The children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle was originally titled A Week with Willie Worm. – 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 – World’s Fastest Punch
A mantis shrimp can swing its claw so fast that it boils the water around it and creates a flash of light. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Honeyguides
Honey hunters in Mozambique use special calls to recruit the services of birds known as honeyguides. The birds lead the humans to bees’ nests and in return, they get the leftover beeswax. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Most Smuggled Commodity
Wildlife trafficking, worth an estimated $10 billion a year, is thought to be the third most valuable illicit commerce after drugs and weapons. Birds are the most common contraband with anywhere from two million to five million wild birds smuggled yearly. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/wildlife-trafficking-149079896/
WTF Fun Fact – Castoreum Beaver Scent
Castoreum is a warm, carnal, and leather-like scent used in perfume. Now synthetically replicated, it originally came from the castor sac of the mature North American Beaver which was used in combination with urine to mark their territory. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Castoreum-102.html
WTF Fun Fact – White Bellbird Fire Alarm
The White Bellbird, found in the Guianas, Brazil and Venezuela, is known as the world’s loudest bird. Their mating call sounds like a fire alarm and can reach up to 125 decibels. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/6066393/loudest-bird-bellbird-song/
WTF Fun Fact – Insulin And Rainbow Trout
Insulin used to be combined with protamine, obtained from rainbow trout milt/semen, to prolong the effect. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Mosquitos And Pregnancy
Pregnant women attract roughly twice as many mosquito bites as non-pregnant people. This is likely because they tend to exhale more carbon dioxide and have a higher body temperature than others. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Venomous Platypus
The otherwise adorable duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) has a venomous spur on its hind legs. The spur is only on the males and is non-lethal to humans but can be extremely painful. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://poisonousnature.biodiversityexhibition.com/en/card/duck-billed-platypus
WTF Fun Fact – Wombats Poop Cubes
Wombats poop comes out in cubes. Researchers found that it takes this shape in the last 8 percent of their intestinal tract. This final section of the wombat’s entrails has walls that apply pressure to their feces which forms it into cubes. – WTF Fun Facts
WTF Fun Fact – Kermit The Lizard?
Kermit the Frog originally started out on the show Sam and Friends in 1955 as a lizard-like creature made from an old turquoise coat belonging to Jim Henson’s mom and a couple of ping pong balls for eyes.– WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://gothamist.com/2011/04/19/kermit_the_lizard.php
WTF Fun Fact – The Sea Hare’s Purple Ink
The California sea hare, Aplysia californica, has a combination of defense mechanisms including the release of purple ink and opaline from glands. The ink acts as a smoke screen while the opaline confuses the predator and causes them to try to eat the ink cloud. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_sea_hare
WTF Fun Fact – Stare Into Your Dogs Eyes
A recent study found both humans and domestic dogs receive a dramatic increase of oxytocin, the bonding hormone, from the other when staring into each other’s eyes. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/04/how-dogs-stole-our-hearts
WTF Fun Fact – Cockchafer
The cockchafer, also known as a Maybug or doodlebug, is a European beetle which has three species: common, forest, and (the rarest) large cockchafer. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer
WTF Fun Fact – Three Little Pigs
In an early alternative version of The Three Little Pigs by Andrew Lang, the pigs were named: Browny, Whitey, and Blacky. The antagonist was also a fox instead of a wolf. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Little_Pigs
WTF Fun Fact – Weird Clownfish Life
In a group of clownfish, there is only one female who is at the top of a strict hierarchy. Only two clownfish in a group reproduce through external fertilization. They are also hermaphrodites, so when the female dies, the largest and most dominant male becomes a female. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphiprioninae
WTF Fun Fact – Gambling Rats
Researchers taught rats how to gamble and they learned how to play it safe and maximize their ‘winnings’. However, when they introduced flashing lights and sound they changed their behavior and went for the high-risk, high-reward option. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/flashing-lights-and-sounds-turn-rats-into-gamblers
WTF Fun Fact – Calming Companions
The Maricopa County Animal Care and Control center offers a ‘Calming Companions’ program where the public can visit their shelters to play with and keep the animals calm during 4th of July fireworks. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/people-comforted-scared-shelter-animals-fireworks/