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On the surface level, we understand that animals, insects and marine wildlife are, physically, quite different from us. But once you start to look more closely at their behavior and biology, there is a whole world of interesting and unusual parts most of us had no idea about.

Someone asked “What’s a fascinating fact about wildlife that most people are unaware of?” and people shared their best examples. From owl-head movements to the particularities of flamingo dining, get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

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#1

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones There are reports of elephants finding humans sleeping under trees and the elephants think they're dead. People have woken up with elephants gently stroking them with their trunk and in some cases they try to cover them with branches and sticks as a "burial"

Elephants are one of the few animals who mourn their dead and have rituals.

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"That human under that tree, he dead?" "Not sure, let me see if I can find a pulse using my trunk.,"

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#2

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Vultures are really important for the ecosystems they live in, but a lot of vulture species are critically endangered due to human activity. Vultures have stomach acid so powerful that it can destroy things like botulism and anthrax, thus cleaning up the environment when they eat rotting meat that contains those things. There is evidence for a correlation between the drastic decline in India's vulture population and the boom in the stray dog population, since less vultures means there is more food for the dogs to scavenge. This has also sadly led to a rise in rabies which kills many people and animals. Many people find vultures scary, but for the most part they are harmless and we really need to have them around. Please consider supporting vulture conservation projects.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fun fact! Vultures that live in the Everglades National Park have found that they love playing with rubber so much that it's advised to keep a tarp over your car windows or they will rip the rubber rims off. The park provides tarps as well as a rubber playground to keep them occupied. Source: I went there a few years ago, saw the playground, the tarp borrowing bins, and had to chase them off of my car. Honestly, I love knowing they like to play.

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#3

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Owls bob their heads up and down to help improve their depth of perception.

You can try it out yourself. Focus on an object and bob your head. It doesn't work for us, but you do look like an idiot.

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#4

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Raccoons have the most soft, velvety, devilish little hands.

Baby raccoons purr and knead like kittens. Did not know this myself until last spring when a wildlife rehabber posted a call to arms for people to help. (Figured I've raised enough neonatal kittens, my experience would be helpful.)

A ban has been lifted in my state and people are poisoning adult raccoons without considering the babies they are orphaning. Last year I raised and released 11. So far this year I've raised and released 27. I've also officially become a wildlife rehabber. One of the females I raised last year showed back up, babies in tow! Wasn't sure how she'd respond after being away for a bit but she let me check her out and treat her battle wounds.

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#5

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Elephants have a specific warning call that means “human.”.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We have a specific warning call that means "Elephant."

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#6

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Manatees control their buoyancy by farting.

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#7

You can’t cull coyote populations. Through howling they know how many are in their pack and if the number drops the females will respond by having larger litters. Killing coyotes just creates more coyotes.

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#8

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Crows can mimic human voices similar to parrots. I experienced that first hand while hunting on public land. Heard a little boy calling "MOM" "MOM!!" only to realize that the voice came from a crow flying overhead.

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Foxes forever!
Foxes forever!
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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had my neighbor shot at a crow with a bee bee gun and they all avoid there area for a month, smart birds I love them *edit this neighbor is super redneck and hates anything that makes a sound after 9pm, I’ve been feeding the crows as a sorry * second edit I dint make him do it I didn’t have a say in it, I’m just saying that they where smart to avoid the area

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#9

I’ve told this one before, but some bar-tailed godwits (a wading bird) fly from Alaska to Australia non-stop in the longest continuous migration of any bird (maybe any creature).

To do this, they shrink their internal organs so they can pack more fat (for energy) into their body. They’re basically balls of fat when they take off. And when they’re in flight, they shut most of their organs down to devote all energy to flying.

And they’re just medium sized nondescript brown birds that peck around in the mud. I love wading birds, man.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They are cuties especially when they’re all chonky

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#10

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Young goats pick up accents from each other, joining humans, bats, and whales as mammals known to adjust their vocal sounds to fit into a new social group.

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#11

If you put a hamster wheel in the middle of the forest, you'd expect that small creatures would ignore it. They don't. Instead, they absolutely love it! Scientists believe it's because it provides some kind of novel stimulation that hits the core of most animal brains!

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KimTx ‍️
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Someone please set up a hamster wheel and a live camera in a forest somewhere and send me a link. I don't have a forest close enough and I have no idea how to set up said camera/link?

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#12

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Every single whiptail lizards is female. They reproduce by parthenogenesis, a natural form of asexual reproduction.

