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When Nature Gets Weird: 50 Odd Facts That May Leave You Looking At The World Differently
Most of us learned about nature and animals in school. But as we step outside the four walls of those classrooms, we realize that the world around us is much more intricate and fascinating than what we’ve read in science textbooks.
For today, we have a bunch of random yet interesting facts for you to digest. There’s a good chance you’re learning about many of these for the first time, which is always fun.
Whether it’s about a pigeon’s magnetic sense of direction or how trees can communicate with each other, these pieces of trivia can be excellent conversation starters for your next dinner party.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
African Buffaloes Make Decisions By Voting
Turns out, Democracy isn’t just a human behavior. Animals take part in it as well! The African buffalo is one of the animals most well-known for using a voting tactic to make travel decisions. African buffalo herds actually use a form of voting when trying to decide which direction to travel in. One at a time, adult females will stand up and look in a certain direction before sitting down. Whichever direction gets the most amount of looks is typically where the herd travels. Interestingly, if the vote is divided, the herd will actually split up temporarily. Only the adult females are allowed a vote, regardless of social status within the herd.
UKGrandad 11 months ago
To the people who downvoted me on yesterday's historical facts article because I pointed out that America has bison, not buffalo....THIS IS WHAT A BUFFALO LOOKS LIKE.
Spark 11 months ago
And I'd rather vote for the buffalo than the orange one.
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BrunoVI 11 months ago
Yeah, but I think this is less like voting and more like "Dude, let's go to The Four Courts; O'Shea's is gonna be such a sausage party." Specifically, if the "vote" is close, everyone just does what they want.
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Fat Harry (Oi / You) 11 months ago
Yeah, would be foolish to let the children have a say ;)
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RELATED:
#2
Reindeer Eyeballs Turn Blue In Winter To Help Them See At Lower Light Levels. (They're Golden-Colored In Summer.) No Other Mammals Are Known To Have This Ability
Nils Skirnir 11 months ago
Humans with blue eyes, particularly light blue, have better night vision than folks with brown eyes
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Marlowe Fitzpatrik 11 months ago
Yeah, but that's not a reindeer! It's a fallow deer - and their eyes stay the same color in winter
#3
Bats Save Billions Of Dollars A Year
Bats tend to get a bad rap. The truth is, they gobble up lots of troublesome insects. In fact, they're so good at keeping pests away from food crops that they save U.S. farmers alone at least $3.7 billion on pesticides every year. So bats are actually a significant factor in the U.S. agricultural economy.
Remi Flynne 11 months ago
We have a CCTV system. the cameras attract the insects, the local bats swoop around the cameras eating the insects giving us a wonderful twilight display of flying elegance. Love watching them.
Pyla 11 months ago
These are fruit bats. They are always getting caught up in the tree netting that people put over their fruit trees because it's too large a gauge of netting. They get catastrophic injuries. If you are in Australia, please use the more fine netting. They are beautiful animals, very sweet. Megabattie and Batzilla on the socials do rescues. It's tough sometimes, but they are heroes
Libstak 11 months ago
Yes but dont let them bite you they carry Hunta or Nile River Virus, can remember which. Both can be fatal to mammals though
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Becky Samuel 11 months ago
Except that this picture (at time of posting) is of a fruit bat. It's literally eating fruit in the pic.
glowworm2 11 months ago
I'll let it slide right now because fruit bats are super cute.
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Since this list contains odd facts about nature and animals, here’s one about a frog that can glide through the air. If you haven’t heard about the Wallace’s flying frog, it is worth checking out.
This breed of amphibian has two pairs of webbed feet, which allows it to have a bit of hang time. It can even adjust mid-flight and change directions.
#4
In High Temperatures, Nectar Ferments, Causing Bees To Become Drunk. Their Hive Won't Let Them Back In Until They've Sobered
mandy the capibara 11 months ago
We have a load of fruit trees, and the shitfaced drunk wasps, bees and birds when they eat overripe fruit is quite funny
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BeesEelsAndPups 11 months ago
Also, if you have hummingbird feeders, make sure you change the fluid at least every 48 hours, as that fluid also ferments.
Nikki Gross 11 months ago
I didn't know that and actually, that explains a lot. BTW squirrels will get into ANYTHING, including hummingbird feeders. Larry, Moe and Curly had their names for a reason! I wish Mom was still alive, because she would die laughing at this. 😂
Load More Replies... Jenka666 11 months ago
I think they also get ‘beaten up’ but not 100% sure (source is Ricky Gervais podcast 🤷🏼♀️)
Littlemiss 11 months ago
I'm pretty sure they do, the hive doesn't like drunk bees.
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pug nose curly tail 11 months ago
"Last thing we need is drunk Bob effing up the honeycomb like last time."
Doodles1983 11 months ago (edited)
To keep honey booze free. Bees are the ultimate party poopers!
#5
Orangutans Self-Medicate
A Sumatran Orangutan in Indonesia has been observed healing a nasty wound on its face by making a paste from a native plant known to locals as having healing properties. The primate chewed the stems and leaves of the Akar Kuning plant (Fibraurea tinctoria), a type of liana vine, and repeatedly spread the juice and shredded leaves on his open wound over a number of days.
panther 11 months ago
There are probably fewer flat-earthers among them as well.
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BeesEelsAndPups 11 months ago
Parrots and Corvids are also known to self-medicate as well. They are known to eat certain kinds of plants with anti-parasitic properties, which have no nutritional value otherwise.
Ewa M 11 months ago
I think all wild animals (and wild humans probably too) self medicate. At least a big part of them
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Matthew Savestheworld 11 months ago
When I read the title "self medicate" I just pictured them drinking a lot of martinis
#6
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
Seán Baron 11 months ago
You can add cows to this as well. It’s well documented that English cows go “Moo”, whilst French cows go “Le Moo”. I know, I’ve heard them.
Remi Flynne 11 months ago
We had a Charolais bull once... none of the cows udderstood him.
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Nuku Nyara 11 months ago
Dogs definitely can change their accent. Watch the video short of the Italian husky. So funny 🤣
Nils Skirnir 11 months ago
I was born in the US South and lived there for a number of years, but moved north and never returned to the South, except for short visits. My accent disappeared and was replaced by a Philadelphia one. But whenever I visit South Carolina, my old accent comes back
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ElfVibratorGlitter 11 months ago
I thought I had read that cats also have "accents" depending on their owners? Maybe not...
Vessa J 11 months ago
Had a brilliant male cream and tan cat who begged to go outside for weeks. One day he changed the pitch of his voice to get me to let him out! Quite a character he was. ❤️
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Ozymandias73 11 months ago
There's a Youtube video showing the different sounds of roosters from around the world when the "cockadoodledo". They're all different
Here’s a fun fact about snakes: most have a slow metabolism, so they rarely eat. Pythons and vipers can go months without eating or moving from one spot.
Their bodies can also store energy for long periods, allowing them to survive without having a meal. Talk about taking intermittent fasting to an entirely new level.
#7
Desert Foxes Use Their Big Ears To Keep Cool
Desert foxes, especially the tiny Fennec Fox, have really big ears. But these ears aren’t just good for hearing. They help the foxes stay cool in the hot desert. The large ears act like natural air conditioners, releasing heat and keeping the foxes comfortable in the scorching sun.
