| Cats Need 1/6th light a human needs to see. Cats, camels, & giraffes, walk by moving front & hind legs on one side, then front & hind legs on other side. Most animals move front leg on 1 side & hind leg on other together. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. Cheshire cat "To grin like a Cheshire cat"--sneering smile, gums show. No such cat breed. Zebras' camouflage stripes No black/white Africain shrubbery to hide. But disruptive coloration: alternating stripes break up/obscure zebra's outline,difficult for predators to focus on animal when many run together--jumble of unrelated forms. May avoid biting tsetse fly; prefer to snack on large, dark, moving animals. Stripes may make it difficult to find region to alight. Pronghorn antelope Runs twice as fast as main predator coyote; used to have to run that fast to avoid cheetahs 'til 12k yrs ago; extinct Amer. cheetah presumably ran as fast as surviving African cousin. Wild dogs & wolves Howl, whine, growl, but don't bark. Dogs that lived alongside humans bark. Theory: bark is domesticated dog's attempt to mimic human sounds. Barking dog usually not aggressive; growl or snarl is, or quiet. White rhinos Are grey; "white" from Dutch word "weit" ("wide"). Weasel Changes name in winter. Brown in summer, called ermine in winter when fur turns white. Mole Works hard in food search. Tunnel 12-18 ft/hr, 20 yd/dy. Eat mostly insects; eat more than half their weight/day (some eat 100% weight.) Pygmy shrew Hunts constantly, must devour body weighevery 24 hrs to survive. Moves quickly to hunt, heart rate can go to 1,000 beats/min. Short-tailed shrew Only venomous mammal in N Amer: short-tailed shrew; 3-5" long, less than 1/2 oz. Attack creatures twice its size; poisonous saliva incapacitates prey; smells, larger creature spits it out. Runs on water 'cause small hair fringes on paws keep it suspended across surface tension. Rat Large rats fit through nickel size hole; no bones--flexible cartilage. Climb trees; roof rat--shinny outside 3" pipe, pipe within 3" of wall, inside vertical pipe 1 1/2-4" diameter. 50' drop, no serious harm. Hold breath 3 min., tread water 3 days. Norway rats (common in US cities) swim 1/2 mi.; dive through plumbing traps; swim through sewer lines against strong current. Dog Most growth in 1st 2 yrs. 1-yr-old doglike teen human, 2-yr-old like mid-20s adult. Only when older than 10 does 1 yr=7 human yrs. Red dog Ftball: defensive rushes qback for quick tackle (blitz.) Finance: 1800s bank note stamped wth red ink. Card game: each player has 5 cards, bets holds higher card than top deck card. Red dog flour: lowest grade, fed to farm animals. Rabbit/hare Jackrabbit is a hare; Belgian hare is a rabbit. Welsh rabbit (Welsh rarebit) not an animal--melted cheese on toast or crackers. Armadillo Only mammal to always give birth to 4 identical young; sometimes don't have 4, but still identical. Many found dead on road--when threatened, jumps straight up. Chimera Geep most common chimera; combine sheep/goat. Cama, camel/llama. Liger & tigon, lion/tiger (don't naturally roam same habitats;) pic: sierrasafarizoo.com/animals/liger.htm. Zorse, horse/zebra; cyberglitz.com/ZorseSource. Zonkey, zebra/donkey; nmia.com/~hbailey/zorse.htm. Wholphin, false killer whale/bottlenose dolphin; hotspots.hawaii.com/Wolphin.html. White elephant Object no longer want/need, too valuable to throw. Apocryphal tale of Siam (now Thailand) King. White (albino) elephants rare/valuable/ sacred, given to king. Unlawful to ride/neglect/abuse/kill/put to work. Troublesome courtiers... given white elephant; difficult/expensive to feed/maintain. Gave 1 to King Charles I when had money problems; forced Queen to put off annual Bath trip. Mammals lick their young Tongue bath after birth cleans, provides comfort, helps get used to mother's scent, encourages infant to breathe on own, stimulates involuntary reflexes. Some (e.g. goats) also use it to label with distinctive scent so can find it in group. Natural anti-venom Opossums, woodchucks, raccoons: produce chemicals, render snake venom harmless. Spam Short for "spiced ham;" chopped pork shoulder, formed into loaves. US military during WWII embraced Spam--could sit on shelves for months without refrigeration. Hibernating animals know when to wake Built-in alarm clocks--hypothalamus in the brain, senses temperature changes, triggers heating system when warm enough to rise. Body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate rise; can be rapid--from just 4 beats per min. to 100s per min. within a 2 hrs. |
| Facts: animals--mammals |
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| This page revised 2-26-05 |
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