The Animal Kingdom
Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.
The venom in a Daddy Long-Legs spider is more poisonous than a
Black Widow's or a Brown Recluse, but they cannot bite humans
because their jaws won't open wide enough.
When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They
actually pass out from sheer terror.
The names of the three wise monkeys are: Mizaru: See no evil,
Mikazaru: Hear no evil, and Mazaru: Speak no evil.
Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and
females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.
If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire
town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds, making the catfish rank
#1 for animal having the most taste buds.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
The male gypsy moth can "smell" the virgin female gypsy moth
from 1.8 miles away.
Humans and Dolphins are the only species that have sex for
pleasure.
The average garden variety caterpillar has 248 muscles in its
head.
An elephant's trunk contains more than 50,000 muscles.
Although beavers live near rivers, streams and lakes - they do
not eat fish. Beavers eat only plants. They eat poplar trees,
carrots, cattail, mushrooms, potatoes, berries, water plants,
swamp wood, and fruit. Soft bark is the main food for a beaver.
A blindfolded dolphin can find a nickel at the bottom of its
tank.
Grasshoppers have white blood.
Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed, and continue
living.
The Russian Blue is a breed of cat prone to having an extra toe.
Six toed cats are so common in Boston and surrounding parts of
Massachusetts that some experts consider it an established
mutation.
Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.
A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a
cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.
All porcupines float in water.
An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
The only animals who have sex for pleasure are humans and
dolphins.
Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean
elephants.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of
yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were
stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up
straight staircases.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have
about ten.
Apart from humans, certain species of chimpanzee are the only
animals to experiment sexually. They have been known to 'wife
swap' and indulge in group sex.
The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels
off several times a year with new growth.
Cats have a third eyelid, called a haw, which is rarely visible.
If it is visible it could be an indication of ill health.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
Starfish have eight eyes--one at the end of each leg.
Polar bears are left-handed.
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
The giraffe has a black tongue that is 14 inches long.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Only bird that can fly backwards: Hummingbird
Only animal besides human that can get sunburn: pig
Ostriches stick their heads in the sand to look for water.
Bats always turn left when they exit a cave.
An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.
In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees.
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the
Australian coat of arms for that reason.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are
people. The kangaroo population is estimated at about 40 million.
The only insect that can turn it's head is a praying mantis.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms per day.
St. Bernard dogs do not carry kegs of brandy, and never have. A
famous Alpine rescue dog, Barry, who saved the lives of 41
persons 170 years ago, was so well loved that a commemorative
portrait was painted of him. The artist, apparently thinking the
detail added interest, drew a brandy keg around Barry's neck,
launching the "tradition" that lives on today.
In his book "The Insects", naturalist Url N. Lanham reports that
the aphid reproductive cycle is so rapid that the females are
born pregnant.
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
The eagle has sex while going up to 60 mph. in flight, and it is
common for both eagles to hit the ground before they finish.
The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was
Fred.
You can tell a turtle's sex by the noise it makes. Males grunt,
females hiss.
The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its
own weight and always falls over on its right side when
intoxicated.
Camel's milk does not curdle.
Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
The starfish is the only animal that can turn it's stomach inside
out.
The elephant is the only mammal that is unable to jump.
Only continent without reptiles or snakes: Antarctica
The average airspeed of the common housefly is 4 1/2 mph.
A housefly beats its wings about 20,000 times per minute.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
The Katydid hears through holes in it's hind legs.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up.
The frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling
out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all
of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down
again.
A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in
the air is a skein.
A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
A group of whales is called a pod.
A group of ravens is called a murder.
A group of officers is called a mess.
A group of larks is called an exaltation.
A group of owls is called a parliament.
A group of frogs is called an army.
Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."
Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always all the
same sex.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get
leprosy.
Armadillos can be housebroken.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a
building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving
than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly
takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is
occurring, relax and correct itself.
Even if you cut off a cockroach's head, it can live for several
weeks until it starves to death.
Mosquitoes have teeth.
The penguin is the only bird that can swim but not fly.
Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who
have recently eaten bananas.
Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any
food.
Despite the many rat-infested slums in New York City, rats bite
only 311 people in an average year. But 1,519 residents are
bitten annually by other New Yorkers.
Owls are the only birds that can see the color blue.
Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have
the same pattern of whiskers.
A jellyfish is 95% water.
Pink Elephants? In regions of India where the soil is red -
elephants take on a permanent pink tinge because they regularly
spray dust over their bodies to protect themselves against
insects.
Horses and rabbits cannot vomit.
A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.
The length of a gorilla's penis is 1/3 that of a human.
Smartest dogs: (in order)
1) border collie
2) poodle
3) golden retriever.
Dumbest dog: Afghan
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
The flea can jump 350 times its body length, which is like a
human jumping the length of two football fields.
A shrimp's heart is located in its head.
The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.
Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been
hit by a lightning strike.
A porpoise swims slowly in a circle as it sleeps.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