Deborah 11 months ago
What does IIRC mean? Elephant ears perform the same function, too.
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#8
Happy Guinea Pigs Pop Like Popcorn
When a guinea pig, particularly a baby guinea pig, gets excited, it just can't hold that feeling in. It pushes off from all four feet and hops straight up in the air, looking like a kernel of popcorn in a microwave.
Guinea pigs aren't the only animals that popcorn, as this behavior is called. Gazelles will do something similar to ward off predators, and even horses have been known to popcorn on occasion.
Disgruntled Panda 11 months ago
It's the cutest thing! If you need a little happiness top-up, go and watch some piggy popcorning videos!
Blue Bunny of Happiness 11 months ago
Bunnies do something similar, except they often kick out their back feet whilst doing so. It’s called binkying. One of mine does the vertical take off bit then flips round 180 degrees, landing with his head where his bum was. It’s incredibly cute!
marianne eliza 11 months ago
My guinea pig favorite is "WEEk week week" every time I pull a plastic produce bag out of the fridge.
Hoi-Polloi 11 months ago
I learned it as "stotting". Of the three terms, not sure which one I like best, but am leaning toward "popcorning" right now!
Load More Replies... Remi Flynne 11 months ago
Kids (the goat variety), absolutely! They're hiliarious.
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Pernille 11 months ago
I have a horse that is particularly prone to popcorning, he also loves going out for a hack towards the lake. The dirt on the path to the lake is not very tasty,so these days I ride another horse and let's him "pop" along at liberty.
Catlady6000 11 months ago
We used to have a dog that would do this. It was awesome, couldn't stay sad around her!
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Dusty's mom 11 months ago
It's hilarious when cats do it, usually when they're surprised. That vertical liftoff can produce real altitude! There's some good ones here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqN1r1o-Rvs
Yvonne Dauwalder Balsiger 11 months ago
TIL that to popcorn is a verb describing an absolutely adorable behavior 🥰🥰🥰
#9
Camels' Humps Are Made Up Of Fat, Not Water
It's time that the world knew the truth. While you probably didn't think those camel humps were beverage coolers, you might have imagined that all the water that a camel drinks—up to 53 gallons in three minutes—has to go somewhere. And it does, but it's not in its humps. The water stays in the camel's stomach or bloodstream.
Those humps are actually storing fat, which is the camel's energy source when food is scarce. Since camels live in hot environments, they don't want all that fat insulating and overheating their organs, so it's stored in natural "backpacks" instead.
Nicky 11 months ago
A prehistoric camel femur was found in the Artic and scientists learned that camels' humps protected these animals in extreme cold. There's a great Ted Talk on it!
FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
They thrive in Mongolia which is as harsh as much of the Arctic.
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LukewarmSoymilk 11 months ago
I've heard about that fact before, but only now I'm wondering how such a camel hump feels.
LizzieBoredom 11 months ago
It feels a little self- conscious but it's going to try Ozempic.
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Sophia Athene 11 months ago
Spent a little time in Waco, Texas. A camel skeleton was found amongst a herd of Mammoths. Researchers say the camel was at a higher risk of dying from predators and "hid" with Mammoths and they treated him like a pet dog. The reason for a herd dying together is sad, so don't look it up unless you're ok to handle it.
Rich Black 11 months ago
The picture shown is a bactrian camel.. It lives on the frozen Mongolian tundra.
Glix Drap 11 months ago
Reminds me of an old joke. Man is watering a camel in a oasis where it is a long way to the next one. He casually walks up behind the camel with 2 bricks in his hand and slams them together with the camel's nads in the middle. The camel immediately sucks up an extra 20 gallons of water. A passerby is integrated and asks the camel owner if it hurts. "Only if you get your thumbs caught between the bricks", is the reply.
Numerous studies have established a connection between humans and chimpanzees. The most glaring one so far is the penchant for consuming alcohol and getting inebriated.
Researchers found that chimps are fond of soaking palm wine in their mouths using leaves, leading to the development of the “drunken monkey” hypothesis. The theory suggests that alcohol consumption dates back to millions of years ago, through humanity’s closest living relatives.
#10
A Single Strand Of Spider Silk Is Thinner Than A Human Hair But Also Five Times Stronger Than Steel Of The Same Width. A Rope Just 2 Inches Thick Could Reportedly Stop A Boeing 747
Schmebulock 11 months ago
This has been known for a long time. When do we get our spider silk clothes and stuff?
#11
Male Gentoo And Adelie Penguins "Propose" To Females By Giving Them A Pebble
These are precious because the penguins use them to build their nests, and they can be hard to find along the barren Antarctic shoreline. If the female accepts the pebble, the pair bonds and mates for life.
Agfox 11 months ago
"...[pebbles] can be hard to find along the barren Antarctic shoreline." Looks at photo...hmmmm!
Disgruntled Panda 11 months ago
Those are all used proposal pebbles though. Can't use a second-hand pebble, it's viewed as extreme tacky in penguin culture and will be the source of much ridicule: "Look! There goes Used-Pebble-Pete"
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Michael Largey 11 months ago
Hard to imagine a proposal ritual so idiotic that it uses a stone.
Alberto Cevallos 11 months ago
Humans too.. they called those peebles "diamondiums" ..or something like that...
Rich Black 11 months ago
It doesn't look like pebbles are "hard to find" in that picture. Check your sources, please.
Kelly H. Wilder 11 months ago
I learned this as a kid from a movie, The Pebble and the Penguin. It has a fantastic soundtrack!
Tabitha 11 months ago
Returning to the same partner season after season, and staying with them exclusively for each full season, sounds close enough to mating for life to me. It’s more than some humans ever have. You don’t have to be in the same room 24/7/365 to be a couple for life. But always seeking the same person out until you die sounds like a strong commitment.
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A Tiger's Skin Also Has Stripes
Beneath a tiger's fur, the animal's skin is striped as well. Although shaving a tiger is not recommended, if you were to do so, you would see dark and light stripes in the same pattern as its fur.
Just as some men have a very visible "five o'clock shadow" where their beards grow, the dark hair follicles of a tiger are easily distinguished from the light ones on its skin. Snow leopards and other big cats also have skin markings to match their fur.
Robert T 11 months ago
Shaving a concious tiger is not recommended. Neither is sticking around when he wakes up after being shaved. ;-)
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benstella 11 months ago
So do cats! When we had our female tabby fixed you could see her striped skin where they'd shaved it back!
Deborah 11 months ago
My dog's skin is pink under her white fur and dark under her black fur.
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Roni Stone 11 months ago
This is the exact same pose Ms. Meeps uses when she's laying on one of my hoodies. I call this the "just *try* to take it back" pose.
Paulina 11 months ago
I thought this is true for most mammals? 🤔 Zebras are stripe skinned too, cats, dogs...
Nikki Gross 11 months ago
Am I the only one looking at that Tiger's glare? Between his eye's and paws, I would be using a telephoto lens, because that kitty does NOT look happy in that picture.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 11 months ago
neither would I, if you were talking about shaving me... ;-)
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April Pickett 11 months ago
I understand that most animals with patterns in their fur also have patterns on their skin
Lions may be the kings of the jungle, but for most wild animals, humans are still the top apex predators on the planet. A paper published in Current Biology revealed that the fear of humans “significantly exceeded” the fear of lions in the savanna mammal community.
