7 WTFacts (Animals)
1. It took scientists 300 years to give the Giant Tortoise its scientific (latin) name.
Why, do you ask? During the 16th and 17th century, Spanish sailors frequently visited the Galapagos Islands. Because the Giant Tortoise isn’t very fast, they where easy prey. They could live in a ships hull for long periods of time, so it would be easy to bring one back to Europe. Instead, something different happened. They were apparently delicious to eat. So delicious in fact, that none of them made it to Europe alive for 300 years. (source)
2. Cats don’t meow to other cats, only to humans.
A great example why cats are the masters of the human race. They have learned that making a certain sound to humans would reap them benefits, either being petted or given food. Meowing is something almost all cats do, but only to humans. They have truly enslaved us all, with their purring and meowing. They can lay down everywhere, anytime, meow and someone will run up to scratch their backs. If reïncarnation exists, I hope I have lived well enough to return as a housecat. (source)
3. Cats are lactose intolerant, which means they are allergic to milk.
On the subject of cats, why don’t I throw in another fact? Cats are lactose intolerant. Even though they adore it, and every childrens book depicts cats as drinking milk, they vomit or get diarrhea from it, because their stomach can’t handle it. This isn’t something strange actually. Intolerance to milk is the norm, it is animals (even people) who are NOT intolerant to the gooey, white substance who are the freaks. Which is basically my go-to argument whenever people make fun of my allergies. (source)
4. The line “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight” contains two fallacies.
On to some larger felines. This song, as used in the Lion King, is based upon lies. If you think about it, it is fairly obvious. Lions are big cats, although they do sleep at night, they sleep more during the day than night, making them nocturnal creatures. And where do they live? Certainly not in the jungle, but on the grassy plains of the Savannah. So think about it whenever you are jokingly singing “Awimbowe Awimbowe AWOOOOOOOHOHOOOOOHOOWOwambawe”. (source)
5. The ‘Arctic Circle’ is named after “Ursus Arctos” which is the latin name for a lot of bear species, but not the Polar Bear.
Where does the name ‘Arctic Circle’ come from? It derives from the latin word ‘Arctos’, which simply means ‘bears’. Therefore, the Arctic Circle is literally called the ‘Bear Circle’. The genus Ursus Arctos contains a lot of species and subspecies of the Brown Bear, like the Syrian (Syriacus), Californian (Californicus) and Italian (Marsicanus) brown bear, which have nothing to do with the arctic circle. Yet the one species which does solely live up and above the arctic circle, the Polar Bear, is called Ursus Maritimus. Way to go, science. (source)
6. The uterus of a Sand Tiger Shark is a free-for-all arena deathmatch.
Normal fish lay eggs. Not the Sand Tiger Shark. And because sharks aren’t the most peaceful creatures swimming in the oceans, their babies fight for their right of birth within the uterus. Only one survives and gets born. Now that is some crazy shit. Also because of this, the Sand Tiger Shark is pretty endangered. You know, because the shark can only put one living baby on this planet at a time. An example why evolution sometimes marks the end of a species. (source)
7. Giant Panda’s used to eat meat, but became bitchy vegetarians.
Another example of evolution going wrong: the Giant Panda. You know how Giant Panda’s only like to eat bamboo? Well, their stomach can’t digest it. Which is also why they need so much of the stuff in order to stay alive. Totally unrelated, but another fact, is that they only want to reproduce for two days a year. Combine these facts, and you have good reason to let these giant f***ers go extinct. But no, they are too cute, so we have to spend enormous amounts of money in order to keep a species alive that doesn’t want to be alive. Just let them go, while these vegetarian pussies still have their dignity.