Five More Crazy Facts About Animals
The last post on crazy facts about animals was so successful we thought it would be interesting to do a follow up and fill you in some more crazy animal facts that may or may not blow your mind as the case may be.
Mole-Rats are not blind
Living underground with tiny eyes many people think African mole rats are blind. The rats have eyes that detect very little light and many people believe the mole rate uses its eyes to sense changes in the air current rather than to see with. There have been a few studies which debunk that myth and suggest that these rodents have a keen if limited sense of sight. According to an article in Animal Behaviour, scientists reckon that the mole rat uses light to indicate the presence of a predator.
Beavers have longer days in winter
Beavers shut themselves in during the winter and live of food they have previously stored and the fat deposits that are stored in their distinctive tails. Beavers also conserve their energy by avoiding going outdoors where it is cold and instead choose to remain in the dark of the mud and wood lodgings. During winters the beaver only emerges at sunset and turns in at sunrise and this means they lack light cues from the sun which governs sleep cycles. This means during the winter the beaver’s biological sense of time actually changes and their circadian rhythm runs at 29 hour days.
Birds use landmarks to navigate long journeys
It has long been known the humble pigeon can fly thousands of kilometers to find their roosting spot without encountering any navigational difficulties. Other species such as the Arctic tern make an annual 25,000 mile round trip with no problem at all. Many birds make use of in built ferromagnets which give them the ability to detect their location with respect to earth’s magnetic field. However what is not know is some birds also use landmarks on the ground as guide to help find their way back.
Whale milk is not low fat
For whales nursing a new born is far from easy, consider a calf born after a 10 to 12 month pregnancy measures about a third the length of the mother which for a Blue Whale can be as long as 30 feet. The mama whale uses muscles around its mammary gland to squirt milk into the baby whale’s mouth whilst the baby hangs onto the mother’s nipple. Whale milk contains 50 per cent fat which is roughly 10 times the fat content of human milk. That fat content is there for a reason, baby whales can grow by as much as 200 pounds per day.
Crocodiles swallow rocks
It’s hardly surprising that the stomach of a croc is a diverse place, you will find everything from birds to giraffes and even the odd lion in the digestive tract of a crocodile. What is really odd though is crocs swallow rocks which are stored in the belly permanently and no quite knows why. Some experts think the stones are used as ballast for diving.
Image Credit:Humpback Whales by National Marine Sanctuaries, on Flickr