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Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix
Remember Will’s old “Show Off Your Smarts!” feature? He’d throw out a topic and turn the microphone over to our brilliant readers. Sounds to me like a great way to kill time on a Friday. Let’s revive “Show Off Your Smarts” and talk about amazing animal facts. I’ll throw out a few:
- A crocodile can digest a steel nail without chewing.
- Sand tiger sharks attack each other in their mother’s womb.
- An octopus has three hearts.
- Bees and dogs can smell fear.*
*I’m taking the kid in Jerry Maguire at his word here. Probably should have fact-checked. Your turn.
Comments (44)
Comment
Two from the pachyderms…The elephant is the only mammal with four knees; But the only mammal that has no ability to jump!
posted by Machew on 6-22-2007 at 9:30 am
Humbolt squid change color from a pasty white to a violent red, depending on how excited they are.
posted by Tina P on 6-22-2007 at 9:38 am
Camels have 3 eyelids (useful in sandstorms).
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
posted by jenny on 6-22-2007 at 9:51 am
Camels have 3 eyelids (useful in sandstorms).
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
posted by jenny on 6-22-2007 at 9:51 am
There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of earth.
posted by Kerry on 6-22-2007 at 9:58 am
Pandas are herbivores, but they have the digestive system of Carnivores. That picture of the panda on the bookmark was so cute, but the facts on the back are there for knowledge.
posted by scott on 6-22-2007 at 10:07 am
In Africa, hippopotamus are responsible for more deaths of people/tourists than lions.
Dogs can see television. (I say this because my friend’s dog actually watches TV. He follows the action on the screen and particularly likes the Coca-Cola polar bears.)
posted by Beth on 6-22-2007 at 10:21 am
here are 3 - the first should maybe count as 1…
—
there are 250 people bitten by rats a year in NYC
there are over 1100 people bitten by other people a year in NYC
—
the manatee has the densest bones of any mammal
this helps them sink all that blubber when feeding
posted by mike czuk on 6-22-2007 at 10:34 am
All mammals are warm-blooded and have a four-chambered heart, but so do birds. Most mammals give birth to live young, but there are exceptions to that. Mammals all have hair, but again they share that trait with other creatures–in this case spiders. In fact there is only one truly defining characteristic of mammals that is unique, and that is the trait for with they are named: the mammary gland. All mammalian species posses a gland that secretes or oozes milk for the repast of their young. In most cases the mammary gland becomes enlarged during lactation, and diminishes to almost unnoticeable when the milk is unneeded. However, amidst all 5,800 mammals, there is only one species that has perpetually swollen mammary glands. Odds are you are a member of this strangely anomalous, difficult to explain species.
posted by Caesar on 6-22-2007 at 10:38 am
Pandas are herbivores, but they have the digestive system of carnivores.
posted by Scott on 6-22-2007 at 10:39 am
Just a couple more -
1.A group of Kangaroos is called a mob.
2.Polar bears are left handed.
3.A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
4.A hedgehog’s heart beats 300 times a minute.
5.An adult blue whale’s heart beats about 6 times a minute.
7.Turtles can breathe through their butts.
posted by Caesar on 6-22-2007 at 10:44 am
Hummingbirds are so fast, they don’t have many predators (which may give them their cocky nature), but the praying mantis (Zorak!) is a natural predator…
“The ability of a praying mantis to pose motionless and strike with lightning speed at an unsuspecting hummingbird presents a real risk. “
posted by donner on 6-22-2007 at 10:45 am
16 people have been killed making sandcastles since 1990:
posted by FotisX on 6-22-2007 at 10:54 am
Octopi can squeeze through any opening as long as it’s no smaller than their eye.
A group of larks is called an exaltation, and a group of owls is called a parliament.
The garfish has green bones.
A polar bear’s fur is actually made of hollow tubes.
posted by Bridget on 6-22-2007 at 11:17 am
Blue Whales have the largest male organs being over seven feet long.
