101 Greatest Animal Facts Part 1

Nature 9 Minutes

Fact Animal is one of my favorite sites for information about animals.  I found this article the other day and wanted to share.

From Fact Animal:

Here’s our big list of the 101 greatest animal facts. This includes some of the most asked, fun, surprising and crazy animal facts from across the animal kingdom. The loudest, deadliest, fastest, largest, most bizarre and random, are all here in our big animal fact list.

The loudest animal in the world is a mere 2cm long, prawn. The Pistol Shrimp is capable of snapping its claw shut so rapidly, that it creates a bubble which collapses to produce a sonic blast, louder than a Concorde’s sonic boom.

The shock wave can reach 230 decibels, also louder than the sound of a gunshot. The imploding bubble for split seconds also generates temperatures of 4,400C, nearly as hot as the sun, killing its prey.

Flamingos are not pink. They are born gray, their diet of brine shrimp and blue green algae contains a natural pink dye called canthaxanthin that makes their feathers pink.

Flamingos in zoos often lost their coloring, until zoo keepers supplemented their diet.

Otters “hold hands” while sleeping, so they don’t float away from each other.

And it’s super-cute.

Hummingbirds are the only known birds that can also fly backwards.

They often do this when retreating away from flowers.

Dolphins use toxic pufferfish to ‘get high’.

Dolphins deliberately handle pufferfish causing them to release toxins as a defense mechanism. These toxins can be deadly in high doses, but also have a narcotic effect – and are a powerful hallucinogenic, which dolphins appear to enjoy. A documentary witnessed them passing around pufferfish in a pod, before floating just underneath the water’s surface, apparently ‘mesmerized by their own reflections’ afterwards.

The Inland Taipan (also known as, the Western Taipan) is the most venomous snake in the world. A single bite contains enough venom to kill at least 100 fully grown men, and can kill within just 30 minutes, if left untreated.

They very rarely ever come in contact with humans, however. Every reliable identification of a snake bite victim from an Inland Taipan have been herpetologists, when handling or studying the snakes. They have all survived, due to successful treatment with antivenom.

The world’s deadliest animal isn’t a shark, bear or tiger, but something far smaller – the mosquito. According to the World Health Organization, 725,000 people are killed each year from mosquito-borne diseases, such as Malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever.

Mosquito outnumber every other animal in the world, apart from ants and termites. They can also be found in nearly every part of the world, which all add up in the risk they pose to humans.

There are more than 1.4 billion insects for EACH HUMAN on the planet, according to recent estimates.

Ants have colonized almost every landmass on Earth. Their population is estimated as 107–108 billion alone, in comparison to approx. 7 billion humans on the planet.

The shortest living animal in the world is the Mayfly. Its entire adult lifespan is just 24hrs.

The Mayfly reproduces and then dies, during that short 24hr period of life. Some species of Mayfly only live for 8-10 hours. Although they have the shortest adult lifespan, they actually exist as a nymph in water from 3-7 years, depending on species. 

The horned lizard is able to shoot blood from its own eyes, up to a distance of 3 feet away. The rather bizarre and disgusting act is a defensive mechanism to confuse predators.

Their blood contains a chemical that is noxious to predators, and this isn’t its only trick – short-horned lizards are also capable of inflating their bodies up to twice their size to scare anything away.

Roosters prevent themselves from going deaf due to their own loud crowing, by tilting their head backs when they crow, which covers their ear canal completely, serving as a built-in ear-plug.

A study showed that their crowing averages over 100 decibels, which is roughly the same as running a chainsaw.

Little is known about the elusive Giant squid, however the largest squid ever found measured over 50 feet and weighed nearly a ton.

To put that in perspective, that’s bigger than a bus.

The pangolin is able to roll up into an armor-plated ball, so lions can’t eat them.

If only this worked for poachers, who simply pick them up when they roll into a ball.

Koalas can sleep for up to 22 hours a day.

Koala need more sleep than most animals, because their diet of eucalyptus leaves contain toxins, are very low in nutrition, and high in fibrous matter – so they take a large amount of energy to digest!

Swifts spend most of their lives flying in the air, and can fly for almost an entire year, without ever landing.

A study showed that over a 10-month period, a swift stopped for just 2 hours.

Even after having its head cut off, a cockroach can still live for weeks.

Even stranger, a cockroach’s head can actually survive by itself for a few hours, too.

A group of parrots is known as a pandemonium.

And the collective noun for porcupines, is a prickle.

