Use this information to test your or your friend’s knowledge about animals facts.
- There are about 3,600 mosquito species in the world.
- A female mosquito can suck about five microlitres of blood in one bite. That’s about the size of a dried mustard seed.
- Vampire moths can be found just about all over the world and can suck blood for up to 50 minutes. They mainly feed on mammals, including elephants and buffaloes, but don’t exclude humans from their menu.
- The diplodocus dinosaur has to get the award for the longest tail, according to Guinness World Records. His tail measured between 13 and 14m (the length of an average bus), and he had two rows of bones under his tail for extra support. This dinosaur also had a long neck, which measured 8m, making him one of the longest dinosaurs to live on Earth.
- It is believed that the struthiomimus may have outrun all the other dinosaurs. With his long and powerful legs, he could run at an estimated speed of between 50 and 80km/h. The fact that he could outrun his predators was his defence mechanism. He was built like an ostrich and had a toothless beak.
- Originally, scientists thought that the stegosaurus’s brain was only 3cm long and only weighed 75g – about the size of a walnut. But that theory has since changed, and now scientists believe that his brain was the size and shape of a hotdog. When one compares him to other dinosaurs – keeping in mind that the Stegosaurus armatus was about 9m long – the stegosaurus had the lowest brain-to-body ratio. And if that is anything to go by, this dinosaur wasn’t very clever.
- Dumbo octopuses are creatures who live in the deepest waters of the ocean – about 4,000m under the surface. They can be up to 1.8m long and weigh up to 5.9kg. There are about 15 species of Dumbo octopus. In 2016, scientists discovered a new species, which they nicknamed the ‘Emperor Dumbo octopus’. Not much is known about this new species of Dumbo octopus yet.
- The shoebill stork might look like a dinosaur, but there is no evidence that he is. He does get really old, though. He can reach up to 35 years old in nature, which is a lot, compared to the average bird. Maybe it is because he is so patient that he can reach this age. The shoebill stork will wait for ages in water where there are patches of grass for his prey to come up for air.
- Contrary to what their name suggests, shoebill storks are actually more closely related to pelicans and herons than they are to storks. It was recently discovered that the shoebill is a close relative of the hamerkop.
- Looking at the elongated snout of this little mammal, you’ll quickly realise where the elephant shrew got his name – definitely from the fact that his long snout looks similar to the trunk of an elephant. He uses it to find food. His snout can move around, but doesn’t have all the functions of an elephant’s trunk.
- The elephant shrew has different names, and is also known as a sengi or a jumping shrew.
