Forums » Smalltalk » Favorite animal

Here's a thread to just list facts about your favorite animal. Because no one can explain how awesome your favorite animal is better than you. And so I have an excuse to randomly share facts about whales for no good reason. That's reason enough in and of itself.

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Favorite Animal: Whale

Interesting Facts:

-They breath air like us and are mammals like us, even though they live in the water.

-The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have lived, bigger than any dinosaur

- the heart of a blue whale is the size of some small cars

- humpback whales sing to attract a mate. Their songs have repeating choruses by also gradually change over time. Some people think this brought about the legend of mermaids.

- whales will sometimes help other sick whales to the surface to breathe if their struggling

- no one really knows why some whales strand themselves for sure, but it might be that they use the Earth's magnetic poles for navigation and their equipment gets out of kilter

- dolphins have signature whistles that are unique that scientists think are kind of like names

-dolphins can use echolocation to see through each other and they even can tell what their podmates just ate

Whales are very cool! Another interesting feature is their vestigial pelvis and femur bones. Those bad boys were land creatures, once. Another theory is that the bones aren't vestigial at all and are still used during mating season, but in any case whales and their mystery bones are fascinating.

As a surprise to absolutely no one, one of my favourite animals is a giant vulture that eats bones: the lammergeier.

• lammergeier means "lamb-vulture" in German, as they were once believed to attack lambs and throw them off cliffs; they're also called bearded vultures or ossifrage ("bone-breaker")
• they have a wingspan of nearly ten feet. Here's a fully grown man holding one. They look like dinosaurs.
• bearded vultures are a great example of how animals will expand to fill any available niche when it comes to diet. They mainly scavenge bones and bone marrow from carcasses.
• they live in the mountainous regions of south Europe, Africa, and Tibet, and are classified as a threatened species
• their rusty feather colour comes from dust bathing and drinking mineral-rich water
• their stomach acid is so powerful that it can digest bones within 24 hours
• like most vultures, they can also digest rabies, a disease that is fatal to nearly any other animal
• if a bone is too large for them to swallow whole they'll fly up high and drop it so it breaks and exposes the marrow; rarely they'll do the same with live prey such as tortoises
• like other vultures, the babies imprint easily on humans, so orphans need to be fed by a vulture puppet to be properly rehabilitated. Like this.
• they have bright red scleras. Just because.

Wow, I didn't know all that about vultures. That's really good.

And yes! The vestigal bones in whales! I think it's because they were land mammals, although I didn't know about the theory that they might still be used in mating, that's fascinating. Thanks for adding your animal! hehe

Cats cats cats CATS
I just love cats, I'm a 80 year old crazy cat lady in a 2 decade old body
I love CATS


Edit:

• Cat's can't sweat! It's one of the reasons they clean themselves, in order to cool themselves down!
• Did you cat head bump you looking for love? It's their version of a hug!
• If a cat starts licking / cleaning you, it means they like you
• Along with the previous point, petting a cat is seen, to them, as the same thing as cleaning (IE, cats licking each other), which is a bonding exercise type thingy. :> They like it
• If you have an outside cat and they bring you a dead animal, it means they like you. They're hunting for you and making sure you get food! Be nice to them when they do this, as gross as it can be, it's them trying to be nice
• Cats usually keep their eyes open to keep an eye on their surroundings. If they close their eyes around you, or don't stare directly at you if they do have their eyes open, it means they're cool with you, you're good
• Cats actually usually grow nonverbal as they get older; Kittens will meow, but as they get older, cats tend to meow rarely. The exception to this is indoor / human raised cats, which tend to meow way more often. It's kind of a way to talk with their humans. :>

Sharks are pretty awesome too

Hehe

I don't really have a favorite animal, but I can talk about bats real quick. 'Cause bats are cool.

• Bats are the only mammal capable of true flight. All the others just glide.
• Vampire bats pretty much exclusively feed off cattle, who usually never even seem to notice anything is going on. Before cattle were brought into the area though, vampire bats would feed on smaller, native animals - which is why vampire bats can actually gallop using their wings along with their legs. Yes, galloping bats.
• Bats are super important. Insectivorous bats help keep bug populations in check, and this includes a massive reduction of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Fruit- and pollen-eating bats are among the top pollinators and seed-spreaders.
• Not all bats are nocturnal. Many fruit-eating bats, such as the flying fox (who have freaking puppy faces omg) are frequently out during the day. Daytime bats also tend to rely more on their actually-pretty-decent vision.
• Cotton ball bats exist.
• Bats are broken into 2 main groups, megabats and microbats. Oddly enough, some microbats are actually bigger than some megabats.
• Most bats are highly social creatures that live in colonies. They are also highly maternal creatures, with the mothers carrying around their babies (usually birth only one at a time) and being very active caregivers.
• Like humans, baby bats are comforted by having something to suck on. When orphaned bats are in rehab centers, they usually are provided pacifiers/binkies/dummies to suck on to help them relax. They also get wrapped in blankets like little batty burritos and caregivers have to clean them with a tool that mimics mom's tongue.
• Bat have to flip over and hang by their thumbs for bathroom purposes. Imagine doing thumb pull-ups every time you need to go.
• When looking at the bone structure of a bat wing, it's easy to see how those same bones match up to the human arm and hand.
• Photos you've seen of giant bats half the size of a person are deceptive. Angles have been used to make the bat appear much larger. Also, if a bat is squinting, it is in pain. A bat that isn't in distress has wide, round eyes.
• Most animal control agencies, when called about bats in someone's property, will have the bats exterminated. To save them, you have to go out of your way to find an organization that will relocate or rehabilitate them.
• For both your and the bat's safety, don't touch a bat directly. The slightest bite or scratch it gives you, that bat legally must be euthanized to check it for rabies. Instead, if you have to move a bat, use a towel or stick or something to keep separated. If it's grounded, moving it to a tree may help. If you think it's injured, try to just safely cover it and call a rehab organization to come handle it.

Bats are awesomeeeee. My wife Sandra loves bats, btw. She has bat T-shirts and has given money to some kind of bat shelter for injured bats, and gone to see guest speakers when they come to DFW and bring bats with them. It's a thing. She's reeeally into bats. So by exposure to it I started to see how interesting they are too! And these facts were interesting to read, so thank you.

...galloping bats. Wow.

And cotton ball bat?

I had to see that. Here's a picture!

Ooo poison frogs. Another wonder of nature. You're right, they really are super cute. I enjoyed reading about them.