Animal Facts
Animal Facts
As the famous saying goes, dogs are man’s best friend. Whether it’s as reliable workers, family pets or loyal companions, dogs are wonderful domestic animals that offer a number of qualities that are put to good use by humans.
Dog have superior hearing than humans, capable of hearing sounds at four times the distance.
Dogs have a remarkable sense of smell, they are capable of differentiating odors in concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can.
Dogs have formed such a strong bond as pets, workers and companions to humans that they have earned the nickname "man's best friend".
Dogs perform many useful tasks for humans including hunting, farm work and security as well as assisting those with disabilities such as the blind.
Domestic dogs are omnivores, they feed on a variety of foods including grains, vegetables and meats.
Enjoy these fun dog facts that deliver a variety of information about interesting breeds, puppies, guide dogs such as Labradors and much more.
Examples of these breeds include: Bulldog, German Shepherd, Collie, Golden Retriever, St Bernard, Greyhound, Bloodhound, Chihuahua, Labrador, Great Dane, Rottweiler, Boxer and Cocker Spaniel.
Humans help train various dog breeds to enter in competitions such as breed shows, agility and obedience contests, racing and sled pulling.
In total there is said to be around 400 million dogs in the world.
The average life span for a dog is around 10 to 14 years.
The domestic dog has been one of the most popular working and companion animals throughout human history.
The most popular breed of dog in the world by registered ownership is the Labrador. With their gentle nature, obedience, intelligence and near limitless energy, Labradors make for excellent family pets and reliable workers. They often assist police and are a common choice as guide dogs.
There are hundreds of different breeds of dogs.
Those involved in dog breeding refer to males as ‘dogs’, females as ‘bitches’, dogs younger than a year old as ‘puppies’ and a group of offspring as a ‘litter’.
Cats;
Cats are one of, if not the most, popular pet in the world
There are over 500 million domestic cats in the world.
Cats and humans have been associated for nearly 10000 years.
Cats conserve energy by sleeping for an average of 13 to14 hours a day.
Cats have flexible bodies and teeth adapted for hunting small animals such as mice and rats.
A group of cats is called a clowder, a male cat is called a tom, a female cat is called a molly or queen while young cats are called kittens.
Domestic cats usually weight around 4 kilograms (8 lb 13 oz) to 5 kilograms (11 lb 0 oz).
The heaviest domestic cat on record is 21.297 kilograms (46 lb 15.2 oz).
Cats can be lethal hunters and very sneaky, when they walk their back paws step almost exactly in the same place as the front paws did beforehand, this keeps noise to a minimum and limits visible tracks.
Cats have powerful night vision, allowing them to see at light levels six times lower than what a human needs in order to see.
Cats also have excellent hearing and a powerful sense of smell.
Older cats can at times act aggressively towards kittens.
Domestic cats love to play, this is especially true with kittens who love to chase toys and play fight. Play fighting among kittens may be a way for them to practice and learn skills for hunting and fighting.
On average cats live for around 12 to 15 years.
Cats spend a large amount of time licking their coats to keep them clean.
Feral cats are often seen as pests and threats to native animals.
Tigers:
The tiger is the biggest species of the cat family.
Tigers can reach a length of up to 3.3 metres (11 feet) and weigh as much as 300 kilograms (660 pounds).
Subspecies of the tiger include the Sumatran Tiger, Siberian Tiger, Bengal Tiger, South China Tiger, Malayan Tiger and Indochinese Tiger.
Many subspecies of the tiger are either endangered or already extinct. Humans are the primary cause of this through hunting and the destruction of habitats.
Around half of tiger cubs don’t live beyond two years of age.
Tiger cubs leave their mother when they are around 2 years of age.
A group of tigers is known as an ‘ambush’ or ‘streak’.
Tigers are good swimmers and can swim up to 6 kilometres.
Rare white tigers carry a gene that is only present in around 1 in every 10000 tigers.
Tigers usually hunt alone at night time.
Tigers have been known to reach speeds up to 65 kph (40 mph).
Less than 10% of hunts end successfully for tigers
Tigers can easily jump over 5 metres in length.
Various tiger subspecies are the national animals of Bangladesh, India, North Korea, South Korea and Malaysia.
There are more tigers held privately as pets than there are in the wild.
