Animals Facts for Kids
Amazing facts about creatures big and small
Stoats sometimes perform a bizarre erratic dance in front of rabbits, leaping and spinning in ways that appear to mesmerize or confuse them. Rabbits will sometimes sit and watch the display until the stoat gets close enough to pounce.
Axolotls are native only to one lake complex near Mexico City and are critically endangered in the wild. In nature they never fully metamorphose and retain their juvenile, feathery gill stalks for their entire lives.
A grizzly bear's sense of smell is around 2,100 times more sensitive than a human's. Bears have been tracked following a scent trail left more than 14 hours earlier, and they can smell food from 20 miles away.
More than 75% of deep-sea creatures produce their own light through bioluminescence. In the pitch-black deep ocean, light is used for hunting, attracting mates, and warding off predators.
Monarch butterflies use a built-in sun compass calibrated to an internal clock to navigate thousands of miles on their first migration. They have never made the journey before but still arrive at the exact same trees in Mexico.
Crocodiles cannot chew — their jaws are designed for gripping and crushing, not grinding. They swallow rocks to help grind up food inside their stomachs, and the stones also help keep them balanced in the water.
The narwhal's long tusk is actually an overgrown tooth with millions of nerve endings near the surface. Scientists believe it is a sensory organ used to detect changes in water temperature and salinity.
The bombardier beetle mixes two chemicals — hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide — inside a special chamber in its abdomen to create a boiling explosion. Incredibly, the beetle controls the direction of the spray with precision.
A snow leopard's tail is almost as long as its entire body, measuring up to 3.5 feet. The thick, furry tail acts as a blanket during extreme cold and helps the leopard balance on rocky mountain terrain.
Sand tiger shark embryos develop teeth while still in the womb and eat their unborn siblings. By the time they are born, only the two biggest and strongest embryos survive — one from each uterus.