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Gaia Angel 
ezOP
Posts: 1578
(8/1/04 11:27 am)
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Crazy animal facts
Did you know:
Penquins will stand in a group at the edge of the water, jostling and pushing eachother until on jumps, or is pushed into the water. If He or she is not eaten, then the others jump in for a swim and dinner!!
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Gaia Angel
ezOP
Posts: 1579
(8/1/04 11:31 am)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
Did you know:
White tigers are not a seperate breed of tigers but the result of a genetic mutation.
The bengal tiger often walks backwards intoi water to keep a watchfull eye on its surroundings.
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Gaia Angel
ezOP
Posts: 1580
(8/1/04 11:40 am)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
Did you know:
Elephants are the only animals that can't jump. (They havent met my mom in law!)
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. (though it is not recomended you attempt to show him how! )
A snail can sleep for three years. (They must ALL be mothers!)
Butterflies taste with their feet. (not unlike human infants...)
The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated. (My tax dollars hard at work!)
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, but dogs only have about ten. (Proof that cats must bitch more then dogs)
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (So, my husband is part ostrich...)
All polar bears are left handed. (and painters, artisans musicians....)
On average, people fear spiders more than they do death. ('nuff said)
You are more likely to be killed by a Champagne cork than by a poisonous spider. (which is NO reasons to tip the odds in the spiders favor...and a good reson for pop cap wine!)
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Gaia Angel
ezOP
Posts: 1584
(8/1/04 11:58 am)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
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Ladifaire 
Goddess of the green
Posts: 84
(9/9/04 6:38 am)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
Interesting facts, the one about the pengine certainly grabs my attention. lol here is another elephant fact elephants are the only animals with 4 knees and I know it puzzled me but if you think about it many animals with for legs either dont have knees or they all do not bend the same direction take a goat for example. lol
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Phuridai 
Wyrrdest of the Wyrrd
Posts: 211
(9/9/04 10:54 am)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
Did you know?
The bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps.
Cats can hear ultrasound.
Koala and humans are the only animals with unique fingerprints.
The cheetah is the only cat in the world that cannot retract it's claws.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
doll by Gr8Goddess
Christianity has Pagan DNA. |
Gaia Angel 
ezOP
Posts: 2035
(9/9/04 11:22 am)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
the water bear can be found in virtually any climate....freezeing temprate, dessert....because it can dry out 99% of its body water and go into suspended animation.
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 Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.
95% of cat owners admit they talk to their cats.
A cat can be either right-pawed or left-pawed.
A cat can jump as much as seven times its height.
A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.
A cat has 230 bones in its body. A human only has 206 bones.
A cat has four rows of whiskers.
A cat in a hurry can sprint at about thirty-one miles per hour.
A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.
A cat uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The whiskers act as feelers or antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage.
A cat will almost never meow at another cat. Cats use this sound for humans.
A cat will clean itself with paw and tongue after a dangerous experience or when it has fought with another cat. This is believed to be an attempt by the animal to soothe its nerves by doing something natural and instinctive.
A cat will never break a sweat because it has no sweat glands.
A cat will spend nearly 30% of its life grooming itself.
A cat's arching back is part of a complex body language system, usually associated with feeling threatened. The arch is able to get so high because the cat's spine contains nearly 60 vertebrae which fit loosely together. Humans have only 34 vertebrae.
A cat's brain is more similar to a human's brain than that of a dog.
A cat's ear pivots 180 degrees.
A cat's hearing rates as one of the top in the animal kingdom. Cats can hear sounds as high-pitched as 65 kHz; a human's hearing stops at just 20 kHz.
A cat's heart beats at 110 to 140 beats per minute, twice as fast as a human heart.
A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.
A cat's normal body temperature is 101.5 degrees F (38.6 C).
A cat's sense of taste is keener than a dog's sense of taste.
A cat's tail held high means happiness. A twitching tail is a warning sign, and a tail tucked in close to the body is a sure sign of insecurity.
A cat's tail plays a vital part in the cat's balance and in the "righting reflex" that allows it to land on its feet after falling from a height.
