Weird Animal Facts

Kingdom Animalia - the taxonomic kingdom comprising all animal species inhabiting planet Earth is one of the most important component of the planet's ecosystem. With more than a million species of lifeforms attributed to it, the amazing world of Kingdom Animalia is one of the most diverse component of the planet and has a crucial role to play in maintaining a balance in Earth's biodiversity. On one hand, we have small crustaceans - which can't be seen with the naked eye, and on the other we have mammoth blue whale - whose young ones are bigger than humans at the time of their birth.

It may come as a surprise for many, but 99.9 percent of animal species which inhabited this planet have become extinct since this planet came into existence. It's surprising that people are still oblivious of this and other such amazing facts about animals. Irrespective of whether they are interesting or weird, animal facts do have the ability to grab your attention from the word go and the compilation of some strange facts about animals given below validates this fact very well.

Top 10 Weird Animal Facts

Did you know that cows kill more humans every year than various species of snakes do? That may sound weird, but its true. Spotting a spider can make many people go weak on their knees, but did you know that your chances of being killed by a champagne cork far exceed your chances of being killed by a venomous spider. Again weird - but absolutely true. There exist hundreds of such facts which can leave you amazed and also make you laugh. Given below is a compilation of some strange but true animal facts which are bound to leave you baffled.

1. The peregrine falcon, with its amazing ability of clocking speeds of 200 miles per hour in air, is the fastest animal on Earth. What is even more surprising though, is the fact that it has the ability to spot its prey from a distance of 8 km.
2. One of the most common pests in urban homes - a cockroach can live for as long as nine weeks after it is decapitated - only to die of starvation eventually. This insect can pull off this amazing feat owing to the fact that its brain is not located in its head.
3. Weighing less than a ounce, the hummingbird is the lightest bird in the world. While that may not be weird, the fact that hummingbirds have the ability to fly backwards surely is.
4. At 60 mm in length, the rhinoceros beetle may seem like any other beetle species in the world. But this beetle has the distinction of being the strongest animal in the world in terms of its size. The rhino beetle can lift something that is 800-850 times more heavy than its own weight.
5. The armadillos and sloth bears spend 80 percent of their lives sleeping. In fact, sloths are so lazy that they take an hour to cover a distance of six feet when going from one place to another. Now that's an all new definition on laziness.
6. The Common basilisk, also referred to as the Jesus Christ lizard or the Jesus lizard, has the amazing ability of running on the water surface. This reptile pulls off this seemingly impossible feat with amazing ease owing to its large hind feet with scaly fringes and the momentum that it gets while running.
7. Even though we see them feeding on carcasses most of the time, vultures have an amazing appetite. At times, these scavengers eat so much in one go that it becomes impossible for them to take off in the air.
8. It's not possible for birds to go into outer space - a feat achieved by Laika (the Soviet space dog which became the first animal to orbit the Earth), as birds need gravity to assist their digestion process.
9. A wolf's howl - owing to its specific frequency, doesn't echo even if the animal howls right in the middle of a valley. This is a natural animal adaptation for wolves, which plays a crucial role in communication and hunting for this species.
10. If you thought wild cats or snakes are most dangerous animals for human beings, you are absolutely wrong. The distinction of being the most harmful animal for humans goes to deer species - who cause more traffic accidents and human deaths than any other animal species in the world.

You must have come across most of these facts for the very first time - and that isn't quite surprising, considering that our priorities seldom give us enough time to see what's happening around us nowadays. While this compilation consisted of a mere 10 facts, there exist several more unusual animal facts - each of which is weirder than the other. The fact that animal kingdom is so vast makes it virtually impossible for us to amass all the knowledge about it, and thus the best we can do is try to amass as much knowledge as we can.