Animals Facts for Kids
Amazing facts about creatures big and small
The sailfish is considered the fastest fish in the ocean, capable of reaching speeds of 68 mph. Its large dorsal fin can be folded flat into a groove to reduce drag while swimming at top speed.
Mudskippers are fish that spend most of their time out of the water, using their strong pectoral fins to walk and even climb mangrove roots. They can breathe through their skin and hold water in their gill chambers to stay moist.
Naked mole rats are one of only two truly eusocial mammals, living in colonies ruled by a single queen who is the only female that breeds. Other females in the colony are chemically suppressed from reproducing.
Humpback whale songs change gradually over time, with new patterns spreading across the ocean like a hit song. Males learn new phrases from distant populations, and songs can travel across entire ocean basins.
Rattlesnakes can 'see' the heat of warm-blooded animals using special pit organs on their faces, which detect infrared radiation. This allows them to strike accurately at prey in complete darkness.
The aye-aye is a lemur with an exceptionally long, thin middle finger used to tap on wood and listen for hollow spaces where grubs hide. It is the only primate known to use echolocation-like foraging.
The Iberian ribbed newt defends itself by pushing its own rib bones through its skin to create venomous spikes. The wounds heal quickly when the threat passes, and the newt suffers no lasting harm.
Red-eyed tree frog embryos can sense vibrations from an approaching snake and hatch themselves up to two days early to escape. The embryos are capable of detecting threat-specific vibrations before they are even born.
Elephants use branches as flyswatters, rocks to scratch hard-to-reach spots, and have even been observed using leaves as umbrellas in light rain. They are one of the few non-primate animals known to use a wide variety of tools.
Manta rays have the largest brain-to-body ratio of any cold-blooded fish, and they show curious, playful behavior around divers. They are one of the few fish suspected to have self-awareness.