Trivia about Bugs and Insects

(35 facts)

A cockroach can live for up to a week without a head.

A typical bed usually houses over 6 billion dust mites.

Amazon ants (red ants found in the western U.S.) steal the larvae of other ants to keep as slaves. The slave ants build homes for and feed the Amazon ants, who cannot do anything but fight. They depend completely on their slaves for survival.

An adult bedbug can survive up to one year without feeding.

An infestation of head lice is called pediculosis.

Ants are social insects and live in colonies which may have as many as 500,000 individuals.

Ants don't sleep.

Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. Aphids can give birth 10 days after being born themselves.

Australian termites have been known to build mounds twenty feet high and at least 100 feet wide.

Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.

Each year, insects eat 1/3 of the Earth's food crop.

In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.

Mosquitoes dislike citronella because it irritates their feet.

Mosquitoes prefer children to adults, and blondes to brunettes.

No two spider webs are the same.

Only female mosquitoes bite. Females need the protein from blood to produce their eggs.

Only full-grown male crickets can chirp.

The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

The buzz that you hear when a bee approaches is the sound of its four wings moving at 11,400 strokes per minute. Bees fly an average of 15 miles per hour.

The disease-carrying mosquito, delivering encephalitis, the West Nile virus, malaria, and Dengue fever, is by far the deadliest beast in the animal world. The World Health Organization says mosquitos cause more than 2 million deaths a year worldwide. Another insect,

The honeybee kills more people world-wide than all the poisonous snakes combined.

The largest cockroach on record is one measured at 3.81 inches in length.

The largest insect egg belongs to the Malaysian jungle nymph, a sticklike insect, and measures about 1.3 centimeters long larger than a peanut! (Some insects, mainly mantises and cockroaches, lay egg cases that are larger, but they contain about 200 individual eggs.)

The leap of an average flea is equivalent to a 100 pound man leaping 1,000 and enduring a g-force of 20,000 pounds with an acceleration greater than that of a space shuttle.

The tsetse fly kills another 66,000 people annually.The venom of a female black widow spider is more potent than that of a rattlesnake.The world's smallest winged insect, the Tanzanian parasitic wasp, is smaller than the eye of a housefly.There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are human beings on the entire earth.There are more than 2,500 varieties of mosquito.There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.When a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives. The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone.When ants find food, they lay down a chemical trail, called a pheromone, so that other ants can find their way from the nest to the food source.Worker ants may live seven years and the queen may live as long as 15 years.You're more likely to be a target for mosquitoes if you consume bananas.

Animal Trivia

Did you know that 94% of pet owners say their pet makes them smile more than once a day? Read on for interesting facts about the animals the MSPCA places for adoption.

Dogs

There are more than 150 dog breeds, divided into 8 classes: sporting, hound, working, terrier, toy, non-sporting, herding, and miscellaneous.

According to a recent survey, the most popular name for a dog is Max. Other popular names include Molly, Sam, Zach, and Maggie.

Dogs can vary in size from a 36 inch (150+ lb.) Great Dane to a 2 lb. Chihuahua.

Puppies and kittens can be adopted as early as 8 weeks of age. Until then, they should stay with their moms and littermates.

About 1/3 of the dogs that are surrendered to animal shelters are purebred dogs.

Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not sweat by salivating. They sweat through the pads of their feet.

Dogs may not have as many taste buds as we do (they have about 1,700 on their tongues, while we humans have about 9,000), but that doesn't mean they're not discriminating eaters. They have over 200 million scent receptors in their noses (we have only 5 million) so it's important that their food smells good and tastes good.

The term "dog days" has nothing to do with dogs. It dates back to Roman times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added its heat to that of the sun from July3 to August 11, creating exceptionally high temperatures.

Cats

A cat sees about 6 times better than a human at night.

When a cat drinks, its tongue - which has tiny barbs on it - scoops the liquid up backwards.

The ancient Egyptians were the first to domesticate the cat (in about 3000 BC), and used them to control pests.

Healthy adult cats are in deep sleep 15 percent of their lives. They are in light sleep 50 percent of the time. That leaves just 35 percent awake time, or roughly 6-8 hours a day.

