The Praying Mantis

An interesting fact regarding this insect is that when exactly before it starts mating, the female eats the male. No one knows for sure the reason, but the probability is that it does this so that the extra protein helps the eggs that will be fertilized. Who wants to be a mantis?

Birds Commit Suicide

It is believed that in a small town in North Eastern part of India (Jatinga) birds commit suicide in a particular 1.5 km long and around 200 meters wide strip of field area. These birds are not suicidal since their behavior may be attributed to heavy rains and floods and submergence of their natural habitat in the surrounding areas. Also the local villagers light torches which attract the birds migrating at night. They then clobber them to death with bamboo poles and eat them!

 Lassie Facts

Although most known Scottish shepherd, Lassie, is white-brown, original Collies were mostly tricolor: white, brown and mostly black (on the back). It's also interesting that Collies are better known as "Lassie", than "Collie" or "Scottish shepherd".

Fireflies and Internal Light

Do you wonder where fireflies got their internal light? Fireflies actually contain the so-called Luciferin. This substance when combined with oxygen will enable them to produce light. This process is called bioluminescence and they light up to attract the mate. Same is true with angler fish which also produces light, but they use it to catch the prey.

 Insects in your Chocolate

Did you know that the average chocolate bar in the U.S. contains at least 8 pieces of an insect in it? Harvesting of the cacao beans occurs in the tropical countries of South America with low sanitation levels. Cacao tree beans are cut and piled in the farmer's field where they ferment for 6 days. During this process, children and adults walk over the piles; insects, rodents, small animals and other living things that make their nests in the piles. Actually the The U. S. Department of Health publishes a book entitled "The Food Defect Action Levels" in which they list unavoidable defects in food (insect, rodents etc.) all allowed by FDA.

Armadillo Facts

A pound of armadillo meat contains 780 calories. Most armadillos seen dead on the road did not get hit by the wheels. When an armadillo is frightened it jumps straight into the air. Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same sex. They are perfect quadruplets, the fertilized cell split into quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos. Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day. Armadillos can walk underwater.

 Tasmanian Tiger-wolf

Tasmanian tiger-wolf is an extinct wolf like carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania having stripes on its back. Despite its popular name, this animal is neither a tiger nor a wolf and it is closely related to the kangaroo. Tasmanian tiger-wolf has a pouch for its babies to climb in. The extinction of the Tasmanian wolf is attributable solely to activities of human beings, it was said to become extinct in 1936.

Dogs As Suicide Bombers?

In the Second World War, during the Blitzkrieg campaign, German tanks were too fast and too powerful for Russian military. Russians idea was to train the dogs to carry bombs under the German tanks. The trainers would first starve the dogs, and then train them to find a food under the tank. Unfortunately, problem was that dogs trained under the Soviet tanks not the loud German diesel tanks. Plan backfired on Soviets, but they did manage to disable a reported 300 German tanks.

Octopus Facts

The largest octopus weighs about 15kg (Octopus dofleini). An Octopus has three hearts and it can squeeze through a hole the size of a 10-cent coin. Hapalochlaena species can inject enough venom in one bite to kill several adult humans. They can adopt a two-tentacles "walk" that frees up their six remaining limbs and makes them look like an armed vehicle.

Hungry Female Mosquitoes

Only female mosquitoes bites humans and drinks their blood. Male mosquitoes are much bigger than females, but they are harmless to the humans. Female mosquito uses blood to produce eggs since certain proteins are needed for reproduction. Actually mosquitoes are principally nectar feeders except of course for the females. However, mosquito family Toxorhynchites never drinks blood.

Hyena Most Masculine Female?

Hyenas live in a female dominated society. Female Hyenas are the most masculine females in the animal kingdom. They have very high levels of hormones that are usually found in the males. Also many female hyenas have enlarged clitoris, to the point of looking like a penis. The female hyena urinates, mates and gives birth through this modified clitoris (it is inverted for mating).

Donkey Plus Horse Equals?

When a female horse and a male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and a female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny. When a male zebra and a female donkey mate the offspring is called a ‘zedonk’ or ‘zebrass’. All of these resulting offspring are sterile (can't have babies).