Facts About Xenarthrans - strangefacts

• Armadillos, sloths, and anteaters (Xenarthra) are notable for the unique joints in their backbone that provide them with the strength and support they need to dig and burrow

• Armadillos, sloths, and anteaters have few or no teeth and a small brain

• Xenarthra are an ancient group of placental mammals that once roamed across Gondwanaland before the continents of the southern hemisphere separated into their present-day configuration

• When Gondwanaland divided, it split up to form South America, Africa, India, Arabia, New Zealand, and Australia, Xenarthra were initially isolated on the continent of South America but have since spread northward into areas of Central America and southern parts of North America

• Though xenarthran populations were absent from Africa, Asia, and Australia, these regions contain unrelated species that evolved to resemble xenarthrans

• Similar environmental conditions in these distant parts of the world resulted in species that, although unrelated, adapted in a similar manner and as a result resemble each other in some ways. This evolutionary dynamic is known as convergent evolution

• Examples of species that display convergent evolution with the xenarthrans include the aardvark (Africa), the pangolin (Africa and SE Asia), and the spiny anteater (Australia)

• These animals all have genetically different ancestors than the xenarthrans and consequently belong to different orders than the xenartrhans, yet they have evolved similar characteristics

• Xenarthrans were classified in the past together with the pangolin , also scaly anteater or Tenggiling, is a mammal of the order Pholidota

• There is only one extant family and one genus of pangolins, comprising eight species

Facts About Bats - strangefacts

• More species of bats live in Texas than in any other part of the United States

• Tens of thousands of bats live in the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico

• The largest known colony of bats lives in Bracken Cave in Texas. Biologists estimate more than 20 million Mexican Free-Tail bats call this cave home

• In China, bats are considered good fortune

• Bats make up almost a fourth of all mammal species. Only the order of rodents has more

• Bats are the only mammals that can truly fly. Other mammals may glide and give the appearance of flight, such as squirrels and lemurs, but only bats possess powered flight and can hover, flap and soar

• The term "blind as a bat," is incorrect. Bats have perfectly acceptable eyesight, but the majority use echolocation while in flight, and hunting

• Male bats have the highest rate of homosexuality of any mammal

• Vampire bats use rivers to navigate

• Bat wings are made of two thin layers of skin stretched over the bat's arm and fingers. Bats have a thumb and four fingers, just like people

Facts About Alligators - strangefacts

• Lorne Green had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while host of Lorne Green's Wild Kingdom

• There are only two countries on earth that have alligators: the United States and China

• Although alligators have heavy bodies and slow metabolisms, they are capable of short bursts of speed that can exceed 30 miles per hour, though this could more properly be classified as a short fast lunge rather than a dash

• Alligators are opportunistic feeders, eating almost anything they can catch

• While alligators are often confused with crocodiles, they belong to two quite separate taxonomic families, and are as distinct from one another as humans are from gorillas

• One generally reliable rule to distinguish between alligators and crocodiles is that alligators have U-shaped heads, while crocodiles are V-shaped

• The East Alligator River in Australia's Northern Territory contains crocodiles, not alligators

• In Arkansas, alligators may not be kept in bathtubs

• Alligators in the wild are believed to live 35 - 50 years. In captivity their lifespan may be significantly longer, perhaps 60-80 years. Currently, there are no scientific methods of analyzing an alligators age while it is alive

• The longest recorded length for an alligator is 19' 2'. This animal was trapped in the early 1900's in the State of Louisiana. Most wild alligators do not get above 13 feet in length, and may weigh 600 pounds or more
  

Facts About Crocodiles - strangefacts

• One generally reliable rule to distinguish between alligators and crocodiles is that alligators have U-shaped heads, while crocodiles are V-shaped

• Steve Irwin's body was fed to crocodiles at his request

• The first-known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 BC

• To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly

• Research has shown that crocodiles really do shed tears during a meal

• Crocodile and kangaroo tail, as well as the webbed toes of a hippopotamus are all on the menu at the Beijing zoo's restaurant

• While alligators are often confused with crocodiles, they belong to two quite separate taxonomic families, and are as distinct from one another as humans are from gorillas

• The East Alligator River in Australia's Northern Territory contains crocodiles, not alligators

• An adult crocodile can go two years without eating

• The crocodiles have a four-chambered heart like in birds (their closest relatives) and mammals, for an active life. Still, when diving, the heart behaves like a three-chambered reptilian heart, enabling them to stay more underwater

Facts About Komodo Dragon - strangefacts

• Unlike the other different types of lizards, Komodo dragons maintain a single mate throughout their lifetime

• Komodo can run at about 11 miles an hour

• It is the only lizard that hunts and kills prey larger than its body and bigger than what it can swallow whole

