What are some facts about animals that took you by surprise?

[chocovelvetcake]

Are there any animal facts that made you go "what? no way!" I'll go first:

- Turtles can actually feel what's on their shells. I used to believe that turtles couldn't feel anything on their shells, and that their shells were pretty much like shields that they can just take off and put back on. I remember watching graphic video on youtube where there was a turtle with a severely damaged shell (you could even see it's insides), and this nurse was explaining what happened to it.

- Most mammals have what's called covert menstruation, which means the uterine lining is simply reabsorbed back in to the body if no fertilization takes place as opposed to having your uterine lining shed and bleed out, otherwise known as overt menstruation. In fact, humans are one of the few mammals that go through the latter.

- Out of all the species on earth, mayflies have the shortest lifespan out of everyone, with just about a day. I know there's some animals with short lifespans, but I didn't think there were animals with lifespans that short! Can you imagine living your whole life as a mayfly?

- Whenever bats hang upside down, they don't seem to get dizzy from hanging upside down for a long period of time like humans. This is because their one-way valves prevent blood from flowing backwards. Compared to humans, bars are relatively small enough for gravity to not affect how their blood flows through their bodies.

 

[JollyYoshi]

I have a fact that’s more interesting than surprising. Dogs have a dominant paw. And also, it seems it’s 50/50 on the dog’s dominant paw while with humans it seems like dominant hand is around 10/90. That’s quite the difference.

 

[Herbizarre]

Dogs and cats being able to sense if you have body problems like seizures or your blood pressure. It's crazy how a high sense of smell leads to things we wouldn't even think of before it happens

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I got one for all of ya: we humans are distant cousins of these guys.

They're called Tarsiers, and they actually happen to be a member of a sister group of primates to monkeys and apes (including us.)


(And no, they're not lemurs.)

 

[Aulos]

I was kinda shocked to learn that hyenas are much more closely related to felines than canines.

 

[Daren]

Greenland sharks can live a very, very long time.

How long?

There was a shark caught in 2016 who may have been contemporary with William Shakespeare.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I remember being shocked when I first found out the inside of a leatherback sea turtle's mouth......looks like this.

But worry not! Those terrifying-looking spikes are not harmful to anyone-except the turtle's food, that is. They're like a reverse filter- leatherback's swallow a lot of saltwater when they eat, and to get rid of it they vomit it back out. The spikes are to stop the food from being flushed out along with the seawater. Pretty cool, huh?

 

[ToxicWhiskers]

I was in the butterfly house at London Zoo one time, and one of the keepers revealed to me that some butterflies drink dried blood. Freaky!

 

[impervious_gakko42]

one time my bio teacher told us that the average American eats one credit card worth of microplastics per year

I had no idea humans could ingest that much plastic

 

[Princess Viola]

Hydra is a genus of small freshwater organisms that are known for both their regenerative properties (if you were to cut one in half, the 'head' would regrow a new 'foot' and the 'foot' would regrow a new 'head'. It's even been demonstrated that, in some cases, if you were to blend a hydra into a soup of individual cells and then ball these cells up - they'd form a new hydra) and for seemingly being biologically immortal - as they appear to neither die of old age or even age at all.

The only threats that Hydra appear to face outside of laboratories are predators, weather, and disease.

 

[Juliyet]

Due to their lower body heat than most mammals, Opossums are extremely resistant to rabies and rarely contract it.

They're also resistant to a fair amount of different snake venoms, and researchers are studying them in the potential of making an antivenom that could be used to help curb snake bite effects in humans.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

birds are reptiles

 

[CatExe]

There's a species of jellyfish can reset their bodies to an earlier stage whenever they get to old, and can theoretically live forever

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

birds are reptiles

Pretty cool, right??

There's a species of jellyfish can reset their bodies to an earlier stage whenever they get to old, and can theoretically live forever

Yep, the 'ol immortal jellyfish. Amazing, huh? A species that has actually achieved (theoretical) biological immortality!

 

[MelodicCharm]

apparently human bites are particularly at risk of infection, and are one of the most common bites people people seek medical attention for, after dogs and cats. this is due to a particular species of semi-anaerobic bacteria that thrives in our mouths, and thus would also thrive in wounds. interestingly a common method of infection is so-called “fight bites”, when someone’s hand gets pierced by a tooth while punching another person in the face.

 

[toastghost]

carrots aren't good for rabbits, milk isn't good for cats, bamboo isn't really healthy for pandas, grapes are poisonous to a lot of mammals, pandas are notoriously bad at mating and can just. choose not to have a baby? and koalas are stupidly picky and will only eat eucalyptus leaves from a super specific tree.