Animal Facts

It's been an interesting week learning about some new animal facts. I thought perhaps you'd enjoy some new trivia facts as well!

Bullfrogs bite. This is an interesting one to me, thank you Georgia Aquarium. They don't actually have teeth, but do have bony projections on their upper jaw that can draw blood. Bullfrogs have to hang onto their prey so it doesn't hop/fly/run away. So once they bite, they don't let go. You have to actually use a tool to pry their mouths open.

Remember Career Kid's bullfrog a couple of years ago? We all played with that guy, with not a care in the world. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he could bite. Guess we were just lucky. I'll still hold them, but with respect for what they can do. As my boss at the zoo would say, 'everything with a mouth can bite!'

Cold water anemones cannot sting. Warm water ones can. Cold water anemones live off the coast of Alaska, Canada, etc. You can touch their tentacles, but our skin is too thick for them to penetrate. They can stick to you, but not sting. However, in the Carribean, they can sting you. I'm not too sure the reasoning, but as I'm more likely to be scuba diving around the Bahamas, I'll keep my hands to myself!

Sting rays are venomous. Yes, I know they have a stinger at the base of their tales. (Remember Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter?) I thought that was as far as it went. No, they have venom as well. It usually doesn't cause problems in humans, but still.... At the aquarium, they have a touch tank where you can touch small sting rays. One was in a bad mood, and positioned himself in the middle of the tank, with his tail in the air. I sure wouldn't want to step on him at the beach.

Dolphins, beluga whales, and harbor seals can swim upside down. We were watching a dolphin show, and in the dim theater, I noticed one of them didn't look right to me. Then I noticed he was swimming on his back. I didn't realize they could do that, physics and everything. Not only do they swim upside down, they can do it really fast. Later, the belugas and harbor seals showed me they have that talent as well. Very interesting.

Goliath frogs can jump 10 feet. In one display, they had a Goliath frog skeleton. These are the largest frogs in the world, and come from Africa. They can be 3 feet long, and weigh 7 lbs. I don't know what I'd do if one of those showed up in my pool!

I hope you've enjoyed your lesson on random animal facts. Have a great day, class dismissed!

Chela