Six-toed kittens are so common in Boston and surrounding areas of Massachusetts that experts consider it an established mutation.

Rabbits, Guinea pigs, and other small animals

Our domesticated pet rabbits are descendents of European rabbits and are a different species than the wild rabbits you see outside.

Rabbits are crepuscular. This means that they are most active at dusk and dawn.

Guinea pigs have four toes on each of their front feet and three toes on each of their back feet.

The hamsters native habitat is the deserts of Asia.

Hamsters cannot swim and therefore do not need baths - they clean themselves without any difficulty.

Pet rats are not like their wild cousins. Pet rats are actually very lovable, affectionate, and one of the most intelligent rodent pets. They can be taught tricks, and they can even learn to help keep their cages clean.

Guinea pigs are born with their eyes open and all their teeth and fur.

Many birds, including doves, parakeets, and lovebirds, enjoy living in pairs for companionship.

Horses

A horses height is measured in hands. The height measurement of a 'hand' is 4 inches. That's because it was considered to be the width of an 'average' mans' hand across the knuckles.

Most of the time, a horse has "monocular" vision. This means a different image is seen by each eye so that a horse is seeing two different pictures at the same time.

The horse has one stomach. In contrast, cattle, sheep, goats, bison, deer, elk, caribou, moose, and camels are "ruminants" which means (among other things) they have four digestive chambers instead of just one stomach.

Horses produce approximately 10 gallons of saliva a day.

Horses have a prehensile upper lip. Prehensile means "adapted for seizing, grasping, or taking hold of something." Their upper lips are very sensitive and capable of feeling the smallest of differences in objects.

Horses can live more than 30 years.

Chickens, goats, and other farm animals

Goats and sheep dont have teeth on their upper jaw. They have a hard palate that helps them grind their food.

Goats are great companions for other farm animals, including horses, cows, and chickens.

Sheep make a bleating sound. A baby lamb can identify its mother by her bleat.

One mature ewe (female sheep) produces 7 to 10 pounds of newly shorn wool a year - enough to make a man's suit.

Goats were the first animal to be domesticated, according to many historians.

The goat is among the cleanest of animals, and is a much more selective feeder than cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and even dogs. Goats do eat many different species of plants, but do not want to eat food that has been contaminated or that has been on the floor or the ground.

The chicken is the closest living relative to the T-Rex.

Some breeds of chickens can lay colored eggs. The Ameraucana and Araucana can lay eggs of green or blue.

Chickens have over 200 distinct noises they can make for communicating.

Animal World......

Biggest Eyes Bird: Ostriches.

Biggest Bird: North African ostrich.Gibbon

Deadliest Animal: Female Anopheles mosquitoes, which carry malaria, kill more than a million people each year.

Fastest animal in Land: Cheetahs can run between 112 and 120 km/hr (70 and 75 mph).

Fastest animal in Water: Sailfish can swim up to 68 miles per hour.

Fastest animal in Air: Peregrine falcons, they can fly 70 miles/hour and dive toward the earth at more than 200 miles per hour.

Fastest Bird in Land: Ostriches is the fastest bird on land, running up to 40 miles per hour.

Fastest Swimming Bird: Gentoo Penguin can swim 40 km per hour.

Fastest Mammal in water: Dall Porpoises can swim up to 35 miles per hour.

Heaviest Flying Bird: The Dalmatian Pelican.Snow Leopard

Heaviest cephalopod: Colossal squid.

Highest jumper: Kangaroo, can jump up to 10ft.

Longest arms: The Gibbon.

Longest Gestation: Asian elephants are born after a gestation period of 19 to 22 months.

Longest Lifespan: Tortoise, more than 150 years.

Loudest Animal: Blue whales' low-frequency pulses are as loud as 188 decibels.

Loudest Animal in Land: Howler monkeys, whose howl can be heard 4.8km away.

Longest Migration: Arctic Terns migrate between Greenland and Antarctica each year travelling about 71,000 kilometers.

Longest jumper: Snow Leopard, can jump up to 15m.

