Animal Fun Facts
Worlds Tallest Dog
The tallest dog on record was named Shamgret Danzas. He was 42 inches tall (at the shoulder) and weighed 238 pounds.
Worlds Smallest Dog
The smallest dog in history was a tiny Yorkie from Blackburn, England. At 2 years of age, and fully grown, was an incredible 2½ inches tall by 3¾ inches long. He weighed only 4 ounces. He was approximately the size of a box of wooden matches.
Worlds Largest Dog
The worlds heaviest, as well as, longest dog ever recorded was an Old English Mastiff named Zorba. In 1989, Zorba weighed 343 pounds and was 8 feet 3 inches long from nose to tail.
Worlds Most Poisonous Animal
The golden poison arrow frog of Columbia has a skin secretion that is so deadly it can not be handled by bare hands. Native Americans used the poison to coat their hunting arrows. Just 0.2 micrograms of his poison in your bloodstream would kill you.
Worlds Sleepiest Animal
No matter how lazy your pet cat is, he is no match for the armadillo, opossum or sloth. They spend an average 80% of their lives sleeping or dozing. Imagine how you feel at your 8 AM class? Armadillos, Opossums, and sloths feel that way ALL the time.
Worlds Largest Spider
The largest spider in the world is the giant bird eating spider of Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana. In 1965, a male specimen was collected that had a leg span of more than 11 inches.
Worlds Strongest Animal
The strongest animal, relative to body size, is the Rhinoceros Beetle. It can support 850 times its own body weight on its back. Consider that in human terms, it would be as if a 150 pound man could carry 127,000 pounds.
Most Legs
The centipede in southern Europe has 177 PAIRS of legs.
Longest Flea Jump
Of the 1830 varieties of fleas, the champion jumper is the cat flea. It has been known to leap as high as 34 inches. This may not sound impressive, but consider that jumping to such a height relative to body size the flea is subjecting itself to over 200 g’s. If a person leaped this high and fast, the g force endured would be as if they weighed 20,000 pounds. The flea takes off with greater acceleration than the Space Shuttle.
Worlds Fattest Cat
The worlds fattest cat was a neutered male tabby named “Himmey”. When he died, he weighed almost 47 pounds. He had a 15 inch neck, was 38 inches long and had a 33 inch waist.
Worlds Smallest Cat
The worlds smallest cat is a male blue point Himalayan-Persian named “Tinker Toy”. He is just 2¾ inches tall and 7½ inches long.
Worlds Largest Feline
The largest feline ever recorded is a captive Siberian Tiger named “Jauper” He is 10 feet 11 inches long and weighes 932 pounds.
Worlds Largest Bird
The largest bird is the male African Ostrich. They can stand as high as 9 feet and weigh as much as 345 pounds. They are also the fastest bird and can run at speeds up to 40 miles per hour.
Worlds Smallest Bird
The adult male “bee hummingbird” of Cuba is only 2¼ inches long from bill to tail. They weigh only 0.056 ounces.
Worlds Largest Wingspan
The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird. One very old male bird had a recorded span of 11 feet 11 inches.
Worlds Oldest Bird
The greatest age for which a bird has been reliably recorded is 80 years old. A Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo named “Cocky” lived and died at the London Zoo.
Did you know?
…that the heaviest gorilla ever was a mountain bull named N’gagi at the San Diego Zoo. He weighed 683 pounds when he died in 1944.
…that bats can capture and eat 600 to 1000 mosquitoes an hour.
…that blue whales are not only the largest animal ever, they are also the loudest. Their low frequencies can be heard from 530 MILES away.
…that all dogs, from the St. Bernard to the tiny Poodle, are direct descendants of wolves. They can all breed together and produce fertile offspring. Technically they are of the same species.
…that the common belief dogs are color blind is false. Dogs see color, but it is not as vivid a color as we see. It is much like our vision at twilight.
…that authorities estimate a dogs nose is as high as 1 million times greater than ours.
i found this information on http://petland.com/PetlandKidsKorner/FunFacts.htm