The largest fiberglass cow in the world is in New Salem, North Dakota.
There are no native predators to rabbits in Australia.
posted by Amber on 6-22-2007 at 11:19 am
The only ‘free-floating’ bone (not articulated to any other bone)in the human body is the hyoid bone. This bone is found in the neck.
posted by JaneM on 6-22-2007 at 11:27 am
You can tell what sex your lobster is by looking at the first pair of swimmerets (the small feathery legs on the underside of the tail, closest to the body). If its a male, they will be hard and bony. If it is a female, they will be soft and feathery, and most of the time they will be crossed.
Lobsters can be left or right clawed. The thicker claw, called the crusher claw, is dominate.
Also, lobster babies are called ’superbabies’ in the biz. This is because they swim with thier claws in front of them like Superman.
posted by Amy on 6-22-2007 at 11:55 am
1.Hedgehogs can float.
2.Panda bears have a finger on the middle of their palm that moves foward and backwards that is used to hold bamboo.
posted by Rachel on 6-22-2007 at 12:59 pm
The average adult American Alligator bites with a force of over 2000 pounds. That’s like dropping a Ford Escort on your food to kill it.
posted by Bill T. on 6-22-2007 at 1:48 pm
Narwhal tusks have 10 million nerve endings which make it a very sensitive tooth indeed, allowing the whale to detect subtle changes in pressure, temperature, salinity, and possibly other environmental information. This unique tooth has no known comparison in nature.
posted by M on 6-22-2007 at 2:03 pm
Grey fox can climb trees.
Penguins have a gland that changes sea water to fresh water.
there are eight US Presidents whose last names end with “son”
There is only one state that is one syllable, and only one state that ends with the letter K.
posted by Cindy on 6-22-2007 at 2:47 pm
A group of crows is called a ‘murder.’
posted by cmk on 6-22-2007 at 3:15 pm
Polar bears’ skin is black. The white spots on the underside of Humpback whale fins are unique to the whale, like fingerprints. (This might apply to other whales, too, but I’m not sure.) =)
posted by Courtney on 6-22-2007 at 3:56 pm
Toucan estrogen and testosterone hormone levels increase AFTER reproductive behavior (bill fencing and allopreening) manifests itself suggesting that other hormones (LH and FSH) are involved.
Sorry, I saw a chance to use my degree for something and I had to take it. Phew, haven’t used it in 5 years. Horray for obscure thesis topics.
posted by Nina on 6-22-2007 at 4:16 pm
Oh, and my CAT watches TV–mostly hockey. She REALLY started enjoying it when we got the flat-panel LCD, high-def. Must have something to do with how easy it is to see the puck in high-def. :)
posted by cmk on 6-22-2007 at 5:02 pm
Well, a group of ferrets is called a business.
posted by Mimi on 6-22-2007 at 5:04 pm
A blue ejaculates, on average, ten gallons of semen.
A giant squids eyes are as big as dinner plates.
posted by matt on 6-22-2007 at 11:35 pm
Elephants walk on tiptoe.
And i know from experiece that you CAN teach cats tricks, but it takes a LOT of time and a bunch of cat treats.
posted by heather on 6-22-2007 at 11:48 pm
More visitors to US National Parks are injured by deer than by any other animals.
Yaks milk is pink.
The song “Ghostriders In The Sky” was written by a ranger working at (then) Death Valley National Monument. He performed it at campfire programs.
posted by Cheryl on 6-23-2007 at 12:33 am
Whales, killer whales, porpoises, manatees, etc. are all mammals that can’t jump. Elephant seals don’t really jump either.
You can’t tame or ride a zebra.
Opossums have a four year life span. Maybe five if they don’t have to cross a road.
17-year cicadas have the longest known lifespan of any known insect. Except for a few days, they spend their lives underground.
Lobster can navigate by magnetism.
Spider silk has a stronger tensile strength than any manufactured material.