Largest Animal: Blue whales are the largest animals of all time.

Largest Animal in land: African elephants are the heaviest and second tallest land animals.

Largest Invertebrate: Colossal Squid, reaching lengths of 10m, are the largest invertebrates.

Largest Carnivores: The Southern elephant seal.

Largest Reptile: The Saltwater Crocodile. An adult male saltwater crocodiles weight is 409 to 1,000 kilograms (9002,200 lb) and length is normally 4.1 to 5.5 meters (1318 ft).

Largest Snake: The Green Anaconda.Giraffe

Most Venomous Animal: A single box jellyfish has enough venom to kill 60 adult humans.

Smallest Mammal: Adult bumblebee bats, which live in Thailand, weigh about two grams.

Smallest Bird: Male bee hummingbirds weigh 0.056 ounces and are 2.75 inches in length.

Strongest Animal: The rhinoceros beetle can lift 850 times its own weight.

Tallest Land Animal: Giraffe. It stands 56 m (1620 ft) tallTrivia about Animals

(165 facts)

A 1,200-pound horse eats about seven times it's own weight each year.

A bird requires more food in proportion to its size than a baby or a cat.

A capon is a castrated rooster.

A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.

A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.

A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't.

A Cornish game hen is really a young chicken, usually 5 to 6 weeks of age, that weighs no more than 2 pounds.

A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest.

A father sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. He will not eat until his young are born, which may take several weeks.

A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time.

A Hindu temple dedicated to the rat goddess Karni Mata in Deshnoke, India, houses more than 20,000 rats.

A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.

A leech is a worm that feeds on blood. It will pierce its victim's skin, fill itself with three to four times its own body weight in blood, and will not feed again for months. Leeches were once used by doctors to drain "bad blood" from sick patients.

A newborn kangaroo is about 1 inch in length.

A normal cow's stomach has four compartments: the rumen, the recticulum (storage area), the omasum (where water is absorbed), and the abomasum ( the only compartment with digestive juices).

A polecat is not a cat. It is a nocturnal European weasel.

A quarter of the horses in the US died of a vast virus epidemic in 1872.

A rat can last longer without water than a camel can.

A single little brown bat can catch 1,200 mosquitoes-sized insects in just one hour.

A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.

A zebra is white with black stripes.

After mating, the male Surinam Toad affixes the female's eggs to her back, where her spongy flesh will swell and envelope them. When the froglets hatch, they leave behind holes in their mother's flesh that they will remain sheltered in until large enough to fend for themselves.

All clams start out as males; some decide to become females at some point in their lives.

All pet hamsters are descended from a single female wild golden hamster found with a litter of 12 young in Syria in 1930.

An adult lion's roar can be heard up to five miles away, and warns off intruders or reunites scattered members of the pride.

An albatross can sleep while it flies. It apparently dozes while cruising at 25 mph.

An electric eel can produce a shock of up to 650 volts.

An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth. They also believed that cats were sacred animals.

Animal gestation periods: the shortest is the American opossum, which bears its young 12 to 13 days after conception; the longest is the Asiatic elephant, taking 608 days, or just over 20 months.

At nearly 50 percent fat, whale milk has around 10 times the fat content of human milk, which helps calves achieve some serious growth spurts - as much as 200 pounds per day.

At the end of the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life", an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.

Beaver teeth are so sharp that Native Americans once used them as knife blades.

Between 260 and 300 million turkeys are slaughtered annually in the United States, according to USDA statistics. Of these, approximately 45 million are killed for Thanksgiving, and 22 million are killed for Christmas.

Bird eggs come in a wide variety of sizes. The largest egg from a living bird belongs to the ostrich. It is more than 2,000 times larger than the smallest bird egg, which is produced by the hummingbird. Ostrich eggs are about 7.1 inches long, 5.5 inches wide and typically weigh 2.7 pounds. Hummingbird eggs are half an inch long, a third of an inch wide and weigh half a gram, or less than one-fifty-fifth of an ounce.

Brown eggs come from hens with red feathers and red ear lobes; white eggs come from hens with white feathers and white ear lobes. Shell color is determined by the breed of hen and has no effect on its quality, nutrients or flavor.

