22 Surprising Animal Facts You Had No Idea Could Be True

There is no limit to learning about how unique life is on this planet. See if you know at least one animal fact from this list!

 

There are over a million known animal species on Earth, and each one contains a wealth of biological history. A lot of this haphazard knowledge vanishes into thin air. However, humans continue to understand a great deal, giving us a wealth of fascinating—if not necessarily useful—facts about our fellow animals. This collection of incredible animal trivia pays homage to such efforts. We are sure you will find at least one animal fact extremely interesting.

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1. Pigs Can’t Look Up

Pigs outside
Image Credits: Unsplash

On the sides of their heads, pigs have eyes. Animals that have to constantly watch out for predators frequently exhibit this behavior. They can see 310 degrees in all directions thanks to this placement, but it also leaves them with a blind patch just in front of their snouts and another directly over their heads. As a result, they are only able to see 50 degrees upward, according to TimelessLife.

2. Octopuses Have Three Hearts

Octopus
Image Credits: Unsplash

One circulates blood to the remainder of the body, including the appendages, while the other two pump blood to their gills. The octopus’s mantle contains all three of these hearts. It’s interesting to note that while the animal swims, the heart that pumps blood throughout the body stops. This is why octopuses prefer to hide and crawl rather than run away fast because swimming is taxing due to the lack of blood supply.

3. Owls Don’t Have Eyeballs

Owl
Image Credits: Unsplash

Owls’ eyes are more like eye tubes than actual eyeballs. A sclerotic ring, a bony structure in the skull, is what holds them in place and gives them length. Owls are unable to move or roll their eyes within their sockets as a result. (This is where the increased range of motion in the neck occurs.) Owls can see with both eyes simultaneously because they have binocular vision, just like humans. Because of this, owls have excellent height, weight, and distance perception.

4. Polar Bear Has Black Skin

Polar Bear
Image Credits: Unsplash

The World Wildlife Fund reports that despite their snow-white appearance, polar bears actually have black skin. Their dense coat of hollow, transparent, light-reflecting fur is what gives them the appearance of being white, since it helps them blend in with snowy surroundings. Their actual pigmentation is only visible on the ends of their charcoal nostrils. They can better absorb solar radiation thanks to their black skin, which keeps them warm in icy weather.

5. Butterflies Can Taste With Their Feet

Butterflies
Image Credits: Unsplash

Did you know this animal fact? Butterflies use their “taste buds” at the end of their tongue to detect vegetation, and Using the sensory organs on their feet, females taste plants to determine their identity. Their eyes are capable of seeing ultraviolet light, which is invisible to humans, as well as motion and color.

Read More: 20 of The Deadliest Animals in North America

6. Reindeer Eyeballs Turn Blue In Winter

Reindeer
Image Credits: Unsplash

It was found by University College London researchers that the only mammals with ultraviolet vision are reindeer. Reindeer can see up to 320 nanometres, while humans can only see up to 400 nanometres (each one billionth of a metre). This includes the spectrum that people can only perceive with a black light. In the harsh light of the Arctic, the animals’ ability to see UV light aids in their ability to identify food and predators.

7. The Incredible Sense of Smell of Dogs

Dog
Image Credits: Unsplash

Their sense of smell can be up to 100,000 times stronger than ours since they have roughly 50 times as many olfactory receptors as humans. Albeit, their eyes are much inferior to ours.

8. Spider Silk Is Amazing

Spider Web
Image Credits: Unsplash

Incredibly strong for such a fragile substance, spider silk is up to 1,000 times thinner than human hair and lighter than cotton. Apparently, it is five times stronger than steel of the same diameter. Spiders depend on their silk to endure a variety of harmful pressures, such as the frenzied flapping of trapped insects and strong gusts of wind and rain. For this reason, their extraordinary strength is essential.

9. Mantis Shrimp Claws Can Reach A Speed of a Bullet

Mantis Shrimp
Image Credits: Unsplash

Did you know this animal fact? In the animal kingdom, this crustacean packs the strongest punch. From a standing start, they can propel one of their club-like front legs at up to 75 feet per second. Furthermore, a recent study reveals that prawn larvae quickly pick up on these deadly blows.

