Incredible animal facts you probably didn’t know (part 1)

How’s your animal trivia? Read on to see how well you know these (mostly) cuddly species.

These slow-moving, eucalyptus-eating marsupials are beloved for their sweet demeanours and distinctly non-human adorableness. However, they do share one feature in common with homo sapiens: fingerprints. What’s more, their fingerprints – analysed under a microscope – are virtually indistinguishable in the way they loop and whorl from our own. Researchers assert that koalas adapted this feature – which is also present in primates such as chimpanzees – so they can grasp the branches they climb to forage for leaves.

According to Live Science, elephants have “many admirable qualities,” including a fantastic sense of smell, a seeming near-immunity to cancer, and “complex social lives”. Despite all this, here’s a crazy animal fact: elephants are unable to jump. That’s because they have what an evolutionary researcher at the Royal Veterinary College in London calls “wimpy lower-leg muscles” and inflexible ankles, conditions that also make it a challenge for them to run for more than a short distance.

Not all elephants have such idyllic lives. Check out this story about three malnourished, drug-addled Thai elephants.

You certainly wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of a platypus. That’s because the male platypus has a defence mechanism that’s on par with the rest of its strange appearance. The heels of their back feet have spurs that can release venom, making these wild animals one of the few types of poisonous mammals. While the venom isn’t strong enough to kill a human, it’s extremely painful and can cause swelling and even hyperventilation.

You probably think of sloths as one of the slowest wild animals out there, and they are pretty slow, to be sure! But they actually have a neat talent that you may not know about. They’re skilled swimmers. In fact, they swim about three to four times faster than they move on land! According to Live Science, they do the breaststroke just like humans do, and it’s a vital skill for them to survive in rainforests that flood. If you thought it wasn’t possible for sloths to get any cuter, just imagine one swimming!

These massive aquatic mammals cannot actually breathe underwater, they periodically return to the surface to breathe. So that raises the question, how do they sleep? Do they sleep? Well, they do, but only half of the brain sleeps at a time. Known as ‘unihemispheric slow-wave sleep’, this method allows the whales to get enough rest while also staying alert enough to consciously breathe and be on the lookout for danger.

Think whales are smart? Check out 8 of the smartest animals that learn even faster than you!

Similar to the Maori greeting of pressing noses together, polar bears also use this unique type of greeting. They request to share food this way too; a bear will approach another bear that’s feeding and touch nose to nose to ask permission to join in on the snack.

These large marsupials are known for their ability to hop great distances, which is the primary way they get around. But an odd feature they have is that they can’t walk backward, partly because of the structure of their powerful rear feet and their large tails. This is the reason you’ll find the kangaroo and emu on the Australian Coat of Arms – the designers wanted to symbolise the way the nation was only moving forward, so they picked two animals that physically can’t move backward.

“Just keep swimming…” sings Dory the blue tang in Finding Nemo. For some types of sharks, this is more than just a motivational saying, it’s life or death! Live Science reports that several types of sharks use a certain type of breathing that requires them to swim quickly with their mouths open, which allows oxygen to reach their gills. While some sharks can breathe even if they’re still, great white sharks, makos and whale sharks (among others) must move constantly to take in oxygen.

First of all, the idea that ‘peacock’ is the correct name for all of these birds is one of the animal facts that you actually have all wrong. ‘Peacock’ only describes the males; the females are technically called ‘peahens’, and both sexes are considered ‘peafowl’. Another interesting fact about peacocks is that they can be born with partially or completely white colouring due to a genetic mutation; this is known as leucism, and the birds are still stunning to look at!

Hyenas are generally thought of and portrayed as dog-like creatures, but these wild animals are actually more closely related to cats, according to National Geographic! Their scientific classification puts them in the ‘Feliformia’ suborder, one of two suborders in the Carnivora order. Feliformia is the ‘cat-like’ carnivores; the other suborder, unsurprisingly, is ‘Caniformia’. But hyenas are still different enough from big cats to have their own separate family classification, entirely their own family, ‘Hyaenidae’.

Though honey badgers have developed a reputation for being ferocious and just about indestructible, partly because of their taste for poisonous snakes, they’re actually not naturally immune to poison. When they’re young, their mothers slowly introduce them to poisonous animals like tiny scorpions so that they develop an immunity. Oh, and their name might be something of a misnomer. Though they do look similar, they’re not actually closely related to European badgers; they’re actually part of the weasel family.

If their colourful appearance and huge, almost plush-looking beaks give you the impression that toucans are a fun-loving species, well…you’d be right! According to National Geographic, as part of a mating ritual, a pair of toucans will toss fruit back and forth with their beaks!

This ‘sea unicorn’ is a double-take-worthy creature if there ever was one. And learning facts about narwhals doesn’t make them any less bizarre! In fact, get a load of this weird fact: the ‘horn’ or ‘tusk’ that makes them so famous is actually a tooth! It juts right through the male narwhal’s upper lip and reportedly plays a role in attracting a mate.

These smiley mammals are all over Instagram, but they’re more than a pretty face! The creatures are native to the western Australian island of Rottnest, a nature reserve where freshwater is scarce. Luckily, though, these little guys can survive for a full month without drinking water, mainly because their diet includes leaves and vegetation that contain a lot of moisture.

Though there are more than 100 different species of lemur, lemurs are considered among the most critically endangered mammals in the world due to their low overall number. Some of the most notable types of these Madagascar-dwelling creatures are the ring-tailed lemurs, whose tails are longer than their bodies, and the blue-eyed black lemur, which, is the only primate besides humans that can have blue eyes.

These gentle giants (well, mostly – you certainly wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of a kick or spit from one!) have been nicknamed ‘the ships of the desert’. While that’s partly because they’ve carried cargo across the desert throughout much of human history, it’s also because of the ‘rolling’ way they walk. Their distinctive walk is achieved by moving the legs on each side of their body at the same time (their two left legs, then their two right legs, and so on), making them ‘rock’ back and forth when they walk.

With a name like that, you’d think these creatures would be the epitome of ferocity, and they certainly look pretty intimidating. But, they’re actually quite friendly, and they have the adorable quirk of waving their arms in an almost human-like manner to demonstrate recognition.

Although butterflies have long, tube-like tongues called probosces they unfurl so they can suck in flower nectar, their ability to taste does not come from their mouths. Rather, it lies in their feet. This allows them to discern whether the flowers they land on are the right ones for laying their eggs. According to the San Diego Zoo, “By standing on a leaf, they can taste it to see if their caterpillars can eat it.”

There are 13 species of otter worldwide (everywhere but Antarctica), and sadly, 12 species of these marine mammals are on the threatened species list. This is news that’s hard to bear when confronted with their inherent cuteness, witnessed in recently circulating photos of mother-and-child pairs holding hands to avoid drifting away from each other as they snooze.

Sure, they’ve got those long ears, all the better to hear you with, but as AskNature.com points out, they can rotate these appendages 270 degrees in order to detect sounds, some from as far as 3km away, in almost every direction. But they also serve another valuable purpose: they shed heat, allowing rabbits, which can’t sweat like humans or pant like dogs, to stay cool in the summer.

Can’t hear enough about rabbits? Read this true short story about a clutch of rabbits.

Sign up here to get Reader’s Digest’s favourite stories straight to your inbox!

Source: RD.com