• To avoid being eaten by larger Komodo dragons, youngsters often roll in their own feces so that they give out a foul smell that the adult Komodos avoid

• Komodo dragons can live to be 50 years old

• The Komodo dragon is the world's heaviest lizard, weighing 150 pounds or more

• Although, babies can be born only through mating of a male and a female, there are instances when babies were born from a single Komodo without mating between individuals of different gender

• Though named as dragons, Komodo dragons are lizards. They are the heaviest lizards on Earth that can weigh upto 150 pounds and can grow as long as 3 meters

• These are natives of the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. Komodo dragon habitat is characteristically hot and dry. The environment in which they thrive is acknowledged to be one of the toughest in the world

• Komodo dragons have a large, flat head, a rounded snout and a long, muscular tail. They move on four strong but bowed legs
  

Dolphins Intelligence facts - strangefacts

• Dolphins locate objects by using sound. They bounce high pitched sounds off of objects to sense where they are. This is called "echolocation" and it is the way that bats 'see' as well

• Dolphins have sophisticated hearing and navigate and hunt by using sound

• Like whales a Dolphin has a blow hole at the top of its head and must come up to breathe. So a Dolphin normally stays about 10-15 feet from the surface so it can come up to breathe often. However, a Dolphin can dive to over 500 feet if they want to

• Dolphins have a complicated system of communication using clicks and sound. They coordinate their hunting and social group using sound

• A dolphin sleeps with half of its brain shut down and one eye closed

• They have been playing and communicating with people from ancient times and still do

• Dolphins use sonar, because their eyes are on the sides of their bodies. They can't see ahead

Facts About Dogs - strangefacts

• About 30% of Americans admit to talking to their dogs or leaving messages on their answering machines for their dogs while they are away

• Babies that are exposed to cats and dogs in their first year of life have a lower chance of developing allergies when they grow older

• During World War II, Russians used dogs strapped with explosives to blow up German tanks. They trained the dogs to associate the tanks with food and ended up destroying about 25 German tanks using this method

• Reports from owners of cats and dogs indicate that 21% of dogs and 7% of cats snore

• In total there is said to be around 400 million dogs in the world

• The domestic dog has been one of the most popular working and companion animals throughout human history

• Dogs perform many useful tasks for humans including hunting, farm work and security as well as assisting those with disabilities such as the blind

• Although experts often disagree, there is scientific evidence which shows that the domestication of dogs could have occurred more than 15,000 years ago

• There are hundreds of different breeds of dogs

• Among dogs officially registered with kennel clubs in the U.S., Labrador Retrievers are the most popular breed followed by Rottweilers and German Shepherds

Facts About Wolves - strangefacts

• The average litter of Mexican wolves is between four and seven pups

• Due to hunting, Tasmanian devils neared extinction at the beginning of the 20th century. Tasmanian wolves (also called tigers) became extinct in 1936. Today Tasmanian devils are endangered by a cancer called Devil Facial Tumor Disease

• All dogs, from the German Shepherd to the tiny Poodle, are direct descendants of wolves. They can all breed together and produce fertile offspring

• Coyotes can breed with domestic dogs and wolves and the Ethiopian wolf lives above 10,000 feet elevation

• Donkeys have a natural and aggressive dislike of coyotes, wolves and other canines (including domestic dogs)

• Biologists have found that wolves will respond to humans imitating their howls. The International Wolf Center in Minnesota even sponsors “howl nights” on which people can howl in the wilderness and hope for an answering howlWolves may use the same dens to raise their cubs year after year and wolves, bears, apes use urinate to claim territory

• Wolves do not make good guard dogs because they are naturally afraid of the unfamiliar and will hide from visitors rather than bark at them

• Wolves run on their toes, which helps them to stop and turn quickly and to prevent their paw pads from wearing down

• Wolves have about 200 million scent cells. Humans have only about 5 million. Wolves can smell other animals more than one mile (1.6 kilometers) away

Facts About Sharks - strangefacts

• The number of Americans that are killed by sharks averages about one per year

• More people die from eating sharks then from being eaten by them

• In July 1978 Walter Poenisch swam from Cuba - an island in the Caribbean Sea to Florida in the United States. The waters are so dangerous he swam inside a shark cage and took just over 34 hours to complete the 207km (129mile) journey

• Bruce was the nickname of the mechanical shark used in the "Jaws" movies

• As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year for their meat and fins, which are used for shark fin soup

• The megalodon shark became extinct about 1.6 million years ago and was double the size and weight of today's great white shark

• A mother shark can give birth to as many as 70 baby per litter

• The first sharks lived more than 400 million years ago—200 million years before the first dinosaurs. They have changed very little over the eons

