Cool facts about the animal kingdom!
As humans, animals are of great use and importance to us in various ways and can be contrary at times. We bring you some interesting facts about these animals.
1. Dog’s Sense of Smell is 1000 Times Greater Than Humans
Due to the number of its scent receptors, a dog’s sense of smell is between 10,000- 100,000 times greater than that of humans. For every scent receptor of an human, a dog has about 50.
2. Only Female Mosquitoes Can Bite
The proboscis is the mouth part used by mosquitoes to pierce the skin of a human or animal to suck their blood. For the males, their proboscis is not strong enough to pierce the skin therefore they cannot suck blood.
3. A Snail Can Sleep For 3 Years
Snails can stay in their shell for long periods when the weather is extremely hot or cold. A snail can sleep in its shell for 3 years if extreme weather tarries for too long, though it is not common. A snail can spend one-third of its life sleeping.
4. Camels Can Survive 15 Days Without Water
One of the reasons camels can survive long without water is due to their humps which stores fats that they use to go long without water. They can survive 6-7 months without water during winter as they can obtain moisture from the plants they consume, no wonder they are well suited to their desert habitats.
5. Sloth Takes 2 weeks To Digest Its Food
Holding the slowest digestion time of any mammal, sloths digest food very slowly because their food is difficult to process and their body temperature fluctuates every day. Since they do not have incisors, they trim down leaves by smacking their firm lips together.
6. Kangaroos Cannot Walk Backwards
Due to their thick muscular tail and long tail, Kangaroos can’t move forward or backwards. They move from side to side with amazing agility, their hopping motion is called Saltation.
7. Cockroaches Can Survive for Weeks Without Their Head
Cockroaches breathe through little holes found in each of their body segments therefore they do not need their head or nose to breathe. Their neck would seal off just by clotting after you cut their head off therefore there is no uncontrolled bleeding.
8. Ants Get Their Sleep Through Power Naps
They take incredibly short naps at staggered times because some are awake and active while others are having their quick rest. Little wonder, you see them active at different times of the day and even at night. Research shows that ants have a cyclic pattern of resting period which each nest as a group observes lasting about 8 minutes in 12 hours.
9. A Female Lion Does 90% of The Hunting
Lionesses hunt around most of the time while the lion protects the pride. The lioness serves to provide for the pride and the males that are dominant over the pride, it is said that there is a pecking order in the pride when the males are present.
10. The Loudest Animal In The World Is Just A 2cm Prawn
The Pistol Shrimp is capable of snapping its claw shut so rapidly, that it creates a bubble which collapses to produce a sonic blast, louder than a Corncode’s sonic boom. The blast the bubble produces is louder than the sound of a gunshot with a shock wave that can reach 230 decibels.
#Unsolicited is a segment for reviews, opinion pieces and professional perspectives for various industries. This edition features 10 Interesting facts About Different Animals.
