#weird animal facts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hometoursandotherstuff · 5 months

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#pandas #panda facts #weird animal facts #other stuff

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ray-rabies · 2 years

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did you know opossums, like many other nocturnal animals are fluorescent? you better get one of these guys to a rave, just to be sure.

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digitalsatyr23 · 6 months

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Two things you should never ask me about if you value your free time.

#meme #wtf is normal #morrowind #weird animal facts #I'm actually always up for talking about these two specific things #I'm just saying I will chat your ear off #Morrowind is like one of three games I basically know everything about with Ocarina of Time being a close second #I also collect info on the ocean so I have an extra reasons to avoid swimming in it

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remmie-reads-too-much · 2 years

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I'm about to learn you a thing about Hedgehogs!!

Hedgehogs are funky little creatures that come in 17 different species, and they are mainly found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand!

They're one of the oldest mammals, thought to have first evolved from Litolestes, Leipsanolestes, Oncocherus, Cedrocherus, and the Deinogalerix about 15 million years ago!

Before the word "hedgehog" came into use in the 1450s, these little guys were called urchins!

Their most identifiable feature is definitely their spines, which are made out of keratin!

If you try to look up a date when hedgehogs were discovered, you most likely won't find one. However, there are records of hedgehogs being domesticated as pets as far back as the 4th century B.C. by the Romans!

In the wild, hedgehogs mainly eat insects but have also been known to eat bigger animals such as frogs and baby birds!

Domesticated hedgehogs thrive off of a steady diet that is high in protein and low in fat, and some sources even say you can feed a hedgehog cat food.

Hedgehogs are in the order insectivora and have 36 teeth, with the first canine tooth generally being larger than the others.

Hedgehogs weigh anywhere between 1 to 2 lbs, but their weight fluctuates often and can be hard to maintain in the wild.

I think I love these animals a tad too much.

#weird history #hedgehog #hedgehogs #weird science #weird biology #animals #animal facts #cool animal facts #weird animal facts

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daronscreations · 2 months

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2022dirt · 5 months

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Capybara looks like It’s wearing clothes due to the reflection.

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amnhnyc · 2 months

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Sunshine State residents, do you recognize this little neighbor? It’s the Florida softshell turtle (Apalone ferox)! Unlike many turtles, you might find this critter darting about on land or swimming rapidly in water. Its hydrodynamic, flattened shell, and four strongly-webbed feet help it to move swiftly. Softshells stick mostly to water and have long necks and snouts that they poke above the surface, like a snorkel, to breathe. Juveniles have more contrasting color patterns than adults: their carapace, or shell, can be olive, tan, or light brown with spots and a yellow rim.

Photo: kimberry, CC BY-NC 4.0, iNaturalist

#science #nature #natural history #animals #did you know #fact of the day #turtles #herpetology #florida #cool animals #weird animals #reptile

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sixteenseveredhands · 10 months

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The Camouflaged Looper: these caterpillars fashion their own camouflage by collecting flower petals/vegetation and using silk to "glue" the pieces onto their bodies

Though they're often referred to as "camouflaged loopers," these caterpillars are the larvae of the wavy-lined emerald moth (Synchlora aerata).

Camouflaged loopers deploy a unique form of self-defense -- they snip off tiny pieces of the flowers upon which they feed, then use bits of silk to attach the vegetation to their backs. This provides them with a kind of camouflage, enabling them to blend in with the plants that they eat.

Some of them create little tufts that run along their backs, while others fashion a thicker camouflage that covers their backs completely. In some cases, the camouflaged loopers will even build much larger bundles that surround their entire bodies.

Their range includes most of North America (from southern Canada down through Texas) and they can feed upon an enormous variety of plants -- so the disguises that these caterpillars build can come in countless colors, shapes, and sizes, incorporating many different flowers and other bits of vegetation.

And this is what the fully-developed moth looks like:

Sources & More Info:

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy: Wavy-Lined Emerald, Master of Disguise

Maryland Biodiversity Project: Wavy-Lined Emerald Moth (Synchlora aerata)

The Caterpillar Lab: Camouflaged Looper

University of Alberta Museums: Synchlora aerata

Missouri Department of Conservation: Wavy-Lined Emerald

Nebraskaland Magazine: The Amazing Camouflaged Looper

Lake County Forest Preserves: Camouflage Revealed

#lepidoptera #moths #insects #caterpillar #camouflaged looper #animal camouflage #cute bugs #tw bugs #fashion #nature is weird #animal facts #these literal larvae have better fashion sense than I do

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sarahmackattack · 3 months

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In my 4-week class, Mating Rituals of the Animal Kingdom, we'll cover things you never even THOUGHT to ask about animal mating.

INCLUDING:

-Spitballs, given as romantic gifts

-Spider Sex Percussionists™

-Bee perfumers

-Lemur Stink Fights

-Springtail females bench pressing males, who then Raccacoonie them to the pile of sperm the males prepared, so she then sits on it (God bless springtails)

-& MORE

Sign up here

I need 6 more people to sign up or Atlas Obscura won't run the course and this course is SO SILLY and SO FUN and you'll learn so much weird shit I can't even tell you. And JUST in time for VALENTINES day.

This class has no homework, and you can watch it live or later!

#Learning #weird shit #animal facts #springtails #spidersex etc

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markscherz · 10 months

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My mother and I have two masters degrees between us and yet somehow we could not figure out if frogs have lungs or not.

Can you help settle the debate?

All frogs have lungs except one! The bizarre Barbourula kalimantanensis is the only known frog to lack lungs. It makes up for this by being heckin' flat, basically imitating the bizarre pipids.

#the more you know #science #animals #frogs #frog facts with Mark #Barbourula is just such a great genus name #this is a really weird frog #and I heckin' love it #Barbourula #Barbourula kalimantanensis #Chien C. Lee

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thereissomethingunderthestairs · 2 years

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Lesser known small mammals (or mammals whenever i bring up people have no idea what im talking about)

Quoll ..a carnivorous marsupial native to Australia that spends most of the day sleeping in its dens. there have been 111 recorded events of quolls eating human remains (x) (pictured here is a spotted-tail quoll)

Numbat..an insectivorous marsupial from Australia that is diurnal (or is primarily active during the day). unlike other mammals that primarily eat termites, they have a jaw with 50 very small teeth. they live in tree hollows and block the openings with the thick hide of their rump

Hyrax ..a small thickset herbivorous mammal that is more closely related to elephants and sea cows than pikas and marmots. theyre found in africa, and they have rubbery paw pads that help them climb up rocks (this is a rock hyrax)

Solenodon... a venomous, insectivorous little mammal that is easily provoked into a frenzy of squeaking and biting. it uses echolocation to compensate for its poor eyesight, and females have two teats almost located on its backside (above is a cuban solenodon)

Sengi (elephant shrews (or better known as the get a look at the snout species))...is another insectivore that is more closely related to elephants than true shrews. they live in southern Africa and have relatively large brains for their size (a respectable 11 inches) (this is a black and rufous sengi)

Tenrec..omnivorous little mammal that lives in land, sea, underground, and in trees. there are many different subspecies of tenrec that can look like hedgehogs, opossums, rats, and shrews (this is one is a lowland streaked tenrec from madagascar)