Odd Animal Facts or "Facts"

[LarryAndro]

While at the local Harbor Freight, since the weather was really cold, I was the only one in the store. The clerks were stocking, talking pretty freely among themselves. One of them told the other clerk...

"You know! Elephants can get herpes just like people."

I started laughing, walked an aisle over, and told them, even though odd, I would probably be thinking about elephants getting herpes for a week! And, laughing every time.

I heard the other day that macaque monkeys recognize themselves in mirrors. And, that male macaques hold baby monkeys to make friends.

Animals... odd creatures!

What odd and bizarre, and if you can force yourself to be serious, true things impress you about animals?

 

[Thebigspendur]

You say that like we weren't animals too. As far as odd goes none are odder than us.

 

[Bertilak]

I heard the other day that macaque monkeys recognize themselves in mirrors.

I believe cats recognize themselves in a mirror.

We got our cat as a feral cat that simply moved into our house while it was under construction. Although not a kitten she was quite young and not fully grown. We eventually decided to keep her, took her to the vet for a checkup, shots, spading, etc., then brought her to our apartment to await the completion of our house. (note: This "free" cat cost us over $300 in vet bills!)

When she got to the apartment she explored the place and came across a mirror. Apparently she had never seen one before. Her tail fluffed out, her back arched, she let out a big hiss and took a swipe at the mirror. She thought it was another cat! A few moments later, after looking behind the mirror and coming at it from different angles, sniffing, poking, etc., she ignored it. She no longer shows any interest in herself in the mirror.

I'm pretty sure she figured out it was her in the glass. She certainly recognized it as a cat and shortly thereafter realized it wasn't *another* cat. Perhaps she figured it was just a very good picture of a cat, but she also recognizes cats as cats on TV (shows extra interest) but doesn't freak out.

I have tested her understanding of a mirror. If she has a mirror in her field of view and I am in the right spot I can wave my hands and she will turn to look at me.

 

[dpm802]

Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.

 

[TickTock]

Armadillos can get leprosy. They have been of great use in studying treatments for the disease.

The nine-banded armadillo always has one set of genetically-identical quadruplets per litter. (I never knew that, but just now I was reading about armadillos and leprosy research and there it was.)

 

[stobes21]

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

 

[rm71]

Kangaroos can't walk backwards.

 

[professorchaos]

Turtles can breathe through their butts.

 

[_JP_]

Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.

You never saw a goose in a 50mph headwind?

 

[Wilpar76]

Heard this one on "Shark Week" - Today's great white sharks are 90% smaller than they were at the turn of the century (1899-1900 vs 1999-2000). This doesn't seem odd if you think about it due to overfishing, disease, food supply for the sharks, environmental changes, etc. However, if you look at it a little differently, it is quite scary. Today, the average size of a great white shark is about 16 feet long with the longest shark ever recorded in modern time to be about 23 feet (even though 20 feet is more commonly accepted maximum size).

Anyway, I can't even imagine seeing a great white today, let alone a shark that is 90% larger. Scary. Those sharks would put JAWS to shame.

 

[RichGem]

You never saw a goose in a 50mph headwind?

JP got goosed by a 50 mph headwind?

 

[RichGem]

Penguins and puffins are not related.

 

[David in Boston]

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

I'll be darn.

My cat's breath also smells like cat food.

And it's AWFUL!

 

[LarryAndro]

Heard this one on "Shark Week" - Today's great white sharks are 90% smaller than they were at the turn of the century (1899-1900 vs 1999-2000). ...

I read that the game management of not letting sportsman bag deer and fish and so on unless they were a particular size was effecting the actual genetic pool of the populations. Makes sense too, since a small size is a great survival technique!

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Disclaimer: MAY have something to do with all the recent "plagues" we've been seeing, lately.

Many species of bird, especially Red-Wing Blackbirds, will do exactly what the "leader" of the flock does. Animals are very instinctive, to say the least, and if they feel they're in danger, many species will commit voluntary suicide. If the leader of the flock decides to kill itself for one reason or another, the rest of the flock will follow suit.