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#13

Caribou & Reindeer are the same species. Their ankles make a clicking sound when walking. It helps the herd follow each other in snowstorms. My knees make clicking sounds…but that’s just lack of cartilage😕.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a difference between Caribou and Reindeer. Reindeer can fly.

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#14

There is a type of mouse that behaves like a tiny wolf. Members of this species travel in packs, hunt live prey, and even howl. It is called the Grasshopper Mouse, named for one of its primary food sources.

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also if you get bitten by one and survive then every full moon you turn half grasshopper mouse.

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#15

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Opossums brains are about 1/5th the size of other mammals their size. And mostly smooth, so precious and so dumb.
Eponarose:
Amazing Opossum Fact 1: It is extremely rare for them to have rabies!
Amazing Opossum Fact 2: They were used in the development of anti-venom!

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And they’re the biggest eaters of Lyme disease carrying ticks!! They get a complete pass here !

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#16

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones My favourite fact ever: penguins have knees. Will never not baffle me. Knees.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All birds have knees. What we think of as their backwards knees are actually their ankles. The knees are just higher up

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#17

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones There are coyotes in every major city in the USA. If you’re in the US, you’re likely less than 1mi away from one.

Edit: contiguous USA.

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#18

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Flamingos are not naturally pink. They are born grey. But their feathers turn pink because of their diet of shrimp and algae.

IntelligentHippo4245:
To add on to Flamingos, they can lose their color when raising their babies because it’s so intense of an experience.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most humans also consider raising babies to be an intense experience. Most of them also lose at least some coloring. Luckily, most human babies will provide their parents enough coloring to cover every fridge at Lowe's.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance, and I can't imagine it would be called that if they were grey. Would it be a murder of flamingos, like for crows?

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even saying they're a murder would still be too flashy if flamingos were grey. Nope, they'd just be a plain ol' flock. Still alliterative, but dull. 😁

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In theory, if it was possible to change the color of their food, would they change that color?

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, in different parts of the world there are flamingos that are red, bright yellow, and even blue, depending on what is in their diet.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mother flamingos actually nurse their young by producing a milk like substance from their beaks. Their pink color drains from them when they are nursing.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Flamingo's upper jaw moves, not its lower jaw, because it eats with its head upside-down.

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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So is dealing with certain people, hence the gray hair. Right???🙃

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They can also turn blue!

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry, but blue flamingos do not exist. source: https://animal-club.co.uk/do-blue-flamingos-exist/#:~:text=Unfortunately%20this%20does%20not%20mean,from%20crimson%20to%20pale%20pink.

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#19

When a hornet invades a beehive, the bees will swarm it, and raise the heat of their bodies burning the invader to death. This ends with perhaps dozens of the hive's protectors dead, but is seen as worth it to protect the hive and it's inhabitants.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a defense against the Japanese super hornets, correct? The invader dies at 39.5C and the bees would die at 40.0C. So they just slowly cook the hornet to death.

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#20

An opossum's body temperature is too low for rabies to survive in it. They also kill most ticks that try to latch on.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd heard that they were resistant to rabies, but never why. Thanks for that piece of info.

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#21

Penguins mate for life. The male penguins scour the shores for a beautiful stone and then proposes. If the female accepts, they mate for life. Also, the female goes to hunt after the egg is laid while the male watches/sits on eggs.

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#22

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Ants have disinfectant saliva, and some actually treat the wounds of their fellow ants.

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#23

Male platypus have venomous spines on their back feet, one on each side. The pain has been described as unbearably excruciating and can last for months on end. Platypus may look very cute, but never ever pick one up unless you are a trained wildlife carer.

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#24

One fascinating fact about wildlife that often surprises people is that some species of octopuses are known to use tools. They've been observed collecting coconut shell halves and using them as portable shelters.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And they throw things at fish for their protection and amusement.

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#25

Orcas are predators of moose. Moose can swim (and dive quite deep) and orcas have been seen attacking and killing moose in the wild. It's not a common, everyday occurrence. But I think it's metal as f**k.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It occurs often enough that orcas are indeed listed as a natural predator for moose.

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#26

Wild wolves are pretty timid around humans and getting attacked by one is so extremely rare.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tell that to Rockstar games. Damn wolf attacks on Red Dead Redemption are annoying.

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#27

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones A flamingo's head has to be upside down when it eats. This is interesting to know!

