Animal Facts
Some dwarf reed snakes can cartwheel to escape danger.
Source: Science News ↗
Some dwarf reed snakes can cartwheel to escape danger.
Source: Science News ↗
In rare cases, severely stressed or disoriented snakes may try to swallow their own tails. This is abnormal behaviour, usually seen in captivity.
Source: SerpentID ↗
Albatrosses can lock their wings outstretched using a tendon in the shoulder, allowing them to glide with little muscular effort. Whether they also sleep in flight remains unproven.
Source: Wikipedia: Albatross ↗
Clownfish are sequential hermaphrodites. Their groups are led by a breeding female and a breeding male. If the female disappears, the male becomes female and the largest non-breeding fish takes his place as the breeding male.
Source: Wikipedia: Clownfish ↗
A woodpecker's tongue-supporting apparatus wraps around its skull, but the idea that its head cushions pecking impacts is misleading: a 2022 study found that it acts as a stiff hammer rather than a shock absorber.
Source: Science ↗, Current Biology: Woodpeckers minimize cranial absorption of shocks ↗
When attacked, bombardier beetles trigger a chemical reaction inside their abdomen and spray a hot, irritating liquid towards their attackers. The liquid can reach boiling temperature.
Source: MIT News ↗
The diving bell spider spends almost its entire life underwater. It traps air in a silk bell that acts like a gill, drawing dissolved oxygen from the surrounding water, so it does not need to return to the surface frequently.
Source: How It Works ↗
Male pufferfish of some species sculpt intricate circular patterns in the sand to attract a mate. These patterns are also nests where females lay their eggs and males fertilise and guard them.
Source: BBC Science Focus ↗
Squirrels sometimes pretend to bury nuts while keeping the food in their mouths. These fake hiding places can help protect their real food stores from thieves.
Source: A-Z Animals ↗
Chickens use their eyes differently: the right eye is especially useful for finding food, while the left helps detect predators. They can also see ultraviolet light, which humans cannot see.
Source: VAL-CO ↗, Philosophical Transactions B: Lateralization of social cognition in the domestic chicken ↗
Crocodiles cannot sweat like humans and can cool down by holding their mouths open, a behaviour called gaping. An American crocodile has even produced an embryo without mating, although it did not hatch.
Source: Smithsonian’s National Zoo ↗, Biology Letters: Discovery of facultative parthenogenesis in a new world crocodile ↗
The tuatara, a reptile native to New Zealand, has a small third eye on top of its head. This parietal eye is visible in juveniles but becomes covered by scales in adults. Despite its appearance, the tuatara is not a lizard.
Source: Earth Archives ↗
Rankin's dragon (Pogona henrylawsoni), known in German as Zwergbartagame, was formally described by Wells and Wellington in 1985. Their controversial papers of 1983 and 1985 proposed hundreds of changes to reptile and amphibian names, sparking the Wells and Wellington affair.
Source: Wikipedia: Rankin's dragon ↗, Wikipedia: Wells and Wellington affair ↗
Some frogs use their eyes to help swallow: retracting the eyeballs into the head helps push food towards the oesophagus.
Source: Mr. Amphibian ↗
Red foxes may use Earth's magnetic field to help aim their hunting pounces. Researchers found that jumps towards magnetic north were more successful, especially when prey was hidden in grass or snow.
Source: National Geographic ↗
Male Darwin's frogs carry their developing tadpoles inside their vocal sacs until they emerge from their mouths as fully formed froglets.
Source: Sierra ↗, Zoological Society of London ↗
Scorpions fluoresce under ultraviolet light: compounds in their outer skeleton absorb UV radiation and emit visible blue-green light.
Source: Science ABC ↗
Sea otters sleep floating on their backs, often in groups called rafts. They can hold paws and keep their paws and flippers out of the water to reduce heat loss; their dense fur insulates the rest of their bodies.
Source: Discover ↗, UC Davis: Sea Otter Facts ↗
The epaulette shark can walk across the seafloor and even exposed reef using its fins. It can survive for a time in very low-oxygen conditions, helping it move between tide pools.
Source: Oceanic Society ↗