60 Surprising Animal Facts

A selection of the checked facts behind the Animal Facts mode, from the Wild Facts channel. Think you know them? Play the quiz.

What do frogs pull down to help push food down their throat?Their eyeballs — Retracting the eyes presses food toward the throat.
Weird

Which sea turtle is the deepest diver, reaching over 1,000 m?Leatherback — A leatherback has been recorded at around 1,280 m.
Ocean

Flip a hognose snake that is playing dead onto its belly. What does it do?Rolls onto its back again — The 'dead' snake rolls back over, the only sign that it is really still alive.
Reptiles

Which striped-legged forest animal is the giraffe's only living relative?Okapi — The okapi of the Congo has zebra-like leg stripes but is a giraffid.
Mammals

Where are a kiwi's nostrils?At the tip of its beak — Kiwis sniff out worms in the soil, unique among birds.
Birds

What shape are a cuttlefish's pupils?W-shaped — The W shape may help them see widely and control light.
Ocean

A group of owls is called a what?Parliament — The collective noun nods to the owl's wise reputation.
Birds

What shape are the pupils of goats and sheep?Horizontal rectangles — They give a wide view to spot predators.
Weird

What does the tuatara have on top of its head?A light-sensing 'third eye' — The parietal eye is not used for seeing but may sense day and season.
Reptiles

Which land animal has the largest eyes, about 5 cm across?Ostrich — An ostrich's eye is about 5 cm across, bigger than its brain.
Birds

How do some Namib Desert beetles get a drink?Catch fog on their backs — They lean into the morning fog so droplets collect and roll to their mouths.
Insects

A chameleon's tongue can reach about how many times its body length?Up to about 2.5 times — Studies found small chameleons can shoot the tongue up to about 2.5 times body length in a fraction of a second.
Reptiles

Which mammal is the only one wholly covered in scales?Pangolin — Pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails.
Mammals

Which flightless parrot is the heaviest parrot in the world?Kakapo — It weighs up to about 4 kg and is active at night.
Birds

A tarsier's eyes are so big that each one is larger than its what?Brain — Each eye is about 16 mm across, bigger than the tarsier's brain.
Mammals

The strongest insect, a dung beetle, can pull about how many times its weight?Over 1,100 times — The strongest Onthophagus taurus beetle tested pulled 1,141 times its own body weight.
Records

How fast can a peregrine falcon dive?Over 300 km/h — Guinness lists about 320 km/h in a hunting dive; one trained falcon was clocked near 390 km/h.
Birds

A turtle's shell is fused to its what?Spine and ribs — A turtle cannot leave its shell; it is part of the skeleton.
Reptiles

In emperor penguins, who incubates the egg through the Antarctic winter?The male — He balances it on his feet for about two months without eating.
Birds

Which animal makes the loudest sound, clicks up to about 236 dB?Sperm whale — Sperm whales use these powerful clicks to echolocate prey in the deep.
Records

What does the sea slug Elysia chlorotica steal from the algae it eats?Chloroplasts — It keeps the algae's chloroplasts and can live for months on photosynthesis, like a plant.
Weird

Owls can turn their heads by up to about how many degrees?About 270 degrees — Owls have 14 neck vertebrae (humans have 7) plus blood-vessel adaptations; their eyes are fixed, so they turn the head instead.
Birds

How do kangaroo rats get water in the desert?From the seeds they eat — They can live without ever drinking, using water made from digesting seeds.
Weird

Some sharks shed about how many teeth in a lifetime?Tens of thousands — Some sharks shed around 35,000 teeth, constantly replacing them from rows behind.
Ocean

Why do snakes flick their tongues?To pick up scent — The tongue carries chemicals to an organ in the roof of the mouth.
Reptiles

What gift do some male penguins give to court a mate?A pebble — Adelie and gentoo males present stones used to build the nest.
Birds

How does an alligator snapping turtle lure fish into its mouth?A worm-like tongue lure — It lies still, mouth open, wiggling a red worm-shaped bit on its tongue.
Reptiles

A Komodo dragon can eat up to about how much of its weight in one meal?About 80% — Its stomach expands easily and it gulps large chunks of meat.
Reptiles

How do Cyprian honeybees kill a hornet that attacks their hive?Pile on and suffocate it — A ball of bees piles on, blocking the hornet's breathing holes and heating it to about 46 C; suffocation does most of the work.
Insects

