16 Things You Don’t Know About Some Animals

It’s always mind-blowing to think about Mother Nature and everything we see and associate with each day.

When talking about the animal kingdom, all of us have that specific animal we keep close to our hearts and want to see every time we visit a national park.

It’s also surprising that we keep some of these animals in our homes, we play with them, and even make them part of the family.

With about 1-2 million species in the animal kingdom, it’s impossible to know everything about each animal.

Surprisingly, there are so many things people don’t know about the animals they domesticate.

If you have started wondering what you couldn’t know about your favorite cat or your best animal, you have come to the right place as we tell you 16 things about animals that will surprise you.

1. Many people believe that the lion is the king of the jungle and if you’re reading this, you probably think that the lion is indeed the king of the jungle. However, if you love going to the national parks or watching animal documentaries, it’s possible that you’ve noticed a lion can’t survive, hunt or live individually. This means that they can’t be classified as kings. Are you nervous to know the king of the jungle? If yes, Tiger is.
2. Did you know that the lion is the heaviest cat in the cat family? If you had no idea, now you know. Surprisingly, it splints at 50 MPs especially when chasing a prey, meaning that they run faster than many other light animals.
3. The pig is ranked fourth as long as the smartest animals are in question. Surprised? Well, dolphins top the list of the smartest animals, primates are second, elephants are third and pigs are fourth. Unlike many people’s perception, pigs are among the neatest animals and only get dirty depending on how they’re reared. When it comes to neatness, they fall behind rabbit and cat making them the third best animals to keep.
4. There are two surprising facts about pigs that many people don’t know about. One, they identify scents better than dogs. Surprised? Well, dogs have the ability to identify nearly 600 different scents, but pigs usually identify twice the scents identified by dogs. Secondly, pigs play in mud or dirt, not because they want to but to regulate their body temperatures.
5. According to human evolution, human beings originated from apelike ancestors. Most people, therefore, believe that we share a kinship with primates. However, you’ll be surprised to know that human beings are more common with pigs than primates. For instance, pigs eat everything humans eat. Besides, humans and pigs share similar organs. As a matter of fact, humans and primates share 70-80% organs similarity but 92% with pigs. For example, the heart of a pig is similar to that of a human being in terms of shape and size. In this case, scientists are working day and night to perform an organ transplant from pigs to human beings. Given that the transplant on a chimpanzee has been successful, hopefully, it will be successful on humans and it will save lives because pigs are general donors.
6. It goes without saying that elephants are among the most celebrated and admired animals across the world. Hippocampus is a special structure in the brain usually linked with memory functions. Surprisingly, elephants utilize 47% of this part comparable to 26% for humans. With this in mind, you won’t be surprised to know that elephants can remember things that happened 50 years ago as fresh as they happened an hour ago. They can remember people who were harsh or kind to them and in case of a loss of a family member, they mourn for days and can trek thousands of miles to pay homage. Interestingly, they sense the onset of rains and sense water eight hundred miles away.
7. The trunk of an elephant has no actual muscle. Interestingly, it’s the strongest and multitasking part in their body as it’s used for eating, smelling, trumpeting, drinking, and lifting loads weighing up to 600 pounds. Most importantly, elephants are excellent swimmers and use their trunks as oxygen tube while in the water.
8. According to research, the wolf domesticated itself to become part of human existence. Interestingly, dogs evolved from wolves as they share similar DNA, but wolves are two times bigger than normal dogs.
9. Domesticating wolves is not always a walk in the park and the reason behind this is that wolves are 30 times smarter than house dogs.
10. What’s your favorite pet? Well, when you hear that question, the animal that crosses your mind is a cat, right? There are nearly 15 million cats in America which makes cats the most popular pets globally. Cats are adorable and having one at home is a dream of every person. And if you ask why they are that popular, the answer is that one female cat can give birth to more than twenty kittens at once. Many people believe that cats have nine lives, and do you know why? It’s because they have a special skeleton modification that helps them to jump from high places without breaking.
11. Many people adopt cats because of their neatness. In fact, they rank second among the neatest pets after rabbits. Surprisingly, they don’t have poisonous venom and unlike many people’s perception, they don’t spit; they only imitate the snake’s hissing sound when threatened.
12. As we see in movies and in real life, human beings are known to kill for pleasure. And just like humans, cats kill for pleasure and torture and play with their prey before killing them.
13. What comes to your mind when you hear of the smartest birds? Well, it goes without saying that crowns and Ravens will always carry the day. They are regarded as the smartest for two reasons. One, when they want to hunt, they make their own tools, unlike other birds that pick hunting tools from anywhere. Two, they have a very sharp memory when it comes to remembering a face. And for this reason, the U.S military use them to track criminals, terrorists, and missing soldiers. If you’re surprised on how they do this, the military presents the picture of the person they want tracked and crowns and ravens memorize the image and track them for days.
14. Crowns and ravens are also vengeful. As stated, they can remember a face for ages and if threatened by humans or other animals, they gang up and attack the culprit as revenge. These birds are affected by the death of loved ones or their family members and happen to be the only birds not threatened by scarecrows. In fact, when they see a scarecrow in farmlands, they use their strong beaks to destroy them.
15. In the bird family, owls are regarded as the best hunters and predators for three reasons. One, they have an extraordinary eyesight that can spot a prey over 20 feet deep underground and more than 100 feet from above the ground. Two, they have exceptional wings that enable them to fly without making any sound. This means that when they spot their target, they fly quietly and attack the prey before preparing to escape. Three, they have two claws behind and two others in front which are not shaped like other birds, making it easy for them to grab and hold tightly their prey.
16. Owls are very swift in the air. This means that they can adjust their bodies without losing control. Interestingly, they have an exceptional modification of vertebrae and skeleton which enables them to excellently rotate their heads to nearly 280 degrees backward and upside down and this helps them to spot and chase their prey.