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#28

Fungi can help build "wood wide webs" connecting surrounding tree roots in the forest. These "webs" are used as warning systems when a tree is in distress from an attacker and these systems also transfer nutrients and other goods to eachother within the system.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've read that the mycelial network can also stop the flow of nutrients to trees that they're 'mad" at.

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#29

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones The Mayfly's adult lifespan is so short they are born without a mouth.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The mayfly eats during its larval, aquatic stage. The adult form exists only for reproductive purposes.

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#30

Scientists studying sperm whales are ignored/shunned if they wear scuba gear. If they use drones, like submersible ones, the whales leave. If they free dive, no gear, holding their breath about 10-15 feet deep, for a few minutes at a time...

Whales approach within feet of the diver. Close enough a full strength hunting "call" would pulp the human. Close enough the energy from a normal "scan" heats up the divers.

Sometimes, the pod will surround the diver, floating vertically, and swap over to their communication mode.

As James Nestor (look him up on Youtube) says - Getting that close to an animal that can kill you with its voice, when there is a chance that specific whale may be old enough to remember being hunted by humans... is pretty sketchy.

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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait a minute, heat up from a sperm whale scan? Oh I'm diving down this rabbit hole. See you tomorrow. Edit: the only information on this is literally only from this man, that I could find. Turns out he's not actually a scientist, just a journalist writing a book. I'm going to wait until I can find actual research to support these claims. Can anybody find it?

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#31

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Rats have collapsible ribcages - it's why they can fit through such small crevices.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A fun game you can play with your pet rats is to gently loop your forefinger and thumb around their neck and watch them squeeze their entire body through a hole the size of an Australian 20 cent coin. It's amazing. There are claims out there that they can also collapse their skulls, but that's a nonsensical lie.

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#32

Deer will eat human remains. It's known that they are very occasional opportunistic carrion consumers, and this has included film of a deer munching on human remains at a body farm. I guess there's no reason to assume that carrion wouldn't include human remains, but it's just sort of a weird thought, we just don't think of deer like that.

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#33

Bull Sharks can survive in any kind of water. They swim into rivers to have their young because there are fewer predators, hence you hear news stories about sharks in the Mississippi River.

They are also a******s and will bite with very little provocation. IIRC they cause more "attacks" than Great Whites but they're nowhere near as big so they don't do as much damage. They are still the 3rd most dangerous shark in the world behind Tigers and Great Whites.

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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugh, did my post disappear? Well 1945 uss Indianapolis got sunk in the Pacific. Oceanic white tips snacked on the crew for 4 days before they were rescued. Oceanic white tips are the most aggressive sharks in the open water. Google the incident, it's interesting. Edit: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-worst-shark-attack-in-history-25715092/

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#34

Some species of birds can sleep while flying, known as "unihemispheric slow-wave sleep," keeping one hemisphere of their brain awake.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is it whales or dolphins that do that too? I'm obviously not in a look-it-up mood 😒

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#35

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Elephants can’t jump.

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#36

Squid brains are donut-shaped and the digestive tract goes through the hole in the middle.

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Squid can give themselves brain damage if they try to swallow too large a piece of food.

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#37

Buffalo/ American bison only have one lung cavity. They have 2 lungs, but they are together in the same cavity. It's what makes such incredibly powerful dumptrucks of pure muscle so vulnerable to a single gunshot, or bow shot.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm guessing a shot to the lungs. I don't think a shot to their haunches would do much.

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#38

Sharks can "smell" electricity.

They have pores on their snout that can detect electrical fields, and they use this sixth sense to hunt. They are capable of sensing the electrical currents a brain uses to communicate with muscles, and have even been known to chew on underwater electrical cables. It's possible that they can even tell if a creature is feeling calm or panicked this way.

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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I mentioned this in a comment higher up. Its not actually 'smelling' electricity. There is a seperate sensory organ called the ampullae of Lorenzini which can detect electricity. They use this to hunt prey. But it is so sensitive, if you stretched a wire from the US to England across the atlantic and attached a 9 volt battery at each end, every shark in the world could sense it. And this is why they will chew on metal, because metal moving through salt water causes electrolysis, which generates an electrical charge.

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#39

Whale milk is the same consistency as toothpaste.

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LaserBrain
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's because it's so rich in fat, allowing baby whales to gain over 100 kilos per day.

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#40

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Pigeons produce milk.

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UncleJohn3000
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4 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But balancing on that tiny stool is hard on the derriere.

