Animal Facts

Sharks can live up to 100 years.

Cat's urine glows under a black light.

Many fish can change sex during the course of their lives. Others, especially rare deep-sea fish, have both male and female sex organs.

The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, is the largest known animal ever to have lived on sea or land. Individuals can reach more than 110 feet and weigh nearly 200 tons, more than the weight of 50 adult elephants.

The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark.

The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal.

The Peregrine Falcon around 200mph (320 km/h) is the fastest bird on the planet, the top speed recorded is 242.3mph (390 km/h).

Mosquitos are more attracted to the color blue than any other color.

A Blue Whale can eat as much as 3 tones of food everyday, but at the same time can live without food for 6 months.

Blue whales are found throughout the world's oceans, the lifespan is estimated to be 80 years & population is between 1300 & 2000 only, its dangerously low.

Slugs have four noses.

A group of jellyfish is called a "smuck".

Snails can have hundreds to thousands teeth, There can be hundreds of rows of teeth and several different tooth types in one snail.

A domestic cat can sprint at about 31 miles per hour.

Penguins "fly" underwater at up to 25 miles per hour.

Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body

A cockroach can live a long time, a week or 10 days, without its head.

If a cat is frightened, the hair stands up fairly evenly all over the body, when the cat threatens or is ready to attack, the hair stands up only in a narrow band along the spine and tail.

Blondes have more hair than dark-haired people.

Laika (dog) became the world's first space traveler. Russian scientists sent the small animal aloft in an artificial earth satellite in 1957.

The ears of a cricket are located on the front legs, just below the knee.

A camel's hump is not used for water storage, but camels can go for long periods of time without water. They drink large amounts of water up to 20 gallons at a time. This water is stored in the animal's bloodstream.

There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human.

The nine-banded armadillo always gives birth to same gender quadruplets from a single egg.

Bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, are among the largest and fastest marine fish. An adult may weigh 1,500 pounds and swim up to 55 miles per hour.

A cat uses its whiskers for measuring distances.

Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.

The blackspot angelfish can change sex from female to male. When the male fish of the group dies, the largest female fish starts changing in appearance.

Cheetah's can accelerate from 0 to 70 kilometer per hour in 3 seconds only.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

The largest flying animal was the pterosaur which lived 70 million years ago. This reptile had a wing span of 36-39 feet (11-11.9 meters) and weighed 190-250 pounds (86-113.5 kilograms).

The blue whale's blood vessels are so broad that a full-grown trout could swim through them, and the vessels serve a heart the size of a small car.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out, because it's attached to the bottom of their mouth.

Chocolate can be killed dogs. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

A dog can hear sounds 250 yards away that most people cannot hear beyond 25 yards.

Most cats are left pawed.

A 'bitch' is more likely to bite you than a male dog.

A common old wives tale is that fish grow to the size of the aquarium. Actually they will continue to grow as long as they have a quality environment. To find out, a group of researchers kept several trout in a 3 inch diameter tube. Clean water was constantly circulated through the tube. The trout eventually grew to fill the tube completely!

Koala fingerprints are similar to human fingerprints, even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.

Cats do not have a collarbone, so they can fit through any opening the size of their head.

When they mate, a yak and a cow produce a dzo.

The oarfish, Regalecus glesne, is the longest bony fish in the world. With its snakelike body sporting a magnificent red fin along its 50-foot length horselike face and blue gills, it accounts for many sea-serpent sightings.

The Atlantic Giant Squid's eye can be as large as 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) wide.

Humans and cats both have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion. A cat's brain is more similar to a man's brain than that of a dog.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

One reason of crickets chirping is behaving aggressively during the encounter of two males.

Cats have 32 muscles that control the outer ear (compared to human's 6 muscles each).

Crocodile only animal & reptile that sheds tear while eating.

Armadillos, opossums, and sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping.

A cat has a total of 24 whiskers, 4 rows of whiskers on each side. The upper two rows can move independently of the bottom two rows.

The largest penguin is the emperor penguin at 4 feet tall and about 65 to 90 pounds & the smallest is the little penguin, also known as the blue or fairy penguin, which weighs only 2 pounds.

The world's smallest known butterflies, the blue pygmy found in southern California, has a wingspan of just over half an inch.

A snail can sleep for three years.

There are only three animals with blue tongues: the black bear, the Chow Chow dog and the blue-tongued lizard.

The mouse is a very adaptable creature who can thrive in almost any environment and has resisted mans' attempts to eradicate it for centuries.

Butterflies taste with their feet. Their taste sensors are located in the feet & by standing on their food, they can taste it

Blue-eyed, pure white cats are frequently deaf.

The typical housefly cruses at 8 km/hr.