In spotted hyena clans, who is in charge?The females — Females are larger and dominant; even low-ranking females outrank immigrant males.
Mammals

Jonathan of St Helena, hatched around 1832, is what kind of animal?A giant tortoise — Guinness lists Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, as the oldest known chelonian ever.
Reptiles

About how many hours a day does a lion rest?16 to 20 hours — Lions save energy for short bursts of hunting, mostly at dusk and night.
Mammals

A tongue-eating louse destroys a fish's tongue, then does what?Acts as its new tongue — It is the first known parasite to functionally replace a host's organ.
Weird

What does a sea star pump through its body to work its tube feet?Seawater — Its water vascular system pumps seawater to operate hundreds of tube feet.
Ocean

Which bird dives deepest, over 500 m?Emperor penguin — An emperor penguin dive of 564 m is the deepest accurately measured for any bird.
Records

Which mammal holds the deep-dive record, nearly 3,000 m?Cuvier's beaked whale — One tagged individual reached about 2,992 m.
Ocean

Which is the largest fish in the world?Whale shark — Whale sharks are commonly about 12 m long; the biggest recorded was 18.8 m.
Records

A narwhal's 'tusk' is actually what?An enlarged tooth — It is a spiralled tooth that can grow over 2 m long.
Ocean

Which way does a wombat's pouch open?Backwards, to her rear — A rear-facing pouch keeps dirt out when the mother digs.
Mammals

Which is the heaviest known invertebrate?Colossal squid — One specimen caught in 2007 weighed about 495 kg.
Records

When attacked, some sea cucumbers do what?Expel their insides — They eject internal organs to distract predators, then regrow them.
Weird

A honeybee's wings beat about how many times per second?About 230 — That rapid beat produces the characteristic buzz.
Insects

Which bird's chicks have claws on their wings for climbing?Hoatzin — Young hoatzins use wing claws to scramble through branches and lose them as adults.
Birds

What lets a box turtle shut its shell almost completely?A hinge in its lower shell — Its hinged plastron closes front and back to seal in head and legs.
Reptiles

Which insect pollinates figs, completing its life cycle inside them?Fig wasp — Many fig species rely on their own specific wasp species.
Insects

A star-nosed mole can find and eat a morsel in as little as about how long?About 0.12 seconds — Guinness rates it the fastest-eating mammal: a 2005 study timed food handling as fast as 120 milliseconds.
Mammals

Which bird famously makes hooked tools from twigs and leaves?New Caledonian crow — Wild individuals craft hooked tools to extract insects from wood.
Birds

The world's smallest primate, about 30 g, is a type of what?Mouse lemur — Madame Berthe's mouse lemur of Madagascar averages about 30 g.
Records

Which bird has the longest wingspan, up to about 3.5 m?Wandering albatross — The record wingspan, 3.63 m, belonged to a wandering albatross; it can glide for hours over the ocean.
Birds

Why is the hoatzin nicknamed the 'stinkbird'?Leaves ferment in its gut — Like a cow, it ferments leaves in its foregut, giving it a manure-like smell.
Weird

Monarch caterpillars become toxic to predators by eating what?Milkweed — Toxins from milkweed stay in the butterfly into adulthood.
Insects

Which honeybees cannot sting at all?Drones (males) — A stinger is a modified egg-laying tube, which males do not have.
Insects

What helps clownfish live among stinging anemone tentacles?A coat of mucus — A special mucus layer keeps the anemone from stinging them.
Ocean

What do Osedax 'zombie worms' feed on?Bones of dead whales — With no mouth or stomach, they root into whale bones and digest fats with help from bacteria.
Weird

Which is the heaviest snake?Green anaconda — The heaviest reliably weighed specimen was about 97.5 kg; claims of far heavier ones are unverified.
Records

Which is the world's northernmost penguin, living at the equator?Galapagos penguin — It lives only in the Galapagos, sometimes ranging north of the equator.
Birds

Threatened in their burrow, young burrowing owls imitate what?A rattlesnake — Their hissing call mimics a rattlesnake's rattle and scares predators off.
Birds

A group of flamingos is called a what?Flamboyance — A fitting name for such colourful birds.
Weird

Which is the world's heaviest spider?Goliath birdeater — It can weigh up to about 175 g, with a leg span up to about 30 cm.
Records

Which land snake has the most toxic venom, by mouse tests?Inland taipan — Its venom has the lowest lethal dose in mouse tests of any land snake.
Reptiles

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