Reddit user lgo21 asked:
"What are some dark facts about specific animals that make them not seem as cute anymore?"
So yeah. Brace yourself.
Trigger warning: EVERYTHING.
R*pe, murder, cannibalism, snacking... it's all here and it's all bad.
The Lion King
"The first thing a male lion does when he takes over another male's pride of female lions is go around and kill every single cub."
"That way the females don't have to nurse/care for their young and start ovulating sooner. The sooner they ovulate, the sooner he can get them pregnant with HIS cubs."
- fishnwirenreese
"Isn’t there evidence that lionesses can/will abort a pregnancy if this happens so that she won’t waste energy on growing a cub that will be killed anyway?"
- LordSoupSoup
"Lion king alternate ending"
- Mloxard_CZ
GiphyDuck Tales
"A group of bachelor Male ducks will find a mating pair (male and female duck) beat up the male and gang r*pe the female."
"Sometimes the will gang r*pe her so severely that the female will die in the process."
- el-mojo-
"Jesus I’ve WITNESSED this firsthand and was horrified."
"My parents live next to a pond and I like to read books by it. Was just trying to enjoy a nice spring day and witnessed duck gang r*pe. I chased them off but every spring it happens."
- crazygourdlady
"Was at Disney and saw this happen right outside Crystal palace."
"A lady jumps the fence to 'save' the female and proceeded to yell at park employees for letting the males hurt the female."
"The manager explained to her that it’s a duck natural behavior, they are federally protected, that Disney cannot interfere, AND that the lady was now trespassing and would be arrested if she’d didn’t leave immediately."
"That was a fun day of people watching."
- mtndew01
GiphyCasually Munching
"Sometimes deer will casually munch on live baby birds."
- NightSkies2019
"Which is why salt licks are important on a farm!"
"Generally, herbivores do that when their bodies give signals they lack certain nutrition. If they don’t have access to other animals to eat, they will also eat dirt and rocks (geophagy)."
- moxfactor
"Pretty much every herbivore is an opportunistic omnivore, they're just really bad at catching meat so usually go for stuff that's smaller then their mouths."
- stonedPict
GiphyHannibal Hamster
"Hamsters are cannibals. I don’t know if it’s only dwarf hamsters but they eat their own newborns and eventually each other."
- Catpix_
"This reminds me when my hamster gave birth to 7 babies and straight away ate 2 of them. Not something I wanted to see as 11 year old but oh well."
- Curious_Sandpaper
"I think this might be a rodent/small prey animal thing."
"Hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits and gophers will all eat their new born. Mice and rats eat each other all the time and I've seen gophers eat their dead brothers/sisters while the body is still warm."
- Sufficient__Phrase
"A lot of the 'cannibalism' of newborn rodents and lagamorphs is because they aren't healthy at birth, and an unhealthy baby can bring a lot of attention and extra risk to their nest, along with extra work for the mother."
"Rats and mice will actually eat their dead to prevent attracting predators in a lot of cases."
"In captivity, this is often an indication that your husbandry is very wrong and the mother does not feel there will be enough resources, safety, etc. People don't realize how much space and effort these animals really take."
"I've owned rats and mice for well over a dozen years now, along with rabbits, hamsters, all those small animals, and I've never seen any rodent eating another unless they were already dead or sickly."
- The_Lab_Rat_
GiphyFlower's Grandkids
"The dominant female meerkat in her clan will kill the babies that aren’t her own to make sure only her own survive and have the best chance of survival."
- KingFlame66
"As a kid I learned this from watching Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet."
"Watching the cute leader named Flower go and murder her daughter's babies (yes, her own grandkids!) kinda made me realize nature gets pretty metal pretty fast."
- Uceninde
"I was about to mention meerkats, but because they eat little chicks (baby chickens.)"
"At least they do at my local zoo. That's one way to permanently scar my little niece."
- nyanbran
"Meerkats aren't these sweet little things that only eat apples and pears."
"It was feeding time at the zoo, this one meerkat caught a full (dead) mouse and happened to run right up to the glass fence in front of a crowd of 40 people."
"He looked right at us then used his sharp teeth to rip the head off the mouse in one go, while maintaining eye contact. Metal as f*ck lol."
"The whole crowd went 'ewwwww!' Really loudly and now they are fed their meat later in the day when visitors aren't there lol"
- wizard7846
GiphyFlutter
"You ain't never seen butterflies drinking the fluid from around the eyes of a dead deer.""
