Animals Read online

  Grown cats have 30 teeth. Kittens have about 26 temporary teeth, which they lose when they are about 6 months old.d

  A cat called Dusty has the known record for the most kittens. She had more than 420 kittens in her lifetime.i

  The largest cat breed is the Ragdoll. Male Ragdolls weigh between 12 and 20 lbs (5.4-9.0 k). Females weigh between 10 and 15 lbs (4.5-6.8 k).c

  Cats are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Cats are said to detect earthquake tremors 10 or 15 minutes before humans can.d

  In contrast to dogs, cats have not undergone major changes during their domestication process.a

  A female cat is called a queen or a molly.g

  In the 1930s, two Russian biologists discovered that color change in Siamese kittens depend on their body temperature. Siamese cats carry albino genes that work only when the body temperature is above 98° F. If these kittens are left in a very warm room, their points won’t darken and they will stay a creamy white.g

  There are up to 60 million feral cats in the United States alone.k

  The oldest cat to give birth was Kitty who, at the age of 30, gave birth to two kittens. During her life, she gave birth to 218 kittens.c

  The most traveled cat is Hamlet, who escaped from his carrier while on a flight. He hid for seven weeks behind a pane. By the time he was discovered, he had traveled nearly 373,000 miles (600,000 km).c

  The most expensive cat was an Asian Leopard cat (ALC)-Domestic Shorthair (DSH) hybrid named Zeus. Zeus, who is 90% ALC and 10% DSH, has an asking price of £100,000 ($154,000).c

  The cat who holds the record for the longest non-fatal fall is Andy. He fell from the 16th floor of an apartment building (about 200 ft/.06 km) and survived.c

  The richest cat is Blackie who was left £15 million by his owner, Ben Rea.c

  The claws on the cat’s back paws aren’t as sharp as the claws on the front paws because the claws in the back don’t retract and, consequently, become worn.g

  -- Posted July 25, 2010

  References

  a Bidner, Jenni. 2006. Is My Cat a Tiger? New York, NY: Lark Books.

  b “Cat.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Accessed: July 20, 2010.

  c “Cat World Records.” Cat World. Accessed: July 20, 2010.

  Horse Dogs and cats drink by lapping water with their tongues while cattle and horses make use of a sucking action.

  A baby female is called a filly, a baby boy is called a colt, a baby boy or girl is also known as a foal.

  When first born, foals cannot eat grass because their legs are too long to reach the ground.

  Foals can stand up within one hour of being born.

  Most foals are born at night.

  Thoroughbreds all have the same birthday which makes it easier to keep breeding, racing, and showing records.

  As well as using them for fly swatting, horses use their tails to send signals to each other about how they are feeling.

  A horse's height is measured in hands. 1 hand = 4 inches.

  Horses belong to the equus family which comes from the Greek word meaning "quickness".

  A pony is not a baby horse, but rather a full grown small horse.There are about 75 million horses in the world.

  Horses' hooves grow approximately 0.25 in a month, and take nearly a year to grow from the coronet band to the ground.

  In the state of Arizona, it is illegal for cowboys to walk through a hotel lobby wearing their spurs

  Cross-country jumps are marked with a red flag on the right side and a white flag on the left side; the horse has to jump through these two flags or it is considered out of bounds and you are disqualified.

  A healthy adult horse should have a pulse of between 36 and 40 beats per minute while at rest

  Arabians have one less rib, one less lumbar bone, and one or two fewer tail vertebrae than other horses.

  Mr. Ed, the talking equine star of the 1960s television series, was a golden palomino. He learned an enormous amount of tricks for his role, including answering a telephone, opening doors, writing notes with a pencil, and unplugging a light. Apparently, Mr. Ed would occasionally have a fit of temper, as befitting his star status, and would stand stock still, wheezing and refusing to move.

  7.1 million Americans are involved in the industry as horse owners, service providers, employees and volunteers. 3.6 million and 4.3 million of those participated in showing and recreation, respectively, with some overlap in cases of people who participate in both activities. 941,000 people participated in racing in either a professional or volunteer capacity. 1.9 million people own horses. In addition to the people actually involved in the industry, tens of millions more Americans participate as spectators.

