Green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) are often found covering themselves with the shells of hermit crabs, rocks, and other debris. Scientists don’t fully understand why they do so. – WTF Fun Facts
Animals
Our random animal facts are a both fun and a little bit weird but they will keep you entertained for days!
WTF Fun Fact – Slow Blink To Communicate With Cats
By narrowing your eyes and slowly blinking, you can communicate with cats that you are friendly and improve your chances that they approach and are receptive to you. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Study Confirms ‘Slow Blinks’ Really Do Work to Communicate With Your Cat (sciencealert.com)
WTF Fun Fact – The Reason For The Giraffes Dark Tongue
The tongue of a giraffe is a dark black or purple color due to the extra melanin in it, which protects the tongue from getting sunburn. This is a necessity since their tongues are so long (up to 2 feet) and exposed from eating nearly 12 hours a day. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Paint From The Pope’s Cow’s Milk
The Vatican is painting it’s famous buildings, like the Belvedere Palace which was built in 1484, with milk from the Pope’s cows which are kept at his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. The milk is mixed with slaked lime and natural pigments and hand-patted onto the building. – WTF Fun Facts
Source:Why the Vatican is using milk to paint its buildings – CNN Style
WTF Fun Fact – Modern War Messenger Pigeons
The Chinese Army has been training 10,000 pigeons to provide support to the military’s communications in the event that war renders its modern technology unusable. The pigeons can fly up to 75 mph and are being trained to carry loads of up to 3.5 oz. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Chinese Military’s Secret Weapon: ‘Reserve Pigeon Army’ – TIME
WTF Fun Fact – Cows With Human-Scented Cologne
Biotech company ISCA Technologies is developing a human-scented cologne for cows so that mosquitoes bite them instead of humans. The cows are not at risk from Malaria and can even be treated with insecticide to kill the mosquitoes that do bite them. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Powder Down Feathers
Some birds have a special type of feather called powder down feathers. These feathers disintegrate and form a fine keratin powder, which the bird can spread over its feathers to water-proof them. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – An Unlikely Crustacean
Pill bugs, also known as roly-polys, are not insects but rather crustaceans. They breathe through gills and are more closely related to shrimp and lobsters than other bugs. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/springtime-science-whats-home-sweet-home-to-a-bug/
WTF Fun Fact – Humans Jump Farther Than Horses
The world record for the longest human long jump is greater than the world record for the longest horse long jump. Mike Powell set the human record in 1991 by jumping 8.95m, while a horse named Something under Andre Ferreira jumped 8.25m in 1975. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Equestrian Guinness records – EQUISHOP Equestrian Shop
WTF Fun Fact – Field Chasing Ducks
Some rice farmers in Thailand use a swarm of some 10,000 ducks to clean up their fields after harvesting. Known as “ped lai thoong” or “field chasing ducks”, the ducks eat the snails and leftover husks making it easier to plow all while avoiding the use of pesticides. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Drone footage follows 10,000 ducks “cleaning” rice paddies in Thailand – YouTube
WTF Fun Fact – Beefalo
A “cattalo” or “beefalo” is a cross breed between a cow and a bison. They were first intentionally crossbred in the mid-19th century. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Beefalo – Wikipedia
WTF Fun Fact – Bassian Thrush Farts While Foraging
The Australian Bassian thrush farts in order to startle earthworms into moving. Once on the move, the birds are able to locate and eat them. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Bird Facts That Sound Fake but Are True (insider.com)
WTF Fun Fact – The Colorful Malabar Giant Squirrel
India is home to the Ratufa indica, or the Malabar giant squirrel, which can grow up to three feet in length. They are capable of jumping 20 feet between trees and unlike their counterparts who bury their food, they store theirs in the treetops. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Clever Octopus
A giant Pacific octopus named Billye took ~55 minutes to initially open a childproof bottle. After some practice, she could execute the push-and-turn trick—without any instruction—in an average of 5 minutes. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Speedy Octopus Sets Record for Jar Opening – Scientific American Blog Network
WTF Fun Fact – Animal Crackers Freed
In 2018, after 116 years behind bars, animal crackers were freed from their cages by Nabisco after PETA wrote a request to their parent company. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: In a Victory for PETA, Animal Crackers Roam Free – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
WTF Fun Fact – Bioengineered Mosquitoes
In April 2021, researchers from biotech company Oxitec released bioengineered male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which don’t bite, to mate with the wild female population in the Florida keys. The genetically engineered males will pass a modified gene on that will kill their female offspring as larva. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: First genetically modified mosquitoes released in the United States (nature.com)
WTF Fun Fact – Goat Milk Spider Silk
Scientists managed to successfully mix goats with spider genes and now they can produce an extra protein in their milk, which is extracted and spun into spider silk thread. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: The goats with spider genes and silk in their milk – BBC News
WTF Fun Fact – 12000 Facts
The odds of an average golfer making a hole-in-one is: 12,000 to 1.
A hummingbirds wings can beat up to 200 beats per second or 12,000 beats per minute.
There are over 12,000 species of ants.
Bolivia’s La Paz is the highest administrative capital in the world at ~12,000 ft above sea level.
Between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles are fished from the bottom of Amsterdam’s canals each and every year.