"I have. I have."
- rvralph803
"Males of lots of butterflies will flock to dead or rotting meat."
"It's one of the few sources of sodium available to them, which they bundle up in their sperm packets as a 'gift' for the female during copulation. It's a bit sweeter when you look at it that context."
- scipio323
"This is called puddling!"
"Mostly male butterflies do this to get the salt and other nutrients to give to females during mating. But females will do it too to get the nutrients themselves."
- ER1536
"Butterflies are not herbivores!"
"They will drink your sweet, sweet, decomposing body juices. The next time a butterfly lands on you, take a closer look, realize how creepy they look, and that it would happily stick it's little tube tongue into your veins."
- Apageo
GiphyThe End Of 'Horse Girls'?
"I once saw a horse eat a live chicken."
"I was one of those little girls who adored horses up until that point so it was kind of traumatic, but I guess the silver lining is that it saved my parents from having to pay for a very expensive hobby."
"I just couldn’t see them the same way after that."
- Elvis_Take_The_Wheel
"My mom had a horse that was straight up demented about his love for eating baby chicks."
"If he saw a chick had gotten out (it was very hard to contain them when you were going in and out of a coop to feed and clean) he'd stop whatever he was doing and run over to eat it."
- imcoolthankstho
"There was a vid on Reddit of horse munching little chicken. Just pop and its gone. I don't think hen even noticed."
- ExcellentHunter
"I used to feed my horse ham."
- BobertoM
GiphySnack Attack
"Bears will eat you alive instead of killing you first."
- Zestyclose_Seaweed74
"Predators subdue their prey as much as possible, but they don't always waste the time or energy to completely kill."
"They have to eat as quickly as possible to get their meal in before scavengers come running in. The point to which they subdue their prey would be 'til the point the prey can’t fight back effectively anymore (i.e. kicks can’t hurt)."
"They usually don’t kill them outright before they start eating."
- Stagamemnon
"I heard a story where the bear put it's weight on a part of the person so that it could chew them casually."
"I don't remember where, but this reminded me of that."
- Plus-Creme
"This is the case with most large predators."
"They don't kill you to kill you so much as disable you so you'll stop resisting being eaten. I've seen enough wildlife kills to know they don't wait until you're dead."
"They are in a hurry to eat as much as possible as fast as they can before some scavengers or other predators show up to start something."
- -_Empress_-
GiphyKittens...
"Everyone talking about natural predators and other wildlife. Time to bring home reality."
"Kittens contain multiple viruses and bacteria which are transferable to humans, usually through a scratch. If left untreated, these can really screw a person up, even leading to death."
"Cat Scratch Fever is a legitimate medical term, and requires proper care to diagnose and treat. Symptoms are very closely related to the common cold, but can persist due to the bacteria."
"A more terrifying dark fact is cats can hide symptoms of rabies far longer than most other domesticated animals due to most people believing they may have cat scratch fever instead of rabies."
"This unhinged fact is why so many cats were killed during the Black Plague days, as people feared they were spreading the disease. Turns out, it was fleas via rats, which was discovered once the cats were killed but the plague spread even faster."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to apply some antibiotic ointment on my recent scratch since I only learned of all this after adopting one."
"Enjoy!"
- WhiskersWithClaws
GiphyTrying To Help A Baby
"Bush Babies calls sound like, well, babies."
"An unsuspecting person might head toward them thinking there’s a crying infant that needs help and end up with half their face ripped off, deep skin lacerations, and they’ll be tripping balls."
"Bush Babies (particularly the galago is what I’m referring to) are highly defensive and territorial little menaces."
"They have needle-sharp teeth and grippy little fingers that can peel you apart. Their saliva is so toxic it is considered by many to be a 'venom.' "
"There have been reports from those envenomated to experience symptoms like they’ve been poisoned. Fevers, dizziness, sweating, nausea, rapid heart rate, audio and visual hallucinations."
"And what’s worse? For some, some of the symptoms don’t go away ever."
"In some cases, they’re left in a state of anxiety, depression or a post traumatic stress disorder-like reaction with vivid nightmares when they sleep, random bouts of anxiety, sweating and shaking, etc."
"I have a former coworker who worked with the primates alongside me at a zoo who was attacked by the bush baby who now has crazy nightmares and is now medicated for depression when he claims his mental health was fine before he was attacked. It’s scary stuff."