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#41

Hyenas have inside-out vaginas until they're ready to mate. They hang outside the body as a structure sometimes referred to as a false penis. This means that among hyenas, mate selection occurs entirely in the female; they can't be forcibly inseminated the way most animals can be.

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Luis Hernandez Dauajare
Luis Hernandez Dauajare
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fun fact: when making The Lion King, filmmakers realized this. That is why they made Shenzee the leader of the hyenas, and also made her more threatening. Originally it was supposed to be a Banzai, and he was meant to be more comedic.

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#42

The tongue of a woodpecker is longer than it's head, for a couple reasons. The more obvious one is so that it can reach far into the holes it pecks for insects to eat. The less obvious reason is that it cushions the bird's brain so it can peck trees without hurting itself. How does it do this? Because the tongue WRAPS AROUND the brain to keep it from moving! Edit: it's not just the tongue, but the entire bony apparatus which houses the tongue. This section of the skull has soft, spongy sections which do help to protect the brain while pecking

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ZGutr
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Around the brain huh ? Now I feel I understand why humans have such short tongues

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#43

Mountain lions can chirp like a bird to communicate with each other.

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#44

Just how far that twittery little birdie came from. You live in New York and you see a Gray Catbird in the spring and you're like "oh hey buddy, where've you been?"

If the bird could answer it would likely say something like Mexico or Central America where it likes to overwinter. That tiny songbird has been further south than I have!

The migrations a lot of perfectly ordinary looking birds make are wild.

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nomnomborkbork
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Gray catbirds have a wide variety of songs too, more than a mockingbird, in addition to its mewing call that earned it its name.

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#45

Turkeys love pets and have a favorite scritchy spot on their necks.

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#46

The Virginia Opossum has two vaginas and gives birth out of neither.

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

See my post above about the opossum. They have a third vagina that appears just to give birth which then disappears again.

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#47

Ruby throated hummingbirds migrate from Central America and mexico to breed in the eastern US every Spring. A large numbers of them cross the great expance of the gulf of Mexico without stopping (Some over 600 miles!). They migrate to and from their range in waves, so they all don’t get wiped out by a tropical storm..

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#48

Killer whales are a species of dolphins not whales.

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#49

I do work surveying and trapping Mourning Doves in Kansas, so gonna lay some on you:

-Doves mate for life

-Male doves have a rosy underside and female head, while females do not

-Young doves have mottled feathers, and even older juveniles have buffy-tipped ones

-Many doves migrate between August and October

-It is not uncommon to see doves missing toes due to being caught in string and other fibers. Birds usually survive this

-Doves can go through the whole nesting process in under a month

-Doves can literally nest anywhere, though prefer short trees the most

-Doves feed their young a milk-like substance created in their crop as opposed to raw food like most birds

-Doves lay two eggs almost 100% of the time

-Doves usually nest at least a few times a year. Most nests end up being unsuccesful.

-Doves prefer urban areas much more than rural ones.

-They are the most popular game species in the US. Over 10% of the population is shot every year, but they seem to be holding steady.

-Populations have declined by about a third in the Midwest in the last 10 years, hence why I’m working to help my supervisor get information about this.

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Pill Nathan Whitely
Pill Nathan Whitely
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fascinating. Please clarify. "Male doves have a rosy underside and female head, while females do not."

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#50

Polar Bears are classified as marine mammals because they spend so much of their lives at sea.

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#51

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Sharks don't have bones.

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Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Boneless Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Boneless Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Boneless Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo Boneless Shark

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#52

Horses and mice are not able to puke.

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Nika the Great
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s why horse owners have to be really careful! Some girl at the farm I take lessons at fed a peach to a horse, and those are toxic to horses. The horse died :(

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#53

Hummingbird courtship is probably one of the weirdest of any bird. Makes display by diving in U-shaped patterns in front of females while sometimes making noises by rubbing their tail feathers together at the top of their dives. Costa’s Hummingbirds (a species in the southwest US), also splay their purple gorget open in front of the female to look like a weird face octopus. I have seen this irl and it’s one of the weirdest things in nature I have witnessed.

