11 Fun Facts about Extreme Animals
Let’s just tell it like it is: Animals do a lot of things well.
Really well.
So well, in fact, that you might get a complex if you’re the competitive type.
For example, caterpillars have more muscles than humans.
Want another fun fact that will make you realize it’s time to step your game up?
An ostrich’s legs are so powerful that they can kill a lion.
Don’t worry, we know, you’re still special and all that jazz.
You’re just maybe not as special as the extreme animals below—don’t worry, we aren’t either!
1. A dolphin can hear underwater sounds from fifteen miles away.
2. A flea can jump 350 times as far as the length of its body.
To put this in context, that’s like if a person leaped the entirety of a football field.
If you know a long jumper or high jumper that can match that feat, let us know.
Actually, don’t bother letting us know because there isn’t one.
3. A hummingbird’s heart can beat at a rate as fast as 1260 beats per minute.
Just how quickly does a person’s heart beat, you ask?
60 to 100 times per minute, on average.
What can we say other than hummingbirds 1, humans 0?
4. A shark can sense a drop of blood from a quarter of a mile away.
Let this sink in: Their sense of smell is around 100 times stronger than our own.
Still think we’re this planet’s apex predators, bud?
5. Koalas can sleep for up to 22 hours per day.
Koalas sleep so much in order to conserve energy, which makes sense because their diet is low in nutrients.
Don’t share this info with your parents unless you never want another bowl of sugar cereal ever again.
6. A grey-headed albatross can circle the globe in only 46 days.
These birds can travel almost 600 miles in one day.
If you circle the globe, you’ve traveled roughly 7900 miles.
Guess what we’ve learned?
The grey-headed albatross is lazy—simple math shows they should do this in about fourteen days!
7. A snail can sleep for up to three years without waking.
In order to survive, snails require moisture.
But if climatic conditions are just right for these slimy goldilocks, their sleep patterns are pretty unremarkable.
Now when the sitch is less than ideal, bam, they just catch up on some zzz’s until things change.
We have much to learn from the humble snail.
8. A tarantula can live for two years without any food.
Tarantulas have super low resting metabolic rates, so they don’t need to eat on the regular.
Guess they must be the inspiration for any prisoner who has ever gone on a hunger strike, yeah?
9. Giraffes have the highest blood pressure of any animal.
Just in case you’re unaware, 110/70 is a healthy blood pressure for a human.
220/180 is a normal blood pressure for a giraffe, at least for their heart.
Pumping blood all the way up to a giraffe’s head (where their blood pressure is a lot lower) isn’t easy because these animals are crazy tall.
Basically, blame gravity if you’re a giraffe who has to see a cardiologist.
10. The majority of birds eat twice their body weight each day.
Despite their small frames, birds require a massive amount of food relative to their body size.
Remember when your grandpa scolded you for eating like a bird?
Make sure to scold him for being a liar the next time you see him.
11. A dog’s sense of smell is about 10,000 times greater than a human’s.
Are you a dog person or a person person?
If you’re not a dog person, we have some facts to fix that.
Dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses.
Humans? A paltry six million of those or thereabouts.
If you’re still a person person, what’s wrong with you? Do you not understand comparisons?