"They’re adorable but people wear full protective gear when they go in the enclosure now."
"They also piss all over each other to communicate. So they be stinky. And you end up stinky too. Insult to injury."
- wilder-side-pod
GiphyPenguin Presentation
"Necrophiliac penguins."
"Apparently, a face-down dead female penguin doesn't look sufficiently different than a presenting female penguin, and the males just go for it..."
- Zebirdsandzebats
"Adelie penguins will mate with ANYTHING."
"Dead females. frozen dead females, the decapitated head of a dead animal, their own offspring, fish, and even the ground. THE GROUND. To them, even baby seals are fit mating."
- NegativeAd99
penguin swimming GIFGiphyBaby Bunnies
"Bunnies will kill their own babies due to any amount of stress..."
"... or if anything goes slightly wrong, or if they are in a bad mood."
- GenderNotFound
"Weirdly enough, in domestic rabbits you can feed a pregnant doe some raw hamburger shortly before the birth and she usually won't try to snack on the babies."
- Askater_620
Sweet Kisses Bunnies GIFGiphySo Cute!
"Slow lorises are venomous. Their venom glands are in their armpits."
"So when people see this cute little primate put their arms up they think to themselves 'OMG SO CUUUUUUUTE!!' but it's not cute."
"They are, in reality, activating their defenses. At this point they are actively secreting venom which they then lick, the venom mixes with their saliva to make their bites toxic."
"This has only been observed as a defense against other slow lorises, which have been observed with rotting flesh around the site of venom delivery. One case researchers observed one with half their face 'melted.' "
- senatedestroyer
tummy loris GIFGiphyAdorable Death
"Black footed cats are the most successful feline hunters. More than 65% of their hunts are successful."
"They hunt rodents, lizards and other smaller animals, but they are quite aggressive so when threatened they might even attack humans."
"But they are only a a little bit bigger than house cats and REALLY CUTE, so they aren't a threat to humans."
"To anything smaller, they're death incarnate. To adult humans they're just adorable sassypaws."
- folgore248
GIF by SkabGiphyAnteaters Are Extreme
"Anteaters are some of the most homicidal and dangerous creatures in the animal kingdom and can scare off predators easily. They are near-totally blind and react to movement by attacking anything that comes near it."
"They happen to live in the same environments as jaguars who are considered some of the best hunters among the big cats and regularly hunt alligators, but jaguars won't go near them."
"This is because anteaters have huge claws that will utterly wreck anyone who tries it - either by cutting a major artery or just gutting someone. One unfortunate zookeeper was attacked by an anteater while cleaning its cage and her coworkers weren't sure whether she would die on the way to the hospital or before the ambulance even arrived."
"And the way they eat is also pretty messed up. Anteaters don't have stomach acids strong enough to digest their prey so they crush up ants and digest them in the ant's own digestive juices."
- res30stupid
hungry planet earth 2 GIF by BBC EarthGiphyThose Beautiful Birds
"Storks sometimes (not always) will pick the weakest and youngest chick and fling him out of the nest to die if they consider that there’s the possibility of scarcity of food in the future."
"I know they are not evil, this is instinct and probably the best chance of survival for the other siblings and all. But when I found out I was disturbed and never looked at those beautiful birds the same again."
- cerenir
white stork bird GIF by Head Like an OrangeGiphyIf It's White, Say Goodnight
"Polar bears are one of the most deadly apex predators on the planet."
"There's a saying about bear attacks: 'If it's black fight back, if it's brown lie down, if it's white say goodnight.' "
"Black bears attack mainly for food and are easily frightened (basically they're big raccoons) so if you make yourself seem not worth it they'll give up."
"Brown bears mainly attack out of fear / defensiveness and will leave if they think you're not a threat or are dead."
"Polar bears, though? They see humans as prey, are several times stronger than any other bear on the planet, and if one sees you you're pretty much as good as dead."
"There are places in the arctic where it's illegal to leave settlements without a firearm to defend yourself from polar bears."
- minnieboss
"Polar bears are not cute, fluffy little creatures that drink Coca Cola. They are one of the few species that seem to kill humans for fun."
- FraudulentCake
scratching polar bear GIFGiphyGod Help You
"A Cassowary's existence is dark enough."
"It looks like a pretty Emu, but it's more like if you mixed an Emu with a coked-up T-Rex."
"They got a reputation as the world's most dangerous bird, and may god help you if you ever accidentally piss one off."
