Page 13 - Animal Facts

Moose have keen hearing because their antlers work as amplifiers!

Some animals have extravagant features that are mostly just for show. If you thought that Moose developed their trademark antlers in the same way that peacocks developed their feathers, you’d be wrong.

A new study has shown that moose antlers increase their hearing by 19%. It had long been suspected that the antlers helped locate mates somehow because males with antlers were better able to locate females than those without.

How did they test this you ask? Well, they took two moose skulls, one with and one without antlers and put a mic in them and measured how well it picked up sounds from a speaker 32ft away from it.

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Cats can drink sea water to re-hydrate themselves!

Have you ever heard the expression, “Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink?” The age-old age adage refers, of course, to the ocean – vast quantities of water, but unsuitable for humans to drink due to the salt content. But did you know that cats CAN drink seawater to in order to survive? Read on to find out how.

All animals get some of their water intake from food, cats included. But when a cat’s intake of water from all sources is inadequate, their kidneys are efficient enough to re-hydrate by consuming saltwater. The kidneys are able to expel the salt while allowing the potable water to re-hydrate the feline in order to help it survive in times of drought.

Here are a couple of other fun facts about cats: most female cats are right pawed while males are left pawed; a cat’s brain is more similar to a human brain than to a dog’s brain; cats can run at an astounding 31 mph for short distances; and, cats almost never meow at other cats – only at humans.

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Domestic cats instinctively don't want to drink from the water bowl next to their food because they think it might be contaminated

Cats are odd creatures. While they can be cuddly and affectionate, they can also be neurotic and keep to themselves. There are a lot of cat cliches that may or may not be true. People think that they hate to be bathed. I hope that one isn't true.

People think they love to drink milk. Probably. People think that cat nip makes them go crazy. Yes. But what about when it comes to their drinking water? It turns out that cats are a little weird about their water.

They instinctively do not want to drink from a water bowl that is placed next to their food. This is because cats are naturally hunters despite the fact that they have been domesticated. In the wild, cats do not drink water that is near their kill because it could have been contaminated by their newly caught prey. Obviously, domesticate cats usually overcome this instinct and drink from a water bowl that is near their food, but the instinct is still there.

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Spider legs use hydraulic pressure. When they die their legs curl because the liquid dries up!

Spiders' legs curl up is because a spider uses hydraulic pressure to push liquid into it's legs that allow it to move, and when it dies the liquid drains out making the legs curl up

If you've ever killed a spider (without completely squishing it) or come across one that is already dead, you know that their legs curl up beneath them when they die. You may be too busy being grossed out by this eight-legged creature to wonder just why this is. Human's limbs don't curl inward after they die. So what is going on with this posthumous tendency.

It turns out that spiders' legs are hydraulic. Or more specifically, two of the six joints in their legs are hydraulic. In order to straighten these joints and subsequently their legs, spiders flex their muscles and increase the pressure. When the spider dies, it obviously loses control over it's leg system and relaxes. The legs then curl upward automatically because no pressure is keeping them straightened.

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If ivory trade was legal, there could be MORE elephants alive than there are now!

Ivory is one of the most sought after goods in the world, demanding prices that rival or even exceed gold. While elephants have always been hunted for the ivory in their tusks, once colonization and globalization erupted over the past 150 years, their populations have sharply declined from an increase demand.

The problem was so bad that in 1989 there was a meeting in Switzerland that discussed possible solutions on how to ensure the elephant population doesn’t disappear.

Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, and South Africa answered calls to stop the ivory trade to ensure the survival of elephants, yet Zimbabwe took the complete opposite stance with increased success!

Officials in Zimbabwe spoke against banning the ivory trade because they believed the black market would continue to poach elephants and private businesses will no longer be able to ensure their survival to meet market demands.

Instead of working, the bans encouraged the ivory trade, and inside of Zimbabwe the elephant population has since grown!

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