By feeding hens certain dyes they can be made to lay eggs with varicolored yolks.

Camel milk does not curdle.

Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.

Cat scratch disease, a benign but sometimes painful disease of short duration, is caused by a bacillus. Despite its name, the disease can be transmitted by many kinds of scratches besides those of cats.

Catfish have 100,000 taste buds.

Catnip can affect lions and tigers as well as house cats. It excites them because it contains a chemical that resembles an excretion of the dominant female's urine.

Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed and continue living.

Chameleons can move their eyes in two different directions at the same time.

Chameleons can reel in food from a distance as far away as more than two and a half times their body lengths.

Cheetahs make a chirping sound that is much like a bird's chirp or a dog's yelp. The sound is so an intense, it can be heard a mile away.

Cojo, the 1st gorilla born in captivity, was born at the Columbus Zoo, in Ohio, in 1956 and weighed 3 1/4 pounds.

Crocodiles swallow large stones that stay permanently in their bellies. It's been suggested these are used for ballast in diving.

Despite its reputation for being finicky, the average cat consumes about 127,750 calories a year, nearly 28 times its own weight in food and the same amount again in liquids. In case you were wondering, cats cannot survive on a vegetarian diet.

Developed in Egypt about 5,000 years ago, the greyhound breed was known before the ninth century in England, where it was bred by aristocrats to hunt such small game as hares.

Dolphins sleep at night just below the surface of the water. They frequently rise to the surface for air.

Domesticated turkeys (farm raised) cannot fly. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances at up to 55 miles per hour. Wild turkeys are also fast on the ground, running at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.

Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.

During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Elephant tusks grow throughout an elephant's life and can weigh more than 200 pounds. Among Asian elephants, only the males have tusks. Both sexes of African elephants have tusks.

Elephants can communicate using sounds that are below the human hearing range: between 14 and 35 hertz.

Every year, $1.5 billion is spent on pet food. This is four times the amount spent on baby food.

Felix the Cat is the first cartoon character to ever have been made into a balloon for a parade.

Female chickens, or hens, need about 24 to 26 hours to produce one egg. Thirty minutes later they start the process all over again. In addition to the half-hour rests, some hens rest every three to five days and others rest every 10 days.

George Washington's favorite horse was named Lexington. Napoleon's favorite was Marengo. U.S. Grant had three favorite horses: Egypt, Cincinnati, and Jeff Davis.

German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

Goldfish lose their color if they are kept in dim light or are placed in a body of running water, such as a stream.

Hippos have killed more than 400 people in Africa - more than any other wild animal.

Howler monkeys are the noisiest land animals. Their calls can be heard over 2 miles away.

Human tapeworms can grow up to 22.9m.

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds - so tiny that one of their enemies is an insect, the praying mantis.

In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.

Infant beavers are called kittens.

It takes 35 to 65 minks to produce the average mink coat. The numbers for other types of fur coats are: beaver - 15; fox - 15 to 25; ermine - 150; chinchilla - 60 to 100.

It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.

It takes forty minutes to hard boil an ostrich egg.

Korea's poshintang - dog meat soup - is a popular item on summertime menus, despite outcry from other nations. The soup is believed to cure summer heat ailments, improve male virility, and improve women's complexions.

Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.

Lassie was played by several male dogs, despite the female name, because male collies were thought to look better on camera. The main "actor" was named Pal.

Lassie, the TV collie, first appeared in a 1930s short novel titled Lassie Come-Home written by Eric Mowbray Knight. The dog in the novel was based on Knight's real life collie, Toots.

Lions are the only truly social cat species, and usually every female in a pride, ranging from 5 to 30 individuals, is closely related.

Lovebirds are small parakeets who live in pairs. Male and female lovebirds look alike, but most other male birds have brighter colors than the females.

Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap and Emperor are types of penguins.

Mockingbirds can imitate any sound from a squeaking door to a cat meowing.