Cows poo up to 15 times a day, which can be as much as 115 pounds of manure per day, or approximately 21 tons per year.

The large quantities are often put to good use, though – manure, to fertilizer, to fuel, or biogas to create electricity and heat for developing parts of the world.

A common garden snail has 14,000 teeth.

Their microscopic teeth are called radula, and some species actually have over 20,000 teeth.

A Blue Whale’s tongue can weigh as much as a car, or a small adult elephant.

A Blue Whale’s tongue can weigh approx. 2.7 tons, or 6,000 – 8,000 pounds (2,720 – 3,630 kg).

The longest living, verified animal is a Madagascar radiated tortoise, which died at an age of 188 years in May 1965.

However, there might be even older. Adwaita, an Aldabra giant tortoise, died at an estimated age of 255 in March 2006 in Alipore Zoo, Kolkata, India. If verified, it will have been the oldest terrestrial animal in the world.

The fastest land animal on the planet is a cheetah. It can reach speeds of up to 75 mph (120 kph).

While the Peregrine Falcon is the fastest bird, with a diving speed of 242 mph (389 kph). The fastest animal in horizontal flight is the Brazilian free-tailed bat, which can reach speeds of 100mph. The sailfish and black marlin are joint fastest sea animals, and can swim up to 22 mph (36 kph).

Baby elephants suck their trunks for comfort.

Just like babies and young children suck their thumbs, awwww.

The Nile crocodile’s jaws can apply 5,000 pounds of pressure per square inch – the strongest bite of any animal in the world.

A human’s jaw produces 100 pounds of pressure per square inch in comparison. A Nile crocodile’s bite is 10 times more powerful than that of a great white shark.

Axolotl are able to regenerate lost limbs and body organs.

Mexican walking fish can regrow the same limb up to 5 times, and even regenerate parts of its brain.

The Giant Pacific Octopus has 3 hearts, 9 brains and blue blood.

They are also able to change their color and texture to camouflage themselves in a blink of an eye.

A flea can jump distances 200 times their body length.

They are able to jump 10 inches vertically and up to 18 inches horizontally, making them one of the planets best jumpers relative to its size. It’s equal to a human jumping as high as the Empire State Building in New York.

The male seahorse goes through pregnancy and gives birth to babies. They are the only animal on earth where the male carries the baby rather than the female.

The male seahorse has a pouch on its stomach in which to carry babies—as many as 2,000 at a time.

Pufferfish can contain a tetrodotoxin, a toxin that is up to 1,200 times more deadly than cyanide to humans. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote.

Amazingly despite this, some pufferfish meat is considered a delicacy in Japan. The meat called Fugu, is expensive and only prepared by licensed chefs with over 3 years of rigorous training who remove toxic parts of the meat for diners.

The loudest animal relative to size is the Water Boatman, which measures at just 12mm long, but can produce 99 dB of sound by rubbing its genitalia across its abdomen.

This is the equivalent noise level of operating a circular saw, or a drill.

The howler monkey is the loudest land animal. Its calls can be heard from 3 miles away.

At its peak, the howler monkey can produce sounds that reach 140 decibels. That’s as noisy as a jet engine, on takeoff!

There is an average of 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas.

There are over 45,000 known spider species, with the venom of a few only known to be dangerous to humans.

The aptly named colossal squid’s eyes are as large as a basketball.

This allows the colossal squid to detect the faint light of a predator from over 400 feet.

White-tailed jackrabbits are the greatest land jumpers, having been recorded leaping an astonishing 21ft vertically.

That’s higher than 3 average sized men all stood on top of each other. This large species of hare can also run up to 35mph when escaping predators.  

Grey-headed Albatross can circle the globe in only 46 days.

The incredible round-the-world journey covers 14,000 miles over the 46 day period at a steady 13mph. The grey-headed albatross perform this feat by making various pit-stops along the way.

Giraffes are the tallest land animal in the world, reaching heights of 19ft. The ostrich is the world’s tallest bird. It can grow up to 9 feet tall.

Over 7ft of a giraffe’s total size is its famously long neck, which helps it reach leaves in tall trees.

An ostrich legs are so powerful that their kicks can kill a lion.

Or a human! Each two-toed foot has a long, sharp claw – making them formidable weapons. Animals often end up running away from the ostrich.

The dementor wasp paralyses cockroaches with venom to its head, turning them into a zombie-like state. The toxins leave the cockroach unable to control its own movements, which incredibly makes it run into the wasp’s nest to meet its demise.

