Amazing Animal Facts

I thought I would have a little fun with some amazing animal trivia. While I was collecting this trivia, I found a gem - not animal related - I had to share.

1. The word “listen” contains the same letters as the word “silent”. (I don’t think this is a coincidence.)
2. Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly forwards and backwards.
3. The oldest living thing on earth is 12,000 years old. It is the flowering shrubs called creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert.
4. A crocodile can’t move its tongue and cannot chew.
5. Humpback whales create the loudest sound of any living creature.
6. A crocodile’s digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail. (So can a can of coca-cola.)
7. The mortality rate if bitten by a Black Mambo (snake) is over 95%.
8. Armadillos are able to contract leprosy.
9. The ant, when intoxicated, will always fall over to its left side.
10. Most parrots are left-footed.
11. A snail can sleep for three years. (Aha…the origins of Rip Van Winkle!)
12. Zebras are white with black stripes.
13. Of all known forms of animals life ever to inhabit the Earth, only about 10 percent still exist today.
14. The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs. It can run a metre a second.
15. Mosquitoes are attracted to the colour blue most.
16. A goldfish is the only animal that can see both infrared and ultraviolet light.
17. An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts. (Each year at the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, BC., their Christmas tree is lit by putting the adapter into the eel tank where the electricity from just 2 eels lights up the tree much to the amazement and joy of all the children present.)
18. A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
19. Polar bears are capable of jumping as high as 6’ and can run as fast as 25 mph.
20. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants
21. Eagles mate while airborne.
22. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man.
23. The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot.
24. The heart of a shrimp is located in its head.
25. Some frogs are able to be frozen, thawed and continue living.
26. The “crosshairs” of gun sights were made of spider web filaments until the 1960’s.
27. A giant squid’s eyes have a diameter of 15 inches which are the largest of any animal.
28. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
29. A dog’s sense of smell is 1,000 times stronger than humans. (I can imagine what wet human must smell like to them.)
30. Camels have three eyelids to protect them blowing sand.