Animals and Creatures - Bizarre Facts Page 7

Bizarre Fact #301:
Did you know...
Out of 20000 species of bees, only 4 make honey.

Bizarre Fact #302:
Did you know...
Out of all the animals a circus animal trainer works with, none are deadlier than the elephant. More deaths are caused by the elephants than the large cats circus tamers train with.

Bizarre Fact #303:
Did you know...
Parthenogenesis is the term used to describe the process by which certain animals are able to reproduce themselves in successive female generations without intervention of a male of the species. At least one species of lizard is known to do so.

Bizarre Fact #304:
Did you know...
Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.

Bizarre Fact #305:
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Penguins generally mate once and produce one egg per year.

Bizarre Fact #306:
Did you know...
Penguins only have sex once a year.

Bizarre Fact #307:
Did you know...
Pigs can become alcoholics.

Bizarre Fact #308:
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Rabbits never walk or trot, but always hop or leap.

Bizarre Fact #309:
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Rats can swim for a 1/2 mile without resting, and they can tread water for 3 days straight.

Bizarre Fact #310:
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Rattlesnakes gather in groups to sleep through the winter. Sometimes up to 1,000 of them will coil up together to keep warm.

Bizarre Fact #311:
Did you know...
Reindeer like to eat bananas.

Bizarre Fact #312:
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Relative to their weight and size, birds are stronger than people. Luckily, they don't tend to throw their weight around.

Bizarre Fact #313:
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Rhinos are in the same family as horses, and are thought to have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

Bizarre Fact #314:
Did you know...
Scientists have actually performed brain surgery on cockroaches.

Bizarre Fact #315:
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Scientists have identified more than 300 viruses capable of bringing fatal diseases to insects. The organisms are believed to be entirely different than those that cause disease in humans, and are thus harmless to man.

Bizarre Fact #316:
Did you know...
Scientists turn up as many as 10,000 new species of insects every year.

Bizarre Fact #317:
Did you know...
Seagulls are heavy in the front and light in the back. They experience less wind resistance when they face into the wind. When you see them at the beach on a windy day facing the same direction, they are trying to minimize the wind's resistance by facing into the wind.

Bizarre Fact #318:
Did you know...
Seals used for their fur get extremely sick when taken aboard ships.

Bizarre Fact #319:
Did you know...
September 16-21 is Farm Animal Awareness Week.

Bizarre Fact #320:
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Sharks and rays are the only animals known to man that don't get cancer. Scientists believe this has something to do with the fact that they don't have bones, but cartilage.

Bizarre Fact #321:
Did you know...
Sharks can sense a drop of blood from 2.5 miles away.

Bizarre Fact #322:
Did you know...
Sharks never stop moving, even when they sleep or rest.

Bizarre Fact #323:
Did you know...
Shock treatment for epilepsy was once administered by electric catfish.

Bizarre Fact #324:
Did you know...
Skunks can accurately spray their smelly fluid as far as ten feet.

Bizarre Fact #325:
Did you know...
Sloths take two weeks to digest their food.

Bizarre Fact #326:
Did you know...
Small cockroaches are more likely to die on their backs than large cockroaches.

Bizarre Fact #327:
Did you know...
Snakes continue to grow until the day they die.

Bizarre Fact #328:
Did you know...
Snakes don’t bite in rivers or swamps because they would drown if they did.

Bizarre Fact #329:
Did you know...
Snakes who have the genetic mutation of having been born with two heads have a hard time eating, because the two heads generally fight over which gets the food.

Bizarre Fact #330:
Did you know...
Some birds from the rain forests of South America actually breed in Canada in the summer, before returning south for the winter.

Bizarre Fact #331:
Did you know...
Some crickets burrow megaphone-like tunnels that help transport the sound of their chirps as far as 2,000 feet away.

Bizarre Fact #332:
Did you know...
Some species of dinosaur were the size of chickens.

Bizarre Fact #333:
Did you know...
Some spiders have as many as eight eyes.

Bizarre Fact #334:
Did you know...
Spiders have transparent blood.

Bizarre Fact #335:
Did you know...
St. Bernard dogs do not carry kegs of brandy, and never have.

Bizarre Fact #336:
Did you know...
Studies have shown that pigs are one of the more intelligent animals, surprisingly. They come a close second only to primates. They are so smart, in fact, that they can be trained to do tricks like a dog.

Bizarre Fact #337:
Did you know...
Tarantulas are poisonous, but the concentration of the venom in those found in North America is low enough that they're usually not a threat to human life. In fact, some people keep them as pets.

Bizarre Fact #338:
Did you know...
Tarantulas do not use muscles to move their legs. They control the amount of blood pumped into them to extend and retract their legs.

Bizarre Fact #339:
Did you know...
The "snood" is the fleshy projection just above the bill on a turkey.

Bizarre Fact #340:
Did you know...
The African lungfish can live out of water for up to four years.

Bizarre Fact #341:
Did you know...
The Alaskan blackfish is found in Arctic region. When the cold Arctic winter comes, the waters the blackfish calls home freeze. And so does the blackfish! It's not dead, but only in a state of suspended animation. Months later when spring arrives, and ice melts, the blackfish comes back to "life" and goes off swimming on its merry way as if nothing ever happened.

Bizarre Fact #342:
Did you know...
The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

Bizarre Fact #343:
Did you know...
The average airspeed of the common housefly is 4 1/2 mph. A housefly beats its wings about 20,000 times per minute.

Bizarre Fact #344:
Did you know...
The average elephant produces 50 pounds of dung each day.

Bizarre Fact #345:
Did you know...
The average giraffe has a blood pressure two or three times that of the average human.

Bizarre Fact #346:
Did you know...
The average life expectancy of a leopard in captivity is 12 years.

Bizarre Fact #347:
Did you know...
The average minimal speed of birds in order to remain aloft in flight is reported to be about 16½ feet per second, or about 11 miles per hour.

Bizarre Fact #348:
Did you know...
The Bateleur eagle of Africa hunts over a territory of 250 square miles a day.

Bizarre Fact #349:
Did you know...
The beautiful but deadly Australian sea wasp (Chironex fleckeri) is the most venomous jellyfish in the world. Its cardiotoxic venom has caused the deaths of 66 people off the coast of Queensland since 1880, with victims dying within 1-3 minutes if medical aid is not available.

Bizarre Fact #350:
Did you know...
The beluga whale is often referred to as the "sea canary" because of the birdlike chirping sounds it makes.