Tuesday Trivia

I've saved up an abundance of information on animals again, so here it is .... Critters......


Giraffes:

Giraffes live for 10-15 years in the wild, but average 25 years at zoos.

The average giraffe's blood pressure is two or three times that of a healthy person.

A baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth.

Thinking that its parents were a camel and a leopard, the Europeans once called the animal a "camelopard."

A giraffe’s heart can pump 16 gallons of blood in one minute.

A giraffe is able to clean its ears with its own tongue.

Dogs:

The Antpitta avis canis Ridgley is a bird species that barks like a dog.

The Dalmatian dog is named for the Dalmatian Coast ofCroatia, where it is believed to have been originally bred.

Boxers were named after their habit of playing. At the beginning of play with another dog, a Boxer will stand on his hind legs and 'box' at his opponent.

The real name of Toto the dog in "The Wizard Of Oz" was Terry.

The dog name “Fido” is from Latin and means “fidelity.”

Greyhounds have the best eyesight of any breed of dog. Today the dog is widely used in racing.

A Russian dog named Laika was the first creature to fly in space.

Chickens:

A rooster will attack anything that he thinks will harm the hens ( that includes humans ). Their spurs (located at the back of their leg ) can cause a very painful puncture wound.

Laid head to claw, KFC chickens consumed worldwide would stretch some 275,094 miles. They would circle the Earth at the equator 11 times or stretch from the Earth approximately 50,094 miles past the moon.

The Ameraucana and Araucana chickens can lay eggs colored in shades of green or blue, depending on the breed and it's ancestry.

Polar Bears:

Even though a polar bears fur looks white it is actually colorless and is made with hollow tubes that scatter light and give a white appearance. The hollow tubes help the bear to stay warm by channeling the sun's energy directly to the bear's skin.

The polar bear is classified as a marine mammal. Its feet are partially webbed for swimming, and its fur is water- repellent.

The polar bear rivals the Kodiak bear as the largest four- footed carnivore on Earth and can live up to 25 years.

Male polar bears are 8 to 11 feet long and weigh 500 to 1,100 pounds but can reach as much as 1,500 pounds.

Female polar bears measure 6 to 8 feet long and weigh from 350 to 600 pounds, occasionally reaching 700 pounds.

When a polar bear cub is born it can not see or hear for approximately a month.

Koalas:

Koalas have one of the most specialized diets of any living mammal; it feeds almost exclusively on the leaves of a small number of species of the eucalyptus.

The gestation period for a marsupial is only thirty four to thirty six days. When born the undeveloped young, called a joey, a single offspring in the case of the koala, is smaller than the average human's little finger.

The koala's hand has two opposable thumbs. The claws are important to the koala's ability to climb and to cling to a tree following a jump of up to ten feet.

The life span of the koala varies due to stress factors, averaging from thirteen to eighteen years.

The koala's coat is colored gray to tawny, white on the chin, forelimbs, and chest. The koala living in the northern climates, has a lighter colored coat, and much shorter hair.

Koalas sleep as much as eighteen hours a day and have a low-energy diet of eucalyptus leaves.

About Sharks:

Sharks have upper and lower eyelids but they do not blink.

Some sharks swim in a figure eight when frightened.

Sharks have survived on earth for about 400 million years.

A shark bites with its lower jaw first and then its upper.

The hides of mature female blue sharks are more than twice as thick as those of males.

A shark may grow and use over 20,000 teeth in its lifetime.

Other critters:

Fish do not have eyelids and therefore cannot blink. Since fish live in water, they have no need for the hydration of the eyeball that an eyelid provides.

Australian scientists have identified some species of baby spiders that bite off the limbs of their mothers and eat them slowly over a period of weeks. The researchers state the maternal sacrifice keeps the young from eating one another.

A cat wags only the last two inches when it is happy. When it wags its whole tail, it is angry.

Elephants are particularly fond of beer and other forms of alcohol. They are known to seek out fermenting fruits in Asia. In India, where elephants are regularly paraded, onlookers occasionally offer them beer and liquor; many times, a drunken elephant has 'run amok' and has had to be shot in order to protect the crowd.

The hippopotamus is, next to the elephant, the heaviest of all land animals. It may weigh as much as 8,000 pounds (3,629 kg) and is also a close relative of the pig.

The kinkajou, a nocturnal fruit-eating mammal of South America, has a tail twice as long as its body. Every night, it wraps itself in its tail and uses it as a pillow. The kinkajou is related to the raccoon.

Owls are the only birds who can see the color blue.

Millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.