A cat's tongue is scratchy because it's lined with papillae-tiny elevated backwards hooks that help to hold prey in place.
A cat's whiskers, called vibrissae, grow on the cat's face and on the back of its forelegs. The whiskers are thought to be a kind of sensor to help a cat gauge the space it wants to go through.
A female cat can begin mating when she is between 5 and 9 months old.
A fifteen year old cat has probably spent ten years of its life sleeping.
A frightened cat can run at speeds of up to 31 mph, slightly faster than a human sprinter.
A group of adult cats is called a clowder.
A group of kittens is called a kindle.
A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with only one blue eye are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye.
A male cat can begin mating when he is between 7 and 10 months old.
A polecat is not a cat. It is a nocturnal European weasel.
A quarter of cat owners blow dry their cats after bathing them.
Abraham Lincoln loved cats. He had four of them while he lived in the White House. Abraham Lincoln's cat, Tabby, was the first of several White House cats.
According to one legend, the "M" marking on the forehead of the Tabby Cat was created by the prophet Mohammed as he rested his hand lightly on the brow of his favorite cat, a Tabby.
Adult cats with no health problems are in deep sleep 15 percent of their lives. They are in light sleep 50 percent of the time.
After being handled, cats lick themselves to smooth their fur and get rid of the "human" smell. Licking is also thought to produce a calming effect.
Ailurophobia is the fear of cats. Julius Caesar, Henry II, Charles XI, and Napoleon all suffered from this and would nearly faint in the presence of a cat.
All cats are born with blue eyes.
All cats are members of the family Felidea. Interestingly enough, the cat family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families.
Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.
Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.
An adult cat has thirty teeth and around twelve whiskers.
Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth. They also believed that cats were sacred animals.
At night a cat can gather into the extra-large corneas and lenses of its eyes more than six times the amount of light than humans can. Seeing far better than humans do at night time and tending to focus best at a distance of eight to twenty feet makes cats excellent night time hunters.
Black cat superstitions originated in America. In Asia and England, a black cat is considered lucky.
Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion.
Calico cats are nearly always female.
Cardinal Richelieu was so fond of cats that he shared his home with 14 of them. Specially appointed attendants cared for them, and upon his death, the Cardinal left all his worldly wealth to his feline companions.
Cat families usually play best in even numbers. Cats and kittens should be acquired in pairs whenever possible.
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.
Cat urine glows under a black light.
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.
Cats are attracted to automobile antifreeze because of its sweet taste.
Cats are sometimes born with extra toes. This is called polydactyl.
Cats are the only domestic animals that walk directly on their claws, not on their paws. This method of walking is called "digitigrade." When cats scratch furniture, it isn't an act of malice. They are actually tearing off the ragged edges of the sheaths of their talons to expose the new sharp ones beneath.
A dog's whiskers are touch-sensitive hairs called vibrissae. They are found on the muzzle, above the eyes and below the jaws, and can actually sense tiny changes in airflow.
According to a recent survey, the most popular name for a dog is Max. Other popular names include Molly, Sam, Zach, and Maggie.
According to ancient Greek literature, when Odysseus arrived home after an absence of 20 years, disguised as a beggar, the only one to recognize him was his aged dog Argos, who wagged his tail at his master, and then died.
An American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33 percent of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on an answering machine while away.
An estimated 1 million dogs in the United States have been named the primary beneficiary in their owner's will.
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.
Barbara Bush's book about her English Springer Spaniel, Millie's book, was on the bestseller list for 29 weeks. Millie was the most popular "First Dog" in history.
Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog owners in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately 40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year.
Cats have better memories than dogs. Tests conducted by the University of Michigan concluded that while a dogs memory lasts no more than 5 minutes, a cat's can last as long as 16 hours - exceeding even that of monkeys and orangutans.
Cats have more than one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
Cats, not dogs, are the most common pets in America. There are approximately 66 million cats to 58 million dogs, with Parakeets a distant third at 14 million.
Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not sweat by salivating. They sweat through the pads of their feet.
Dachshunds are the smallest breed of dog used for hunting. They are low to the ground, which allows them to enter and maneuver through tunnels easily.