  The horse industry directly produces goods and services of $25.3 billion and has a total impact of $112.1 billion on U.S. gross domestic product. Racing, showing and recreation each contribute more than 25% to the total value of goods and services produced by the industry.

  The industry's contribution to the U.S. GDP is greater than the motion picture services, railroad transportation, furniture and fixtures manufacturing and tobacco product manufacturing industries. It is only slightly smaller than the apparel and other textile products manufacturing industry. .

  “If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse” - Anon

  “The horse is God's gift to man”. - Old Arab Proverb

  “Show me your horse, and I will tell you who you are”. - Old English saying

  "The one great precept and practice in using a horse is this, never deal with him when you are in a fit of passion." Xenophon, The Art Of Horsemanship, 400 BC

  Adult respiratory rate is 8-16 breaths per minute

  A horse typically sleeps two and half to three hours a day

  Horses younger than 4 years can concentrate for a maximum of 10-15 minutes

  Horses lie down only about 43.5 minutes a day

  Horses sleep longer in the summer than in the winter

  A horse’s heart weighs nine pounds

  The horse is a herbivorous mammal

  All horses (including zebras) belong to the genus equus

  Horses began to evolve on the American continent over 60 million years ago, they later died out and were reintroduced by Spanish settlers

  A zedonk is the offspring of a zebra and a donkey

  No two horses are identical

  The left side of a horse is called the “near side” and the right side is the “off side”

  A horse has approximately 205 bones

  A horse is described as a ‘foal’ for its first year of life

  Foals have milk teeth, which are replaced by permanent teeth around 3-5 years old

  A horse’s teeth can be used to estimate its age

  Horses generally dislike the smell of pigs

  A female horse is called a ‘filly’

  Horses are traditionally measured in ‘hands’, this was originally the width of a man’s hand and has been set at 4 inches

  Dolphin Dolphins use echolocation for the purpose of navigating as well as hunting. It involves bouncing high-pitched sounds off objects and listening for the echoes. When a dolphin sleeps, it closes one half of its brain and one eye. The other half of the brain and the second eye are closed during other parts of the day. In case of dolphins, babies are born tail first, unlike other mammals. The babies stay with the mother for two to three years. A dolphin’s sense of smell is very poor. There are two stomachs in the body of a dolphin - one is used for storing food, while the other digests food. In case of some dolphins, it has been seen that they can dive as deep as 1,000 feet. Some dolphin species can swim at a speed of up to 25 miles an hour. It is three times faster than the best human swimmers. Dolphins might form bonds with each other that can last even their entire lifetime. It has been seen that do
lphins physically support sick as well as dying pod members. Dolphins have an extremely sensitive retina. This makes it possible for them to see as clearly under water as above it. An adult dolphin can consume up to 30 pounds of fish, or even more, in a single day. A dolphin mainly uses its teeth to grasp prey. Once caught, the prey is swallowed down whole and not chewed. Dolphins can jump to a height of 20 feet out of the water. Dolphins have a very sensitive skin that can be easily bruised by rough surfaces, quite like the human skin. Amongst freshwater dolphins, the largest species is that of Boto, which can grow up to 10 feet long. A newborn dolphin becomes capable of swimming and breathing within the first few minutes of birth. In case of dolphins, nursing of the young ones may continue for as long as 12 to 18 months after birth. Dolphins are capable of producing two kinds of sounds - a short, pulse-type sound and a high pitched, whistle of squeal. Dolphins have hairless skin, which feels rubbery on touch. This reduces the resistance to their bodies while swimming and augments their speed. Dolphins have sharp hearing, eyesight and sense of touch. Dolphins can be quite aggressive and brutal, when in a pod (group), and even abuse the weaker members.… dolphins are mammals? They give birth to live young and nurse them with milk. … dolphins have to come up to the surface to breathe? Most dolphins surface every few minutes, but they can stay under water for up to 15 minutes. A dolphin breathes through the blowhole on top of its head. … dolphins evolved from land animals? The land ancestor of the dolphin lived about 50 million years ago and looked a little like a wolf. This animal hunted in shallow waters and by and by adapted itself to life in water: the forelegs became flippers, the hindlegs disappeared and the fluke evolved, the fur disappeared and the nostrils moved to the top of the head. … dolphins use echolocation to navigate and to find food? Dolphins send out clicks that are returned from other objects in the water (just like an echo). This way a dolphin can locate food, other dolphins, predators or rocks. … dolphins live in families? These families are usually led by a female dolphin. The dolphins in a family help each other, for example when raising their young. When travelling or hunting, several families might join together to make a larger group, a school of dolphins. … the largest dolphin is the orca? It can reach up to ten metres in length. For more information on this dolphin, read our text about orcas. … dolphins have a thick layer of fat beneath their skin? This layer of fat is called blubber. As dolphins have no fur, they need the blubber to keep warm. Dolphins in colder waters usually have a thicker layer of fat than dolphins in warm waters. … dolphins are endangered? Humans are the greatest threat to dolphins: environmental pollution, habitat destruction and overfishing are the main reasons why so many dolphin species are endangered. Lots of dolphins get stuck in fishing nets and in some countries, dolphins are deliberately killed because they eat the fish that the fishermen want to catch. If we do not do anything about it, dolphins might soon be extinct. … not all dolphins live in seawater? There are some species that live in fresh water: the river dolphins. Unfortunately, river dolphins are critically endangered and it is even feared that one species, the baiji, has already died out. … you can help to protect dolphins? Educate yourself about these animals and tell others about them. Care more about our environment and start to recycle more things. Raise money for an organisation that helps to support dolphins.

