Animal Triva

Animal Trivia

Here are some more interesting and fascinating facts about animals.

The penalty for killing a cat, 4,000 years ago in Egypt was… death.

The phrase “raining cats and dogs” (which means, “raining very much and very hard”) originated in 17th-century England. During this period many cats and dogs lived in the streets; and when it rained, many of them drowned and their bodies could be seen floating through the streets. This made it look like it had literally rained “cats and dogs”.

The Pacific giant octopus, the largest octopus in the world, grows from the size of pea to a 75-kilo monster in just two years.

The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill approximately 2,229.5 people. Incidentally, the world record for a frog jump is 10.3 metres over the course of three consecutive leaps. This jump took place during the 1977 World Frog Jumping Competition, which is held annually in South Africa.

The turbot fish lays approximately 14 million eggs during its lifetime.

The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can’t retract its claws.

During the reign of Kublai Khan, the Chinese used lions on hunting expeditions. They trained the big cats to chase and drag down animals such as wild bulls and bears. The lions stayed with the animals until the hunter arrived.

The only dog to ever appear in a Shakespearean play was called Crab in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”.

Fifty minks are needed to produce a fur coat for an average-sized lady. Eighty of the little creatures are required for a large-boned lady.

There are more insects in one square kilometre of rural land than there are human beings in the world. There are more than 900,000 known species of insects.

There are more than 100 million dogs and cats in the United States. Incidentally, Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year, which is a lot more than they spend on foreign aid.

Officially, there is no animal called a panther (except the pink one). The term “panther” is a general word that is used to refer to large cats such as leopards, pumas and jaguars.

When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule; and when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.

You are more likely to be bitten by mosquitoes if you eat bananas. Incidentally, only female mosquitoes bite. In some American states, the evidence given by a bloodhound is admissible in court.

Mockingbirds can imitate any sound from a squeaking door to a cat meowing. On average, pigs live for about 15 years.

Parrots are the most famous of all the talking birds, but they can rarely use more than twenty words. However African Greys can learn more than 100 words. What clever birds!

You can hear an adult lion’s roar up to five miles away; but the loudest sound is produced by the blue whale (188 decibels), which makes them the biggest noise polluters in the world.

Sharks are the only animals that never get sick. And they are immune to every known disease including cancer.

Snakes can’t die from their own poison.

Some baby giraffes are more than two metres tall at birth.

An albatross can sleep while it flies.

An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.

Ants are sociable insects and live in colonies which may have as many as 500,000 individuals. Incidentally, ants never sleep.

Beaver teeth are so sharp that Native Americans once used them as blades for their knives.

The English Romantic poet Lord Byron was so sad when his pet dog, Boatswain, died that he composed a poem for him. Here it is: “Beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of man without his vices.”

G L O S S A R Y

to drown vb to die in water a pea n a small, round green vegetable a leap n a jump to retract its claws exp a cat’s “claws” are the sharp part of its hands. Most cats can push the claws out, and take them back in (retract) a hunting expedition n a journey in which you look for animals to kill (hunt) to drag down phr vb to physically force an animal to go down on the ground a bull n a male cow a bear n a large, brown mammal that lives in forests a fur coat n a coat made of animal skin and hair large-boned adj this is a polite way of saying overweight offspring n babies a squeaking door n a door that makes a high-pitched noise (a squeaking sound) when you open it to meow n the noise that cats make when they are hungry, etc a noise polluter n a thing that makes a loud noise and that contaminates the atmosphere a bloodhound n a type of dog that is often used to find escaped prisoners admissible in court n acceptable as evidence in court a beaver n an animal that is like a rat, but with a flat tail. It builds its home next to rivers a blade n the sharp edge of a knife