Tigers that breed with lions give birth to hybrids known as tigons and ligers.
Sharks:
Although sharks have a reputation as destructive beasts that attack almost anything that enters their water habitat, the actual number of shark attacks is probably lower than you imagine.
There are many different types of sharks including the great white shark, hammerhead shark, bull shark, tiger shark and mako, they all offer varied and interesting information so read on and enjoy our cool shark facts.
Sharks do not have a single bone in their bodies. Instead they have a skeleton made up of cartilage; the same type of tough, flexible tissue that makes up human ears and noses.
Some sharks remain on the move for their entire lives. This forces water over their gills, delivering oxygen to the blood stream. If the shark stops moving then it will suffocate and die.
Sharks have outstanding hearing. They can hear a fish thrashing in the water from as far as 500 metres away!
If a shark was put into a large swimming pool, it would be able to smell a single drop of blood in the water.
Although most species of shark are less than one metre long, there are some species such as the whale shark, which can be 14 metres long.
A pup (baby shark) is born ready to take care of itself. The mother shark leaves the pup to fend for itself and the pup usually makes a fast get away before the mother tries to eat it!
Not all species of shark give birth to live pups. Some species lay the egg case on the ocean floor and the pup hatches later on its own.
Great whites are the deadliest shark in the ocean. These powerful predators can race through the water at 30 km per hour.
Unlike other species of shark, the great white is warm-blooded. Although the great white does not keep a constant body temperature, it needs to eat a lot of meat in order to be able to regulate its temperature.
A shark always has a row of smaller teeth developing behind its front teeth. Eventually the smaller teeth move forward, like a conveyor belt, and the front teeth fall out.
Dolphins
Compared to other animals, dolphins are believed to be very intelligent.
Dolphins are carnivores (meat eaters).
The Killer Whale (also known as Orca) is actually a type of dolphin.
Bottlenose dolphins are the most common and well known type of dolphin.
Female dolphins are called cows, males are called bulls and young dolphins are called calves.
Dolphins live in schools or pods of up to 12 individuals.
Dolphins often display a playful attitude which makes them popular in human culture. They can be seen jumping out of the water, riding waves, play fighting and occasionally interacting with humans swimming in the water.
Dolphins use a blowhole on top of their heads to breathe.
Dolphins have excellent eyesight and hearing as well as the ability to use echolocation for finding the exact location of objects.
Dolphins communicate with each other by clicking, whistling and other sounds.
Some dolphin species face the threat of extinction, often directly as a result of human behavior. The Yangtze River Dolphin is an example of a dolphin species which may have recently become extinct.
Some fishing methods, such as the use of nets, kill a large number of dolphins every year.
Lion:
Lions are the second largest big cat species in the world (behind tigers).
The average male lion weighs around 180 kg (400 lb) while the average female lion weighs around 130 kg (290 lb).
The heaviest lion on record weighed an amazing 375 kg (826 lb).
Lions can reach speeds of up to 81 kph (50 mph) but only in short bursts because of a lack of stamina.
The roar of a lion can be heard from 8 kilometers (5.0 miles) away.
Most lions found in the wild live in southern and eastern parts of Africa.
Lions are very social compared to other cat species, often living in prides that feature females, offspring and a few adult males.
Male lions are easy to recognize thanks to their distinctive manes. Males with darker manes are more likely to attract female lions (lionesses).
Lions are the national animal of Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Singapore.
Lions in the wild live for around 12 years.
When lions breed with tigers the resulting hybrids are known as ligers and tigons. There are also lion and leopard hybrids known as leopons and lion and jaguar hybrids known as jaglions.
Lionesses are better hunters than males and do most of the hunting for a pride.
In the wild, lions rest for around 20 hours a day
Gorillas :
Gorillas are endangered species that are constantly under threat from disease and commercial hunting. Their importance is further enhanced by the fact that they are close relatives to humans, sharing around 98% of the same DNA. Learn more by reading our list of gorilla facts.
There are only about 700 mountain gorillas and they live high in the mountains in two protected parks in Africa. Lowland gorillas live in central Africa.
You may have seen baby gorillas being carried on the back of their mothers, but for the first few months after birth the mother holds the baby gorilla to her chest.
An adult male gorilla is called a silverback because of the distinctive silvery fur growing on their back and hips. Each gorilla family has a silverback as leader who scares away other animals by standing on their back legs and beating their chest!