However, it’s not entirely a good thing. As University of Western Ontario biology professor Liana Zanette tells The Guardian, the pervasiveness of the fear of humans may affect the overall food chain, which may have a worldwide environmental impact.
#13
Elephants "Never" Forget
Have you ever heard the phrase, “memory like an elephant?” It turns out that elephants actually do have a better memory than most living things.
All mammals, including humans, have four different lobes in their cortex: occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal lobes. All four of these lobes play a key role in the functioning of our brain. From language acquisition to processing auditory information, each lobe is crucial.
Elephants actually have a larger and denser temporal lobe, comparatively. The temporal lobe is commonly associated with memory acquisition, allowing elephants to have an incredible memory.
sbj 11 months ago
I love the fact I heard about elephants that they apparently find us humans cute
Becky Samuel 11 months ago
Unfortunately there is no evidence that this is true. Someone made it up and it stuck because people like to believe it.
Load More Replies... ILoveMySon 11 months ago (edited)
At this point, I am beginning to think all animals have better memories than me.
#14
The Loudest Animal In The World Is A Shrimp
Ready for another mind-blowing fact about nature? Well, one of the loudest animals in the world is a shrimp that is just 2cm long. The Pistol Shrimp can snap its claw so fast that it can be used as a sonic weapon that it uses to stun prey, before eating them.
As the claw snaps shut, it fires a blast of bubbles. As the bubbles collapse, they produce a sonic blast that’s so loud it can even disrupt the sonic transmissions of submarines. The imploding bubbles also momentarily generate temperatures almost as hot as the sun. The sonic blast stuns the prey, allowing the tiny shrimp to feast without having to engage in a fight. It’s a good reminder that small can be mighty.
Unemployed Panda 11 months ago
Odontodactylus scyllarus, also known as the peacock mantis shrimp.
Mr.Mister 11 months ago
Thats the one who punches its prey. And they are way bigger than 2cm
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LukewarmSoymilk 11 months ago
It's not just one shrimp that does this, but the entire family of Alpheidae which more than 620 species belong to. :)
Karl der Große 11 months ago
It is generally listed as the second loudest animal on earth, after the sperm whale.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 11 months ago
One of my dnd players made a homebrew shrimp race so he could have a shrimp gunslinger. He called it the pistol shrimp.
#15
Crows Remember Faces
Researchers have found that crows can recognise individual human faces. It is believed that crows learn to recognise threatening humans from both their parents and others in their flock.
Ornithologists believe this gives corvids the evolutionary edge. One researcher, Dr Marzluff said “If you can learn who to avoid and who to seek out, that’s a lot easier than continually getting hurt. I think it allows these animals to survive with us and take advantage of us in a much safer, more effective way.”
sbj 11 months ago
I made the mistake of feeding the crows in the garden outside my workplace recently and now every time I leave the building it seems I'm their bestie
BarkingSquirell 11 months ago
I can think of worse friends. There was an office building, though, where a crows nest was. The area had to been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape as they kept dive-bombing people's heads.
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Remi Flynne 11 months ago
I've rescued a few injured birds, hope the crow family ones let them all know!
Load More Replies... Becky Samuel 11 months ago
I find it fascinating that crows can recognise individual humans with apparent ease, and yet even the most dedicated crow researchers cannot recognise individual crows without marking them.
Michelle C 11 months ago
Down to the grandchildren can hold the memories of their elders. If you are good to a crow, you can expect its grandchildren to like you. If you’re unkind, they will teach their children and grandchildren to hate you.
Roni Stone 11 months ago
My German shepherd rescued a fallen nestling crow. We had no idea how to care for it, but somehow it fought to thrive and grow. Zeke, as we called it, became besties with our GS and a pet pig I had. They all loved to play tug of war with heavy twine. A couple of years and Zeke disappeared, only to return a few years later. At least I think it was Zeke. tl:dr Crows are freaking great.
Now, let’s shift the focus to you, readers. What weird yet fascinating animal facts do you know? Share them in the comments section below!
#16
Squirrels Plant Thousands Of Trees Each Year
Squirrels help the environment by planting trees without even realizing it. They bury nuts, which they sometimes forget to retrieve. These forgotten nuts then grow into new trees, aiding in forest growth.
ElfVibratorGlitter 11 months ago
I actually grew peanuts one year. Derpy squirrels planted a bunch and they grew. Kinda cool.
Fraxinus excelsior 11 months ago
I've probably had a dozen Hazel saplings and 2 oaks grown for me in my garden by squirrels, I've dug up the hazels and repotted them and given them away free to anyone who walks past my house, got this year's to do.
BarkingSquirell 11 months ago
I watched a documentary that debunked this theory. They chose an area they can form a triangle in so they won't forget.
Kimberly Bailey 11 months ago
I’ve had to replant two black walnut trees because the squirrels forgot they buried them there in my flower bed lol! My husband brings the black walnuts home for them from his machine shop a few times a year as a treat.
#17
Donkeys Aren't Waterproof
They are not like other equines, and are less able to repel rain than horses because they have less oil in their coats. This is thought to be because donkeys are descendants of the African Wild A*s, whose natural environments are the hot, dry semi-desert and mountainous climates of Africa and the Middle East - not damp wet weather.
Tabitha 11 months ago
Guess the solution is to remember to wipe your a*s when it’s wet. (Couldn’t resist. I’ll see myself out now.)
FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
Their fur might not retain heat when wet, but donkeys don't dissolve in the rain. They are definitely waterproof. Was this fact supposed to be rainwater reaches the skin of a donkey even through it's fur? Please don't tell me someone thinks the water dripping off the bottom of the donkey went straight through!
Remi Flynne 11 months ago
You haven't noticed how quickly they expand and get soggy? I always had to wring my donkeys out at night otherwise they'd drip on the floor for hours. 😜
Load More Replies... Blue Bunny of Happiness 11 months ago
Years ago, my ex stroked a donkey on the nose when we were in the New Forest. PSA donkey noses get filthy!
Warren Peece 11 months ago
I can believe donkeys are not waterproof. I saw a donkey that was leaking. Donkey-678...2e3317.jpg 
#18
Cows K*ll More People Than Sharks
Hard to believe, but true. Sharks k*ll an average of 5 people per year while cows k*ll an average of 22 people per year. In fact, humans are more deadly to sharks than they are to humans. Humans k*ll about 100 million sharks per year!
PirateOctopus 11 months ago
Humans kill 328.5million cows per year, so for every 15 million cows killed, a cow will kill a human once. For sharks, it’s one human killed per 20 million sharks, so the cows are taking revenge on us at a greater rate aswell!
Spark 11 months ago
Seems we're far superior at killing. The cows' "revenge" is still pretty mild.
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Auntriarch 11 months ago
The day before yesterday BP claimed that humans kïll 10 million sharks a year, the last 48 hours must have been wild...
Marianne 11 months ago
It is worth mentioning though that we have far more close contact with cows than with sharks. If it was customary to keep sharks as livestock, this statistic would look a lot different.