Molerats are the only eusocial vertebrates known to man. This means that these mammals live in colonies similar to those of ants and termites, with a single fertile queen giving birth to nonreproductive workers and soldiers. Molerats are also famous for their incredibly powerful jaws, the muscles of which constitute 25% of their body mass. Baby molerats are raised on a diet of their older sibling's fecal pellets, emitting a special cry when hungry to summon a worker.

Moles are able to tunnel through 300 feet of earth in a day.

Of all known forms of animals life ever to inhabit the Earth, only about 10 percent still exist today.

On average, pigs live for about 15 years.

Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes.

Parrots, most famous of all talking birds, rarely acquire a vocabulary of more than twenty words, however Tymhoney Greys and African Greys have been know to carry vocabularies in excess of 100 words.

Pet parrots can eat virtually any common "people-food" except for chocolate and avocados. Both of these are highly toxic to the parrot and can be fatal.

Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.

Prairie dogs are not dogs. A prairie dog is a kind of rodent.

Rats are omnivorous, eating nearly any type of food, including dead and dying members of their own species.

Rats can't throw-up.

Sharks apparently are the only animals that never get sick. As far as is known, they are immune to every known disease including cancer.

Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective carpet under them as they travel along. The discharge is so effective that they can crawl along the edge of a razor without cutting themselves.

Snakes are immune to their own poison.

Some baby giraffes are more than six feet tall at birth.

Swans are the only birds with penises.

Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.

The "caduceus" the classical medical symbol of two serpents wrapped around a staff - comes from an ancient Greek legend in which snakes revealed the practice of medicine to human beings.

The 1st buffalo ever born in captivity was born at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo in 1884.

The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was formed in 1866.

The anaconda, one of the world's largest snakes, gives birth to its young instead of laying eggs.

The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

The biggest members of the cat family are Siberian and Bengal tigers, which can reach over 600 pounds.

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court.

The blue whale is the loudest animal on Earth. The call of the blue whale reaches levels up to 188 decibels. This extraordinarily loud whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles underwater. The second-loudest animal on Earth is the Howler Monkey.

The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.

The calories burned daily by the sled dogs running in Alaska's annual Iditarod race average 10,000. The 1,149-mile race commemorates the 1925 "Race for Life" when 20 volunteer mushers relayed medicine from Anchorage to Nome to battle a children's diphtheria epidemic.

The Canary Islands were not named for a bird called a canary. They were named after a breed of large dogs. The Latin name was Canariae insulae - "Island of Dogs."

The cat lover is an ailurophile, while a cat hater is an ailurophobe.

The catgut formerly used as strings in tennis rackets and musical instruments does not come from cats. Catgut actually comes from sheep, hogs, and horses.

The chameleon has several cell layers beneath its transparent skin. These layers are the source of the chameleon's color change. Some of the layers contain pigments, while others just reflect light to create new colors. Several factors contribute to the color change. A popular misconception is that chameleons change color to match their environment. This isn't true. Light, temperature, and emotional state commonly bring about a chameleon's change in color. The chameleon will most often change between green, brown and gray, which coincidently, often matches the background colors of their habitat.

The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract its claws.

The Chinese, during the reign of Kublai Khan, used lions on hunting expeditions. They trained the big cats to pursue and drag down massive animals - from wild bulls to bears - and to stay with the kill until the hunter arrived.

The elephant, as a symbol of the US Republican Party, was originated by cartoonist Thomas Nast and first presented in 1874.

The English Romantic poet Lord Byron was so devastated upon the death of his beloved Newfoundland, whose name was Boatswain, that he had inscribed upon the dog's gravestone the following: "Beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of man without his vices."

The expression "three dog night" originated with the Eskimos and means a very cold night - so cold that you have to bed down with three dogs to keep warm.

The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift, clocked at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

The fastest -moving land snail, the common garden snail, has a speed of 0.0313 mph.

The first house rats recorded in America appeared in Boston in 1775.

The giant squid is the largest creature without a backbone. It weighs up to 2.5 tons and grows up to 55 feet long. Each eye is a foot or more in diameter.

The harmless Whale Shark, holds the title of largest fish, with the record being a 59 footer captured in Thailand in 1919.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can hover and fly straight up, down, or backward!

The hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher, and the grebe are all birds that cannot walk.

The Kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can't fly. It lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind, and lays only one egg each year. Despite this, it has survived for more than 70 million years.

The largest animal ever seen alive was a 113.5 foot, 170-ton female blue whale.

The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil.

The largest Great White Shark ever caught measured 37 feet and weighed 24,000 pounds. It was found in a herring weir in New Brunswick in 1930.

The largest pig on record was a Poland-China hog named Big Bill, who weighed 2,552 lbs.

The last member of the famous Bonaparte family, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, died in 1945, of injuries sustained from tripping over his dog's leash.

The male penguin incubates the single egg laid by his mate. During the two month period he does not eat, and will lose up to 40% of his body weight.

The most frequently seen birds at feeders across North America last winter were the Dark-eyed Junco, House Finch and American goldfinch, along with downy woodpeckers, blue jays, mourning doves, black-capped chickadees, house sparrows, northern cardinals and european starlings.

The mouse is the most common mammal in the US.

The name of the dog from "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" is Max.

The name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box is Bingo.

The only dog to ever appear in a Shakespearean play was Crab in The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

The Pacific Giant Octopus, the largest octopus in the world, grows from the size of pea to a 150 pound behemoth potentially 30 feet across in only two years, its entire life-span.

The penalty for killing a cat, 4,000 years ago in Egypt, was death.

The phrase "raining cats and dogs" originated in 17th Century England. During heavy downpours of rain, many of these poor animals unfortunately drowned and their bodies would be seen floating in the rain torrents that raced through the streets. The situation gave the appearance that it had literally rained "cats and dogs" and led to the current expression.

The pigmy shrew - a relative of the mole - is the smallest mammal in North America. It weighs 1/14 ounce - less than a dime.

The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people.

The poisonous copperhead snake smells like fresh cut cucumbers.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History houses the world's largest shell collection, some 15 million specimens. A smaller museum in Sanibel, Florida owns a mere 2 million shells and claims to be the worlds only museum devoted solely to mollusks.

The term "dog days" has nothing to do with dogs. It dates back to Roman times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added its heat to that of the sun from July3 to August 11, creating exceptionally high temperatures. The Romans called the period dies caniculares, or "days of the dog."

The turbot fish lays approximately 14 million eggs during its lifetime.

The turkey was named for what was wrongly thought to be its country of origin.

The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.

The viscera of Japanese abalone can harbor a poisonous substance which causes a burning, stinging, prickling and itching over the entire body. It does not manifest itself until exposure to sunlight - if eaten outdoors in sunlight, symptoms occur quickly and suddenly.

The world record frog jump is 33 feet 5.5 inches over the course of 3 consecutive leaps, achieved in May 1977 by a South African sharp-nosed frog called Santjie.

The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons.

The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds.

The world's smallest mammal is the bumblebee bat of Thailand, weighing less than a penny.

There are around 2,600 different species of frogs. They live on every continent except Antarctica.

There are more than 100 million dogs and cats in the United States. Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.

There is no single cat called the panther. The name is commonly applied to the leopard, but it is also used to refer to the puma and the jaguar. A black panther is really a black leopard.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Turkeys originated in North and Central America, and evidence indicates that they have been around for over 10 million years.

Unlike most fish, electric eels cannot get enough oxygen from water. Approximately every five minutes, they must surface to breathe, or they will drown. Unlike most fish, they can swim both backwards and forwards.

Whales and dolphins can literally fall half asleep. Their brain hemispheres alternate sleeping, so the animals can continue to surface and breathe.

When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.

When the Black Death swept across England one theory was that cats caused the plague. Thousands were slaughtered. Ironically, those that kept their cats were less affected, because they kept their houses clear of the real culprits, rats.

Worldwide, goats provide people with more meat and milk than any other domestic animal.

Collection of Animal Facts Is a world population of 6 billion too many? Compare that with animals. There are more than a million animal species. There are 6,000 species of reptiles, 73,000 kinds of spiders, and 3,000 types of lice. For each person there is about 200 million insects. The 4,600 kinds of mammals represent a mere 0,3% of animals and the 9000 kinds of birds only 0,7%. The most numerous bird specie is the red-billed quelea of southern Africa. There are an estimated 100 trillion of them.

