Pet and Animal Facts Page 5 at FamilyPets Net the Home of Family Pets and Animals.

Pet & Animal Facts Page 5

The 1st buffalo ever born in captivity was born at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo in 1884.

The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was formed in 1866.

The anaconda, one of the world's largest snakes, gives birth to its young instead of laying eggs.

The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.

The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

The biggest pig in recorded history was Big Boy of Black Mountain, North Carolina, who was weighed at 1,904 pounds in 1939.

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court.

The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.

The dachshund is one of the oldest dog breeds in history (dating back to ancient Egypt.) The name comes from one of its earliest uses - hunting badgers. In German, Dachs means "badger," Hund is "hound."

The elephant, as a symbol of the US Republican Party, was originated by cartoonist Thomas Nast and first presented in 1874.

The English Romantic poet Lord Byron was so devastated upon the death of his beloved Newfoundland, whose name was Boatswain, that he had inscribed upon the dog's gravestone the following: "Beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity, and all the virtues of man without his vices."

The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift, clocked at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

The fastest -moving land snail, the common garden snail, has a speed of 0.0313 mph.

The first house rats recorded in America appeared in Boston in 1775.

The giant squid is the largest creature without a backbone. It weighs up to 2.5 tons and grows up to 55 feet long. Each eye is a foot or more in diameter.

The honeybee kills more people world-wide than all the poisonous snakes combined.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards.

The hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher, and the grebe are all birds that cannot walk.

The Kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can't fly. It lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind, and lays only one egg each year. Despite this, it has survived for more than 70 million years.

The largest animal ever seen alive was a 113.5 foot, 170-ton female blue whale.

The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil.

The largest cockroach on record is one measured at 3.81 inches in length.

The male penguin incubates the single egg laid by his mate. During the two month period he does not eat, and will lose up to 40% of his body weight.

The mouse is the most common mammal in the US.

The normal temperature of a cat is 101.5 degrees.
Pet & Animal Facts Page 6