Bookworm 11 months ago
This. Context is everything. In much the same vein, there's plenty of extremely venomous snakes that don't make the 'world's deadliest' lists because they're not very aggressive and/or they live in remote places with not many people.
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Aileen Grist 11 months ago
In 2020 humans killed - for food - 232.8 million cows - this doesn't include baby male cows killed on dairy farms because they won't grow up to produce milk. In 2023 it was estimated that 900,000 cows were killed every day
XenoMurph 11 months ago
Even if humanity became vegetarian overnight, our footprint is still so incredibly harmful. Domestic cats kill over 50 million birds in the UK every year. Nature is cruel and bloody, but humanity is so ubiquitous, even our little friends have become a menace.
Load More Replies... veirdbuttrue 11 months ago
Yeah. We need to stop the slaughter. Jaws did sharks no favours for decades.
Nicole Weymann 11 months ago
I think by now the far bigger problem is finning. The fins are cut off the living sharks, and the remaining 90% of the animal is dropped back to the sea to die a painful and slow death. The resultant harvest is made into soup.
Load More Replies... BarkingSquirell 11 months ago
Humans are often listed the most murderous animals on earth. Second are mosquitoes.
XenoMurph 11 months ago
I bet spiders or birds eat more individual creatures than humans do.
Load More Replies... KatSaidWhat 11 months ago
I have doubts about that figure but shark meat is a delicacy in certain countries.
Load More Replies... #19
There Are Animals That Can Live Forever. Well, Sort-Of
Immortal jellyfish, along with at least five other jellyfish species, dodge death by hitting rewind. Even after a dead medusa has collapsed into a pile of mush, its cells can grow into polyps. It's like a fragment of butterfly wing turning into a caterpillar.
Immortal jellyfish can still die, from predation and disease, but their regenerating abilities make them tough and successful.
Silly Dragon 11 months ago (edited)
First thought that came to my mind, the earth would be more unliveable from overcrowded population at the light speed rate. We already live in one, imagine if everyone was immortal and still be able to procreate. Edit: spelling
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Major Harris 11 months ago
there is a movie from 1986 about immortal humans who could only die by decapitation. makes me wonder if there are jellyfish swimming around with swords! LOL!
Breadcrumb. 11 months ago
Nah they'd make the "jellyfish" games. Kill us off to control the population. Only the rich can live forever
The Big Bad 11 months ago
I think crocodiles have the same kind of "immortality". If they don't get sick or murdered or something, they can go on forever.
#20
Trees Can Fight Back
Believe or not, if there’s a threat, trees don’t always allow it to harm them. In fact, sometimes, trees fight back. Now, it would be a little terrifying if trees fought back the way the apple trees do in Wizard of Oz. Thankfully, you won’t encounter any apple-throwing trees in the near future. Trees actually protect themselves in a much more subtle way.
If an insect attacks a tree, it will fight back. Trees can flood their leaves with chemicals called phenolics, helping to deter any pests that may cause harm to the tree. They also have protective structures and processes that help protect them from disease, similar to our immune system.
Ace 11 months ago
What's _really_ interesting is the way that one tree being attacked can communicate with others around it so that they can produce the deterrent chemicals before they're attacked themselves.
SheamusFanFrom1987 11 months ago (edited)
Let's just hope we don't get to the point where the trees are thinking "The Last Of Us" style retaliation...
Tobias Reaper 11 months ago
lets hope they dont get like the whomping willow in Harry potter imagine just walking down the street and a tree decks you imagine trying to explain that one.
Dusty's mom 11 months ago
Would that ash trees could repel the emerald ash borer, or that American chestnut trees could fight the blight.
Moisés Tomás Rubio 11 months ago
Known trees as walnut (Juglans regia) and fig tree (Ficus carica) produce some kind of gaz, making dangerous to sleep under its shadow, you can feel dizzy afterwards. Some people say that if you have to rest near one of those trees, you must break a little branch.
Kat 11 months ago
Fenced in antelope can die from this ... If the enclosure has acacia trees and they start eating on one, it will send a distress signal and all other acacias downwind will start producing toxins. Because the antelope are fenced in, they can't wander off and eat from different trees ...
#21
Snow Leopard's Paws Act As Natural Snowshoes
The wide, fur-covered paws of a snow leopard serve as natural snowshoes, helping to distribute its weight over soft snow and protect it from the cold.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 11 months ago
I would LOVE to pat a snow leopard's tummy fur. On my gravestone: ''Was totally worth it''.
Crystal M 11 months ago
Same, any big cat or bear for that matter. Very friend shaped.
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Foxglove🇮🇪 11 months ago
They also have the longest tails in the cat family, which they curl around themselves when they sleep, covering their mouth and nose which warms the air a little as they breathe.
#22
The Amphibian That Can Regrow Any Of Its Limbs
Salamanders have the ability to regrow limbs that they lose within weeks. According to medium.com, when a salamander loses a limb, the wound gets sealed with a blood clot like a human's does. This is where the human experience begins to differ from the salamander's. A clump of stem cells called a blastema forms beneath the surface of the wound. Impressively, these stem cells multiplies and recreates the missing limb. These cells convert into bone cells, skin cells, and muscle cells in order to create a perfect duplicate.
Based on the levels of certain cells, vitamins, or acids available, the salamander can determine how much of the limb needs to be regrown.
LukewarmSoymilk 11 months ago
Fascinating! I wonder if regrowing a limb shortens their lifespan though.
XenoMurph 11 months ago
It's just a form of healing. If I get more paper cuts in my life, will my life expectancy be shorter than another person's?
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Show thyself 11 months ago
The duplicate-limp isn't neccessarily a "perfect" one. Various influences - mostly external - can lead to stress and hormonal imbalances which might lead to imperfect new limbs (wrong length, missing parts,...). My foster-axolotl has a twisted front leg. He was under a lot of stress while it regrew, as he was kept with too many others in a small, unkempt space. Now his right front leg is so twisted that his thumb is permanently pointing backwards and his palm is pointing outwards.
Spirited7Wolf 11 months ago
If you think that’s cool, the flatworm can regrow any part of its body, including its head! Seriously, if you decapitate one, the head will grow a new body, and the body will grow a new head! Nature is awesome :D
Bi.Felicia 11 months ago
So technically, if you think you have killed a flatworm, by decapitating it, you really have made them multiply, into 2 flatworms??
Load More Replies... #23
Bees Dance To Communicate
It’s hard to think bees could get more interesting, but turns out, they can! Just like many other species, bees communicate with one another. They live in a hive together and must all work together, so communication is certainly key. However, what sets bees apart from other species is that they actually communicate by dancing!
Bees have two different dance moves that allow them to show other bees where flowers are located. One bee will dance while the others watch to learn which direction they can find the flower patch in.
Deborah 11 months ago
Some of these facts are pretty well known to nature-loving people, and those with curious minds. But it must be wonderful to think about them in the first place and then do the observation to see if it's so.