Mammals are the only animals with flaps around the ears.

African elephants only have four teeth to chew their food with.

There are about one billion cattle in the world of which 200 million are in India.

A house fly lives only 14 days.

A dog was the first in space and a sheep, a duck and a rooster the first to fly in a hot air balloon.

The Big Five is a group of animals of Africa: cape buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino. The term "Big Five" was coined by hunters who referred to the difficulty in hunting these wild animals because of their ferocity when cornered.

The oldest breed of dog is the Saluki.

The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world.

An ostrich can run up to 70 km/h (43mph).

An annoyed camel will spit at a person.

The world's smallest dog is the Chihuahua, which means "tiny dog in the sky."

Pea crabs (the size of a pea) are the smallest crabs in the world.

75% of wild birds die before they are 6 months old.

The pig is rated the fourth most intelligent animal but are mentioned only twice in the Bible

Sheep are mentioned 45 times and goats 88 times in the Bible. Dogs are mentioned 14 times and lions 89 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned.

Pork is the world's most widely-eaten meat.

In Denmark there are twice as many pigs as people.

Dinosaurs did not eat grass: there weren't any at that time.

The coyote is a member of the dog family and its scientific name, "canis latrans" means barking dog.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 50cm(20 in) tongue.

A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle - a group of geese in the air is a skein.

More animal collective nouns

The South American giant anteater eats more than 30,000 ants a day.

It is impossible to out-swim a shark - sharks reach speeds of 70 km/h (44 mph). Humans can run about 35 km/h (21 mph).

The sailfish is the fastest swimmer, reaching 109 km/h (68 mph).

The slowest fish is the Sea Horse, which moves along at about 0.016 km/h (0.01 mph).

Dolphins can reach 60 km/h (37 mph).

Of the 650 types of leeches, only the Hirudo medicinalis is used for medical treatments.

The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car.

The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant.

The scales of a crocodile are made of ceratin, the same substance that hooves and fingernails are made of.

A crocodile's tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth and cannot move it.

A snail has two pairs of tentacles on its head. One pair is longer than the other and houses the eyes. The shorter pair is used for smelling and feeling its way around.

The heaviest crustacean ever found was a lobster weighing 19 kg (42 lb), caught in 1934.

The largest jellyfish ever caught measured 2,3 m (7'6") across the bell with a tentacle of 36 m (120 ft) long.

The largest giant squid ever recorded was captured in the North Atlantic in 1878. It weighed 4 tons. Its tentacles measured 10 m (35 ft) long.

The giant squid has the biggest eyes of any animal: its eyes measure 40 cm (16 in) in diameter.

Domestic cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.

Sharks are immune to all known diseases.

Sharks and rays also share the same kind of skin: instead of scales, they have small tooth-like spikes called denticles. The spikes are so sharp that shark skin has long been used as sandpaper.

Animals also are either right-handed or left-handed. Polar bears are left-handed - and so is Kermit the Frog.

There are 701 types of pure breed dogs.

There are about 54 million dogs in the US, and Paris is said to have more dogs than people.

Some bird species, usually flightless birds, have only a lower eyelid, whereas pigeons use upper and lower lids to blink.

Fish and insects do not have eyelids - their eyes are protected by a hardened lens.

Flatfish (halibut, flounder, turbot, and sole) hatch like any other "normal" fish. As they grow, they turn sideways and one eye moves around so they have two eyes on the side that faces up.

Measured in straight flight, the spine-tailed swift is the fastest bird. It flies 170 km/h (106 mph). Second fastest is the Frigate, which reaches 150 km/h (94 mph).

Millions of trees are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia, a nation of 17 million people.

New Zealand is home to 4 million people and 70 million sheep.

Emu's and Kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason

An animal epidemic is called a epizootic

Neither rats or horses can vomit.

A sheep, a duck and a rooster were the first animals on a hot air balloon.

A square mile of fertile land has up to 32 million earthworms in it.Reptiles and Amphibians TriviaSnakes can't blink.

