Ask any small child and they will tell you that animals are just the coolest things ever. They are cute, sometimes fluffy, and simply adorable. Even the not so lovable creatures, such as flies and ants seem like the most wonderful things in the world to small children. But little do the small kids know that the animals that they find irresistible are even cooler than they thought. So without further ado, here are 25 amazing things animals do that you have to know.
1 Some Frogs Have Poisonous Skin
Taking us into this list of amazing things animals do are the cute looking, but extremely toxic frogs from South America that have poisonous skin.
There’s a frog in South America that was once used for hunting. It is known as a poison dart frog. The natives of South America used the toxins from the skin on blow darts to kill what they were hunting. The deadliest of these frogs, the golden poison frog has enough toxins to kill 10 to 20 people. But the weird thing is that the poison isn’t natural to them and is acquired.
An ant would eat a root of a plant and would in turn get eaten by another insect. For example, the frog would then eat that second insect. The poison would get passed along through all of the animals until it reached the frog and would then get excreted through its skin.
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2 The Kea Parrot From New Zealand Destroys Cars
And you thought that children could be a whole heap of trouble. Did you know that there’s a type of parrot in New Zealand that has a disturbing reputation for not only attacking cars, but also completely demolishing them?
In a scene that would be more fitting a trailer park home, these tiny little fowls known as kea’s will take a dislike to your motor vehicle, even if not left unattended, and tear it to shreds. They will usually begin to attack the rubber components such as windscreen wipers, door seals and tires. They have been known to cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to single cars.
Watch the above video of the birds in action.
3In Alaska Moose Are Actually More Dangerous Than Bears
In Alaska moose are actually more dangerous than bears. As in, they cause more injuries each year and are considered a bigger menace that a wanna be Yogi. The problem isn’t that they are overly aggressive. In general they aren’t any wore untoward to humans than any other grazing animal. The problem is that they are grazing through peoples trash in search for food. If there isn’t any, or enough food, they can become grumpy and attack humans. So why are they more dangerous than bears?
They outnumber bears by 3 to 1 and have moved into human habitat in search for food.
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4 Flies Eat By Vomiting On Their Food First
Have you ever wondered how a house fly, or any fly for that matter eats its food? To be honest it wasn’t really something that I even gave a crap about, let alone thought about. But once the question got asked, well I had to know the answer. But I wasn’t really prepared for something quite so sickening.
A house fly eats solid food by vomiting on it first. If its food is a liquid it will suck it up and swallow it. If it is solid they need another approach.
Flies don’t have any way to chew, so instead they will rub the solid food until it breaks into fine pieces, and then vomit on it. Once the saliva and vomit mix has been on it for a few seconds, and started to dissolve, they suck it all up. And you thought a baby eating was sickening to watch.
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5 Some Animals Have Sex For Fun
So we know that sex can be pretty good, lots of fun, and very healthy too. But under most circumstances, unless you are a prostitute, people usually only have sex for fun. And lets face it, sex is fun. But it has long been assumed that humans are the only animals that fornicate for the purpose of fun. Much of this theory rested on the premise that animals had to be in heat, or ready top mate, otherwise they just wouldn’t. But it has now been discovered that we are not alone when it comes to sex and fun.
Studies have shown that not only humans have sex for fun. Dolphins and bonobo chimps have been observed having sex outside of their normal reproduction cycle. It is thought they are doing it for fun or social interactions.
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6 Iguanas Can Hold Their Breath For 28 Minutes
How long can you hold your breath for? If you are anything like me it’s only a matter of seconds. I’m completely hopeless when it comes to holding my breath. Some animals however, can hold their breath for a very long time, and in most cases the animals that do this are great swimmers.
Iguana’s are great swimmers and can even swim under water. When iguanas go under water it’s normally only for a few minutes at a time, but they have been known to go under for over 28 minutes!
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7 The Honey Badger Has A Reversible Anal Pouch That It Can Use Against Bees
The honey badger is a member of the mustelid species, which includes badgers, weasels and otters. They are native to Africa, Southwest Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. Although its name suggests it’s a badger, it more closely resembles a weasel. The honey badger is mainly a carnivorous animal, and it has very few natural predators, thanks due to its ferocious temperament. One of its most unique features is its reversible anal pouch.
If you thought a reversible anal pouch is a fascinating appendage to have, wait until you read more about it. The smell from the anal pouch has been described as being suffocating. Several experts have hypothesised that the honey badger uses the smell from its anal pouch to calm bees while it is raiding their hives.
Apart from raiding bee hives for the honey, they have been known to kill snakes, eat porcupines and also steal food from lions.
8 There’s A Type Of Wasp That Makes It Impossible For Cockroaches It Wants To Eat To Escape
We all hate cockroaches don’t we? How do you feel about wasps? Personally I don’t want to get too close to them, and I am happy to let them be. If they keep out of my way I will keep out of theirs. But did you know that one breed of wasp in particular hunts and feeds on cockroaches? Not only does it hunt and feed on them, but they do it all while the roach is still alive.
