10 Wicked Wild Animals Facts

For hundreds of millions of years, wild animals have roamed the world. Wild animals come in all shapes and sizes from birds to fish, reptiles and mammals too. Wild animals are found in a range of ecosystems including deserts, rainforests, grasslands and plains. We love wild animals and recognise the need to keep them all safe. There are many organisations like National Geographic and the World Wildlife Fund that work hard to invest in, protect and restore threatened wildlife. Wild animals are super cool and weird too! We’ve listed some of our favourite ones with some amazing facts about them.

Wild Animals Facts

1. Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. Because these glorious beasts are way too heavy, even when charging at a full speed of 40 km/h, they never get all four feet off the ground at once. 
2. Rhino horns are made up of the same thing hair and nails are – keratin! Also, some species of rhino only have one horn, whereas all the others have two.
3. Frogs, lizards and crocodiles can all be hypnotised. All you have to do is place them on their backs and stroke their stomachs or hold them still for a few seconds. They remain motionless – we don’t recommend trying this on your pet crocodile at home!
4. Bears have incredible senses of smell, sight and hearing. They can smell things from miles away and even rescued blind bears have been known to use their remaining senses and good memories to navigate around closures, bathe in pools and find food – how insightful.
5. Springboks, and we don’t mean the rugby team, are famous for their funny jump called pronking. They leap into the air with stiff legs in repeated loops. Their pronking act is used as both a mating ritual and to protect themselves from predators. There are three sub-species of springbok which all differ in colour.
6. Giraffes make no hearable sounds besides a snort or grunt here and there. Even though they do have a voice box, their necks are too long to force their vocal cords to vibrate. So no laughs for these giraffes.
7. Wild rabbits are social creatures and are found in many types of areas. Rabbits live under the ground by tunnelling systems called warrens. They have multiple entrances for quick escapes and warrens can be as deep as 3 meters underground.
8. For every human, there are a million ants in the world – that’s more than 10 quintillion ants on earth (10 billion-billion). With over 12 000 different ant species, ants are found in almost every habitat worldwide and are social insects. No wonder they always manage to get into the sugar.
9. Lion’s manes can grow up to 16cm long and are a sign of dominance. Their manes get darker the older they get. They are not only used for attracting females but also to protect their necks and heads from injuries during fights.
10. Giant pandas spend 10 to 16 hours a day eating and 99% of their diet is bamboo. Bamboo is critical to their diets. The other 1% of their diets is made up of eggs, small animals and forage in farmlands. They are renowned for being one of the clumsiest animals – falling from trees and doing rolly pollies down the hill.

There are 7.77 million animal species on earth. Animals are fascinating and wonderful creatures. Not only are animal toys fun to have and play with, but they are also an opportunity to learn about the extraordinary wildlife we have on earth. If you liked this blog post, be sure to take a look at the others we have here!