Page 14 - Animal Facts

Cats Sleep For 70 Percent of Their Lives

We all wish we could sleep our days away sometimes. Who doesn't love the occasional long, lazy nap or sleeping in on the weekends? Cats, however, take this penchant for sleep to a whole new level. If you have a cat, you know they spend the majority of their time lounging about, basking in the sun, or sleeping out of sight. There is a reason they call it a "cat nap."

However, humans don't often realize just how much cats sleep. Cats actually sleep 70% of their lives, which equates to about 16 hours a day. They sleep more than any other mammal besides bats and opossums. There are a number of reasons that cats sleep so much.

As natural predators with few enemies, they can afford to sleep a lot. Also, the need for sleep increases proportionally to the amount of energy required. When cats are actually hunting (or pouncing on that toy mouse you leave out for them), they use enormous amounts of energy. So all that sleep is for something.

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After one sheep in Turkey randomly decided to jump off a cliff to its death, 1500 others followed!

In 2005, Turkish shepherds had left their herd to graze while they had breakfast. Then, one sheep decided to jump off a cliff, to it's death. As sheep are natural followers, 1,500 others followed, each blindly leaping off the cliff.

However, only 450 animals died because the ones who jumped off later fell atop the fluffy cushions that were the dead sheep. While it may be easy to laugh at this and dismiss it as “baaaaad” luck, the truth is that it was a huge economical blow the shepherds. The estimated loss to the families topped $100,000, a significant portion in a country where average GDP per head is around $2,700. .

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The rough-skinned newt is in an arms race that has turned it into the most poisonous animal in North America!

Most people would guess some sort of snake or spider is the most poisonous animal in North America, but it is actually the rough-skinned newt, and there is a very specific reason why!

While humans have known about newts for thousands of years, it was not until the 1960’s that their poisonous aspects were given serious consideration after three hunters were found dead with a newt in their coffee pot.

The newt is native to the West Coast of the United States, where garter snakes are plentiful. Garter snakes are the natural predator of rough-skinned newts, and while their poison seems to kill just about everything else, there is for some reason a strange resistance among garter snakes.

The reason? Evolution. Think about it as a sort of animal evolutionary arms race. The newt’s eggs are threatened by predators so they inject massive amounts of TTX, or tetrodotoxin, which is the poison newts posses, into their larvae so any predator dies immediately after eating them.

However, garter snakes have commonly fed on newt eggs, so while the newts continue to inject more and more poison, the garter snake has developed more and more immunities against it!

In a way, the newt is pushing the snake to become more immune to TTX and the snake is pushing the newt to become more and more poisonous!

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Greyhounds have 270-degree vision! They can see objects behind them and half a mile in front of them!

Greyhounds are one of the most interesting species of dog for many reasons. While it is commonly known that they are the fastest, reaching speeds around 70 km, not much else is known to most people. Traditionally used for hunting and racing, the greyhound is a machine of an animal.

They have significantly more red blood cells than other dogs and larger hearts and lungs to be able to run faster and longer. Their vision is amazing and they can see almost entirely around them without moving their bodies!

They were traditionally owned by the nobility in Europe because of their physical superiority compared to other dogs and were once strictly limited to the ruling classes!While they are physically amazing, they are also known to be among the most gentle dogs.

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Over 86,000 people visit the ER each year from tripping or falling over their cat or dog

Pets are wonderful companions. They're furry and cuddly, and they (usually) love you unconditionally. They have their downsides though. You know this if you've ever tried to house train a puppy or had to clean out a litter box. And dogs love to chew your most expensive pair of shoes.

Sometimes cats don't even like to hang out with you and prefer to sleep in some hidden location. The worst downside of a cat or dog, though, may be that they can actually cause you physical harm. It turns out that dogs and cats are responsible for 86,000 fall-related emergency room visits every year.

That's about 240 pet-related ER visits each day. They somehow get underfoot, they wrap the leash around you on a walk, they pull you down in their haste to chase a squirrel. Dogs rather than cats are usually the ones responsible for these falls.

The falls were more prevalent among children and middle-age people, but elderly people that fall are more likely to break a bone and take longer to recover.

It's worth weighing the pros and cons when deciding whether to purchase a dog or cat.

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