It’s hard to say what facts about animals we love the most – their cute or beautiful looks, their natural innocence or the emotional reactions that they elicit from us. But whatever the case may be, one of these 30 happy facts about animals is bound to bring a smile to your face.

A lot of these interesting facts also underscore the similarities and emotional connections that people can share with animals, which raises a broader and more intriguing question – what is it about animals that we love so much?

According to scientists at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California at Los Angeles, humans experience an emotional reaction to animals (both cute and dangerous) in an ancient and fundamental part of their brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is involved with emotion, emotional learning, and the formation of memories. So it could be that our appreciation for fun animals stems from an ancient need to evaluate whether these animals were friends or foes. And it could be that they react in just the same way to us.

Let’s leave this question open for now though, as there’s a list of animal trivia and fun facts about animals waiting for you below.

h/t: Distractify

1. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: commons.wikimedia.org

Sea otters hold hands when they sleep to keep from drifting apart.

2. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Irene Mei

Squirrels plant thousands of new trees each year by merely forgetting where they put their acorns.

3. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Brian Whipple

When playing with female puppies, male puppies will often let them win, even if they have a physical advantage.

4. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: TaraDSturm

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

5. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: mare

Cows have best friends.

6. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: telegraph.co.uk

Gentoo penguins propose to their lifemates with a pebble.

7. Happy Animal Facts

Princess Natalie relaxes with Joseph Contreras, one of her caretakers. (Image credits: catster.com)

A prison in Washington pairs up ‘death row’ shelter cats with select inmates as part of a rehabilitation program. It seems to be a pretty incredible thing for both the inmates and the cats.

8. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: o2worldnews.com

Macaques in Japan use coins to buy vending machine snacks.

9. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: thatpanic.com

Norway knighted a penguin.

10. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Cute Baby Animals

In China, killing a Panda is punishable by death.

11. Happy Animal Facts

Spiders can’t fly

12. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: thowra

Sweden has a rabbit show-jumping competition called Kaninhoppning.

13. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Source Media

Pigs’ orgasms last for 30 minutes.

14. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Vitaliy Sokol

Dolphins have names for each other.

15. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: fourteenfoottiger

Puffins mate for life. They make their homes on cliff sides and set aside room for their toilet.

16. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: cbc.ca

A study measuring the effects of music found that cows produce more milk when listening to soothing music. They produce the most when listening to R.E.M’s ‘Everybody Hurts.’

17.Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: wallpaper4me.com

Oysters can change gender depending on which is best for mating.

18. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Lee Fisher

Japanese Macaques make snowballs for fun.

19. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Klaus Wiese

Image credits: Josef Gelernter

The closest relatives to the elephant shrew are actually elephants, not shrews.

20. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Jimmy Leo

A cat version of the corgi exists: the munchkin cat.

21. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: absencesix

There is a program that makes prison inmates responsible for training and raising seeing-eye dogs. Many reported that they felt like they were making amends for their past actions by working with the puppies.

22. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Georgina Gomez

Seahorses mate for life, and when they travel, they hold each others’ tails.

23. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: caryn74

Before chicks hatch, they can communicate with each other and their mother through a system of sounds.

24. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Elke Vogelsang

Dogs’ nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints and can be used to identify them.

25. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Takashi Murai

Turritopsis nutricula Immortal jellyfish is the only species known to live forever.

26. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Lauri Tammik

Long-time bird watcher and nature writer Candace Savage has observed that crows are so intelligent they can play pranks on each other.

27. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Chris Spracklen

Butterflies taste with their feet.

28. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: Jean-Claude Sch.

There have been studies that show that goats, like us, have accents.

29. Happy Animal Facts

Image credits: pensivesquirrel.wordpress.com

Image credits: Ken Yuel

Squirrels will adopt other squirrels’ babies if they are abandoned.

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