The name hippopotamus comes from the Greek words "hippos" meaning horse, and "potamus" meaning river. Though the hippo spends most of its day in the water, it is more closely related to the pig than the horse.

One catfish, the giant Manguruyu, Paulicea lutkeni, can reach 3 meters in length and has been held responsible for eating small children in such rivers as the Rio Branco in the Amazon basin.

Cats are feline, dogs are canine, and sheep are ovine.

The tallest cacti are the giant Saguaros. They grow up to 18m (59 ft) tall, about the height of a six-storey building.

The world's largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length.

The nine-banded armadillo can jump straight upward about three to four feet into the air. This reflex may help scare off predators in the wild. Unfortunately, many armadillos are killed when they jump into the underside of moving vehicles.

A camel's hump does not hold water at all - it actually stores fat. The camel uses it as nourishment when food is scarce. If a camel uses the fat inside the hump, the hump will become limp and droop down. With proper food and rest the hump will return to normal.

A new born blue whale measures 20-26 feet (6.0 - 7.9 meters) long and weighs up to 6,614 pounds (3003 kg).

A cat's whiskers are called vibrissae.

A group of herring is called a seige. A group of jelly fish is called a smack.

Cats walk on their toes.

A cat sees better than a human at night, it has a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.

A cat can rotate its ears independently 180 degrees, and can turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog.

Oils from the orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus, a deep-sea fish from New Zealand, are used in making shampoo.

Domestic cats purr both when inhaling and when exhaling.

Normal body temperature for a cat is 102 degrees F.

Cats lose almost as much fluid in the saliva while grooming themselves as they do through urination.

Cats have 30 teeth (12 incisors, 10 premolars, 4 canines, and 4 molars), while dogs have 42.

Goats produce cashmere.

Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run.

Sperm whales have the biggest brains 20 lbs.

A large swarm of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can consume 20,000 tons (18,160,000 kilograms) of vegetation a day.

One study of a deep-sea community revealed 898 species from more than 100 families and a dozen phyla in an area about half the size of a tennis court. More than half of these were new to science.

The adult sperm whale will regularly dive to depths of up to 1200 feet in search of their favorite food the Giant Squid. The pressure at this depth is about 500 lbs per square inch. Scientists still do not know how they can withstand the pressure.

The one benefit of geese fly in a V is that it is easy to keep track of every bird in the group. Fighter pilots often use this formation for the same reason.

Horseshoe crabs have existed in essentially the same form for the past 135 million years. Their blood provides a valuable test for the toxins that cause septic shock, which previously led to half of all hospital-acquired infections and one-fifth of all hospital deaths.

On average, Elephants sleep for about 2 hours per day.

There are over 300 different breeds of horses and ponies around the world.

The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom.

The average life span of a the hermit crab is 75 years.

The poison arrow frogs of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the world.

A cat's field of vision is about 185 degrees.

The blue whale can produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is the loudest sound produced by a living animal and has been detected as far away as 530 miles.

A pigs snout is called a gruntle.

Dolphins are highly social, playful, curious and intelligent. They live in groups or families called Pods.

DEMETRIO was a mammal like REPTILE with a snail on its back. This acted as a radiator to cool the body of the animal.

Dogs cannot see as well as humans and are considered color blind. A dog sees objects first by their movement, second by their brightness, and third by their shape.

A cat sees about 6 times better than a human at night, and needs 1/6 the amount of light that a human does.

Flea can't fly, they can jump over 7 inches high & 13 inches long, 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft. person jumping 780 ft. into the air.

Mice are the smallest mammals to ever be domesticated. Mice weigh on average 1 ounce and are approximately 2.5 to 3.5 inches long (without the tail).

The nine-banded armadillo can hold their breath for six minutes or more!

Cats' hearing stops at 65 khz (kilohertz) and humans' hearing stops at 20 khz.

The basenji, an African wolf dog, is the only dog that cannot bark.

A cat will spend nearly 30% of her life grooming herself.

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, enabling the squirrel to soar like a kite.

Cats have a special scent organ located in the roof of their mouth, called the Jacobson's organ. It analyzes smells - and is the reason why you will sometimes see your cat "sneer" (called the flehmen response or flehming) when they encounter a strong odor.

A cat has more bones than a human, humans have 206, but the cat has 230 (some cites list 245 bones, and state that bones may fuse together as the cat ages).

There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.

Green turtles can migrate more than 1,400 miles to lay their eggs.

A thick layer of blubber (up to 4.5 inches thick) provides polar bears with such excellent insulation that their body temperature and metabolic rate remain the same even at -34F.

The word butterfly came from the English word Buttorfleoge. Perhaps because, in mediaeval times, butterflies could be seen hovering around butterchurns or that their excrement is yellowish in color.

Since the architecture and chemistry of coral are very close to human bone, coral has been used to replace bone grafts in helping human bones to heal quickly and cleanly.

