10 Weird Animal Facts You’ll Be Glad You Know
- Thomas Nelson
- December 13, 2020
- Animals, Nature
- 0 Comments
Animals can be found nearly everywhere on Earth. They live deep in the ocean, fly high in the sky, and can be found on every continent. It’s estimated that there are 8.7 million species of animals living on Earth right now, and each species is unique from all the others. Here are 8 animal facts you’ll be glad to know!
10 weird animal facts
Some believe that orangutans can speak
Maybe more of an animal myth than an animal fact! In some parts of Indonesia, people believe that orangutans are capable of speaking. So why don’t they? Because they fear they’ll be put to work or enslaved by humans. “It is traditionally believed, that the orangutans could talk but chose not to, as a sign of their high intelligence afraid that they might be enslaved and put to work,” says Francine Neago, an activist for orangutan conservation.
Greenland sharks are late bloomers
Humans reach sexual maturity usually sometime in their teens to early 20s, but Greenland sharks have to wait a lot longer than that to hit puberty. The average Greenland shark reaches sexual maturity at 150 years old and can live to be 500 years old.
People thought Okapis were a hoax
When Okapis were first reported, many people thought the odd looking animals were a hoax. The Okapi looks like a mix of a donkey, a deer, and an antelope with the rear end of a zebra. Many thought that initial reports of the Okapi were exaggerated or a hoax. They weren’t widely believed to exist until photographed.
Dragonflies are nature’s most successful predator
Lions, tigers, and sharks? Nah. It’s actually the dragonfly who clocks the highest kill rate of any animal in the world. This winged insect has a successful kill rate of about 95%, making it twice as deadly as a great white shark. Aren’t you glad they’re small?
Cheetahs are universal organ donors
One of the more interesting animal facts to me! If a human needs an organ donated, a number of precautions need to be taken. A proper match has to be found and the patient will likely need immunosuppressants to allow the body to accept the organs. Cheetahs, on the other hand, are so closely related that they could probably accept an organ donation from any other cheetah.
Sloth hands are opposite our own
Have you ever wondered how sloths manage to stay suspended in trees while they sleep? Wouldn’t they just fall to their deaths? Nope. That’s because their hands work opposite to how ours do. While we must exert energy to close our hands into a fist, a sloth can close their hands by relaxing. They must exert energy to open their hands.
Ostriches really like people
For ostrich farmers, it can be a challenge breeding ostriches because they are often more interested in humans than they are in other ostriches. Really, really interested. Maybe in even kind of a flirty way. So if an ostrich winks at you, watch out.
Ancient penguins were massive
Penguins, the cute, waddling bird that we see traipse across frozen landscapes in nature documentaries, at one point in time could have been quite the danger to you. Approximately 37 million years ago, an ancestor to the penguin stood an incredible 7 feet tall. I wouldn’t want to run into a bird like that!
Squids can get brain damage if they eat too much
Here’s an animal fact I can relate to. Even though they seem squishy and pliable, if a squid eats something too large, it could cause brain damage. That’s because some squid have a donut-shaped brain. Why does that matter? The esophagus of the squid passes through the donut hole in the brain, so if it eats something too large, it could cause brain damage. I’d be in trouble if I were a squid!
Honey bee queens are good singers
When a queen honey bee hatches from her egg, she sings a delightful little song. It actually sounds a bit more like quacking than singing. But the song tells worker bees that they’re ready to hatch and move on, taking part of the hive with them to start a new hive.
We hope you enjoyed our list of 10 weird animal facts!
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