- IceFire909
Australia One Planet GIF by BBC AmericaGiphyBubbles
"Chimpanzees."
"Case of humans trying to successfully domesticate chimps do not always go so well. The older the chimp gets the more aggressive it can become."
"In one case, a chimpanzee known to be friendly throughout the neighbourhood by everyone suddenly turned a corner one day and savagely attacked the owner’s friend."
"Not to get too graphic, but some limbs were removed and surgery was required."
- W4T3RM3LONS
"It didn't work for Michael Jackson and Bubbles, it's not gonna work for anyone."
"Not that Michael was some sort of primate expert, but he had more than enough money to afford care and access to every specialist he wanted. Chimps are wild animals, they are not pets or babies - Bubbles got way too aggressive and had to go."
"They're scary-strong and can rip your limbs or face off quite easily. It's happened more than once."
- [Reddit]
baby animals chimp GIF by BBC EarthGiphyCute Little Clocks
"Do you know about the cuckoo?"
"These little jerks go around to other bird's nests and replace the eggs that were there with their own eggs. Then the 'foster' parents raise the cuckoo as its own."
"Evolutionary genius? Perhaps."
"But why the f*ck do we make cute little clocks about these insidious a-holes?"
- Loki_Dar
GiphyThis whole thread deserves a collective:
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang Nature, you scary!"
Now that you're thoroughly horrified, or at least concerned for your mental health after a Bush Baby attack (which is a new thing I have anxiety about now, thanks!) it's your turn to spread some trauma!
What's an awful animal fact you know?
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Look out below....
flying slow motion GIF by Eloy LannoóGiphyDragonflies cannot walk. It's strictly landing gear.
Through the Hole...
Rats can fit through any hole as long as their head fits through it. When they pass through the hole, their lungs collapse down allowing them to squeeze through and spring back into position once the rat gets out.
Like the holes in my attempts to not look desperate for their friendship. There's a kitty on my block who squeezes right past that but one day I'll get her to see I am a most suitable friend indeed.
Stretch....
giraffe eating GIFGiphyA giraffe has approximately one inch of tongue for every one foot of height.
Giraffes are bizarre animals. They look like a camel-chetah hybrid got its neck stuck in something and then stretched it out.
Up a Tree...Â
Leopards can drag 3x their own bodyweight up a tree.
And they are know to kill and eat gorillas despite being smaller than some dogs (40-165 lbs, smallest females to largest males).
Poop Squared....
Wombats have square poop.
When pursued by predators, a wombat will just run back to its den and plug the entrance with its butt. Much of their butt is made of thick cartilage, which is apparently quite scratch and bite resistant. And many of the wombat's natural predators also lack the ability to really hurt a wombat's combat ass.
If a predator manages to stick its snout in the den, it will use its powerful hind legs and padded butt to crush the predator's head up against the ceiling to suffocate it. It twerks predators to death.
No Sleep...
Dolphins don't sleep. Each hemisphere of their brain alternates being active and resting every 12 hours.
It's the same with flamingos! It's how they're able to stand on one leg while sleeping. I think it's called having a "semi-hemispheric brain" but I might be remembering that wrong. It's been a long time since that zoo visit.
Biggest Ever!
the golden girls weenie GIF by TV Land ClassicGiphyThe blue whale is not only the largest animal in the world currently, it is also the largest animal that has EVER lived in the history of the earth, including all dinosaurs.
"warm blooded"
Argentine Tegus are known to be the only "warm blooded" reptiles. Unlike all other reptiles that require a heat source to maintain a warm body temperature, these tegus are able to "turn on" an internal heater certain times of the year (mainly observed around breeding season). Both males and females can do this. Most of the time, they still require an external heat source, but the fact they can warm themselves up when needed is a first for reptiles!
Facts.....
Here's two, somewhat related due to nutrition.
- Pandas rarely eat anything other than bamboo which is not a calorie dense food at all. A full grown 120 kilogram panda has to eat 45 kilos of bamboo a day just to not starve.
- The Koala's diet is so poor that, after generations of eating only eucalyptus leaves, it's brain has shrunk so much that it's considerably smaller than it's cranial cavity. malgranda_azeno
The Devil's Work.....
Angry Tazmanian Devil GIF by Looney TunesGiphyTasmanian devils have up to fifty babies but only four nipples. They're marsupials so they're born premature and have to climb up to their mothers pouch. As she licks herself she eats most of them and only the four strongest make it to the pouch.
