13 Weird Animal Facts

This week’s list of gross and weird animal facts and pictures are thanks to a google search which pulled up various websites. Yay Google!

1. When the horned toad gets really scared, it shoots blood out its eyes by increasing the blood pressure in its sinuses until they explode. The predator goes for the blood and the toad can get away.

2. Male anglerfish physically attach themselves to females early in life. The females continue to grow but the males don’t. The males are parasites. Over time, they lose most of their inner organs and depend on the female’s bodies to survive. Two males may live off one female. (My friend’s ex-husband is like that.)

3. Moose have very poor vision. Some have even tried to mate with cars.

4. The Fulmar is an icky seagull that can hurl vomit up to five feet at other birds that attack them. The puke isn’t just disgusting, it’s also acidic, so it can eat through the weatherproof coating on the enemy bird’s feathers.

5. When opossums are playing “possum”, they are not playing. They actually pass out from sheer terror.

6. The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male’s head off. (Honey I’m home … Hey, what the…)

7. A whale’s penis is called a dork. The blue whale has the largest penis at 11 feet. (Floor to basketball hoop is only 10 feet.)

8. A starfish (more accurately called a seastar) turns its stomach inside out through an opening on the underside to eat. (Not good table manners.)

9. There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones.

10. Spider-Goat – Scientists have managed to mix a goat with a spider to create a goat that produces spider’s silk in its milk. The goats look completely normal, and they are in fact only 1/70,000th spider. By inserting just one spider gene into a goat’s egg, the adult goat produces milk that can be processed to create an incredibly strong spider’s silk fabric. The ‘Biosteel’ fabric is estimated to be five times as strong as steel, and about the same weight as cotton. (Here’s the “real” question – who got drunk enough to try this in the first place?)

11. A giraffe’s tongue is 21 inches long and it is capable of cleaning its own ear. (Beats a Q-tip every time.)

12. A pig’s orgasm lasts for 30 minutes. (I want to be a pig in my next life.)

13. A dragonfly’s penis is shovel-shaped at the end, to scoop a rival male’s sperm out of the female it’s impregnating. (Now “that’s” birth control.)