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.
Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible.
Dogs can hear sounds that are too faint for us to hear, and also can hear noises at a much higher frequency than we can. Their hearing is so good that they probably rely more on sound than on sight to navigate their world.
Dogs' eyes have large pupils and a wide field of vision, making them really good at following moving objects. Dogs also see well in fairly low light.
Dogs have far fewer taste buds than people -- probably fewer than 2,000. It is the smell that initially attracts them to a particular food.
Dogs in monuments: The dog is placed at the feet of women in monuments to symbolise affection and fidelity, as a lion is placed at the feet of men to signify courage and magnanimity. Many of the Crusaders are represented with their feet on a dog, to show that they followed the standard of the Lord as faithfully as a dog follows the footsteps of his master.
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.
Each day in the US, animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs and cats.
Every known dog except the chow has a pink tongue - the chow's tongue is jet black.
Every year, $1.5 billion is spent on pet food. This is four times the amount spent on baby food.
For Stephen King's "Cujo" (1983), five St. Bernards were used, one mechanical head, and an actor in a dog costume to play the title character.
French poodles did not originate in France. Poodles were originally used as hunting dogs in Europe. The dogs' thick coats were a hindrance in water and thick brush, so hunters sheared the hindquarters, with cuffs left around the ankles and hips to protect against rheumatism. Each hunter marked his dogs' heads with a ribbon of his own color, allowing groups of hunters to tell their dogs apart.
Inbreeding causes 3 out of every 10 Dalmatian dogs to suffer from hearing disability.
It has been established that people who own pets live longer, have less stress, and have fewer heart attacks.
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.
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.
Marie Antoinette's dog was a spaniel named Thisbe.
Most pet owners (94 percent) say their pet makes them smile more than once a day.
Pekingese dogs were sacred to the emperors of China for more than 2,000 years. They are one of the oldest breeds of dogs in the world.
Prairie dogs are not dogs. A prairie dog is a kind of rodent.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's most famous canine companion was his Scottish Terrier, Fala, who is part of the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C. But during Roosevelt's 12 years and one month as president, 11 dogs lived in the White House. They included a Bullmastiff, two red setters, a retriever, a Bulldog, a Llewellin Setter, a Scotch Terrier, a Great Dane, a Sheepdog, and a German Shepherd who tried to rip the pants off the British Prime Minister.
Researchers studying what dogs like to eat have found that the appetite of pet dogs is affected by the taste, texture and smell of the food, and also by the owners' food preferences, their perception of their pet, and the physical environment in which the dog is eating.
Scientists have discovered that dogs can smell the presence of autism in children.
'Seizure Alert' dogs can alert their owners up to an hour before the onset of an epileptic seizure.
Seventy percent of people sign their pet's name on greeting cards and 58 percent include their pets in family and holiday portraits, according to a survey done by the American Animal Hospital Association.
Small dogs are rapidly gaining popularity, according to American Kennel Club registration statistics. Three toys breeds are among the top 10 in popularity on the most recent list: the Yorkshire Terrier, Chihuahua, and Shih Tzu rank sixth, ninth, and 10th, respectively. A decade ago, no toy breeds were in the top 10.
Some 39 percent of pet owners say they have more photos of their pet than of their spouse or significant other. Only 21 percent say they have more photos of their spouse or significant other than of their pet.
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."
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narshaadha
Moderator
Posts: 415
(9/9/04 12:45 pm)
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Re: Crazy animal facts
Wow, cool info, gaia. Thank you.
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Phuridai
Wyrrdest of the Wyrrd
Posts: 214
(9/10/04 8:47 am)
Reply
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Re: Crazy animal facts
When European settlers arrived in Australia, they saw strange animals hopping around. One man asked an aborigine what those animals were called. The aborigine didn't know so he replied, "Kangaroo!" which in Aborigine, means "I don't know." The settlers thought kangaroo was the animal's name so the name stuck.
Ancient Eqyptians trained Baboons to wait tables!
1740 in France a cow named Cellulose was convicted of witchcraft and publicly hanged.
doll by Gr8Goddess
Christianity has Pagan DNA. |
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