Young male gorillas usually leave their family group when they are about 11 years old and have their own family group by the age of 15 years old. Young female gorillas join a new group at about 8 years old.
Gorillas are herbivores. They spend most of their day foraging for food and eating bamboo, leafy plants and sometimes small insects. Adult gorillas can eat up to 30 kilograms of food each day.
An adult gorilla is about 1 meter tall to their shoulders when walking on all fours using their arms and their legs.
A gorilla can live for 40 – 50 years.
Gorillas are considered to be very intelligent animals. They are known for their use of tools and their varied communication. Some gorillas in captivity at a zoo have been taught to use sign language.
Gorillas are endangered animals. Their habitat is destroyed when people use the land for farming and the trees for fuel. Gorillas are also killed by poachers and sometimes get caught in poacher’s snares meant for other animals.
frog
A frog is an amphibian. They lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch into a tadpole which lives in water until it metamorphoses into an adult frog.
Tadpoles look more like fish than frogs, they have long finned tails and breathe through gills.
An amphibian can live both on land and in water.
Although frogs live on land their habitat must be near swamps, ponds or in a damp place. This is because they will die if their skin dries out.
Instead of drinking water, frogs soak it into their body through their skin.
Frogs breathe through their nostrils while also absorbing about half the air they need through their skin.
Frogs use their sticky, muscular tongue to catch and swallow food. Unlike humans, their tongue is not attached to the back of its mouth. Instead it is attached to the front, enabling the frog to stick its tongue out much further.
The common pond frog is ready to breed when it is only three years old.
Frogs in the wild face many dangers and are lucky to survive several years. In captivity however, frogs can live for much longer.
Frogs can see forwards, sideways and upwards all at the same time. They never close their eyes, even when they sleep.
Remarkably, frogs actually use their eyes to help them swallow food. When the frog blinks, its eyeballs are pushed downwards creating a bulge in the roof of its mouth. This bulge squeezes the food inside the frog's mouth down the back of its throat.
cheetah
The cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world. They can reach a top speed of around 113 km per hour.
A cheetah can accelerate from 0 to 113 km in just a few seconds.
Cheetahs are extremely fast however they tire quickly and can only keep up their top speed for a few minutes before they are too tired to continue.
Cheetahs are smaller than other members of the big cat family, weighing only 45 – 60 kilograms.
One way to always recognise a cheetah is by the long, black lines which run from the inside of each eye to the mouth. These are usually called “tear lines” and scientists believe they help protect the cheetah’s eyes from the harsh sun and help them to see long distances.
Cheetahs are the only big cat that cannot roar. The can purr though and usually purr most loudly when they are grooming or sitting near other cheetahs.
While lions and leopards usually do their hunting at night, cheetahs hunt for food during the day.
A cheetah has amazing eyesight during the day and can spot prey from 5 km away.
Cheetahs cannot climb trees and have poor night vision.
With their light body weight and blunt claws, cheetahs are not well designed to protect themselves or their prey. When a larger or more aggressive animal approaches a cheetah in the wild, it will give up its catch to avoid a fight.
Cheetahs only need to drink once every three to four days.
Giraffes
Giraffes are the tallest land animals on earth thanks in part to their distinctive necks which alone can reach almost 2 meters in height.
A male giraffe can weigh as much as a pick up truck! That’s about 1400 kilograms.
Although a giraffe’s neck is 1.5 – 1.8 metres, it contains the same number of vertebrae at a human neck.
A giraffe's habitat is usually found in African savannas, grasslands or open woodlands.
The hair that makes up a giraffes tail is about 10 times thicker than the average strand of human hair.
The distinctive spots that cover a giraffe’s fur act as a good camouflage to protect the giraffe from predators. When the giraffe stands in front of trees and bushes the light and dark colouring of its fur blends in with the shadows and sunlight.
It is possible to identify the sex of the giraffe from the horns on its head. Both males and females have horns but the females are smaller and covered with hair at the top. Male giraffes may have up to 3 additional horns.
Giraffes are ruminants. This means that they have more than one stomach. In fact, giraffes have four stomachs, the extra stomachs assisting with digesting food.
Drinking is one of the most dangerous times for a giraffe. While it is getting a drink it cannot keep a look out for predators and is vulnerable to attack.