Tucker Cahooter 11 months ago
Combined with the fact listed earlier that they can also get drunk, there must be a lot of "drunk uncle dancing at a wedding" going on in the bee world
BradGfromDaBoo 11 months ago
and if a bee comes home drunk they're not allowed in until they're sober
#24
Platypi Can Sweat Milk
To be fair, very few things about platypi aren’t weird. These Australian mammals are part of a mostly-extinct group of mammals known as monotremes that have some un-mammalish habits. For example, laying eggs! However, like other good mammal mothers, platypi do care for their young.
Instead of feeding their babies through a well-developed teat or nipple like other mammals, platypi secrete milk more diffusely. In other words, they “sweat” out the milk from mammary glands. The result? Milk sort of oozes from a region of their skin, which the young platypi (sometimes called puggles) can lap up.
Livingwithcfs 11 months ago
platypus are definitely an animal made up from spare parts after consuming a few brews
BrunoVI 11 months ago
In fact, their discoverer was accused of having done just that when he returned to England with a taxidermied specimen.
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Smeghead Tribble Down Under 11 months ago
The first platypus carcass was sent to Britain in the 1800s for study, and they were basically like, ''Steve, WTF? Why did you send us this prank creature you sewed together from random animal bits? Stop faffing about and be serious!'' True story.
Bookworm 11 months ago
To be fair, at the time there was something of a tradition of sailors sewing together fish and monkeys to make a 'mermaid' and selling them to the gullible, so it wasn't unreasonable to assume there were similar shenanigans going on.
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Major Harris 11 months ago
robin williams- "platypus is proof that god does d***s. simulates a puff, "okay, okay, let's take a beaver, and give it a duck's bill. now, we will make it a mammal, but, it lays eggs! what? f--k -ff! i'm god! what are you going to do?"
Toothless Feline 11 months ago
Considering that mammary glands in all mammals are modified sweat glands, it makes sense that a branch of mammals could have milk-producing glands in less discrete locations. The monotremes probably split off from other mammals before mammary glands had reached their more advanced form.
HardBoiledBlonde 11 months ago
I highly recommend the PBS Documentary, "The Platypus Guardian." It is amazing and worthy of your time and attention.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 11 months ago
The male ones have a venomous spur, yes. Which makes them the only venomous (semi)mammal in the world (on top of being the only semi-mammal with a bill)
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Angel Winward 11 months ago
To be fair, the cells that produce milk in mammals are the same type of cells that produce sweat. So we're all "sweating" milk, just all of us other mammals have ducts to direct the milk.
Mr. Toast 11 months ago
The more you read about Australia you do feel it was God's R&D department where everything weird and dangerous got put. And a sweating milk creature would seem normal if found in Australia. Norway you would be looking for some past natural nuclear disaster that mutated the beaver population. Either that or a beaver and a duck we're feeling lonely...
#25
Many Fish Change Sex As They Age
About two percent of fish species can change their sex during their lifetimes. Some tropical fishes like many in the wrasse family (Labridae) actually change sex based on their age and size. This permanent change happens when they reach a certain age or size, usually because they can compete with other males for mating opportunities.
Think about it: A female fish living in a coral reef can spend years mating with nearby males to lay eggs and produce young. One day, she decides it’s time, and in a matter of weeks or months changes completely over to a male. Now, she is competing with her ex-boyfriends for opportunities to mate with local females. How’s that for a weird nature fact? Fish like these, including the wrasses and parrotfish (family Scaridae or subfamily Scarinae), which change from female to male, are known as protogynous.
Sue User 11 months ago
And they didnt even have any liberal, commie teachers indoctrinating them.
MisterE 11 months ago (edited)
These are adults making the change, not 5 or 12 year olds. (Whatever the fish equivalent would be)
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ElfVibratorGlitter 11 months ago
That's why finding Nemo was confusing. Wouldn't his dad just turn into mom?
Bobby 11 months ago
The transphobes and their misinformation in the comments need to step into traffic imho.
CajunBreaux 11 months ago
something something, someone disagrees with me, something something, I will give them a “phobic” label. Grow up.
Load More Replies... #26
Cat’s Were First Domesticated 4000 Years Ago In Ancient Egypt
Cats were initially valued for their ability to k**l rodents and venomous snakes, but tomb paintings show that many of these felines were also household pets and a part of family life.
Tobias Reaper 11 months ago
cats actually domesticated themselves they stayed near human food sources as thats where rodents where.
Deborah 11 months ago
Who said cats are domesticated? They are the ones who domesticated humans. Cats were worshipped as gods. See for example the cat-headed goddess Bast.
Edward Treen 11 months ago
4,000 years ago cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.
Load More Replies... Edward Treen 11 months ago
My feline overlords certainly have me well trained.
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FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
Wasn't the Egyptians (4000 ya was possibly Cypriots (9000 ya) but probably earlier than that.
Rich Black 11 months ago
Untrue. They were domesticated 19,000 years ago in the fertile Cresent. But yes, protecting grain was the reason
Virgil Blue 11 months ago
A fun little fact is that the old Egyptian word for cat is "miu" meaning he/she who meows. I find it hilarious that the first Egyptians to encounter a cat maybe when "Oh, and what are you then?" Cat: "Miu" "That's a good name, come meet the Pharao little one."
#27
Polar Bears Are So Efficient At Storing Vitamin A, Consuming Polar Bear Liver Can Cause Death....one Polar Bear Liver Contains Enough Vitamin A To K**l 52 Adult Humans
Earthquake903 11 months ago
I wish certain people could be fed such foie gras
Load More Replies... Michael Largey 11 months ago
Never mind its liver. One polar bear can kill a lot more than 52 adult humans.
Mook The Mediocre 11 months ago
"K**l" Whose stupid censorship was this? Or should I say... Whose s*****d c********p was this?
veirdbuttrue 11 months ago
They will probably be extinct in a few more years so no chance to eat a polar bear liver!!!
#28
Barn Owls Divorce Each Other
Ecologists have found that while barn owls are normally monogamous – mating with only one partner for life – about 25% of mating pairs “divorce”, and move on to new partners.
It appears the reason for divorce in barn owls is less irreconcilable differences and more so if breeding isn’t going to plan. If a breeding pair of owls isn’t managing to lay many eggs, or the majority of their chicks aren’t surviving then that seems to be the cue for barn owls to move on. When that happens, the male owl gets to keep the nest, and the female has to find a new home.
Becky Samuel 11 months ago
This parting of the ways in case of poor breeding success is very widespread among birds.
Sparky Hughes 11 months ago
I adopted two “male budgies”, Beavis and B******e. The latter was loud and hyperactive. One day I saw Beavis get frisky and it seemed like he was raping B******e…that is how I found out one was a girl. She ended up laying eggs that never hatched. Sadly he attacked and killed her. My neighbor took him to her friend’s who had a female who he got to breed with. And renamed him to Jon Snow.
Load More Replies... BrunoVI 11 months ago
It's even crazier (at least among Red-Winged Blackbirds): Male Blackbirds able to control large terrirtory will often try to get a second female, but if the first female finds out, she may kick the male out and attack the second female. So yeah, they get divorced on grounds of adultery. You have no idea how hard it is to analyze their mating behavior without using any human terms. I had to search my report for words like "mistress," "wife," "divorce," "spouse," "cheat," etc. back before they had Search and Replace.
