Animals and Creatures-Bizarre Fact Page 9

Bizarre Fact #401:
Did you know...
The male howler monkey of Central and South America is the noisiest animal which can be heard clearly for distances of up to 3 miles.

Bizarre Fact #402:
Did you know...
The male of one species of insect related to the praying mantis can only reproduce after the female has bitten off his head.

Bizarre Fact #403:
Did you know...
The March Hare from Alice In Wonderland portrays the actual antics of real hares during springtime, when they jump around and hit their large hind feet on the ground.

Bizarre Fact #404:
Did you know...
The Metro Goldwyn Mayer lion lived in Memphis, Tennessee.

Bizarre Fact #405:
Did you know...
The Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, lays up to 5,000,000 eggs at one time.

Bizarre Fact #406:
Did you know...
The monarch butterfly's sense of taste is about 12,000 times more sensitive than a human's.

Bizarre Fact #407:
Did you know...
The more that is learned about the ecological benefits of bats, the more home gardeners are going out of their way to entice these amazing winged mammals into their neighborhoods. Bats are voracious insect eaters, devouring as many as 600 bugs per hour for 4 to 6 hours a night. They can eat from one-half to three-quarters their weight per evening. Bats are also important plant pollinators, particularly in the southwestern U.S.

Bizarre Fact #408:
Did you know...
The most venomous of all snakes, known as the Inland Taipan has enough venom in one bite to kill over 200,000 mice.

Bizarre Fact #409:
Did you know...
The natural diet of Lady Beetles consists of soft bodied insects such as aphids, spider mites, and young caterpillars. Adults can consume up to 100 aphids a day.

Bizarre Fact #410:
Did you know...
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans ages the equivalent of five human years for every day they live, so they usually die after about fourteen days. When stressed, though, the worm goes into a comatose state that can last for two or more months. The human equivalent would be to sleep for about two hundred years.

Bizarre Fact #411:
Did you know...
The odds of seeing three albino deer at once are one in seventy-nine billion, yet one man in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, took a picture of three albino deer in the woods.

Bizarre Fact #412:
Did you know...
The oldest know breed of domesticated dog is the saluki. Carvings of animals resembling the saluki have been found in excavations of the Sumerian Empire believed to date from between 6000 and 7000 B.C.

Bizarre Fact #413:
Did you know...
The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica.

Bizarre Fact #414:
Did you know...
The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

Bizarre Fact #415:
Did you know...
The only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees is the praying mantis.

Bizarre Fact #416:
Did you know...
The only place in Europe where monkeys live free is Gibraltar.

Bizarre Fact #417:
Did you know...
The only venomous British snake is the adder.

Bizarre Fact #418:
Did you know...
The opossum is a North American mammal about the size of a cat. It looks much like an over sized rat. In fact, one type of opossum is actually called the rat opossum. What's most interesting about opossums is how it reacts to predators: if it can't escape and hissing and showing its teeth do not scare off the predator, they pretend to die. The thing is, it's not doing this because it wants to; it can't really control it. Its muscles tighten up in fear and it faints.

Bizarre Fact #419:
Did you know...
The ostrich egg yolk is the biggest single cell in the world.

Bizarre Fact #420:
Did you know...
The owl parrot can't fly, and builds its nest under tree roots.

Bizarre Fact #421:
Did you know...
The oyster is usually ambisexual. It begins life as a male, then becomes a female, then changes back to being a male, then back to being female; it may go back and forth many times.

Bizarre Fact #422:
Did you know...
The oyster is usually ambisexual. Through its life it will change from male to female and back again numerous times.

Bizarre Fact #423:
Did you know...
The Pastern is the part of a horse located on the foot between the fetlock and the hoof.

Bizarre Fact #424:
Did you know...
The pekingese is the royal dog of China.

Bizarre Fact #425:
Did you know...
The penculine titmouse of Africa builds its home in such a sturdy manner that Masai tribesman use their nests for purses and carrying cases.

Bizarre Fact #426:
Did you know...
The Penguin is the only bird that can swim, but not fly. It is also the only bird that walks upright.

Bizarre Fact #427:
Did you know...
The pet food company Ralston Purina recently introduced, from its subsidiary Purina Philippines, power chicken feed designed to help roosters build muscles for cockfighting, which is popular in many areas of the world.

Bizarre Fact #428:
Did you know...
The Platypus can eat its weight in worms every day.

Bizarre Fact #429:
Did you know...
The porpoise is second to man as the most intelligent animal on the planet.

Bizarre Fact #430:
Did you know...
The Portuguese jellyfish tentacles have been known to grow a mile in length, catching anything in it's path by stinging it's prey.

Bizarre Fact #431:
Did you know...
The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular.

Bizarre Fact #432:
Did you know...
The sea lion can swim 6,000 miles, stopping only to sleep.

Bizarre Fact #433:
Did you know...
The silkworm moth has lost the ability of flight due to domestication.

Bizarre Fact #434:
Did you know...
The silkworm's silk comes out of its mouth as a thread of gooey liquid, so that nice silk blouse you spent a fortune on is really just worm spit.

Bizarre Fact #435:
Did you know...
The smallest of American owls, the elf owl, often nests in the Gila woodpecker’s cactus hole after the woodpecker leaves. The owl measures barely 6 inches tall. It specializes in catching scorpions, seizing each by the tail and nipping off its stinger. It then swallows the scorpion’s body, pincers and all.

Bizarre Fact #436:
Did you know...
The snapping turtle eats carrion and is used by police to find dead bodies in lakes, ponds and swamps.

Bizarre Fact #437:
Did you know...
The social life in ants and termites has been accompanied by an extraordinary royal perk: a 100-fold increase among queen ants in average maximum lifespan, with some queens surviving for almost 30 years. This longevity can be attributed in part to the sheltered and pampered life of the royal egg layer.

Bizarre Fact #438:
Did you know...
The stomach acids in a snake's stomach can digest bones and teeth but not fur or hair.

Bizarre Fact #439:
Did you know...
The tarantula spends most of its life within its burrow, which is an 18-inch vertical hole with an inch-wide opening. When male tarantulas are between the ages of 5 to 7 years, they leave the burrow in search of a female, usually in the early fall. This migration actually signals the end of their life cycle. The males mate with as many females as they can, and then they die around mid-November.

Bizarre Fact #440:
Did you know...
The turkey was wrongly named after what was thought to be it's country of origin.

Bizarre Fact #441:
Did you know...
The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.

Bizarre Fact #442:
Did you know...
The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that one gram of it can kill 150 people. Just to handle the substance can put one in a coma.

Bizarre Fact #443:
Did you know...
The whistling swan has more than 25,000 feathers on its body.

Bizarre Fact #444:
Did you know...
The white elephant is the sacred animal of Thailand.

Bizarre Fact #445:
Did you know...
The woolly mammoth, extinct since the Ice Age, had tusks almost 16 feet high.

Bizarre Fact #446:
Did you know...
The world camel population is 19,627,000.

Bizarre Fact #447:
Did you know...
The world's fastest reptile (measured on land) is the spiny-tailed iguana of Costa Rica. It has been clocked at 21.7 miles per hour.

Bizarre Fact #448:
Did you know...
The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds.

Bizarre Fact #449:
Did you know...
There are 1,600 known species of starfishes in the world.

Bizarre Fact #450:
Did you know...
There are 4,300 known species of ladybugs in the world.