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

Also, after years of interest in both natural and captive habits of arachnids (especially tarantulas, true spiders and scorpions), I've noticed the following:

- If food is scarce, a female mother spider will gladly sacrifice herself the her offsprings' nourishment.

- The entire "Black Widow Myth" is mostly false except in rare cases.

- In the case of spiderling birth, there are mainly two types: those that exit first (the oldest) and those that exist second (youngest). The youngest are often nothing more than "eggs with legs" and cannot defend themselves. The eldest will often protect and feed the youngest if and only if they're from the same eggsac. If they're from another eggsac, even though they may be the same species and appear identical, they'll cannibalize one another with gusto. This, too, happens with spiders from the same sac; but, with not near the frequency as the latter.

- Insofar as more advanced species are concerned, i.e. reptiles and amphibians, "color selection" is apparent in both breeding and societal situations. That is, "normal" colored offspring will often distance themselves from an albino or similarly abnormal phenotype.

- Despite popular rumor, even when perpetuated by so-called "physicians" and "experts", Brown Recluse Spider bites are pretty rare and not all that memorable. Too often, virtually any strange abcess or skin lesion is dismissed as a "spider bite" when there are too many variables to really narrow it down to that one. Brown Recluses, true to their name, are very shy and not prone to bite. Even when they do, medical assistance is rarely necessary and the bite itself is of very little consequence.

- Scorpions are extremely common from the Midwest all the way to Washington state and SoCal. Rarely, however, is their sting medically significant. There's an oft reported rumor that the "Arizona Bark Scorpion", Centruroides sculpturatus, is dangerously venomous and can kill within minutes. There haven't been any deaths for almost thirty years and most stings are only a mild inconvenience.

- The only truly "dangerous" arachnid in the US is the Black Widow. Most Southern Black Widows avoid human contact and are hesitant to bite, but, Northern Black Widows are not only larger but more aggressive, as well. I was bitten a few years ago by a VERY large female Northern and felt like I had a bad case of the flu for about two weeks.

 

[DFrancis]

Wetshavers are descended from magpies.

 

[rajagra]

Dogs can keep running almost indefinitely because they don't suffer from a build-up of lactic acid in the muscles like we do.

 

[Edcculus]

I have tested her understanding of a mirror. If she has a mirror in her field of view and I am in the right spot I can wave my hands and she will turn to look at me.

My cat likes looking at herself in the mirror. If I'm all the way down the hall, and she is in the bathroom looking at herself in the mirror, then sees me in the mirror, she turns and looks at me too.

 

[tvldatsi]

I believe cats recognize themselves in a mirror.

We got our cat as a feral cat that simply moved into our house while it was under construction. Although not a kitten she was quite young and not fully grown. We eventually decided to keep her, took her to the vet for a checkup, shots, spading, etc., then brought her to our apartment to await the completion of our house. (note: This "free" cat cost us over $300 in vet bills!)

When she got to the apartment she explored the place and came across a mirror. Apparently she had never seen one before. Her tail fluffed out, her back arched, she let out a big hiss and took a swipe at the mirror. She thought it was another cat! A few moments later, after looking behind the mirror and coming at it from different angles, sniffing, poking, etc., she ignored it. She no longer shows any interest in herself in the mirror.

I'm pretty sure she figured out it was her in the glass. She certainly recognized it as a cat and shortly thereafter realized it wasn't *another* cat. Perhaps she figured it was just a very good picture of a cat, but she also recognizes cats as cats on TV (shows extra interest) but doesn't freak out.

I have tested her understanding of a mirror. If she has a mirror in her field of view and I am in the right spot I can wave my hands and she will turn to look at me.

My buddy's husky, when it was a puppy, broke open a picture frame (one of the frames with three different partitions, one had a picture of my buddy and his girlfriend, one of just his girlfriend and one of the dog) and proceeded to chew up and destroy only the picture of himself while leaving the rest of the frame unscathed