10 Odd-Sounding Facts About Animals That Actually Aren’t That Far-Fetched
Nature does nothing without a purpose. Animals will never stop surprising us with their unique traits and skills. It is hard to imagine the males of some sea creatures getting pregnant and giving birth or certain beetles navigating via the Milky Way! Their amazing abilities sometimes exceed our wildest expectations.
5-Minute Crafts has compiled 10 incredible animal facts that are worth sharing with everyone around.
Fact 1: Sloths are good at swimming.
Their short and weak hind legs and the huge claws on their front paws prevent sloths from moving quickly on the ground. But this does not prevent them from being excellent swimmers. Sloth species that live near rivers or mangroves may deliberately fall from trees into the water. Thus, they swim in search of new habitats or mating partners. They can develop considerable speed and swim long distances.
Fact 2: Male seahorses get pregnant.
Male pregnancy and childbirth are unique features in the animal kingdom, available only to seahorses and sea dragons. Males and females do a mating dance after which the female lays her eggs in a pouch on the male’s abdomen. Here they are fertilized and mature from 2 to 4 weeks. At the end of the pregnancy, the abdominal muscles of the male begin to contract rhythmically ejecting young seahorses from the pouch.
Fact 3: Bottlenose dolphins taste each other’s urine.
According to a study, the taste of urine and the characteristic whistle helps bottlenose dolphins recognize their friends among other individuals. In the open sea, it is convenient to rely on the sense of taste: the plume of urine remains in the water for some time after the animal swims away. This helps dolphins get information about the whereabouts of friendly animals even if they don’t make a sound.
Fact 4: Mice can sing songs.
Scientists have found that male mice sing at very high frequencies while courting females. The human ear cannot catch this singing at ultrasonic frequencies: special microphones are used for recording. It has also been found that their songs change depending on the context. The songs of the males become louder and more complex as they smell the female and search for her.
Fact 5: Naked mole rats don’t feel pain.
Naked mole rats live underground in large beehive-like colonies. These small animals live several times longer than other rodents. Scientists have found that they lack certain pain reactions inherent in other animals. The naked moles have a working nervous system, just with a reduced number of pain nerve cells. This allows them to save the energy they need in the difficult conditions of life underground.
Fact 6: Owls’ eyeballs have unusual shape.
Most owls hunt at night. To do this, they need especially sharp eyesight. Due to the special structure of their eyes, they are able to capture enough light to see in the dark. Their eyeballs are not actually ball-shaped. Unlike human eyes, they have an oblong shape. If you look into the ear of some species of owl, you can see the base of their eyes.
These huge organs inside the skull are supported by special bony structures. They are quite rigid and do not allow the eyes to move. The eyes are fixed in place and look straight ahead.
Fact 7: Dung beetles navigate via the Milky Way.
Dung beetles smell a fresh pile of feces and gather around it. Males make a ball out of the dung and roll it as far as possible — there are a lot of thieving beetles around who seek to steal the ball. It is important for beetles to move quickly in a straight line in order to have time to move to a safe distance.
During the day, they are guided by the sun, at night, the moon helps them. During moonless nights, they are able to see the bright line of the Milky Way and move in a straight line relative to it.
Fact 8: Koalas don’t drink and have 2 thumbs.
Koalas have an opposable thumb just like humans do. But there is one huge difference between the human hand and the koala’s paw: koalas have 2 thumbs on their front paws and 6 thumbs all in all. The thumbs help them to climb trees and move from one branch to another. Koalas don’t drink. They eat a lot of eucalyptus and receive the necessary amount of water through their leaves.
Fact 9: All clownfish are born males.
There are different ways to predetermine the future sex of a living creature. For example, for humans and birds, it is decided by the presence of certain chromosomes.
Clownfish have no sex chromosomes. All of them are born males. They live in small groups consisting of a dominant female, a dominant male, and several juvenile males. When the group loses the female, the dominant male starts a transformation to become a new female. His body has latent cells of the female reproductive system. During transformation, they begin to form full-fledged organs, while the male reproductive organs degenerate.
Fact 10: Hummingbirds can’t walk.
Hummingbirds are known for their outstanding flight skills. But these birds have no ability to walk since their legs and feet are not big enough. Their bodies are built in such a way that they can save on weight and develop better flying dynamics. But their feet are not completely useless: they are used to grip small objects for sitting and to clean their feathers.