#29
There Are Mosses That Only Grow On Moose Poop
Mosses are fascinating and ancient plants with unusual lifestyles compared to the leafy plants with which folks are familiar. Being very small, tolerant of shade, and spreading via spores, they can end up in interesting places. In fact, mosses’ peculiarities often mean that they need to specialize in living in very particular places to compete for space. Here’s one for your weird nature facts: the red parasol moss Splachnum rubrum grows only on moose poop.
This pretty little moss, less attractively known as dung moss, makes its life on animal poo, particularly that belonging to American moose (Alces alces). But how do the mosses reach their poopy homes in the first place? Studies show that their fruiting bodies give off a smell that attracts flies, and these flies disperse moss spores to other dung sites.
#30
Male Seahorses Give Birth
Seahorses display a kind of reversed pregnancy – after fertilisation, eggs are transferred into the male’s brood pouch to develop. The eggs receive oxygen and protection, and gestation lasts from 14 to 28 days, after which the male gives birth to live young known as fry.
Kabuki Kitsune 11 months ago
Some males will also eat any of their young fry that don't quickly get away during the 'birthing' process.
Tiger 11 months ago
Why are you so unnecessarily hateful? Like you know people like you actually make the world a worse place to live, right? Just stop it already 🙄
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Frogs Freeze In Winter And Thaw In Spring
Some frogs have an incredible ability to survive freezing cold winters. They can actually let their bodies freeze and then thaw out when it warms up. This adaptation lets them live through temperatures that would be too cold for many other animals.
Rich Black 11 months ago
Don't try this with your freezer at home. It's seasonal, and rhe feeze/thaw cycle is gradual.
Brian Droste 11 months ago
They thaw from the inside out. There is one species that does this. Don't recall the species though. Seen a program that had this species in it. It is a very small species. When it goes into hibernation, it curls up and looks like a very small peeple.
Kimberly Bailey 11 months ago
We talked about it but my teacher thought it was unethical to actually do it since there was no way for us to get one of the species that actually froze and came back to life in our area. This was long before the internet. 1980’s….
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#32
Trees Can Communicate With Each Other
Now, we know what you’re thinking: how can trees talk to one another? Well, while trees certainly can communicate with each other, it actually can’t be seen with the naked eye, making it impossible to detect on an everyday stroll through nature.
Trees “talk” to one another through an intricate network of fungi in the soil dubbed the “Wood Wide Web”. It connects trees at their roots, allowing them to communicate by sending signals about upcoming threats like droughts or disease — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This allows trees to alter their behavior upon receiving the signal.
Sparky Hughes 11 months ago
After a tornado took out few oaks in my area, the next year, we had an excessive production of acorns. A local arborist explained this phenomenon. Very fascinating
Debby Keir 11 months ago
I'd love to know which part of the tree manages to decipher the message though.
#33
Sloths Only Poop Once A Week
Sloths only go to the ground in two circumstances: to defecate and urinate once every five to seven days or when they cannot move along the canopy due to lack of connection between adjacent trees.
Brandi VanSteenwyk 11 months ago
Why does that sloth's hair make me think of Rod Stewart in the 80's?
BarkingSquirell 11 months ago
If anyone ever has the notion to help one along, grab it dead centre on its back. If the arms are able to wrap around, they'll hang from your skin, which can cause serious damage.
Seán Baron 11 months ago
Sloths can also hold their breath underwater longer than a dolphin can.
#34
Hummingbirds Can Fly Upside-Down And Backwards. Their Metabolism Moves So Fast That They Are Always Hours Away From Starvation
Broadredpanda 11 months ago
They work so hard for that hard work to only work for a short amount of time! Aw bless
Rich Black 11 months ago
Fun fact. They get their protein from insects. Flower nectar is like red bull and gives them wiings.
#35
The Smell Of Freshly Cut Grass Is A Distress Signal
Whilst the smell of freshly cut grass may be synonymous with summer, the reason why cut grass smells isn’t such a sunny story. According to botanists, what we are actually smelling is a warning signal being released by plants under attack. In one of the more disturbing nature facts, the smell is described as ‘cries of horror’ from the cut grass which are received by other plants and animals.
Why does grass do this? Well, the smell emitted by freshly mown grass is known as green leaf volatiles (GLVs). All plants produce GLVs. One particular study on corn crops found that when predators chewed on the corn, the GLVs made other corn plants produce substances which made them less tasty. This suggests that plants use GLVs as a warning system – letting other plants know about potential threats.
#36
Honey Never Spoils
Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old and still perfectly edible.
Debby Keir 11 months ago
Actually, it's as much the high sugar content as lack of water.
Load More Replies... Ozymandias73 11 months ago
I want to know who tf found that pot and was like "Hmm, I wonder if this is still good to eat. Yeah, it's over 3000 years hold, but what the heck! This is what I live for!"
Tucker Cahooter 11 months ago
This fact has been posted so often I think we have all run out of something new and funny to say
BradGfromDaBoo 11 months ago
if you buy honey from the store it has an expiration date, they can't leave well enough alone when it comes to our food it shouldn't be about saving money using chemicals it should be about our health that our insurance doesn't want to pay or keep us sick/addicted
marianne eliza 11 months ago
Real, pure honey will NOT crystalize. No matter what anyone tells you. If it crystalizes, it's not pure.
Kat 11 months ago
Lol... Freshly harvested honey has to be stirred a lot and left in open vats to air out to prevent crystallization. But even if you do this, it can still happen. Stirring vats of honey is hard work.
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#37
Approximately 99 Percent Of A Panda’s Diet—bamboo Leaves And Shoots—is Void Of Much Nutritional Value
Its carnivore-adapted digestive system cannot digest cellulose well, thus it lives a low-energy, sedentary lifestyle but persists in eating some 60 species of bamboo. Pandas must eat upwards of 30 pounds of bamboo daily just to stay full.
Serena Myers 11 months ago
I have the book "Eats, shoots and leaves" by Lynne Truss. It is very funny!
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Carl Roberts 11 months ago
The correct term is "devoid", but who am I to argue with AI generated commentary....
Major Harris 11 months ago
still picturing "noah" climbing over the himalayas and then bringing back two pandas and a TONS of their food on his back. LOL! love these furry bears, SO CUTE!
Schmebulock 11 months ago (edited)
They need to return to being carnivores but with a taste for people!
Laugh or not 11 months ago
One hypothesis is that they have a mutation in one gene linked to taste, which apparently make meat unattractive to them. Why they fixated in bamboo over any other green is unknown
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#38
Octopuses Have Three Hearts
Two pump blood to the gills, while the third pumps it to the rest of the body.
Saint_Zipcodus 11 months ago
And one in the head which wraps around its esophagus. Which is why they can't swallow food over a certain size or pointy food because it can damage said brain. Which purportedly happens every now and then.
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Kim Constantineau 11 months ago
Watch the film, "My Octopus Teacher." Amazing film. It makes me cry every time.
Kim Constantineau 11 months ago
I'm currently watching that right now. Lol, not to the octopus quite yet. Eagerly anticipating those scenes! = )
Load More Replies... Bookworm 11 months ago
If someone's going to be really fussy about it, 'octopi' is wrong because that's a Latin pluralization, and 'octopus' came from a Greek word (which would actually be pluralized 'octopodes.') But in a practical, 'language is alive and adaptive' sense, they're both fine, people use both and everyone knows what you mean when you say it.