The venom is thought to cut brain activity that makes cockroaches sense fear and run away to safety. The dementor wasp will then lay eggs on the cockroach to act as an incubator for its young.

More than half of all pigs in the world are kept by farmers in China.

There are over 440 million pigs in China. United States in comparison has a mere 73 million pigs.

Polar bears have jet black skin under their white fur coats.

It helps them absorb heat to keep warm, while the white fur helps provides camouflage in the snowy and icy environment they live.

Giant anteaters consume up to 35,000 ants and termites in a single day.

They use their long sticky tongues to slurp up hundreds of ants per minute. Interestingly, anteaters purposefully never destroy an ant nest, preferring to leave some ants alive to rebuild, so it can return and feed again in the future.

The little known pangolin is the worlds most poached and trafficked animal.

This is due to the high demand of their scales and meat in Asian cultures. 70% of Chinese citizens believe pangolin products have medicinal value, when it’s been scientifically proven to be false.

Great white sharks can detect a drop of blood in 25 gallons of water and can even sense tiny amounts of blood from 3 miles away.

They use their acute sense of smell to detect blood using an organ called the ‘olfactory bulb’.

The Naked Mole-Rat can live in an almost zero oxygen atmosphere.

Incredibly, in a zero-oxygen environment, the Naked Mole-Rat can still survive for up to 20-minutes without suffering any harm at all.

The smell of a skunk is powerful enough for a human to smell it up to 3.5 miles away.

The foul-smelling spray from a skunk can also cause skin irritation and even temporary blindness.

The most venomous fish in the world is the 30cm Stonefish.

Stonefish have 13 sharp fin spines on their back, each with two venom glands. Their stings are extremely painful, can be lethal to humans, and mostly occur as a result of stepping on the creature.

Only 5% of cheetah cubs survive to adulthood.

A study in the 90’s in the Serengeti found that 95% of cheetah cubs died before reaching adulthood. Many deaths were due to Lions, but also other predators and disease.

A tiger’s rear legs are so powerful, that they have been found remaining to stand even after death.

Tigers have been witnessed to have been shot, bled out, and died – and remained standing throughout.

A Rhinoceros‘s horns are made of ‘keratin’, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails.

Some species of Rhinos have two horns, while others just have a single horn.

The Alpine Swift is able to stay airborne for over 6 months without touching down.

It holds the world record for the longest recorded uninterrupted flight by a bird, at over 200 days in the air as it hunted flying insects on its wintering range in the skies over West Africa. 

SOURCE: FACT ANIMAL

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Published by pat frederick

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176 thoughts on “101 Greatest Animal Facts Part 1”

    2. “Inspire Your Daughters: Trump’s Lawyer Delivers a Tour de Force on Freedom, Due Process in America!”
      JIMYCHANGA
      NOV 6, 2023

      “November 6th: Alina Habba calls out Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom behavior and New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud case against the former president outside the NYC courthouse. BOOM! THIS IS INSPIRATIONAL AND SPOT ON!! LISTEN & SHARE”

      Liked by 1 person

              2. no. the router issue is his work related stuff…and he hasn’t even gotten thru the instructions yet…LOL
                we were on the phone with our son…Clark Griswold…LOL
                he couldn’t wait to share he’s starting to put up their Christmas lights tomorrow…LOL

                Liked by 1 person

              4. it’s confusing to me too!
                one thing is from the satellite internet company. another we bought at best buy. not only the internet is plugged in. we needed some “extender” from the phone company to try to boost reception for our phones….
                hubby’s work vpn would not work for some reason starting last Friday, so that’s what started the whole thing.

                Liked by 1 person

              5. Ohhh…yeah, the phone situation would certainly complicate things. I’m assuming his company didn’t change something on their end….

                Liked by 1 person

              6. no…that’s the IT guy–he does work for the company. he thought it might have been hubby’s computer, so yesterday afternoon he took it to him. (the guy works from home and his 2 sons were home sick–nice, nice, guy)
                anyway, the vpn worked from there no problem. so they started assessing the other components

                Liked by 1 person

  3. 11/06/23 • COVID › NEWS
    “Insurance Industry Execs ‘Alarmed’ by Surge in Deaths Among Young People — But Stop Short of Blaming COVID Shots—According to InsuranceNewsNet, insurers are especially concerned by data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that show “mortality rates alarmingly rising for different categories,” including younger adult mortality rates that are up more than 20% above historic norms in 2023.”
    By Mike Capuzzo

    EXCERPT: “Executives at the largest insurance companies in the United States are alarmed that teenagers, young and white-collar Americans in the prime of life are inexplicably dying at a record pace, causing a “monumental outflow” of death claims and drag on profits that is shaking the industry and causing some to take a fresh look at the problem.

