Fun Animal Trivia

A cat’s arching back is part of a complex body language system, usually associated with feeling threatened. The arch is able to get so high because the cat’s spine contains nearly 60 vertebrae which fit loosely together. Humans have only 34 vertebrae.

A twelve-foot anaconda can catch, kill, and eat a six-foot caiman, a close relative of crocodiles and alligators. While these snakes are not usually considered to be the longest snake in the world, they are the heaviest, exceeding the reticulated python in girth.

Do spiders never get caught in their own webs because: Spiders have self-oiling legs.

Fleas have changed history. More human deaths have been attributed to fleas than all the wars ever fought. As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing one-third of the population of Europe in the 14th century.

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds – so tiny that one of their enemies is an insect, the praying mantis. The hummingbird is the only bird that can hover and fly straight up, down, or backward – and it is one of the only birds that cannot walk!

In captivity, pigeons commonly live up to 15 years and sometimes longer. In urban populations, however, pigeons seldom live more than 3 or 4 years. Natural mortality factors, such as predation by mammals and other birds, diseases, and stress due to lack of food and water, reduce pigeon populations by approximately 30% annually.

Not every elephant is as friendly as Dumbo. Elephants kill more than 500 people a year worldwide. African elephants generally weigh in around 16,000 pounds – all the better to stomp you with – not to mention their sharp tusks.

Of all known forms of animal life ever to inhabit the Earth, only about 10 percent still exist today.

Rats like boiled sweets better than they like cheese.

Researchers studying what dogs like to eat have found that the appetite of pet dogs is affected by the taste, texture and smell of the food, and also by the owners’ food preferences, their perception of their pet, and the physical environment in which the dog is eating.

Sharks apparently are the only animals that never get sick. As far as is known, they are immune to every known disease including cancer.

Stray animals are getting into your garbage and making a mess. Should you:

Tightwad Living magazine says the vinegar will make your garbage much less desirable. Critter Control recommends ammonia as well.

The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world – fifteen inches in diameter – the size of a basketball.
The word rodent comes from the Latin word `rodere’ meaning to gnaw.
The world’s smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny.
When faced with a predator, cape buffaloes charge head on. That’s 1,500 pounds of beast topped off with two big, sharp horns. You’re lucky if there’s only one – the real danger comes when a herd of thousands stampedes in your direction.
While the Asian Cobra doesn’t hold the title of most venomous snake, it does the most with what it has. Of the 50,000 deaths by snakebite a year, Asian Cobras are responsible for the largest chunk.
When opossums are playing opossum, they are not “playing.” They actually pass out from sheer terror.
Brazoria County in Southeast Texas is the only county in the United States and Canada to have every kind of poisonous snake found in those two countries.
More than 99.9% of all the animal species that have ever lived on earth were extinct before the coming of man.
The distance between an alligator’s eyes, in inches, is directly proportional to the length of the alligator, in feet.
A rat can last longer without water than a camel can.
The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antartica.
Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have 7 neck vertebra