Funny animal facts

Octopus

Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.

Wombat

Wombats produce cube-shaped droppings, which they stack to mark their territory.

Shrimp

A shrimp's heart sits in its head.

Butterfly

Butterflies taste with their feet, using sensors that tell them if a leaf is right for laying eggs.

Koala

Koalas have fingerprints so similar to human ones that they are hard to tell apart under a microscope.

Starfish

Starfish have no brain and no blood. Sea water pumped through their bodies does the job instead.

Axolotl

Axolotls can regrow lost legs, parts of their heart and even parts of their brain.

Tardigrade

Tardigrades, tiny water animals under a millimetre long, have survived being exposed to the vacuum of space.

Turtle

Some freshwater turtles can take in oxygen through their rear end while they hibernate underwater.

Shark

Sharks are older than trees. They appear in the fossil record tens of millions of years before the first forests.

Giraffe

A giraffe has seven neck bones, the same number as a human. Each one is just much longer.

Polar bear

Polar bears have black skin. Their fur is not really white either: each hair is clear and hollow.

Ostrich

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Goat

Goats have rectangular pupils, which give them a wide view of the land around them for spotting predators.

Mantis shrimp

A mantis shrimp punches so fast that the water in front of its club forms bubbles, which collapse with a snap of heat and light.

Rat

Rats make tiny laughing sounds when they are tickled. The chirps are too high-pitched for people to hear.

Crow

Crows can recognise individual human faces and remember people who treated them badly, sometimes for years.

Cat

Cats cannot taste sweetness. They are missing the taste receptor for it, so cake does nothing for them.

Kangaroo

Kangaroos find it almost impossible to walk backwards, thanks to their big tail and powerful back legs.

Elephant

Elephants are one of the few mammals that cannot jump. At least one foot is always on the ground.

Squirrel

Squirrels bury far more nuts than they find again, and the forgotten ones grow into new trees.

Flamingo

A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.

Crow

A group of crows is called a murder, and a group of owls is a parliament.

Panda

Giant pandas spend up to about 14 hours a day eating bamboo, because it gives them so little energy.

Cheetah

Cheetahs cannot roar. They purr, chirp and yelp instead, more like a big house cat.

Chameleon

Chameleons mostly change colour to signal their mood and control their temperature, not to hide.

Hummingbird

Hummingbirds can fly backwards, and they beat their wings so fast they hum.

Honeybee

Honeybees tell each other where to find flowers by dancing: the angle and length of the waggle give directions.

Dog

Each dog's nose print is unique, a bit like a human fingerprint.

Penguin

Penguins cannot fly in the air, but some species 'fly' underwater at well over 10 kilometres an hour.

Sea otter

Sea otters sometimes hold paws while they sleep so they do not drift apart.

Gentoo penguin

Gentoo penguins collect pebbles to build their nests and offer the best ones to a mate.

Seahorse

In seahorses, it is the male who carries the eggs in a pouch and gives birth.

Dolphin

Dolphins call each other by signature whistles that work much like names.

Elephant

Elephants comfort each other: when one is stressed, others touch it with their trunks and make soft calls.

Sea turtle

Sea turtles return to the same stretch of beach where they hatched to lay their own eggs, years later.

Cat

Adult cats rarely meow at each other. They mostly save meowing for talking to people.

Zebra

No two zebras have the same stripes. Foals learn to recognise their mother's pattern.

Wolf

Wolf pups play bow to start a game, the same way pet dogs do.

Bat

Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly, and many mother bats can find their own pup in a cave of millions by its call.