20/20 Jumpers....
Jumping spiders have basically the same vision we do, they can see us and know when we're looking at them and like to show off!
I would assume this is the same for most spiders that actively hunt their prey. I'm in Australia and we get huntsmen here. They're big and creepy looking but ultimately harmless. They don't build webs, they're wicked fast and chase down their food including speedy bugs like roaches.
Anyway when they get in your house they usually hang out up high on a wall where it meets the ceiling and in my experience if you look at them too long and start to move toward them they just book it at warp speed. I've always wondered how well they (and spiders in general) can see but spiders and especially their eyes creep me out so I've never really researched it.
Slow Eats
sloth yawn GIFGiphyA sloth's metabolism is so slow that they can starve to death with a stomach full of food Also, many sloths have fallen out of trees and died because they mistook their own arm for a tree branch and tried to grab it
I wonder how they're not extinct yet.
The Asexual Power
There was recently a 62 year old female python that had no contact with any males for over 15 years and just got laid an entire batch of eggs.
Supposedly it's been documented that pythons can asexually reproduce, however in this case they are currently testing if they were asexually born or if it was a result of the female storing the semen. (Which they can also do!)
Cat Prowess.....
Cats have a stealth ability with their paws I believe! I don't know the exact science behind it, but the way the padding on their feet is arranged makes it so they're essentially silent hunters. It's how such large animals like tigers or mountain lions can sneak around so easily (plus, their hind legs step exactly where their front legs step, adding to their stealth. I think giraffes are one of the few other animals that also matches steps like that).
Consuming the Male
How angler fish mate.
Basically, the male (who is maybe 1/10 the size of the female) bites onto the side of the female, who then secretes a substance that dissolves the lips of the male, thus binding his mouth to her body. His body will continue to dissolve until all that remains are the gonads, which dangle outside the female's body. So, not only was the female able to reproduce, she also gained nutrition by consuming the male.
But, wait, there's more!
Females can mate with multiple males. Many females have been caught with 5 or more sets of gonads on their sides. AND, after mating, the female can continue to draw from any of the gonads whenever she pleases.
So, yeah.
Savage Moby Dicks....
Orca whales elbow slam blue whales for hours in groups to prevent it from catching air, drowning it.
Also, some jellyfish are immortal.
Orcas have developed different "cultures". Each population only eats certain food (some only eat fish, some eat sea mammals etc.), they don't breed to outsiders, and they even speak different "languages". Of all animals on this planet they might be the closest to humans intelligence-wise, despite having evolved in a completely different environment.
Smart Squid
octopus GIFGiphyThe mimic octopus can not only change its color, but also changes its shape, movement and patterns to copy other species. It can imitate a lionfish, sea snakes, jellyfish, sole, and others. Pretty kick a**, but that's octopus for ya.
Bloodsucker....
There's a parasitic isopod that literally sucks the blood out of fish tongues (in the living fish's mouth) and then replace the tongue. Then all the males who've been vibing in the fish's gills the entire time get to crawl into the mouth to have an interesting party with the female. There's nothing the fish can do about this.
Venom....
Everything about platypuses.
They are a prehistoric evolutionary step between reptiles and mammals, they swim in water but live underground, lay eggs and sweat milk because they don't have nipples, their beaks are actually radars to spot electromagnetic movement in the mud, and most importantly: they are venomous.
They have stings on their heels. The venom won't kill you but there is no anti-venom and you will be in pain for MONTHS. Not even high doses of Morphine can ease the pain.
I mean wtf. Gotta love those venomous prehistoric beaver-ducks with built-in radar.
EDIT:I wrote they are a evolutionary step between amphibians and mammals. I was wrong.
Sonic Flight
owl think GIFGiphyOwls feathers are layered just perfectly that they don't create a sonic sound when flying.
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Every time Mother Nature tries a new animal, she comes up with a whole bunch of new features! We're not saying they're all winners ... some are downright creepy (looking at you, woodpecker tongues) but the fact remains the list of animal traits, adaptations and "quirks" is nearly endless.
One reddit user asked:
What are some really amazing animal facts?
And yeah, it pretty much turned into a weird animal trivia shootout ... and we're totally here for it.
The Owl Challenge
Owls bob their heads up and down to help improve their depth of perception.
You can try it out yourself. Focus on an object and bob your head. It doesn't work for us, but you do look like an idiot.
He Does Impressions!