Load More Replies... #39
Hedgehogs Are Lactose Intolerant!
It was once believed that hedgehogs stole milk straight from cows’ udders, which may have been why people so commonly leave milk out for them. But they are actually lactose intolerant – so if you want to feed your local neighbourhood hedgehog, wet cat food or hedgehog food you can purchase in most garden centres is best!
Panda Kicki 11 months ago
Or just create a diverse garden and they will happily strut around and feed themselves snails and yummy stuff.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 11 months ago
Hedgehogs actually don't eat that many snails. They are insectivores and will only take snails if nothing else is there. Which is good because snails carry a lot of worms and other parasitic stuff
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Howisitmondayalready 11 months ago (edited)
I was told by an ex- colleague who ran a wildlife sanctuary that wet dog/cat food is one of the worst things you can give hedgehogs as they both contain some degree of fish and they’re not able to digest it
Load More Replies... Rich Black 11 months ago
Hedgehog food from garden centers? Are fostering dependency on humans with this?
#40
Dolphins Have Names For Each Other
Just when you thought your favorite underwater mammal couldn’t get any cuter, we have some news for you.
It’s a well-known fact that dolphins are highly social creatures. They typically travel in what we call pods, which can include anywhere from 2 to 30 dolphins. It’s also another well-known fact that dolphins are extremely intelligent. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting a dolphin, you know this first-hand.
Turns out, dolphins actually have names for one another. Scientists have found that these marine mammals use a distinctive whistle to identify each other. When a dolphin hears their own “name” called to them, they respond.
Disgruntled Panda 11 months ago
They're anything but cute. Some of the most violent sexual behaviour in the animal world (with the exception of humans) is by dolphins
Tropical Tarot 11 months ago
Then you really don't want to know about otters.
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Doodles1983 11 months ago
They also get high by bullying a puffer fish. Man. Dolphins are d**ks
#41
Manatees Control Their Buoyancy By Farting
Scientists say there is some evidence that manatees can regulate their underwater buoyancy by farting – releasing gas to sink deeper into the water, or storing it to rise closer to the surface.
This evidence includes just how muscular the manatee’s abdominal muscles and diaphragm (the muscle that helps control breathing) are. When this is combined with the enormous size of the manatee’s large intestine, and the ease with which manatees can adjust their depth in the water with minimal movement, then these factors indicate that farting could play a large role in their buoyancy control.
Robert Trebor 11 months ago
Submariners call this "blowing". I'd like it if they used fart instead.
#42
Pigeons Can Detect Earth’s Magnetic Field
Pigeons have an amazing sense of direction. They can detect Earth’s magnetic field, which they use to navigate during their long flights. This magnetic sense helps them find their way home across great distances, a skill that has been admired and utilized by humans for centuries.
DetriMentaL (It/That) 11 months ago
Pigeons aren't real, they are bots spying on us, they had gps waaaay before the tech was allowed for public use
Seán Baron 11 months ago
Pigeons are the only bird that doesn’t need to throw its head back to drink.
Virgil Blue 11 months ago
A strange thing about this sense is that it seems to be based on some kind of quantum entanglement effect in certain cells. Something you'd not really expect in a biological organism.
Virgil Blue 11 months ago
Foxes, too. If they get ready for that famous jump in the snow to catch rodents they can sense north and use it to orient their jump.
Russell Bowman 11 months ago
it is thought that cats also have this ability ... or maybe they are just stalking pigeons
#43
There Are More Trees On Earth Than Stars In The Milky Way
There are so many trees covering our planet that scientists had to figure out a new method to quantify them, and they’ve actually calculated that there are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way.
Scientists have determined that the number of stars in the Milky Way ranges from 100 billion to upwards of 400 billion, but there is an estimated amount of 3 trillion trees on Earth. That’s a lot of trees! Even with all those trees currently on Earth, it is still very important that we continue protecting our forests and planting more trees!
Warren Peece 11 months ago
There are more hydrogen atoms in a single molecule of water than there are stars in our solar system.
Rich Black 11 months ago
So we don't actually know how many seats care in the milky way after all?
#44
If A Male Clown Fish Loses His Parter, He Will Develop Female Reproductive Parts And Mate With His Male Offspring
#45
Arctic Foxes Change Their Fur Colour Depending On The Season
Different seasons can mean different climatic conditions and opportunities for the Arctic fox. So its fur colour can change between seasons for thermal insulation as well as to help blend with its immediate surroundings. In the winter, their fur morphs into the iconic, thick white coating. But as summer arrives, snow melts, and Arctic foxes start to shed their long white coat to a shorter, thinner fur, which can come in a variety of colours, from dark and light grey, charcoal brown to bluish brown coating.
Disgruntled Panda 11 months ago
Not suggesting an experiment but siamese cats can do the same. If they live in a cold environment for a while the brown on their ears, snoot, paws and tails (their normal cold spots) will spread and turn them brown all over
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 11 months ago (edited)
ermine, for example. And ptarmigans
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Floeckchen 11 months ago
eurasian squirrels also change the colour of their fur depending on the carotine in the available food
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 11 months ago
But not to that extend, right? I have definitely seen red and dark-brown and even black squirrels living in the exact same area and therefor have the same carotine in the food
Load More Replies... Jean Thompson 11 months ago
Sadly, due to climate change, these animals' colour changing is getting to no longer be in "sync" with the seasons, so they still have their white coats going into summer, and reddish coats in winter, making them stand out and become easy prey.
#46
Puffins Dress To Impress In Breeding Season
Puffins are black on top with white bellies and cheeks. In the breeding season, they have brightly-coloured bills, orange legs and very distinctive red and black eye markings.
The Queen Of France 11 months ago
“Check it out! Check it out! Check it out, I’m incredible, check it out! “
Kallen Kneeland 11 months ago
I think the difference is that the Puffins do it "in the breeding season", while most other birds just sport their bright maleness all year long.
Load More Replies... #47
Bananas Are Berries, But Strawberries Aren't
In botanical terms, a berry is a fruit produced from the ovary of a single flower with seeds embedded in the flesh. By this definition, bananas qualify, whereas strawberries do not.
Virgil Blue 11 months ago
They also have a lot of DNA in common with fish. Of all things.
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Captain Kakapo 11 months ago
That is just because so called scientists cannot align their so called science with common language. Go on, just pick a name that is not in use, you have entire Latin to choose from. And no one will be confused
XenoMurph 11 months ago
No no no. Botanists hijacked the well known words for "fruit" "berry" "nut" "vegetable" and applied them to some niche subset of those common classes of food. Then tried to tell us that we didn't understand the words we had for generations, and somehow botanists knew better what a berry was. Botanists can f**k off and let us have our words for fruit and nut and berry. Go and make new words for your niche subsets of plants, and let us have our things.
#48
Birds Are Descended From Dinosaurs
When we think of dinosaurs, we often think of large, reptile-like creatures. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is often thought of as a scaled-up, ferocious lizard, but that might not be the case for all other dinosaurs.