Cats can see in 5 to 10 dimensions, just not all at once.
posted by Bunk on 6-23-2007 at 1:35 am
The blood of the horseshoe crab is copper based and is used to test the purity of medicines, among other things. About 200,000 crabs “donate” blood each year.
posted by Karen on 6-23-2007 at 3:39 am
The black spots on a Dalmation’s fur are also on its skin. The white fur is over pink skin and the black fur is over black skin.
That also holds true for my cat, who is orange with several patches of black fur.
posted by sporkk on 6-23-2007 at 10:22 am
Cats can taste five different, basic flavors: salty, sweet, bitter, s0ur and WATER.
Armadillos give birth to six young all the same gender.
All birds have feathers. Every animal with feathers is a bird.
Other invertebrates like lobsters have blue-green blood (like Spock) - they don’t have hemoglobin in their blood cells; the have hemocyanin. I didn’t know that about testing medicines.
Elephants have the largest male organs of any land animal at five feet. BTW Amber, I thought Blue Whales could be at least 12 ft.
Hawaiian Animalia
Hawaii’s isolation caused the species there to be very gentle. Relatively few predators and competitors permitted animals to evolve in safety without natural defenses. Protective thorns or poisons are rare among native plants, and animals don’t protect their offspring well.
There’s also only one native land mammal - a species of bat.
12% of US endangered species are on Hawaii and 75% of US extinct species were from Hawaii.
BTW, there ARE snakes in Hawaii.
posted by BeerTV on 6-23-2007 at 5:46 pm
On USA Network (you know, “characters are welcome”) they did a blip on a Terminex (or Orkin) guy in uniform, and in his prideful explanation of his life and work, he pointed out that the “Terminex” logo he wore was embroidered in the only color that can be seen by humans but not by bees: RED.
I suppose you could argue that humans can see infrared, night vision, etc. even X-rays using tools. I guess, therefore, bees can too… using our tools. Just not red.
posted by BeerTV on 6-23-2007 at 6:09 pm
Dolphins are the only animal to masterbate besides humans and they often use coral to get their business done.
posted by Sandra on 6-24-2007 at 12:16 am
School Buses are not yellow in color. The color you see is called “International School Bus Chromium” or “ISBC” for short. Only school bus related vehicles are allowed to be that color in The U.S.A. Canada and Mexico.
posted by Tdave on 6-25-2007 at 4:19 am
Humans and giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks.
The armadillo is the only other animal that carries leprosy.
posted by Jason on 6-25-2007 at 7:35 am
Don’t Monkeys masturbate too?
posted by Drew on 6-25-2007 at 9:08 am
A group of turtles is called a bale.
posted by Phil on 6-25-2007 at 9:12 am
Kittens of the same litter can have different fathers which is why my friends cat had a litter of tabby, black, white and fluffy kittens.
An ancient persian legend says that a cat was born from a loins sneeze.
Cats can compress or elongate their spines
posted by Megan of Leicester on 6-25-2007 at 6:09 pm
Oops! School buses aren’t animals.
posted by Tdave on 6-27-2007 at 4:31 am
Also, cat shoulder bones are not attached to much else in there, so they can squeeze through very tight spaces.
I’ve had cats who would fetch, although some of them wouldn’t bring it all the way back to you, you’d have to meet them half-way. This was w/o training or treats, just spontaneous. (Surprised the heck out of me, as I’d been rooming w/ various cats for about 20 years before one did this.)
posted by M. Boouffant on 6-27-2007 at 4:47 am
My cat will fetch, no treat training required he just started doing this on his own. It’s not spontaneous either, you throw his toy or better yet a hair tie and he’ll bring it right back then sit and wait for you to throw it again. He’d do this for hours if you let him.
posted by B. Long on 6-29-2007 at 1:28 pm
Someone said: “There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of earth.”
The second part of this is even cooler. If you hold a handful of sand, there are more grains of sand than there are stars visible to the naked eye on a dark night. That makes it a great visualization tool for the size of the universe.
posted by Chris Palmer on 6-29-2007 at 1:47 pm