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35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
AnimalsJUN 8, 2022

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know

Rasa Žilinskaitė
Jonas Grinevičius
Rasa Žilinskaitė and Jonas Grinevičius
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Let’s see a show of hands, Pandas: how many of you love animals? Uh-huh, uh-huh, it’s just as we suspected—a whopping 159% of you are huge fans of the animal kingdom! Whether it’s cats, dogs, rabbits, or horses, we know for a fact that they matter to you just as much (and sometimes even more than) other people. But just how much do we really know about the animal kingdom?
When you start digging deeper, you realize that other living beings can be just as weird, if not weirder than, people themselves. Odd behaviors, character quirks, and peculiar instincts make for a better story than some of the fiction novels we’ve seen coming out in recent years. So today we’ll be diving headfirst into the world of obscure animal facts, courtesy of the knowledgeable trivia and biology experts over on r/AskReddit.
Check out the coolest facts below, upvote the ones that you didn’t know, and let us know in the comments if you’ve got some other interesting tidbits to share with the class. Oh, and you should definitely consider dropping some of these tasty info morsels at the next dinner party you go to—there’s nothing like bragging to your fellow Ravenclaws to make you seem like the next Attenborough. (Just remember to keep flapping your arms like a fashion chicken as you recite what you know.)

#1

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Crows recognize individual people even if they are wearing disguises and after many years. (The people are wearing disguises, not the crows.)
PatienceandFortitude
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363points

#2

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
All the deep sea anglerfish you see pictures of with the lil lights hanging over their heads? They're all female.
The males are tiny and born with a terribly weak jaw and a massive hunger. They seek out a female, and torn between hungry and horny they bite her.
She then releases an enzyme that fuses the male to her body. She slowly absorbs them into her body with only their lil testicles remaining so she can instantly fertilize her eggs when she wants to.
Some females have rows and rows of lil testicles on their bodies from where they have absorbed multiple males.
And you thought your sex life was weird, eh?
But no kink shaming.
Hyzenthlay87, Przemek P
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342points

#3

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Sloths are literally too lazy to go looking for a mate, so a female sloth will often sit in a tree and scream until a male hears her and decides to mate with her
amishsheepherder, Javier Mazzeo
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326points

Steven Wooding, from the Institute of Physics in the UK, recently shared with Bored Panda a cool animal fact that he thinks others should know, too.

“Crows are the Einsteins of the bird world. Expert at solving puzzles, and they can even recognize your face. They will actively avoid individuals who have been aggressive toward them in the past," he told us that we should never underestimate crows. Ca-caw indeed.

#4

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Female dragonflies will fake being dead in order to stop unwanted male advances. 
-eDgAR-, Les Attridge
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313points

#5

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
The chemical compound which is used to make fake banana flavour is the same compound honey bees use as an alarm pheromone. So never eat banana sweets near a beehive, and if you suddenly smell banana near a beehive, run!
generic-volume, Boba Jaglicic
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303points

#6

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
FACT: Dolphins have "bromances" in
which two males pair up for as long as 15 years and help each other hook up with females.
notcommonmedia
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300points

Meanwhile, Dr. John W. Wilkinson, from the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation charity in the UK, told Bored Panda that learning about animals can help inspire us to protect them. He said that people sharing photos of animals can create a deeper interest in them and their conservation. So long as the wildlife doesn’t get disturbed too much.

If you happen to have a garden, one way that you can help your local amphibians and reptiles (we hear they’re very polite) is by building a garden pond for them. That and not using chemicals are two ways that you can really help out the life growing in your garden.

#7

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Tarantulas have pet frogs. The frogs eat bugs and parasites that would damage the spider’s eggs, and in turn the spider protects the frog. Even after the eggs hatch they continue to protect the frog.
Hazmatix_art, Carlos Henrique
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294points

#8

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
The binturong, also known as the bearcat, is an arboreal mammal closely related to the red panda. It smells like popcorn!
My obscure fact about it is that captive binturong are capable of holding grudges, and will climb above people they dislike in order to s**t on their heads.
gengarde, Stephen Michael Barnett
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267points

#9

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
In Africa certain tribes communicate directly with birds called Honeyguides letting them know they are ready to hunt. The honey guides then lead them to hidden beehives in trees. The tribesmen break open the hives and take the honey( an important resource in their diet) and leave the honeyguides the bee larva and wax to feast on. In fact, it’s the only known example of targeted two-way signals between people and a free-living species.
spoon_shaped_spoon, Derek Keats
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257points

"In a small garden, even an upturned dustbin lid or bowl will provide a place for animals to drink," Dr. Wilkinson explained to us that if space is an issue, even something as small as this can help. If you have more space, you can make a compost heap or build a log pile.

"Climate change can be a very negative factor for frogs, toads, and newts. Ponds can dry up too quickly, meaning their tadpoles don’t have enough time to develop. Also, warmer winters affect hibernating frogs. They use more energy during hibernation and partially wake up, meaning they are in poorer condition for breeding. This is particularly hard on the females who put a lot of energy into making eggs (spawn)," the wildlife expert stressed that climate change is having a massive impact on local critters.

#10

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
When caterpillars enter the chrysalis phase, they don’t just sprout wings, their entire body first turns into a liquid, soupy substance which then reforms into the butterfly.
Unlucky-Pomegranate3, Suzanne D. Williams
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246points

#11

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Roosters deafen themselves temporarily every time they crow, so that they don’t damage their own hearing.
Soulfighter56, Sarah Halliday
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244points

#12

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
We all know an octopus has 8 legs.
It also has 3 hearts and 9 brains, and it can fit itself through a hole the size of a quarter.
Waldo_007, Diane Picchiottino
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241points

#13

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
A sperm whale call is so loud the sound waves could kill a human if they swam close to the whale.
Apparently some divers said they could feel the water heat up from the energy of the sound.
MountEverest14, wikipedia.org
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226points

#14

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Woodpecker tongues wrap around the back of their brains. This helps the brain stay protected during high speed pecking.
powderabuser, Robert Woeger
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224points

#15

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Hippos sweat is red.
Ethan8246, Dušan veverkolog
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218points

#16

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
The spines on a Tiger's tongue are sharp enough to lick skin clean off of muscle.
me0619, Alexas Fotos
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211points

#17

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
All halibut are male until they reach 45 inches in length. They then all become female.
serouslydoe, Brian Yurasits
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209points

#18

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
There is a genus of frog called "Mini". There are only three frogs in the genus, and their scientific names are all puns: Mini mum, Mini ature and Mini scule.
SwimmingOnMars, Sergiu Nista
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206points

#19

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Chickens will come say goodbye to each other when one is dying and they do soft clicks and will then leave and that chicken will normally die alone. Some chickens also will kill another chicken because they sense something’s wrong with the chicken, a disease for example. Hope u enjoyed these facts I found them in a book called How To Speak Chicken.
WalterDaSquirrel1259, William Moreland
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205points

#20

35 Interesting And Weird Animal Facts Not Too Many People Know
Idk how obscure it is but the average lifespan for a squirrel is 16 years which is a lot longer than I would have ever thought
covalentbond007, Włodzimierz Jaworski
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196points
298
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