By Sean Traynor, Editor-in-Chief
Animals are interesting and complex. The more you learn about them, the more you’ll want to know even more. Researching animals for this “amazing animals” issue, I found hundreds of things about animals all over the world that left me startled, amused, intrigued and in awe. I hope you find these facts as fun to read as I did.
- Mosquitoes are particularly attracted to dark colors, such as navy blue.
- There are only three animals with blue tongues: the black bear, the Chow Chow dog and the blue-tongued lizard.
- Camels have three eyelids.
- Flying squirrels don’t really fly; they glide from branch to branch. A blanket-like furry skin stretches their front and hind legs, and acts as a parachute, helping the squirrel to soar like a kite.
- No two zebras have the same striped pattern.
- An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain
- The biggest bird in the world is the ostrich, which can grow up to nine feet tall.
- Butterflies’ taste sensors are in their feet. They taste their food by standing on it.
- Flamingos are pink because shrimp is one of their main sources of food.
- Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.
- The hummingbird flaps its wings 55 to 75 times per second. In order to fuel this activity, it eats approximately twice its weight in nectar every day.
- Birds do not sleep in their nests. They may occasionally nap in them, but they actually sleep in other places.
- Bats always turn left when leaving a cave.
- A beaver can hold its breath for 45 minutes.
- Elephants are the only animal that can’t jump.
- The water spider lives underwater but breathes air by using its web to create an underwater sac that stores air bubbles.
- Penguins can jump 6 feet in the air.
- Polar bears are left handed.
- A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
- Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
- Gecko lizards can stick to just about anything thanks to the two million microscopic hair-like projections on their toes. Each hair has hundreds of tiny pads at its tip that allow it to stick to almost any solid surface.
- Reindeer eat moss because it contains a chemical that stops their body from freezing.
- Snakes can see through their eyelids.
- The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees.
- The praying mantis only has one ear.
- The Chameleon’s tongue is as long as its body.
- The Chameleon can focus its eyes separately to watch two objects at once.
- A hippopotamus can stay under water for up to 30 minutes.
- Bulls are color blind.
- Pigs can cover a mile in 7.5 minutes when running at top speed.
- Sea otters use so much energy that they need to eat as much as one-third of their weight each day.
- A bee must visit 4,000 flowers in order to make one tablespoon of honey.
- Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
- Slugs have 4 noses.
- A cheetah can reach a top speed approaching 70 mph.
- Dolphins sleep with one half of the brain at a time, and one eye closed.
- A dolphin’s hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away.
- The average cow produces 40 glasses of milk each day.
- A rhinoceros’s horn is made of hair.
- Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
- A snail can sleep for three years.
- Lobsters can live up to 50 years.
- A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
- Great white sharks can go as long as three months without eating.
- An adult lion’s roar can be heard up to five miles away, and warns off intruders or reunites scattered members of the pride.
- Penguins swim underwater at up to 25 miles per hour.
