Page 12 - Animal Facts

Crows can remember human faces.

Studies have shown that crows can learn to recognize human faces and hold those faces (and any grudges associated with them) for a long time. Researchers captured 12 wild American crows while wearing particular mask of a human face.

For four weeks following their capture, they fed and cared for the crows while wearing a different mask. One by one, they took the crows and presented them with one of the two faces or an empty room. They gave the crows a chemical that functions as a sort of dye or marker. It would be taken in by whichever part of the brain became active. They crows would then be examined in a PET scanner.

From the images and the crows behavior, it was evident that the crows recognized both masks, and treated the capturing mask as a threat and the feeding mask with relative affection. They did so with the same region of their brains that humans do when they process images of faces and associate them with relevant emotions.

(Source)

You can use goldfish to keep horse troughs clean!

Aquarists and fish owners seem to have trouble keeping goldfish alive in tanks. This is because they're relatively large fish for the size tanks that they are usually held in.

One interesting way that you can learn this is the fact that goldfish can thrive in cattle troughs. This seems a weird place to keep goldfish, but actually they help farmers keep the troughs clean from algae and other bacteria.

The reason why they thrive is because these massive tanks hold between 150 and 300 gallons of water, while most people keep them in tanks that are about 30 or 55 gallons. This deteriorates the water quality that they live in and can lead to their death.

(Source)

Adwaita the tortoise lived an estimated 255 years!

While turtles and tortoises are known to have long live expectancies, this particular animal is just absurd. Adwaita was a giant tortoise who was originally owned by General Robert Clive of the East India Company.

Clive ended up committing suicide in 1774, and left his already 34-year-old tortoise behind. Adwaita was eventually brought to an Indian zoo in 1875 after having several different owners, and spent the rest of his life there.

He survived until 2006, at which time scientists carbon dated his shell to around the year 1750! This makes him around 255 years old, which is a generation older than the United States, and means he was born before Mozart, Lincoln, and the French Revolution!

(Source)

Polar bears are neat freaks!

If you live in constant freezing temperatures, like the polar bear does, you probably want to do the most you can to keep warm at all times, no? Well, turns out, for polar bears, this means that they need to be neat freaks.

Following mealtime, polar bears will spend 15-20 minutes obsessively grooming themselves. The reason for this is to make sure no dirt or residue is left on their fur that would interfere with it's insulating properties.

(Source)

In 1870 a Lion's Mane Jellyfish washed up onto Massachusetts bay with tentacles measuring 120 feet each!

The Lion's Mane Jellyfish is one of those creatures that don't seem real. They should exist in a science fiction novel, not in our oceans. The Lion's Mane looks like a regular jelly fish with a forest of tentacles extending from a mushroom-like head. They are the largest known species of jellyfish and live in the cold waters of the Arctic, northern Atlantic and norther Pacific oceans.

The largest recorded Lion's Mane Jellyfish washed up on the shores of Massachusetts in 1870. Its body had a diameter of 7 feet 6 inches, and it's tentacles measured 120 feet, which is longer than most Blue Whales. Imagine taking a walk on the beach and encountering this beast.

The Lion's Mane Jellyfish vary greatly in size, though with some only reaching about 20 inches in diameter. Their predators include sea birds, larger fish and sea turtles. The jellyfish themselves feed mostly on zooplankton and smaller fish.

(Source)