  Shark

  10. The average shark lives to be 25 years old, but some can get as old as 100! They live so long because their chances of contracting a disease are low. Their skeleton is made up entirely of cartilage, which drastically lowers the likelihood of developing a tumor and strengthens their immunity.

  9. Modern sharks breathe by ram ventilation, a process that forces water into their mouths and then processes it as they swim forward. When they're idle, sharks use muscles around the mouth to pull water in and over their gills. Sharks that don't have muscles strong enough to do the job must take shorter and less frequent rest stops.

  8. One of the worst shark attacks in history was the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during World War II. Nearly 900 sailors were stranded in the Philippine Sea near Guam for four days. Experts can't be sure how many sailors lost their lives to sharks, but when help arrived, only 316 people were still alive.

  7. A shark's tooth-shaped scales, called denticles, allow it to move swiftly through the water without collecting barnacles and algae deposits on the skin. In 2005, engineers successfully mimicked the pattern of scales, creating a bacteria-resistant coating.

  6. It's a shark-eat-shark world ... sometimes even before the sharks are born. When some species' embryos begin to develop teeth, they eat their unborn brothers and sisters until one shark remains, an act known as intrauterine cannibalism.

  5. Sharks respond to a sound known as a "yummy hum." It's not an actual hum, though. It's an infrasonic sound (one that's too low for humans to hear) that injured fish make, drawing sharks to an easy meal.

  4. Almost 50 different species of sharks have light-emitting organs called photospheres. Sharks use the light that comes from these organs for camouflage and to attract mates.

  3. Every once in a while, a female shark can reproduce without any contact from a male, an act known as parthenogenesis. Scientists have only documented a couple of cases of parthenogenesis, but some suspect that just about any female shark can get pregnant on her own in the right circumstances.

  2. Sharks living in frigid waters can heat their eyes using a special organ next to a muscle in their eye socket. This ability enables them to keep hunting their prey in extreme temperatures.