Male giraffes sometimes fight with their necks over female giraffes. This is called “necking”. The two giraffes stand side by side and one giraffe swings his head and neck, hitting his head against the other giraffe. Sometimes one giraffe is hit to the ground during a combat.
A female giraffe gives birth while standing up. The calf drops approximately 6 feet to the ground, but it is not hurt from the fall.
Giraffes have bluish-purple tongues which are tough and covered in bristly hair to help them with eating the thorny Acacia trees.
elephant
There are two types of elephant, the Asian elephant and the African elephant (although sometimes the African Elephant is split into two species, the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant).
Elephants are the largest land-living mammal in the world.
Both female and male African elephants have tusks but only the male Asian elephants have tusks. They use their tusks for digging and finding food.
Female elephants are called cows. They start to have calves when they are about 12 years old and they are pregnant for 22 months.
An elephant can use its tusks to dig for ground water. An adult elephant needs to drink around 210 litres of water a day.
Elephants have large, thin ears. Their ears are made up of a complex network of blood vessels which with regulating an elephants temperature. Blood is circulated through their ears to cool them down in hot climates.
Elephants have no natural predators. However, lions will sometimes prey on young or weak elephants in the wild. The main risk to elephants is from humans through poaching and changes to their habitat.
The elephant’s trunk is able to sense the size, shape and temperature of an object. An elephant uses its trunk to lift food and suck up water then pour it into its mouth.
An elephant’s trunk can grow to be about 2 metres long and can weigh up to 140 kg. Some scientists believe that an elephant’s trunk is made up of 100,000 muscles, but no bones.
Female elephants spend their entire lives living in large groups called herds. Male elephant leave their herds at about 13 years old and live fairly solitary lives from this point.
Elephants can swim – they use their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water.
Elephants are herbivores and can spend up to 16 hours days collecting leaves, twigs, bamboo and roots.
Leopards
Leopards are part of the cat family, Felidae. The scientific name for a leopard is Panthera pardus.
Leopards are well known for their cream and gold spotted fur, but some leopards have black fur with dark spots. These black leopards are often mistaken for panthers.
Adult leopards are solitary animals. Each adult leopard has its own territory where it lives and, although they often share parts of it, they try to avoid one another.
A leopard’s body is built for hunting. They have sleek, powerful bodies and can run at speeds of up to 57 kilometres per hour. They are also excellent swimmers and climbers and can leap and jump long distances.
A leopard’s tail is just about as long as its entire body. This helps it with balance and enables it to make sharp turns quickly.
Leopards are mostly nocturnal, hunting prey at night.
Leopards protect their food from other animals by dragging it high up into the trees. A leopard will often leave their prey up in the tree for days and return only when they are hungry!
Female leopards give birth to a little of two or three cubs at a time. By the time a cub is two years old it will leave the company of its mother and live on their own.
When a female leopard is ready to mate she will give a scent and rub her body on the trees to leave her smell there. Male leopards either smell the females scent or hear her call to know that she is ready to mate.
Some people believe that the bones and whiskers of leopards can heal sick people. Many leopards are killed each year for their fur and body parts and this is one reason why the leopard is an endangered animal. While they were previously found in the wild in a number of areas around the world, their habitat is largely restricted to sub-Saharan Africa with small numbers also found in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, China and Indochina.
Whales
Whales are huge, warm-blooded, air breathing mammals
that live in the sea. There are many different species
including the blue whale, killer whale, humpback whale, orca and minke.
Many whales are toothless. They use a plate of comb-like fibre called baleen to filter small crustaceans and other creatures from the water.
There are 79 to 84 different species of whale. They came in many different shapes and sizes!
A baby whale is called a calf. Whales form groups to look after calves and feed together. These groups are often made up of all female or all male whales.
Whales that are found in both Northern and Southern hemisphere never meet or breed together. Their migration is timed so that they are never in breeding areas at the same time.
The arched lower lip of a whale can often make it look like it is smiling! However, this isn’t a “real” smile as the blubber in the head of the whale prevents the muscles of the face from reaching the surface.
You can tell the age of a whale by looking at the wax plug in its ear. This plug in the ear has a pattern of layers when cut lengthwise that scientists can count to estimate the age of the whale.