The earliest cockroach fossils are about 280 million years old.

The starfish species, Porcellanaster ivanovi, has been found to live in water as deep as 24,881 feet (7,584 meters).

The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking.

Cats take between 20-40 breaths per minute.

The Virginia opossum has a gestation period of only 12-13 days.

Asian elephants stand eight to ten feet tall at the shoulder. Females weight about 6,000 pounds and males can weight up to 11,900 pounds.

Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.

On bitterly cold days with fierce winds, polar bears dig out a shelter in a snow bank and curl up in a tight ball to wait out the storm.

Argos or Argus, Ulysses' hunting dog, was the only creature to recognize the Greek hero when he returned home disguised as a beggar after 20 years of adventure.

It may take as long as 2 weeks for a kitten to be able to hear well.

The human ear can detect sound waves vibrating at frequencies up to 20,000 times a second. But dogs can hear sound waves that vibrate at frequencies of more than 30,000 times a second.

Almost 10% of a cat's bones are in its tail, and the tail is used to maintain balance.

Polar bears generally walk at a leisurely pace to keep from overheating.

Cats have 30 vertebrae, more than humans have.

It may take as long as 2 weeks for a kitten to be able to hear well. Their eyes usually open between 7 and 10 days, but sometimes it happens in as little as 2 days.

A female dog carries her young about 60 days before the puppies are born.

The average hamster, if provided a wheel, will run up to eight miles per night!

One reason of crickets chirping is sounding a danger alert when sensing trouble.

One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

The common term for a member of the bee genus 'Bombus' is the bumblebee.

The lifespan of the common goldfish is over 20 years.

Kangaroos can't walk backwards.

Cats' hearing is much more sensitive than humans and dogs.

A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.

A turkey's furcula better known as a wishbone.

Polar bears are well-adapted to severe cold. Winter temperatures in the far north often plunge to -40 F or -50 F and can stay that way for days or even weeks.

A cat's jaw has only up and down motion, it does not have any lateral, side to side motion, like dogs and humans. For this reason, don't rely on feeding dry food as a dental care program, cats need to have their teeth cleaned by a vet.

Some of the most successful species of bats live in large cave colonies. Some of these colonies have millions of members, even up to 20 million.

All dogs are probably descended from an animal called Tomarctus. This animal lived approximately 15 million years ago.

The heaviest cat on record weighed 46 lbs.

Hippos like to be close to shore lying on their bellies. In areas undisturbed by people, hippos lie on the shore in the morning sun.

The cat's clavicle, or collarbone, does not connect with other bones but is buried in the muscles of the shoulder region. This lack of a functioning collarbone allows them to fit through any opening the size of their head.

A cat has approximately 60 to 80 million olfactory cells (a human has between 5 and 20 million).

A female cat will be pregnant for approximately 9 weeks, between 62 and 65 days from conception to delivery.

A cat's normal pulse is 140-240 beats per minute, with an average of 195.

King Angelfish Holocanthus passer act as cleaner fish for Hammerhead sharks. They can be seen picking parasites from inside the sharks' mouth! (As it turns out many of the Holocanthus angelfish act as cleaner fish).

A domestic cat can sprint at about 31 miles per hour.

Recent studies have shown that cats can see blue and green. There is disagreement as to whether they can see red.

The cat's front paw has 5 toes, but the back paws have 4. Some cats are born with as many as 7 front toes and extra back toes.

A dog's heart beats between 70 and 120 times a minute, compared with a human heart which beats 70 to 80 times a minute.

A kitten will typically weigh about 3 ounces at birth. The typical male housecat will weigh between 7 and 9 pounds, slightly less for female housecats.

Mice not only captivate our imagination but they play a very important part in history also.

A polar bear's body temperature is 98.6 degree, which is average for mammals.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

Cats purr at the same frequency as an idling diesel engine, about 26 cycles per second.

When a cat drinks, its tongue, which has tiny barbs on it, scoops the liquid up backwards.

The cat has 500 skeletal muscles, humans have 650.

The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in icy sea.

There are several reasons why crickets chirp. One of them: Calling to attract a female with a loud and monotonous sound.

Irish Wolfhounds rank as the largest dog, and Chihuahuas as the smallest dog. The St. Bernard is the heaviest dog and other breeds range in size between these extremes.

The Stegosaurus dinosaur measured up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) long but had a brain the size of a walnut.

Kittens have baby teeth, which are replaced by permanent teeth around the age of 7 months.

One of our favorite mice is Mickey Mouse who has delighted us since the late 1920's.

The fierce DINOSAUR was TYRANNOSAURS which has sixty long & sharp teeth, used to attack & eat other dinosaurs.

A Cicada passes eggs through its ovipositor.