  1. "Jumping the shark" is the kiss of death when it hits our favorite sitcom, but it's just as deadly in the real world. Great white sharks off the coast of Seal Island, Africa, are known to jump almost 10 feet (3 meters) in the air to catch unsuspecting seals ... or anything else, for that matter.20. The megamouth shark wasn't discovered by scientists until 1976, and there have only been 41 known sightings of the species. Like whale sharks, the megamouths are filter-feeders and have huge jaws that extend past their eyes.

  19. Sharks have quite a few more senses than humans do. One comes from lateral line organs, which act like an internal barometer. When solid objects glide through the water, they create waves of pressure that a shark can feel with the sensitivity of a physical touch. By sensing these pressure waves, a shark can detect both the movement and direction of the object!

  18. Not all sharks are easily identifiable as predators, especially the cookiecutter shark, which can camouflage itself. The shark's underside glows, with the exception of a small strip on its neck that looks like a much smaller fish. Predators mistake this strip for a snack, and the cookiecutter takes a bite of their flesh before swimming away.

  17. If the whale shark is the largest species, then pygmy sharks are among the tiniest! They measure an average of 8 inches (20 centimeters) in length and the can make their own light, a phenomenon that's especially helpful as pygmy sharks will dive more than a mile underwater to hunt.

  16. In 2009, spear fisherman Craig Clasen stabbed a tiger shark after it charged his friend off the coast of Louisiana. The stab aggravated the animal, which then went after Clasen. After a two-hour struggle, Clasen finally killed the shark and took a symbolic bite of his catch, staying true to his promise always to use any animal he killed.

  15. Did you know sharks move like airplanes? A shark creates forward movement by moving its tail, which acts like a propeller. As the shark moves forward, water moves over its fins as though they were wings, creating lift.

  14. Have you ever been hungry enough to eat a horse? How about a spare tire? Researchers have discovered common objects, like tires, gasoline tanks and license plates, left in one piece inside the stomachs of tiger sharks.

  13. If you're so inclined, you can track both sharks and serial killers using an investigative technique called geographic profiling, which pinpoints locations where attacks are likely to happen. In great whites, those locations are other animals' travel
routes and landmarks like reefs and channels.

  12. Hammerhead sharks may look like the victims of an evolutionary blunder, but their oddly shaped heads, called cephalofoils, really make them better hunters. The electrical sensors the sharks use to pinpoint their prey are spread out along the cephalofoil's wide surface area, giving them better prey detection skills.

  11. Sharks are especially susceptible to the moon's control of ocean tides. The phase of the moon can affect sharks' eating habits and draw them closer to shore ... which in turn, can lead to increased attacks on humans.Sharks can use heartbeats to track their prey. Sharks have nodules on their noses about the size of a pimple, called ampullae of Lorenzini. These nodules sense electricity, so the electrical pulses that come from a beating heart can act like a beacon for nearby sharks.

  29. You can't see a shark's ears, but that doesn't stop it from being able to hear you from more than two football fields away. That's because sharks only have inner ears, which they use to track the sound of their prey from lengths of more than 800 feet (244 meters).

  28. If you're watching a circling shark and wondering if it's about to attack its prey, here are the clues: The shark will hunch its back, lower its pectoral fins (the ones near its belly) and swim in zigzag motions.

  27. Unlike humans, whose upper jaw is a fixed part of the skull, a shark can dislocate and protrude its upper jaw to help it grab and hang onto prey. Talk about a big-mouth!

  26. Jaws wasn't the first time sharks have been given a bad rap. Ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed that a group of sharks destroyed a Persian fleet in the 5th century B.C., which may have been the first time sharks were tagged with a killer reputation.

  25. Sharks have an astounding sense of smell, so powerful that they can detect a single drop of blood in an Olympic-sized pool.

  24. Different species of sharks have their own set of etiquette during a feeding frenzy, a rare occurrence when a large group of sharks all go after the same prey. Caribbean reef sharks, for example, follow a distinct pecking order in which the biggest shark eats first.

  23. Sharks can see in murky water because of a special feature that makes their eyes more sensitive to light. A membrane in the back of the eye called the tapetum lucidum reflects sunlight back into the eye, so the shark can make more use of what little light is there.