• Sharks belong to a group of fish known as the elasmobranchs, or cartilaginous fishes. Rays and skates, which may have evolved from sharks, also belong to this group

• Because sharks very rarely get cancer, scientists study their cartilage in the hopes of finding a cure for the disease

• Hammerhead sharks’ heads are soft at birth so they won’t jam the mothers' birth canals
  

Facts About Cats - strangefacts

• Napoleon was terrified of cats

• One-third of all asthma cases in the United States is related to an allergy to cats

• King Henry III of France, Louis XVI of France and Napoleon all suffered from ailurophobia--fear of cats

• Babies that are exposed to cats and dogs in their first year of life have a lower chance of developing allergies when they grow older

• In 1888, an Egyptian peasant discovered an estimated three hundred thousand mummified cats in Beni Hassan, Egypt

• In Ancient Egypt, cats were often buried with their masters, or in a special cemetery for cats

• Reports from owners of cats and dogs indicate that 21% of dogs and 7% of cats snore

• Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats

• Cats and people both have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion

• There are 75 million cats in the U.S., with 35.5% of the nation's households having at least one cat

• There are more than 500 million domestic cats in the world, with 33 different breeds

• The domestic cat is the only cat species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. All wild cats hold their tails horizontally or tucked between their legs while walking

• Cats have 290 bones in their bodies, and 517 muscles and cats knead with their paws when they're happy

• The most popular names for female cats in the U.S. are Missy, Misty, Muffin, Patches, Fluffy, Tabitha, Tigger, Pumpkin and Samantha

• The richest cat in the Guinness Book of World Records is a pair of cats who inherited $415,000 in the early '60s. The richest single cat is a white alley cat who inherited $250,000

Facts About Blue Whale - strangefacts

• The blue whale's heart only beats nine times a minute

• A baby blue whale drinks approximately 130 gallons of milk each day

• The blue whale can whistle up to 188 decibels; they are the loudest animals on Earth 

• A blue whale's tongue weighs more than a whole elephant, and is large enough for fifty people to stand on it

• The blue whale, the largest animal on our planet ever (exceeding the size of the greatest dinosaurs) still lives in the ocean; it's heart is the size of a Volkswagen  

• The Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales (called Mysticeti).  
• At over 33 metres (108 ft) in length and 180 metric tons (200 short tons) or more in weight, it is the largest animal ever known to have existed.
•  For over 40 years, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966.
• A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, located in at least five groups.

Indus Blind Dolphins - strangefacts

• Blind Dolphins are found only in the Indus region and the Ganges, in south Asia. Unlike other dolphins, blind dolphins are found in rivers and not the sea.

• These river dolphins are the only species in the world to have eyes without lenses! Instead, they have sound imaging skills called echolocation, which is a very sophisticated sonar system that helps them swim through the muddy rivers.

• They swim on one side underwater, and keep close to the bottom of the riverbed, which helps them navigate and find food.

• There are fewer than 4,000 to 6,000 blind river dolphins left and the number is fast decreasing.

• The Indus Dolphins have a long beak, a small low hump, and wide flippers. An adult can weigh 150-200 pounds (70- 90 kilograms).

• The Indus and the Ganges dolphins can also survive in waters only three feet deep! Although they are slow swimmers, they can move in rapid spurts when they need to.

• They breathe through their blowholes with a loud sound that sounds like a sneeze, and can be heard from quite far away.

• The blind dolphins are an endangered species. That means, they will all die out unless we protect them. The dolphins are threatened by chemical and other pollution, dam building, accidental entanglement in fishing nets, and by humans hunting them for their meat as well as their oil, which people think has medicinal value.

Facts About Dolphins - strangefacts

• Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

• Dolphins are very intelligent and learn quickly. They pick up tricks faster than dogs. Dolphins rank # 2 in animal intelligence behind chimpanzees.

• Dolphin calves are born tail first and must swim to the surface of the water for air. The mother dolphin will help push her baby to the surface to get that first breath.

• The spinner dolphin spins on its tail in the air before splashing back into the water.

• The Dolphin family has 36 species. The largest is the orca, or killer whale at 23 feet long and 4.5 tons. The smallest is the Heaviside’s dolphin, only 3 1/2 feet long and 88 pounds.

• Some types of dolphins must rise to the surface to breathe every 20 to 30 seconds while others can hold their breath as long as 30 minutes.

• The Dolphin family has 36 species. The largest is the orca, or killer whale at 23 feet long and 4.5 tons. The smallest is the Heaviside’s dolphin, only 3 1/2 feet long and 88 pounds.

• The annual global by-catch mortality of small whales, dolphins and porpoises alone is estimated to be more than 300,000 individuals.