The mimic octopus is an octopus species that can change its body structure to imitate other creatures like flounders and sea snakes.
So, So Old
The Greenland shark reaches sexual maturity at 150 years old and lives 300-500 years. Always fascinates me that there is something that can live that long.
- UsedElk7
Ravens
GiphyRavens can mimic sounds and speech like parrots can.
They've found that ravens can actually learn words and form coherent statements. They can usually learn about 200 words, the same as a toddler.
A Caribbean Accent
Sperm whales in the Caribbean have an accent.
Yup. Sperm whales in the Caribbean and Pacific ocean speak different dialects. The babies start out babbling, then pick up the family language from those around them.
It's one of the arguments for whales having "culture".
- Sedixoap
MEEEEEERRRRRRAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAA!!!! 'Mon.
One Solid Mass
Turtles aren't in their shell, they are their shell. The shell itself is a combination of their spine and rib cage that has become one solid mass.
Pest Control
A lot of people think possums are pests and dangerous but they don't really carry diseases like rabies and if you have them, they keep tick populations pretty low so they are useful. Also they don't choose to play dead, their Adrenaline levels get so high they pass out!
- Benje17x
'Finding Nemo' Just Got Weird
In clownfish, each 'school' ( tribe whatever) has one female, and a head male. All the other fish in the group are male. If the female dies, the head male turns into a female.
The next in line to the "throne" (?) would become the new male leader and bang the former male leader/ew female leader.
Yeah clownfish are Wacky.
Time To Pounce
Foxes use the earth's magnetic fields.
"Like a guided missile", the fox harnesses the earth's magnetic field to hunt. Other animals, like birds, sharks, and turtles, have this "magnetic sense," but the fox is the first one we've discovered that uses it to catch prey.
According to New Scientist, the fox can see the earth's magnetic field as a "ring of shadow" on its eyes that darkens as it heads towards magnetic north. When the shadow and the sound the prey is making line up, it's time to pounce.
- Jammy13
Dolphin Suicide
Unlike humans, dolphins must actively decide when to breathe. Captive dolphins have been known to hold their breath until they die of suffocation, which some have suggested amounts to dolphin suicide.
Go F Yourself
GiphyWhen a male octopus is ready to mate it rips off its ding dong and throws it at the female so she can do whatever she wants with it. The reason they do this is because they're a lot smaller than the female, so she'll eat the male if he gets too close. On the plus side, the male octopus will grow his ding dong back eventually.
"Here, go f*** yourself." - male octopus.
Practical Twerking
Wombat moms have their pouches "backwards" so when they dig, dirt doesn't get into the pouch. Also, they have very hard and sturdy butts to use as shields if any predator tries to get them.
And they said twerking has no practical use.
Magic Crocodile Blood
Crocodiles have a ton of special adaptions to allow them to stay underwater for prolonged periods of time. They can control where oxygenated blood goes via the foramen of panizza (directing oxygenated blood to the brain and essential organs and preventing it from returning to the lungs) and even control how much blood goes to their extremities.
That's pretty neat and it makes sense for an ambush predator that lies in wait for long periods of time in water--- but even more amazing is how Crocodilians deal with the PROBLEMS caused by the blood flow regulation/lack of oxygen. One of the less commonly known side-effects of this system is that blood pH levels begin to drop (becoming acidic as Carbon Dioxide builds up- a condition called "acedemia").
As a general rule of thumb Amniotes (Reptiles and Mammals) require a blood pH close to seven and-a-half. Even small drops in blood pH are enough to seriously interfere with normal biological function. Crocodiles, however, can function with blood pH drops down towards 6--- that's a blood pH that would kill any one of us currently posting about crazy animal facts!
Sound Problems
Bald eagles don't sound like they do on TV. They dub over bald eagles with the call of a redtail hawk. Actual bald eagle calls sound more like a seagull.
Similarly, lion roars on tv are usually dubbed over with tiger roars. Evidently this is because an actual lion roar is usually too deep to record well, so it sounds weak. But apparently is terrifying IRL.
A Real Hero
The Hero Shrew (aka the Armored Shrew) has an incredibly bizarre, chain-mail like spine that allows it to withstand vertical pressure up to 160 pounds or so, the equivalent of a human supporting 10 elephants on their back. It's believed they use this ability to wedge up logs to eat the bugs underneath and to allow them to bend almost completely in half, allowing for fast turns in their tunnels.
- codoro
