Some funny animal facts:
- Animal rights activists in Austria want to have a chimpanzee named Hiasl legally declared a human. Isn’t that silly!
- Mermaids may not be real, but other animal hybrids exist. If you mix together a lion and tiger, you get a liger. Breed a zebra and a horse, you get a zorse.
- Many animals are capable of dancing to a beat, say scientists. You Tube videos have captured hundreds of different animal species moving and grooving to the music.
The good: Estimates of the total number of species on earth range from as few as 5 million to as many as 100 million. Biologists still discover about 50 new species a day; nearly 17,000 new plants and animals were reported in 2006 alone.
The bad: We’re losing species at 10,000 times the natural rate . . . a loss of life so severe and great that we’ve officially entered the sixth great mass extinction in Earth’s history. You’re living during a mass extinction just like the dinosaurs!
The ugly: Grandma early in the morning before coffee.
Animals At Sleep
Some animals snooze most of the day away, while others sleep very little. Here is the average amount of sleep per day by animal:
How long do animals sleep?
- Horse: 2.9 hours per day
- Elephants: 3 hours and change per day
- Cow: 4 hours per day
- Human: 8.0 hours per day
- Rabbit: 8.4 hours per day
- Chimpanzee: 9.7 hours per day
- Red Fox: 9.8 hours per day
- Dog: 10.1 hours per day
- House mouse: 12.5 hours per day
- Cat: 12.5 hours per day
- Lion: 13.5 hours per day
- Platypus: 14 hours per day
- Chipmunk: 15 hours per day
- Giant Armadillo: 18.1 hours per day
- Little Brown Bat: 19.9 hours per day
Learning About Animal Tracks
Different types of animals leave different tracks behind. A symmetrical track with 4 toes, large claws, and a small heel pad probably came from a canine such as a dog or fox, while asymmetrical tracks with 4 toes, a relatively large heel pad, and no claws may indicate a feline such as a house cat or a lynx. Two-toed, heart shaped tracks usually signal deer, while five-toed tracks that look like tiny human hand prints may be from a racoon. The next time you’re outdoors, look around and see what animal tracks you can spot.