10. The Sealion Can Learn Musical Beats

Sea Lion
Image Credits: Unsplash

 

The first nonhuman mammal that has been shown to be able to keep a beat is a sea lion. Ronan, a female sea lion who scientists had trained to do it, demonstrated that she could apply the talent to a different song that had a beat that she was unfamiliar with.

11. Rodents Can’t Burp or Vomit

Squirrel
Image Credits: Unsplash

Rat poison works so well because squirrels and other rodents cannot burp or vomit, but other mammals has the ability to throw up anything poisonous they eat.

Read More: 17 of The Scariest Animals On Earth

12. Tardigrades Are One of the Most Durable Animals On the Planet

Tardigrade
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

Tardigrades are incredibly resilient tiny organisms found all over the planet. They can withstand temperatures as high as 300 degrees Fahrenheit (149 degrees Celsius), as low as -458 degrees Fahrenheit (-272 degrees Celsius), as strong a pressure as that of the ocean floor, as well as more than ten years without sustenance.

13. Wild Dolphins Have Their Own Names

Dolphins
Image Credits: Unsplash

Did you know this animal fact? Wild dolphins address one another by name. They may be identified from one another by their distinctive whistle, and they will react if their call is replayed.

14. Young Goats Can Learn Accents

Young goats
Image Credits: Unsplash

Young goats learn accents or dialects from one another. They join humans, whales, and bats as mammals that can modify their vocalizations to blend in with a new social group.

15. Seagulls Can Hunt Whales

Seagull
Image Credits: Unsplash

Seagulls hunt right whales in one area of the planet. As the calves rise to breathe, they dive-bomb them and take blubber nibbles off their backs. Because they must come up for breath more frequently than adults, calves have thinner skin than adults, which leaves them more exposed to the elements and opens them up to attack.

16. Azara’s Owl Monkeys Are Very Monogamous

Azara's Owl Monkeys
Image Credits: Flickr

Did you know this animal fact? Azara’s Owl monkeys are more monogamous than us. For a maximum of nine years, or until one of the parents passes away, they cohabitate as families with two parents and children. Fathers take a very active role in raising their children.

Read More: 29 Odd and Unusual Things People Discovered

17. Male Gentoo and Adelie Penguins Propose Using Pebbles

Gentoo Penguin
Image Credits: Unsplash

Giving a pebble to a female penguin is how male Gentoo and Adelie penguins “propose” to them. These are quite valuable since penguins utilize them to construct their nests, and it might be challenging to locate them along the desolate Antarctic coast. The pair connects and mates for life if the female takes the pebble.

18. Puffins Dress-up For Breeding Season

Puffin
Image Credits: Unsplash

Puffins have white cheeks and bellies and are black on top. They have vividly colored bills, orange legs, and extremely noticeable red and black eye markings during the breeding season.

19. Beavers Eat Only Plants

Beaver
Image Credits: Unsplash

Did you know this animal fact? Beavers consume only vegetation, both on land and in the water, such as tree bark. In order to survive the winter, they store food in the autumn.

20. Hedgehogs Are Lactose Intolerant

Hedgehog
Image Credits: Unsplash

Hedgehogs were thought to steal milk directly from cow udders, which could explain why milk was so frequently left out for them. However, as they are truly lactose intolerant, the best thing to feed your neighborhood hedgehog is wet cat food or hedgehog chow, which is available in most garden centers!

21. Orcas Have Their Own Languages

Orca
Image Credits: Unsplash

Orcas use a variety of sounds to communicate, including whistles, pulsing calls, squeals, squeaks and screams. Different orca families speak different “languages”.

22. Sloths Are Very Picky About Where To Poop

Sloth
Image Credits: Unsplash

Like all living creatures, sloths have to defecate occasionally, usually once a week. Although it may appear simpler to poop while hanging upside down, sloths are extremely picky about their personal hygiene. They are known to go slowly and laboriously from the top of a tree to its base in the wild in order to urinate or defecate on the forest floor.

Read More: 7 Year Old Named ‘Kid Of The Year’ After Rescuing More Than 1,300 Dogs

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