    According to an Oct. 26 report in InsuranceNewsNet, U.S. insurance companies expected higher-than-normal payouts from excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Insurers saw death benefits rise 15.4% in 2020, the biggest one-year increase since the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, followed by a record $100.28 billion — nearly double the historic norm — in total death benefits paid out by the industry in 2021.

    “The numbers were naturally forecasted to climb during the pandemic, but some industry and health authorities are concerned the rates haven’t greatly diminished as COVID infection rates have declined,” InsuranceNewsNet reported. According to InsuranceNewsNet, insurers are especially concerned by data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that show “mortality rates alarmingly rising for different categories,” including younger adult mortality rates that are up more than 20% above historic norms in 2023.

    The CDC numbers reported in August show the death rate for Americans ages 15-45 rose 20-24% above normal in 2020, and soared in 2021, to a nearly 30% death increase for 15-year-olds and a more than 45% increase for 45-year-olds.

    Surge in excess deaths ‘caught carriers off guard’ — Most troubling to insurers, CDC data reported in August showed that Americans in the period January-May 2023 were still dying at abnormally high rates with the pandemic long over. Mortality rates were 25% higher than normal among 15- to 19-year-olds and 20% higher among 45-year-olds considered in the prime of life. Even twenty-somethings were dying at a rate nearly 15% above normal and thirty-somethings at a pace 20% higher than usual, the CDC data show.

    Samantha Chow, global leader for Life, Annuity and Benefits Sector at Capgemini, a large, multinational Paris-based consulting company, told InsuranceNewsNet, “The surge in excess deaths caught carriers off guard” and the issue demands urgent attention by the industry….”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/surge-young-people-deaths-insurance-industry/

    Liked by 1 person

  5. NF: Gee! Ya’ think???

    11/06/23 • BIG PHARMA › VIEWS
    “2023 Was a Record-Breaking Year for State Vaccine Laws Worthy of Support: The National Vaccine Information Center found more state vaccine-related bills worth supporting in 2023 than in any other year, according to the organization’s newly released 2023 annual report.”
    By Dr. Joseph Mercola
    By The NVIC Advocacy Team

    EXCERPT: “In 2023, more vaccine-related state legislation that the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) supported has passed into law than in any other year. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a historic opportunity to inspire and encourage active citizen involvement in order to educate state legislators about the urgent need to protect the human and legal right to exercise voluntary, informed consent to vaccination.

    The impact of change from our 14 years of grassroots organizing and focused public education efforts is clear. This year’s NVIC’s 2023 Annual Report on U.S. State Vaccine Legislation provides evidence the tide has turned to support our 41-year mission to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and to secure vaccine-informed consent protections in U.S. public health policies and laws.

    The non-profit educational charity National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) reports that during the 2023 legislative session up until Oct. 17, NVIC analyzed, tracked and issued positions on 709 vaccine-related bills in all 50 states and the District of Columbia through the NVIC Advocacy Portal (NVICAP). This was the first year in the history of NVIC’s state-based legislative advocacy program since its establishment in 2010 that vaccine bills related to NVIC’s mission were filed in every state and the District of Columbia in a single legislative session.

    The 709 bills tracked by NVIC on the Portal in 2023 are the second largest amount of bills publicly tracked over the last 14 sessions and second only to 2022’s 875 bills.

    Since its establishment in 1982, NVIC has provided well-referenced and accurate information to the public about vaccine science, policy and law, and defended the ethical principle of informed consent to medical risk-taking. NVIC does not make vaccine use recommendations.

    NVIC is opposed to mandatory vaccination and has worked with families and state legislators to prohibit new vaccine mandates and retain or secure flexible medical, religious and conscientious belief exemptions in existing U.S. public health policies and laws….”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/2023-state-vaccine-laws-cola/

    Liked by 1 person

  6. 11/06/23 • COVID › VIEWS
    “Study Data Showed Vaccinated Kids Shed COVID Up to 3 Times Longer Than Unvaxed — But Authors Concluded They Were ‘Equally Contagious’—The authors of a study published Oct. 23 in JAMA Pediatrics concluded that vaccinated and unvaccinated children who got COVID-19 were equally contagious. That’s how the media reported on the study, but the data showed that vaccinated kids shed the virus for up to 3 times longer than unvaccinated children.”
    By Angelo DePalma, Ph.D.