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#54

Most monogamous birds are only socially monogamous. Genetic studies prove again and again that many clutches have multiple paternity. A few exceptions exist, like mute swans. Bearded vultures have a strange diet that is comprised 90% of bones. If they cannot swallow a bone whole, they drop it on a rocky surface to break it. They pick specific rocky places, which they visit often for that. Many aquatic turtles take supplemental oxygen through their cloacas. Komodo dragons don’t have septic bacteria in their bite, they are mildly venomous. However, prey usually dies quickly from blood loss caused by their serrated teeth. King cobras usually stick to the forests and hardly ever bite people. If anything, they help control the populations of many other venomous snakes that commonly bite people. Fire salamanders exhibit intrauterine cannibalism, where the larger larvae will consume the smaller ones. The longer they stay on land without giving birth, the larger but the fewer the offspring will be. Leopard slugs mate hanging from a thread of their own slime, and then drop off. Many classic herbivores like cows, deer, horses or tortoises will eat meat or bones on occasion to supplement missing protein or minerals.

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LaserBrain
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Only socially monogamous"... Sounds like some people I know

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#55

If the flea was the size of a person it could leap over two Empire State buildings stacked on top of one another. Part of of this is astonishing but what is hilarious is that fact that a flea cannot aim where they land because of the wind resistance that’s created by that crazy a*s jump. This means the fleas that caused the black plague were solely because of sheer dumb luck.

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LaserBrain
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think that if a flea were as big as a human, it couldn't jump very high at all.

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#56

The Cuvier's Beaked Whale is the deepest diving mammal. The deepest dive on record is 2,992m (3km or 2mi). They also hold the record for longest breath held by any mammal at 3 hours and 42 minutes.

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#57

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Beetles make up about 1/4 of all animal species.

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Full Name
Full Name
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Am I 1/4 beetle then? *checks body* Oh - it's the arms. I have beetle arms.

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#58

People Share Interesting Wildlife Facts That Not A Lot Of People Know, Here Are The 40 Best Ones Back in the day dragonflies ate flesh, were 3 ft long, and dominated the food chain.

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Manana Man
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'Back in the day' makes me think like about the 1950's or something. In fact they lived in the Carboniferous, about 300 million years ago.

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#59

Killdeer will feign a broken wing if you get too close to their nest/babies. Had this happen just a few days ago. Was on a road I was driving, so followed the parents with my truck and they soon flew off from whence they came once I was far enough from the chicks.

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#60

Most "herbivores" are not exclusively herbivores. And there are animals that drink milk of other species. 
Animals like horses, cows, and deer eat baby birds and rodents to get protein. Animals like antelope and other ungulates eat carrion and will scrape the meat and periosteum off bones for protein. Hippos occasionally eat carcasses. Koalas and Sloths are probably two of the only animals that exclusively eat leaves and don't try to eat insects or meat. Though in captivity sloths enjoy eggs. 


Seabirds will harrass lactating pinnepeds and their young to sneak in to get any spilled or spraying milk, or they wait til they're sleeping and essentially nurse. Bears will kill lactating prey animals/livestock to break into the udders, which while likely for meat they do have access to lap up the milk. .

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T'Mar of Vulcan
T'Mar of Vulcan
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hippos are the most dangerous animal (not insect - that's the mosquito) in Africa (the whole continent). They can run really fast and will k!ll you stone de@d. There was a farmer in Mzansi who adopted a hippo and kept it in a river on his farm. He even used to ride it. People told him they are dangerous and it wasn't a good idea. You know what happened? Yep - it k!lled him.

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#61

Chickens have ear lobes.

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Michael Largey
Michael Largey
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's good that they have ears. Otherwise they'd have to read the other chickens' lips.

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#62

White tailed deer squat when they pee!! I had no idea until I saw it last night driving home with my husband.

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Kraneia The Dancing Dryad
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had a friend in high school who somehow had one as a "pet". He'd have to take her outside to pee before bed (yes they hept her in the house!) yes, they squat.

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#63

Occasionally birds with red feathers that fail to get proper nutrients (either by mutation or naturally) can have their feathers turn orange/yellow. I trap birds for my work and caught a Red-winged Blackbird just a few days ago with orange wings.

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ElfVibratorGlitter
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, I've seen one of those. My friend was convinced it was an Oriole but we looked it up and it was a red winged black bird.

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#64

Cockroaches’ brains reside in their bodies—creepy yet fascinating.

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Luis Hernandez Dauajare
Luis Hernandez Dauajare
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's way they can live without their heads for several weeks. They won't bleed out either, as they do not have large circulatory systems and the wound will just seal off. In the end, the cockroach will die... of starvation.

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#65

Sperm Whales have 2 nostrils. Only one is the blowhole.

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#66

Pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in North America.

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Becky Samuel
Becky Samuel
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4 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugh. Red Dead is very accurate on that countl. Try getting a sample out of one of them.

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#67

Fruit flies have testicles.

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