Since the 1960s, many scientists have found recurring evidence that birds are direct descendants of these prehistoric reptiles. In fact, according to the Smithsonian Magazine, all living birds are indeed dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs were considered birds. Some dinosaurs even had feathers just like birds!
Feathered Dinosaur 11 months ago
A fact all bored pandas know now, thanks to me *preens smugly*
Saint_Zipcodus 11 months ago
Correct me if I'm wrong but I hear they are not descendants of dinosaurs - they ARE dinosaurs, by definition.
Bookworm 11 months ago
Yes. In a strictly scientific sense, 'bird' and 'dinosaur' are meaningless distinctions; it's just a language convention.
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#49
There Is A Coffee Made From Beans That Have Been Extracted From The Droppings Of The Asian Palm Civet
Looking something like a cross between a cat and a mongoose, a civet loves the flesh of coffee berries, but cannot properly digest the beans, which emerge whole when it defecates. These beans are then collected and sold as Kopi luwak, hailed variously as “the Holy Grail of coffees” and “the most exotic beverage on the planet.
Multa Nocte 11 months ago
And some of them are kept cruelly in nasty little cages all their lives and fed coffee beans for this purpose. Nasty.
Nils Skirnir 11 months ago
And many are sold in fresh meat markets throughout Asia
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KazzaHazza 11 months ago
Yea, please don’t buy this coffee. They’re caged and have an awful life.
Dorothea Lehmann 11 months ago
The animal in the picture is not a palm civet but a binturong. They smell of popcorn.
Disgruntled Panda 11 months ago
It's being presented as natural harvesting with civets happily scurrying about but they get force-fed and live in tiny wire cages
Mia Black 11 months ago
Unfortunately, some animals are kept in captivity for this purpose - in, as far as I have heard, questionable conditions. In general, I have nothing against keeping animals, as long as the animals are well cared for, with enough space and activity and comfort. But factory farming and cruel farming should be avoided. But by the way: I tried the kopi luwak at a coffee tasting and it really stood out from the other varieties - but not so much that I would spend a fortune on it or anything.
Auntriarch 11 months ago
My brother bought me some ages ago, it was about twice as good as usual coffee, but it cost six times as much.
Load More Replies... Kimberly Bailey 11 months ago
I love coffee but I’m gonna pass on the cute little critter turd bean juice…
Ervin Conn 11 months ago
Also the source of one of the funniest lines in the movie Bucket List.
Earthquake903 11 months ago
It's ridiculously expensive and disgusting to think about. Rich people will eat or drink anything if it costs enough i guess.
Floeckchen 11 months ago
I tasted a kopi luwak years ago out of curiosity (before I knew about the conditions the animals were held). It is really not worth the fuzz.
#50
Orcas Are Pregnant For 17 Months
Female orcas start breeding at around 6-10 years old, males at 10-13 years. Breeding occurs all year round although it is most common in summer. The gestation period of an orca is about 17 months which is the longest of all cetaceans. Females may give birth every 3-5 years, although sometimes it may be as long as a decade between successful births.
Eric Williams 11 months ago
Owen, you stated only one semi-accurate thing in your statement...a small population of Orcas off of Gibraltar do attack some boats, sinking some, but they are not generally small. The rest of your hysterical rant is categorically incorrect. There has never been any documented case of a WILD Orca attacking or injuring a human. However CAPTIVE ORCAs have...understandably. Know what your talking about before you exhibit your ignorance.
Owen 11 months ago
Sorry, I obviously struck a nerve with you. Not my intention. And I was training not far from Gibraltar when my instructor told me that. I had no reason to doubt him, but he was probably exaggerating, or just messing with me. But during that training course, we were told to watch out for orcas.
Load More Replies... Bookworm 11 months ago
If they have a male calf, they will often not breed again in order to put their energy into supporting him. Males are larger and less agile and not as good at hunting, so the mothers will often share their catch with their adult male offspring. The survival chances of a male orca drop sharply after his mother passes away, and it's thought to be a major reason why orcas are one of the extremely few animals to go through menopause and survive past their reproductive years. They've staked their evolutionary bets on the ability of grandmothers to support the continuation of their genes through their sons.
Rick Seiden 11 months ago
The name, "Killer Whale" comes from a mistranslation of "Whale Killer".
Crystal M 11 months ago
There are no recorded cases of a wild orca killing a human, and only four in captivity, which IMO, were justified.
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#51
Kangaroos Are Able To Hop So Easily Because Of Their Large, Stretchy Tendons In Their Hind Legs, Which Act Like Giant Springs
As these tendons strain and contract, they generate most of the energy needed for each hop. This is very different to the way humans jump, which uses a lot of muscular effort.
Adrian 11 months ago
Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs...
#52
A Rhino’s Horn Is Made Of Hair
Rhino horns are not like other animal horns. They’re made of keratin, the same material as human hair and nails, tightly packed together. This structure makes the horn strong and durable for defense and foraging.
Disgruntled Panda 11 months ago
All horns/antlers are made of keratin. It's just that the bone protrusion of a rhino is the smallest.
RedMarbles 11 months ago
Hopefully this information continues to spread and people will stop paying for rhino horn "medicine." Grind up your own fingernail clippings and swallow that if you think rhino horn will help. It's free ffs.
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FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
Please do a cursory fact check, even just Google before posting. Most are correct but lots of misleading or wrong info.
Mike F 11 months ago
Nah, it gives the pedantic pandas something to do! It used to get on my nerves as well but I finally just said fvck it.
Load More Replies... Aline 11 months ago
How are donkeys not waterproof? Waterproof things still get wet on the outside, if skin is confusing think of a roof, the roof gets wet, but the water doesn't go through. Donkeys get wet, like humans, but also like humans they aren't absorbing the water like a sponge or letting it pass through like a net. I understand it must be tough to ChatGPT so many articles a day, but please stop trying to subtract from the sun of human intelligence.
FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
Are you suggesting... Roger Clemens wrote this post?!?
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XenoMurph 11 months ago
Some people are new people and are learning. Let them have new facts without pissing on their curiousity and wonder.
Load More Replies... FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
Please do a cursory fact check, even just Google before posting. Most are correct but lots of misleading or wrong info.
Mike F 11 months ago
Nah, it gives the pedantic pandas something to do! It used to get on my nerves as well but I finally just said fvck it.
Load More Replies... Aline 11 months ago
How are donkeys not waterproof? Waterproof things still get wet on the outside, if skin is confusing think of a roof, the roof gets wet, but the water doesn't go through. Donkeys get wet, like humans, but also like humans they aren't absorbing the water like a sponge or letting it pass through like a net. I understand it must be tough to ChatGPT so many articles a day, but please stop trying to subtract from the sun of human intelligence.
FreeTheUnicorn 11 months ago
Are you suggesting... Roger Clemens wrote this post?!?
Load More Replies... XenoMurph 11 months ago
Some people are new people and are learning. Let them have new facts without pissing on their curiousity and wonder.
Load More Replies... You May Like If You’re Hungry For New Knowledge, These 50 Facts Might Satisfy Your Appetite Egyptology Enthusiasts Online Think These Are The 50 Most Interesting Facts About Ancient Egypt 50 Facts So Fascinating They’ll Stick In Your Brain All Week
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