| The fastest land animal is the cheetah which can run up to 61 mph |
Records |
| The largest animal ever to have lived is the blue whale |
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| The smallest vertebrate is a species of frog. It's the size of a housefly |
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| Fleas are the best jumpers. They can jump 200 times their length! |
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| The largest land animal that ever lived weighed as much as 12 elephants |
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| Cows kill more people than sharks do |
Killers |
| 700,000 people every year die from mosquito bites |
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| The most dangerous animal is the hippopotamus |
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| More people die from falling coconuts then from shark attacks |
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| One of the most venomous animals on Earth is a snail |
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| The now extinct colossus penguin was 2 metres tall |
Extinct |
| 99% of species that have ever lived Earth have become extinct |
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| Between 200 and 10,000 species become extinct every year |
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| There have been 5 mass extinctions which killed off half of species |
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| Dodos are famous extinct animals. The last one died in the 1600s |
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| Fungi are more closely related to animals than they are to plants |
Fungi |
| The honey fungus is the largest living organism on the planet |
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| To help spread their spores, mushrooms can create their own wind |
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| Some species of fungi have thousands of different sexes |
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| Some fungi can turn ants into "zombies" |
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| Owls cannot move their eyes |
Birds |
| Woodpeckers can peck up to 20 times per second |
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| An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain |
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| Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly backwards |
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| Birds are the direct descendants of dinosaurs |
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| Acacia trees can warn each other of danger |
Plants |
| The giant montane pitcher plant has evolved to eat animal poo |
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| Bamboo is the world's fastest growing plant at 4 cm per hour. |
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| Carrots were bred to be orange. Their natural colour is purple |
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| There are more trees on Earth than there are stars in our galaxy |
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| There are reports of bullets bouncing off armadillo shells |
Mammals |
| Sloths only do "number twos" once a week and it is a struggle |
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| Despite popular belief, camels store fat in their humps, not water |
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| Dolphins sleep by "switching off" one half of their brains at a time |
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| Despite their names, black and white rhinos are both grey |
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| Bees communicate with each other by dancing |
Invertebrates |
| There is a species of millipede that defends itself with cyanide |
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| Spider silk is five times stronger than steel |
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| Ants can carry up to 50 times their own weight |
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| Dragonflies are excellent fliers, but they cannot walk |
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| There are more than 200 different viruses which cause colds in humans |
Microbes |
| Bacteria are the oldest lifeform on earth |
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| Some microbes can survive extreme conditions |
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| Despite what many believe, viruses are not living things |
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| There are more species of microbe on Earth than stars in the galaxy |
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| There is a species of newt which uses its ribs as "barbs" to defend itself |
Vertebrates |
| Between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 10,000 marine turtles survive to adulthood |
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| Sharks can sense electric fields |
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| Burmese pythons can digest bones and teeth but not fur or feathers |
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| Crocodiles and alligators are colour blind |
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