The ampulex wasp has a unique way that it kills wasps. The first sting that the ampulex wasp will deliver a cockroach is into its nerve ganglia in the cockroach’s thorax. This sting will temporarily paralyze the cockroach for up to 5 minutes. Next, while the cockroach is paralyzed, it will deliver a sting into the cockroaches brain that controls the escape reflex. When the roach recovers from its first sting it will find itself unable to escape the wasp. Now it begins to get even more gruesome for the roach.
The ampulex wasp will now clip the antennae with its mandibles and drink some of the hemolymph, which is a fluid in the circulatory system of roaches. The wasp will then walk backwards with the roach, dragging it by its clipped antennae to a burrow. There it will lay an egg on the still live cockroach. The ampulex wasp larva will feed on the still alive, but subdued cockroach.
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9 One Half Of A Dolphins Brain Sleeps At A Time
Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing. It can even be used as a means for torture. Usually people who suffer short term sleep deprivation will have a shorter temper at first, and those who suffer longer periods will begin to hallucinate and have an altered perception of reality. Any new parent will testify the affects of sleep deprivation. Imagine if people were able to do what dolphins do. Dolphins have the ability to allow just one half of their brain to sleep at a time.
Sleeping one half of the brain at a time is called unihemispheric sleep
This amazing ability to sleep one hemisphere of the brain at a time is known as unihemispheric sleep. It allows the brain to sleep just one half at a time, a kind of sleep juggling of the brain. It allows the brain to get the sleep it needs, while maintaining a sense of alertness and functionality. By doing this, dolphins can continue to function in ways to maintain their survival, such as returning to the surface to take a breath of air and avoiding predators.
Dolphins are not the only animals that can sleep with one half of the brain at a time. Some aquatic mammals, bird species and even some reptiles possess this unique ability. However, it is not believed that any land based animals can sleep like this. Any new parents out there that were getting their hopes up about being able to sleep juggle their brain, sorry to disappoint you.
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10 A Giraffe Can Clean Its Ears With Its Tongue
No, this is not a joke. A giraffe can clean its ears with its tongue, and there are plenty of examples clearly showing this weird and unsociable behavior. But not only can and do giraffes clean their own ears with their tongues, they also clean their noses with the same said tongue. So how long is a giraffes tongue?
The average length of an adult giraffes tongue is 53 centimetres (21 inches). That is ample enough length to clean its ears out. You can see many examples on YouTube of this happening.
Ear wax anyone?
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11 Queen Bees Can Sting More Than Once
Plenty of us have been stung by bees over the years. While they deliver one hell of a painful sting, unless you go into anaphylactic shock, it usually won’t present itself as much of a problem. Some bees, such as the killer bee, otherwise known as the Africanized bee, can be deadly. This is because of how aggressive the swarm can become, attacking victims relentlessly. If you have ever been attacked by a swarm of bees, and I have, you’ll know just how determined they can be. Unlike wasps they don’t back off. The swarm just continues its offensive. But also unlike wasps, most bees can only sting you once, and then they did. But we just said most bees, right? Correct, and it wasn’t a typo either. You see, queen bees can sting more than once.
When a bee stings you they can only do it the once. The sting will result in the stinger and venom sack being detached from the bees body, which kills the bee. The stinger detaches from the bee due to a little barb on the end, which acts a little like a fish hook. But the stinger on queen bees doesn’t have a barb. Their stinger is as sharp as a tack, and barbless. This allows the queen bee to sting more than once.
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12 The Assassin Bug Wears Its Victims Bodies As Armor
The world is a place full of very unusual animals. From the platypus through poisonous frogs, it seems as though the animal kingdom has a lot of surprises in store for us. But if the oddities in more complex living animals is surprising, just wait until you dele into the insect kingdom, where the sheer numbers of the little critters means that there are bound to be even more weird things out there, just like the assassin bug.
With a name like the assassin bug you just know that this little guy is going to be a gem to be around. But believe me when I say that the name doesn’t do this breature justice at all. It’s even more sickening.
The assassin bug would probably be more at home with Hannibal Lecter than the rain forests of Malaysia. I say that because this little bug is one messed up individual.
The Assassin Bug of Malaysia will kill its prey, and after liquefying its insides and eating them, it will wear the body of its victim as a kind of body armor trophy. When the body of its prey is just an empty shell, it secretes a sticky substance that it uses to attach itself to the exoskeleton to protect it, and confuse its prey.
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13 Starfish Can Regrow Entire Limbs
Certain types of starfish can not only regrow a limb if it becomes detached, but also grow all of the other limbs on the limb that fell off, essentially regrowing their entire body onto just one limb. Usually a part of the central disc is required to regrow all the limbs onto just one arm. During any time of fragmentation they are prone to infection. I know this, because one of my starfish had its limbs fall off, and regrettably died while it was starting to grow a new limb.
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14 There’s A Catfish That Eats Wood
There is a catfish in the Amazon that eats wood. It’s teeth are spoon shaped and they rasp the wood in the river and bacteria in their stomach converts the wood into nutritious chemicals.
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Well, that’s our list of amazing things that animals can do. Please share this with your friends and keep exploring our site for more awesome lists and facts.
