The Animal Kingdom is a mighty mighty world not to be toyed with and there are so many facets the human race has yet to learn and discover about it. It may seem like we're just hoarding fascinating facts to one day show off in front of Alex Trebek (or on a first date) but to know all these things about our fellow planet dwellers is just straight up intriguing. Pick an animal or insect off the top of your head then go google, you'll be amazed. And that is just from the ones you can think of, never mind the species you didn't even know existed.
Redditor KnightsWhoSayKni asked What's your #1 obscure animal fact? This is gonna score you game night points for sure one day.
All that breathing room...
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The American bison is the only animal in which both lungs share a common cavity. In every other animal the lungs are separated. What this meant is that when shot by an arrow, both lungs would collapse and the buffalo would suffocate quickly. (For other animals, being shot in the chest would only collapse one lung, and they would at least have a chance) That's why such a large animal could be taken down with relatively small weapons.
Like a Virgin...
The Greenland shark reaches sexual maturity at 150 years old and lives 300-500 years. Always fascinates me that theres something that can live that long.
How do they floss?
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A snail has over 2000 teeth.
Fish have been seen using tools - deliberately hitting a clam with a rock to get it to open so they can eat it. Some fish (eels and groupers) form hunting partnerships where they communicate across the species barrier with specific signals to put their individual strengths to work (the eels chase prey out of crevices to where the groupers are waiting in open water). They also get fooled by illusions in the same way we do, meaning that their brains are processing and interpreting their environment in a similar way to us.
That's technically three facts but I like fish.
Boo! I see you!
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People thought the okapi was a hoax until it was photographed. In parts of Sumatra it is believed that the orangutan can speak and refuses to do so because they don't want to work.
Isn't that a cocktail?
Ants breed and domesticate aphids around their colonies, so they can drink their milky secretions. Aphids are ant cows. So ladybugs, then, would be like ant chupacabras.
Love hurts... Love scares...
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There's an insect called the scorpiofly that impresses mates by bringing them prey to eat. The bigger the meal, the better.
Only, some scorpionflies aren't that great at catching food. So some of these males will imitate females, and wait for other males to bring them their gifts. Then they take the gift, fly away, and give it to an actual female.
Seals will get seasick if you put them on a boat.
As a fun side note, if you are sea sick on a boat you can get rid of it almost instantly by jumping in the water.
Universal donors...
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Cheetahs are so closely related to each other that you can freely transplant organs between all members of their species without needing immunosuppression.
The perfect assassin!
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Dragonflies have the best successful kill rate of any creature on earth.
I was being pestered by a wasp earlier this week, when a huge dragonfly-bro flew past and caught it mid-air.
@daveweigel/Bluesky
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