out ─ birds are dinosaurs.
It's best to keep evolution and other religious beliefs away from the forums.
• A chicken can only fly for 13 seconds.
Actually, chickens can fly until they're tired enough to stop. I've had a chicken flutter around for a good 30 seconds.


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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by Ffeion » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:17 pm

I am not sure if these have been already said or if they are true or not, I am going off what I learned/slightly remember from the discovery channel =D

1. Cows don't have four stomachs, just one with four compartments.

2. "Only half of a dolphin’s brain sleeps at a time. The other awake half makes the dolphin come up for air when needed to prevent drowning."

The second one was taken from: http://www.thefactsite.com/2010/09/300- ... facts.html
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by Oceansong-Direwolf » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:45 pm

A headless cockroach can survive for a couple of weeks. Its life would finally end due to starvation!

No dentist for this creature! Crocodiles, through their life grow new teeth that replace the old set!

A crocodile can never stick its tongue out of its mouth.

Gaggle is a group of geese waddling on the ground. And the same group up in the air would be renamed skein.

On an average, a hedgehog's heart beats 300 times, per minute.

A standing 4-foot child can fit into the open of a hippopotamus.

A coin is heavier than a hummingbird!

It would take just one night for a mole to dig a tunnel measuring 300 feet in length.

The longest slumber ever! A snail can sleep for three years, at a stretch.

Recycling! A housefly regurgitates the food it eats and then eats it again!

Here is some news for the left-handed people – they are not the only ones, as all polar bears are left-handed.

An ostrich’s brain is smaller than its eye.

The taste buds of a butterfly are in its feet.

Dogs and cats are either right or left-pawed!

While human fingerprints are a means of their identification; the nose prints are a means of identifying dogs.

A chicken can fly for more than 30 seconds at a stretch.

The butterfly was originally known as the ‘flutterby’.

The donkey’s eye placement helps it see all its four feet at a time.

All the termites of the world outweigh the human beings of the world. The ratio is 10:1!

The chow is the only dog that does not have a pink tongue.
Last edited by Oceansong-Direwolf on Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by Sweetpea RAWR » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:46 pm

Thank you for clearing that up Red.


Polar bears are the only mammals with fur on the soles of their feet.

Emus cannot walk backwards.

Donkeys will sink in quicksand but Mules will not.

Turtles can breath through their butts. This ability they adapted to be able to breathe under water.

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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by April » Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:54 pm

Both the polar bear and zebra are actually black underneath. Zebras are black with white stripes and under all the thick coating of fur, polar bears have black skin. This is why they get so hot in the Cold Arctic

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Thanks for clearing that up Redsky. Although I had watched a show on animal planet once that told me the pig was the smartest despite common belief. But I guess that was wrong >_> Never trust a tv...
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by Frostflower » Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:20 pm

I don't know if this has been posted before, so please tell me if it has.

Hyenas are their own species. They are more closely related to bears than to canines.

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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by April » Thu Jul 07, 2011 4:07 pm

I don't have sources for the ones I posted because most of them came from national geographic or animal planet on tv. Sorry Redsky >_> I also learned "water resistant feathers" in SCience class in grade 9 when we were learning how oil spills affected birds when it got on their feathers. Yeah I knew there was some kind of an oil on their feathers but the oil makes the feathers water resistant. And yes they have to preen themselves to make more oil or whatever. And it had something to do with oil spills getting on their feathers, maybe that the oil couldn't work or something which caused the animals to drown...I think..
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by Sweetpea RAWR » Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:25 pm

That confused me . . . ^

A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their chicks to hatch. Afterwards, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest. Not bad for a stay at home dad.
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by April » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:49 pm

