Animals Facts for Kids
Amazing facts about creatures big and small
Honeybees can learn to recognize and remember human faces, even though their brains are the size of a sesame seed. They use the same facial recognition process as humans, combining the parts into a whole.
Sea stars have no brain and no blood. Instead of blood, they pump seawater through a hydraulic system that powers their hundreds of tiny tube feet. Despite this, they are effective hunters.
A giraffe's tongue is about 18 inches long and is dark bluish-black in color. Scientists believe the dark pigmentation protects it from sunburn, since giraffes spend so much time feeding with their tongues exposed to the sun.
For a long time, scientists thought Komodo dragons killed prey through bacterial infections. We now know they have venom glands that prevent blood from clotting, causing prey to bleed internally and go into shock.
African grey parrots can understand abstract concepts like zero, bigger and smaller, and same and different. One famous parrot named Alex could identify objects by color, shape, and material and appeared to understand the concept of nothing.
Frogfish are ambush predators that walk along the seafloor using their pectoral fins like legs. They have a built-in fishing rod on their head called an illicium, which they wiggle to lure curious fish into striking range.
Brown bear cubs are born weighing less than a pound while their mother is in deep hibernation. The mother barely wakes during birth and nurses her cubs while still mostly asleep through winter.
The hummingbird hawk-moth is an insect that looks and behaves so much like a hummingbird that people often mistake it for one. It hovers in front of flowers and beats its wings at about 70 to 80 times per second.
Octopuses are so intelligent that they can solve puzzles, navigate mazes, and open childproof bottles and jars. In aquariums, they have been known to sneak out of their tanks at night to raid other tanks for food and then return.
Porcupine quills have microscopic backward-facing barbs that make them extremely difficult to remove once embedded in flesh. The quills are also hollow, which makes them lightweight, and they are coated with a natural antibiotic grease.