Animals — Page 14

Certain lizards can squirt blood from their eyes to deter predators.

When threatened by canines like coyotes or foxes, horned lizards increase blood pressure in their head and rupture…

Pigeons can distinguish between paintings by Monet and Picasso.

After training with food rewards, these birds demonstrate an advanced visual ability to categorise artistic styles…

Male cats tend to use their left paw as dominant, while females prefer the right.

Researchers found that paw laterality in cats is strongly linked to the animal's sex, likely due to the influence of…

Axolotls can regenerate parts of their own brain and heart.

Unlike most vertebrates, these Mexican amphibians can rebuild complex brain and heart tissue without scarring…

Reindeer eyes change color depending on the season.

In summer, their pupils are gold to block intense light. In winter, they turn deep blue to capture as much light as…

The mantis shrimp punches so fast it boils the surrounding water.

The impact of its claws creates cavitation bubbles that collapse instantly, generating a tiny flash of light and…

The wood frog freezes almost solid in winter and thaws in spring.

Its heart stops and breathing ceases while the body produces large amounts of glucose, which acts as a natural…

Zebras have completely black skin under their striped fur.

The stripes of zebras are only pigmentation patterns in the fur. If you shave a zebra, the skin underneath is dark…

Koalas have fingerprints almost identical to humans.

Koala fingerprints are so similar to ours that they have sometimes confused forensic investigators at crime scenes in…

Adélie penguins offer a pebble to their partner as a mating proposal.

Males search for the smoothest and most perfect pebble they can find and offer it to the female. If she accepts it…

Sheep can recognize human and other sheep faces in photographs.

Cambridge researchers discovered that sheep can learn to recognize the faces of famous people and other sheep from…

Sharks have existed on Earth longer than trees have.

The first sharks appeared around 400 million years ago, while the first trees only emerged about 350 million years…

Cats cannot taste sweetness in food.

Cats lack the TAS1R2 gene responsible for detecting sweet flavours. This genetic mutation occurred millions of years…

Some turtles can breathe through their rear end during hibernation.

The Mary River turtle in Australia has a specialized cloaca with vascularized papillae that absorb oxygen directly…

The narwhal's tusk is actually a sensory organ with millions of nerve endings.

The long spiral tusk of the male narwhal contains up to 10 million nerve endings that detect changes in water…

Wombat droppings are cube-shaped.

The wombat intestine has variations in wall elasticity, which molds the feces into cubes. This shape prevents them…

Crows recognize human faces and hold grudges for years.

Studies show that crows remember people who threatened them and can teach this distrust to their offspring. They…

Hoatzin chicks are born with claws on their wings.

The hoatzin is a unique Amazonian bird whose chicks have functional claws on two of their wing digits. They use them…

The Texas horned lizard squirts blood from its eyes for defence.

When threatened, this desert lizard increases blood pressure in its head and ruptures small vessels in the corners of…