Have you been following our #DidYouKnowFriday facts about wild animals? If you do, you’ll increase your general knowledge a lot. Here are a few more facts for you.
Did you know?
For birds to fly and stay in the air, they flap their wings to start their flight. When they push their wings down, they push the air down as well. When they pull their wings upwards, the shape of their wings changes to be less resistant to the wind. Obviously, they have to flap their wings very fast to get going, and then gradually flap slower, but still fast enough to stay in the air. To soar in the air, birds use wind currents. It helps that birds are built small, streamlined and are lightweight.
Did you know?
Discolouration, or spots and stripes, are there to help camouflage animals in their natural surroundings. The different types of camouflage have been developed over many centuries. Some predators, like tigers and leopards, camouflage themselves so that their prey won’t see them when they stalk them. Other animals, like zebras, use their stripes to confuse predators, and bushbuck use their spots to hide in bushes.
So, it all depends on where the animals want to camouflage and what the environment looks like, whether it is in tall grass or mostly dense forestation. But scientists don’t know for sure why tigers have stripes and leopards have spots.
Did you know?
Hippos are very aggressive, and they mainly use their large tusks to fight and defend themselves, or their young. When a hippo calf finds himself in the middle of an adult battle, he can be seriously injured. Although it is commonly believed that hippos are herbivores and therefore only eat plants, it has been seen that they occasionally feed on carcasses as well.