Whales love to sing! They use this as a call to mates, a way to communicate and also just for fun! After a period of time they get bored of the same whale song and begin to sing a different tune.
Sometimes whales make navigation mistakes during migrations. Although they may have made the mistake days before, they don’t realise it until they becoming stranded.
Whales support many different types of life. Several creatures, such as barnacles and sea lice, attach themselves to the skin of whales and live there.
wolf
Living and hunting in packs, wolves are wild dogs that come from the same group as the dingo and coyote.They can reach speeds of 65 km/h (40 mph) when chasing prey and include a number of species such as the gray wolf (also known as the grey wolf or timber wolf), red wolf, arctic wolf, mexican wolf and white wolf
Wolves are excellent hunters and have been found to be living in more places in the world than any other mammal except humans.
The wolf is the ancestor of all breeds of domestic dog. It is part of a group of animals called the wild dogs which also includes the dingo and the coyote.
Most wolves weigh about 40 kilograms but the heaviest wolf ever recorded weighed over 80 kilograms!
Adult wolves have large feet. A fully grown wolf would have a paw print nearly 13 centimetres long and 10 centimetres wide.
Wolves live and hunt in groups called a pack. A pack can range from two wolves to as many as 20 wolves depending on such factors as habitat and food supply. Most packs have one breeding pair of wolves, called the alpha pair, who lead the hunt.
Wolf pups are born deaf and blind while weighing around 0.5 kg (1 lb). It takes about 8 months before they are old enough to actively join in wolf pack hunts.
Wolves in the Arctic have to travel much longer distances than wolves in the forest to find food and will sometimes go for several days without eating.
When hunting alone, the wolf catches small animals such as squirrels, hares, chipmunks, raccoons or rabbits. However, a pack of wolves can hunt very large animals like moose, caribou and yaks.
When the pack kills an animal, the alpha pair always eats first. As food supply is often irregular for wolves, they will eat up to 1/5th of their own body weight at a time to make up for days of missed food.
Wolves have two layers of fur, an undercoat and a top coat, which allow them to survive in temperatures as low at minus 40 degrees Celsius! In warmer weather they flatten their fur to keep cool.
A wolf can run at a speed of 65 kilometres per hour during a chase. Wolves have long legs and spend most of their time trotting at a speed of 12-16 kilometres per hour. They can keep up a reasonable pace for hours and have been known to cover distances of 90 kilometres in one night.
More fun animal facts:
Rats breed so quickly that in just 18 months, 2 rats could have created over 1 million relatives.
The blue whale can produce the loudest sound of any animal. At 188 decibels, the noise can be detected over 800 kilometres away.
Horses and cows sleep while standing up.
Giant Arctic jellyfish have tentacles that can reach over 36 metres in length.
Locusts have leg muscles that are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle.
Hummingbirds are so agile and have such good control that they can fly backwards.
Instead of bones, sharks have a skeleton made from cartilage.
Insects such as bees, mosquitoes and cicadas make noise by rapidly moving their wings.
The horn of a rhinoceros is made from compacted hair rather than bone or another substance.
Sharks lay the biggest eggs in the world.
Even when a snake has its eyes closed, it can still see through its eyelids.
Unlike humans, sheep have four stomachs, each one helps them digest the food they eat.
Despite the white, fluffy appearance of Polar Bears fur, it actually has black skin.
The average housefly only lives for 2 or 3 weeks.
Mosquitoes can be annoying insects but did you know that it's only the female mosquito that actually bites humans.
Cats use their whiskers to check whether a space is too small for them to fit through or not.
- Rabbits and parrots can see behind themselves without even moving their heads!
- Butterflies taste food by standing on top of it! Their taste receptors are in their feet unlike humans who have most on their tongue.
- Most of the dust in your home is actually dead skin! Yuck!
- Although the Stegosaurus dinosaur was over 9 metres long, its brain was only the size of a walnut.
- Humans get a little taller in space because there is no gravity pulling down on them.
- Because of the unusual shape of their legs, kangaroos and emus struggle to walk backwards.
- A hippopotamus may seem huge but it can still run faster than a man.
- Even if an analog clock is broken, at least it shows the correct time twice a day.
- Sneezing with your eyes open is impossible.
- The trickiest tongue twister in the English language is apparently "Sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick". Give it a try and see for yourself.