Wild Facts about Animals
- Many people believe that early mermaid sightings can be attributed to dehydration + manatees.
- Sloths cannot shiver to stay warm, and so have difficulty maintaining their body temperature on rainy days.
- In the wild, some reindeer travel more than 3000 miles in a single year.
- Only half of the dolphin’s brain goes to sleep when asleep and the other half stays awake.
- Other than humans, emperor penguins are the only warm-blooded animal to stay on Antarctica for the winter.
- The biggest fossil of a spider was found in China. It is one-inch long and 165 million years old.
- The largest living animal is the blue whale, which can measure as much as 100 feet.
- Nearly 10 percent of all of a cat’s bones are in its tail.
- In the wintertime, reindeer grow their facial hair long enough to cover their mouths, which protects their muzzles when grazing in the snow. Beard-os!
- Dolphins have been seen wrapping sea sponges around their long snouts to protect them from cuts while foraging for food.
- Shrimps hearts are in their heads.
- While pandas sometimes eat fish or small animals, 99% of their diet is bamboo.
- An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
- A fox uses its tail to communicate with other foxes.
- Dogs have wet noses because they secrete a thin layer of mucus, which actually helps dogs smell!
- The female hummingbird builds the world’s smallest birds’ nest (approximately 1.5 inches in diameter, around the size of a walnut!). She weaves it from spiderwebs which allows it to expand as the chicks grow.
- The largest land animal in Antarctica is an insect: the columbola (which looks like an earwig). Penguins are considered marine animals.
18. There are 222 owl species in the world. Most are nocturnal, but a few are active during the daytime, such as the Barred Owl.
- Sloths are strong swimmers, especially good at the backstroke.
- Sharks do not hunt humans or consider humans food. Sharks’ incidents occur when sharks are hunting for seals, dolphins, or other “human-sized” prey. It’s a case of mistaken identity!