    EXCERPT: “Children who received the COVID-19 vaccine and those who didn’t both shed the virus for a median time of three days, according to a research letter published Oct. 23 in JAMA Pediatrics.

    The authors’ findings led them to suggest that school policies requiring students with COVID-19 to stay at home for five days are appropriate and that schools need not consider vaccination or booster status in back-to-school policies. However, although this advice may be sound, it was based on an unsound statistical trick that hid the significant disparities in viral shedding between vaxed and unvaxed kids.

    While all unvaccinated children in the study were clear of the virus by day six, 10 of 52 vaccinated children (19%) took double the time to be virus-free. Three subjects (about 6%) were still infectious on day 10 — three times longer than the reported median. How long children remained contagious after a COVID-19 diagnosis remains a discussion topic, despite global data showing children overwhelmingly survive infection.

    A recent study found kids rarely transmit the virus to adults, which is unsurprising given a 2021 study showing that nose/throat swabs from infected children were only half as likely — compared with swabs from adults — to contain virus capable of causing illness….”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/vaccinated-kids-covid-viral-shedding/

    Liked by 1 person


  8. (An orca slightly breaches the water between two boats. Joel Rogers/Getty images)

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “A pod of orcas attacked a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, a tour company said. The incident involving the “Grazie Mamma II” occurred on October 31. The company said the orcas attacked the yacht for 45 minutes. Orcas have gone and done it again, demonstrating that they still despise boats for reasons scientists can’t figure out. For months now, orcas, also known as killer whales, have been assaulting boats — especially, it seems, yachts — off the coasts of Spain and Morocco, sending several to the bottom of the sea.

    A Polish touring company, Morskie Mile, said that’s exactly what happened to one of its yachts on October 31. In a Facebook post, a spokesperson for the company said that its vessel, the “Grazie Mamma II,” was in the Strait of Gibraltar when a pod of orcas targeted it. The animals, which can grow to be up to 30 feet long, attacked the boat’s steering fin “for 45 minutes,” the post said, “causing major damage.” “The crew is safe,” the post added, but the boat itself sank at the entrance to Tanger-Med, a Moroccan port.

    Scientists have offered several possible explanations for the behavior, including that orcas may be reacting to past trauma — or just having a bit of fun, such as when a pod of orcas in the Pacific Northwest spent several weeks swimming with dead salmon balanced on their heads. Whatever the cause, it’s been happening for years now. Researchers have documented hundreds of attacks since 2020 — but most are “bumps,” not all-out assaults.

    Morskie Mile did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider. But in its post, the company said it’s thankful for all the memories — at least prior to encountering the orcas. “We sailed on this yacht around the most beautiful places in Europe and the Atlantic archipelagos,” the company said. “Love of the sea always wins.”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Judicial Protest
    @JudicialProtest
    BOMBSHELL video evidence of bias and misconduct of Justice Engoron’s Law Clerk, Allison Greenfield, just uncovered. MISTRIAL INCOMING!!!

    While attending an October 2022 Democrat Fundraiser, Greenfield can be heard saying Biden is the “best President in the history of the United States.”

    Meanwhile, Greenfield was front row, yelling “Yeah!”, shaking her head in agreement and taking video of Democrat politicians as they bash Trump!

    @AlinaHabba
    should DEMAND that Greenfield produce the videos she took!

    This was while the #TrumpCivilFraud case was pending.

    Even worse, video shows Greenfield campaigning and gathering signatures (“petitioning”) with the Grand Street Democrats on behalf of Letitia James’ 2022 primary campaign for New York State Attorney General!!

    She’s sitting at the entrance to the event with a Diet Coke (it’s not working) gathering signatures on a green sheet of paper to get Letitia James on the primary ballot!

    Again, this was while the #TrumpCivilFraud case was pending.

    Why aren’t @AlinaHabba
    and Chris Kise shoving this in Hobo Judge Engoron’s face? Are they scared of Hobo Judge Engoron? Allison Greenfield has touched every part of the #TrumpCivilFraudTrial. No clearer case of judicial bias has ever existed.

    Hobo Judge Engoron must be removed from the bench! Allison Greenfield should be hauled before the Attorney Grievance Committee and disbarred!

    Judicial Protest once again breaks the story that the Lame Stream Media refuses to cover.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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