WRITTEN BY: Anna Holton-Dean
Birds of the air, fish of the sea, wild
animals of land and even the domestic type in your own home all share something in common— they’re a wonder of nature in one way or another. From picking locks like a master burglar to disappearing organs, they are born with abilities one can only dream of. Read on to learn more fascinating fun facts that will blow your mind, courtesy of Animal Planet, Insider.com and OneKindPlanet.com.
Winged Things
“Bird brain” should be a compliment. Cockatoos have been nicknamed “animal master-burglars” because they can pick almost any lock. Not only that, in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists established that pigeons can learn to recognize around 50 words—and crucially, they can distinguish words from nonwords.
The average man would need to eat around 285 pounds of meat per day if he had the metabolism of a hummingbird! Of course, everything is fast with this avian. The hummingbird also flaps its wings 40 to 90 times per second.
Honeybees can count, categorize similar objects and differentiate between shapes that are symmetrical and asymmetrical.
Chickens and ostriches are the closest modern relatives to the Tyrannosaurus rex. Although a link between dinosaurs and modern birds had long been suspected, in 2008, research was published in the journal Science that found molecular evidence, according to “Smithsonian Magazine.”
On Land
A panda weighs 3 to 5 ounces at birth and is roughly the size of a stick of butter.
The slowest mammal on earth is the tree sloth. It moves at 6 feet per minute.
A newborn kangaroo is about 1 inch long and weighs less than a gram.
The fastest land animal in the world, the cheetah can reach speeds of 70 miles per hour—accelerating
from 0 to 68 miles per hour in just three seconds! If they need to change direction quickly, they have that covered too. They are the only big cat that can spin in mid-air while sprinting. Cheetahs’ long muscular tails have a flat shape that is used for balance and steering. The tail works like a rudder on a boat.
Maybe Cats Are Superior After All
Cats have the skillset that allows them to learn how to use a toilet.
Some cats can survive falls from as high up as 65 feet or more.
In one litter of kittens, there could be multiple “father” cats.
Cats have over 100 sounds in their vocal repertoire, while dogs only have 10.
Cats use their whiskers to measure openings, indicate mood and for general navigation.
The world’s most fertile cat, whose name was Dusty, gave birth to 420 kittens in her lifetime
No Wings, No Legs, No Problem
Who needs legs or wings? Not fish! Some species of fish can fly (glide), others can skip along the surface, and others can even climb rocks.
A great white shark rolls its eyes into the back of its head when it attacks to protect its eyes from debris and the thrashing of its prey. Relatedly, it can go as long as three months without eating.
The flatfish spends so much time on its side, hiding from predators, that one eye will migrate to the side that faces up, making the fish blind on one side.
Moving body parts may be impressive, but how about disappearing? A spawning salmon’s stomach organs will completely disintegrate to make room for millions of sperm and eggs.
All clams are born as males but can later turn into females.
… OK, Dogs Are Equally Great
Dogs have two times the amount of muscles in their ears than humans. Hence, their sense of hearing can reach four times the distance of humans.
Some dogs can identify the smell of lung cancer from sniffing a person’s breath.
A typical dog has the same brain aptitude level as a toddler. Dogs can comprehend about 250 words and count up to five.
At age 1, dogs have the same level of physical development that humans have at age 15.
Greyhounds can run as fast as 45 miles per hour and are the fastest canines on the planet.
Canines are resilient. Out of the 12 that were on board, three dogs survived the Titanic: two small Pomeranians and a Pekinese. And remember the Michael Vick scandal? Afterward, one of Vick’s fighting dogs ended up being a therapy dog and brought joy to dying children.
