Facts about Animals

• Rats breed so quickly that in just 18 months, 2 rats could have created over 1 million relatives.
• The blue whale can produce the loudest sound of any animal. At 188 decibels, the noise can be detected over 800 kilometres away.
• Horses and cows sleep while standing up.
• Giant Arctic jellyfish have tentacles that can reach over 36 metres in length.
• Locusts have leg muscles that are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle.
• Hummingbirds are so agile and have such good control that they can fly backwards.
• Instead of bones, sharks have a skeleton made from cartilage.
• Insects such as bees, mosquitoes and cicadas make noise by rapidly moving their wings.
• The horn of a rhinoceros is made from compacted hair rather than bone or another substance.
• Sharks lay the biggest eggs in the world.
• Even when a snake has its eyes closed, it can still see through its eyelids.
• Unlike humans, sheep have four stomachs, each one helps them digest the food they eat.
• Despite the white, fluffy appearance of Polar Bears fur, it actually has black skin.
• As well as being a famous Looney Tunes character, the Tasmanian Devil is a real animal that is only found in the wild in Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world.
• The average housefly only lives for 2 or 3 weeks.
• Mosquitoes can be annoying insects but did you know that it's only the female mosquito that actually bites humans.
• Cats use their whiskers to check whether a space is too small for them to fit through or not.

Human Body Fact:

• The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body. More human brain facts.
• Your heart beats around 100000 times a day, 36500000 times a year and over a billion times if you live beyond 30. More human heart facts.
• Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. They are created inside the bone marrow of your bones. More blood facts.
• The colour of a humans skin is determined by the level of pigment melanin that the body produces. Those with small amounts of melanin have light skin while those with large amounts have dark skin. More skin facts.
• Adult lungs have a surface area of around 70 square metres! More lung facts.
• Humans have a stage of sleep that features rapid eye movement (REM). REM sleep makes up around 25% of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams. More eye facts.
• Most adults have 32 teeth. More teeth facts.
• The smallest bone found in the human body is located in the middle ear. The staples (or stirrup) bone is only 2.8 millimetres long. More ear facts.