Penguins can jump 6 feet in the air.
? A group of Kangaroos is called a mob.
? A young Kangaroo is called a Joey.
? Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards.
? Beavers can hold their breathe for 45 minutes under water.
? The smallest bird in the world is the Humming Bird. It weighs less than 1 oz (or 1g).
? A bear can run at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).
? Elephants are the only animal that can't jump.
? Polar bears are left handed.
? A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
? A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
? Tigers have striped skin not just striped fur.
? Reindeer eat moss because it contains a chemical that stops their body from freezing.
? The coyote's scientific name (Canis Latrans) means 'barking dog'.
? Snakes can see through their eyelids.
? A Woodpecker can peck 20 times per second.
? Woodpeckers don't get headaches from all that pecking. Their skulls have air pockets to cushion the brain.
? The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees.
? Butterflies tast sensors are in their feet. They taste their food by standing on it.
? Katydids have ears in their front legs.
? The strongest animal in the world is the rhinoceros beetle. It can lift 850 times its own weight.
? Flamingos are pink because shrimp is one of their main sources of food.
? The flying frog uses flaps of skin between its toes to glide.
? The slowest mammal on earth is the tree sloth. It only moves at a speed of 6 feet (1.83 meters) per minute.
? The Chameleon's tongue is as long as its body.
? The Chameleon can focus its eyes seperately to watch two objects at once.
? The Kangaroo's ancestors lived in trees. Today there are eight different kinds of tree kangaroos.
? Flamingos eat with their heads upside down to strain the water out of their food.
? Many snakes never stop growing. That's one reason they must shed their skin.
? The Artic Tern flies from the North Pole to the South Pole and then back again to spend summer in each place.
? The black bulldog ant from Australia is the most dangerous ant in the world. It stings and bites at the same time and has killed humans.
? A hippopotamus can stay under water for up to 30 minutes.
? The Basenji is the only dog which does not bark.
? Armadillos, opossums and sloths spend up to 80 percent of their lives sleeping.
? The Sun Bear has the longest tongue of all bear species - 20-25 centimetres (8 to 10 inches) long.
? If the Sun Bear is grabbed or bitten around its head, it can turn round inside the wrinkly skin on its head and bite the predator.


Source:

http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/animals/weird.htm


Also I learned this in science class. A woodpecker has a very very long tongue. It goes down the neck, back up into the brain, before finally resting back into its mouth.
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by AshleyTheRed » Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:12 pm

Octopi have three hearts and nine brains. A "main" brain, and a brain for each arm. All octopuses are venomous, but only one group, the blue-ringed octopuses, found in Australia, are known to be deadly to humans.

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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by April » Wed Jul 20, 2011 5:36 pm

A leon berger is a kind of dog that is a mix between a Pryanean shepherd, a Newfoundland, and a Bernese Mountain Dog. (My cousin has one but they had no idea what it was -_- Can you believe that? I finally found it out for them)
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by L_the_wolf » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:26 pm

Did you know that Siamese cats are the only cats that talk non-stop... :lol: but my cat beats them because she meow a lot more in a day than a Siamese can. Is that interesting or what :lol:
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by NightlyH » Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:12 pm

L_the_wolf wrote:Did you know that Siamese cats are the only cats that talk non-stop... :lol: but my cat beats them because she meow a lot more in a day than a Siamese can. Is that interesting or what :lol:
Thats not 100% true, I had a Siamese cat once and she hardly ever made a sound unless she was hungry... It all depends on the cat
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by April » Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:25 pm

I'm sure it just means "generally speaking" or "average" or "stereotypes."

For example, King Shepherds are supposedly good with children, but does that mean every King Shepherd would be good with children? No, that's just generally speaking.
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Re: Uncommon Animal Facts

Post by L_the_wolf » Thu Jul 21, 2011 12:55 am

Nightly-Howler wrote:
L_the_wolf wrote:Did you know that Siamese cats are the only cats that talk non-stop... :lol: but my cat beats them because she meow a lot more in a day than a Siamese can. Is that interesting or what :lol:
Thats not 100% true, I had a Siamese cat once and she hardly ever made a sound unless she was hungry... It all depends on the cat
Well there are different personalitys in cats but most Siamese cats do talk about 90.2% of the time maybe less. I dont have a Siamese cat just a little young farm cat. But Siamese are one of the most vocalized breeds and after Nightly-Howler said that now i think about it to myself has it always been true for them? Now i answer my own question... Ok Nightly-Howler not all Siamese talk but it just depends on their personality... I think i forgot to put in my post before that it depends on personality.... Nightly-howler Im sorry for your confusion :cry:
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