A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out

Turtles can breathe through their backsides

A Chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body

A Crocodile's tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth.

Basilisks are often known as Jesus Christ lizards because of their ability to run on water.

Certain Frogs can be frozen solid, thawed out and can still live.

The Horned Lizard squirts blood from its eyes to scare predators.

Salamanders breather through their skin.Insect & Other Creepy Crawlies TriviaDragonfly's average lifespan is just 24 hours and it is nicknamed the Devil's darning Needle.

Butterflies taste with their feet

Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.

Over 90% of all Vietnamese Walking Sticks (those're insects, by the way) are FEMALE. The reason is that they don't need males to reproduce. Each female lays eggs which are already fertile, being clones of herself.

A dragonfly has a lifespan of 4 - 7 weeks.

A species of Australian Dragonfly has been clocked at a speed of 36 m.p.h

A single strand of a Golden spider's web is a s strong as an equivalent piece of steel wire.

Butterflies taste with hind feet.

Caterpillars have around 4000 muscles.

A Slug has 4 noses.

An Ant can lift ten times its own weight.

The Praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.

A cockroach's favourite food is the glue on the back of a stamp.

A locust can eat its own weight in food in one day.

Bees have 5 eyes and Ants have 5 noses.

A snail takes 33 hours to crawl 1 mileMammals & Rodents TriviaCamel's milk does not curdle. A Camel has 3 eyelids.

A giraffe's tongue is dark blue / black

Giraffes have no vocal chords

All polar bears are left-handed

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur

The fingerprints of Koala Bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene

The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint - no two lions have the same pattern of whiskersFish & Sea Creatures TriviaA goldfish has a memory span of three seconds

Wrasse fish - the most senior of the female fishes turns into a male when the solitary male of the group dies.

A shrimp's heart is in their head.

A shrimp has more than a 100 pairs of chromosomes in each cell nucleus.

A barnacle has the largest penis in relation to its own body size.

A scallop has 35 eyes of which all are blue.

During it's lifetime an Oyster can repeatedly change sexes.

A Dolphin sleeps with one eye open.

The Giant Squid has the largest eye of any creature on Earth.

There are Oysters in the Caribbean that can climb trees.

An Electric Eel can produce a shock of 600 volts.

Lobsters can regenerate their legs, claws and antennae.

Lungfish can live fof 4 years outside of water.

A marine catfish can taste with any part of its body.

When a shrimp is first born, it is male, and it gradually evolves to female as it matures.

A baby Platypus is blind for the first 11 weeks of its life.

MammalsDeer cannot eat hay.

A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.

A Geep is a cross between a Goat and a Sheep.

A JackRabbit can jump as high as 15 feet.

A Mole can dig up to 250 feet of tunnel in one night.

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave and of course are the only mammals that can fly.

Bees have 5 eyes but do not have any ears.

Belize is the only country in the world with a Jaguar reserve.

Bulls are colour blind and will usually charge a cape regardless of its colour.

Cats have over 100 vocal sounds while dogs have just 10.

Cattle are the only animals that urinate backwards.

A Blue Whale makes the loudest noise of any creature.

Chimpnazees use more tools than any animal except humans.

A rat can tread water for 3 days

A rat can last longer without water than a Camel.

A female Ferret will die if it goes on heat and cannot find a mate

Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants

Farmers in England are required by law to provide their pigs with toys.

All Porcupines float in water.

A Squirrel cannot contract or carry the rabies virus.

Elephants are the only animals that can't jump

Misc Nature TriviaPearls melt in vinegar

Almonds are members of the peach family

Poison Oak and Poison Ivy are members of the cashew family.

The oldest tree on earth is a 4,500 year old bristlecone pine named Methuselah

Angel Falls in Venezuela is 15 times higher than Niagra Falls.

20,900 gallons of water flow from the Amazon river into the sea each minute

A redwood's roots are only about 5 or 6 feet deep and spread out over about an acre

Carnivorous animals will not eat other animals which have been struck by lightning.

Sound travels a mile in five seconds in the air and a mile in one second under water