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Animal Facts

Animal facts and facts about animals, from the blue whale to the hound a court will hear as a witness.

417 facts on this shelf

Exploding ant fact

There is an ant in Brazil that has a gland which causes the ant to explode like a bomb, spraying a sticky toxic
goo on everybody nearby. Now that's some hard core biology!

Military sonar technology causes beachings

Submarines have been using low and mid-frequency active sonar technology, a deafening soundwave that is dangerous even 300 miles from it's source. Some mid-frequency sonar systems can put out over 235 decibals, which is about as loud as a rocket launch.

Animals for hundreds of miles literally jump out of the ocean to try to avoid the sound. The damaging effects vary, bet are akin to decompression sickness causing internal bleeding and bursting organs including lungs and eardrums. When beached dolphins are reported this sonar technology is rarely mentioned in the news, although the link has been demonstrated.

What can you do? learn more here

(update: court blocks sonar 7/6/06)

LFA is low frequency active sonar

LFA stands for Low Frequency Active sonar, a technology used by submarines to "see." Unfortunately even one hundred miles from the source of a LFA source animals experience the equivalent of decompression sickness, killing every dolphin, porpoise, orca, and whale within 100-300 miles, depending on the decibal. It's no good for humans either.

What are coral reefs?

Coral reefs are colonies of micro creatures named pollups, little hair-like things that live on the top layer of the coral. The coral grows because when one generation dies they leave behind a hard, stony, branching structure made of limestone which later generations call home.

Chemicals cause male frogs to grow ovaries

US farms 1 trillion ears of corn a year, using a chemical called Atrazine that in the concentration of 1 part per billion causes male frogs to grow ovaries! Strangely, a higher dosage reduces the risk. Atrazine is the most widely used weed killer in the United States. It has also been linked to cancer in people.

Blue whale massacre crustaceans

The blue whale, the worlds largest animal at 110 feet according to guiness world records eat krill, which are shrimp-like crustaceans only about an inch-and-a-half long.


Pick on somebody your own size? Not whales! An adult whale might slaughter 40 million, or 4-6 tons of these little creatures in one day!!

Amazingly, the krill population persists, but you have to assume this perpetual atrocity affects the krills ability to develop a stable society.

Animal sonar, echolocation, and noise pollution

Whales and dolphins have a tool called echolocation, a sonar which allows them to "see" their prey, even it's internal workings! Noise pollution in the water has a significant effect on whales ability to navigate, hunt, locate their pods, and reproduce.
Echolocating animals have two ears positioned slightly apart. The echoes returning to the two ears arrive at different times and at different loudness levels, depending on the position of the object generating the echoes. The time and loudness differences are used by the animals to perceive direction. With echolocation the bat or other animal can see not only where it's going but can also see how big another animal is, what kind of animal it is, and other features as well. - wikipedia


Many modern submarines use their own sonar a low and mid-frequency sonar is so deafening the pressure waves affect animals on the cellular level, causing the equivalent of "the bends" or decompression sickness. For animals with echolocation this causes sonar function to fail and leaves these animals blind, if they're lucky. What often results is massive beachings (update: court blocks sonar 7/6/06)

Why are whales bad for you?

Beluga whales are at the top of the food chain. A nice distinction, but it also means they acquire the sum total of toxins acquired by organisms all the way down the chain because these toxins such as PCB and heavy metal poisoning don't break down. Belugas, in fact, are so full of contaminants, when they are found beached they qualify as a toxic biohazard.

Dedicated fathers in the Antartic

A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest.

How many eggs can a Mackerel lay

The mackerel is a moderately prolific fish; females of medium size may produce as many as 400,000 to 500,000 eggs in the aggregate, according to various estimates,[10] with 546,000 reported for one weighing 17/8 pounds. But it is seldom that as many as 50,000 are set free at any one time, and often many fewer

Healthy as a horse... which horse?

"Even someone who doesn't know much about horses can learn a lot about equine health just by watching the post parade from the stable to the gates during the May 6 Kentucky Derby, says an equine veterinarian at Purdue University."

A healthy horse has a resting heart rate, of 40-45 beats per minute.

The respiratory rate of an adult horse at rest is 8-16 breaths per minute.

A horse's body temperature is between 98 and 101 degrees.

Monkeys

Monkeys are the only animals that eat bananas

When is an anteater not an anteater?

The name anteater usually refers to the Giant Anteater but is also applied to the aardvark, the numbat, the echidna, and the pangolin. Together with the sloths, these animals comprise the order Pilosa. All these animals are known to eat ants and termites