Most Bizarre & Unique Animal Behaviors That Will Surprise You
From monkeys getting arrested for misconduct to mind controling mice, here are the weirdest things animals do, that you probably didn't know about.
11 The Tasmanian Childhood Trauma
I am sure you have seen the cartoons depicting the Tasmanian devil spinning around like a tornado, this ornery marsupial has been considered a rarity due to the way they have to survive childhood. From the moment a little joey is born, other 50 of its siblings are born too. The newborn babies are no larger than a grain of rice and have to race to the marsupial pouch the distance of about 3 inches… in proportion, couple of football fields for us adult humans. Only 4 of the little devils will make it to the mammalian glands where they will latch for the next 3 months, the other 46 unfortunately will perish within couple of minutes…
10 The Old-Fashioned Family Values
Having one mate for life is not the most common thing in the animal kingdom, you may have heard of the swans and other birds but is not very common in mammals. A good example is the Foxes who stay with their mate until the babies are ready to be on their own. But that’s as far as the monogamy goes. Mice for Life, should be part of the wedding vows of the California Mice. These little critters mate for life. According to research, a genetic analysis of offprints of about 27 families of mice confirmed that each of the little babies belongs to the monogamous set of parents! But I am going to tell you a little dirty secret. It’s almost like Mind control… Another study found that the reason why they are very fateful to one another is that the females secrete pheromones via the urine that charms the males to stick around and help take care of the babies! Wow.. that’s all we can all say…
9 The Vegetarian Piranhas
We have been told for ages to be careful with piranhas, they can eat a horse in a matter of minutes! I am sure you have seen the videos about the amazon river where fishermen rail in a fish that, by the time it arrives to the end of the fishing line, there are only bones left! Well although that does happen, not all piranhas eat the same. A new mega Piranha called the Tambaqui is over 50 lb. and likes to eat the flesh, not of animals but of fruits! This herbivore was discovered less than 5 years ago and has been noted that it likes to scavenge the fallen fruits from trees. What makes this beast so worth mentioning is that due to its diet and traveling behavior of several kilometers before eliminating its digested food, it has been reported to be the best animal in the amazon to spread seeds and therefore increase biodiversity, more so than fruit eating birds and mammals such as monkeys. One fish can spread seeds from over 20 plants and it has been measured over 700,000 seeds in a single excretion!
8 Monkey Floss
Keeping up with hygiene is a normal trade for many creatures, think of the pigs who roll over the mud, we now know is to shield their skin form the harmful solar rays as well as to detoxify their bodies since they don’t have sweet glands. But besides the normal body cleaning and prevention, have you ever heard of any animal flossing? Well, at least there is one! The ape! Yeah these intelligent animals have figured out how to keep their pearly whites shining. Observations of about 50 Macaques in the Buddhist temples of Lopburi in Thailand, have been seen plucking hairs from tourists and using them to floss! Since macaques are venerated, no one actually minds it. Cameras have revealed that macaque mothers floss even more when babies are present. That’s to teach the little ones how to do it!
7 A Love Song
Singing to others has been a sign of affection and love. In many Latin countries its popular to serenade a loved one on special occasions and even further have the groom serenate the bride the night before the wedding. But this is another level of serenades even more complex than the birds singing to attract a mate! The rodent choir to be more exact is what we are talking about here, like the mice in the Cinderella movie singing! It was previously thought that mice had one calling and repeated it over and over, but new research found a complete playlist of songs, anything from the classics to made up as you go tunes! Once a male smells a female, he would start singing to show his worthiness. If the tune is catchy the female will actually join in! Unfortunately, the human ear is not apt to listening to is since it’s in the ultrasonic range!
6 Monkey Goes Bananas!
Who would ever think that an animal would ever get in trouble with the law, but the following story will prove that, very wrong. During a beautiful Florida day, a man named Brad was having a walk with his capuchin monkey, very normal I guess, when someone decided to pet Mookie the monkey… and that’s when mayhem happened. The monkey must have woken up on the wrong side of the tree because the critter went ape on the touching man and bit him. Mookie was turning 20 and had to spend his special day on house arrest… I guess monkeys like many humans get cranky when they are about to celebrate their birthday?
5 North Facing Eating
Usually when we eat we are either at home in front of the TV, if not with your family, or at a restaurant, the north or south pole facing does not equate in your decision to eat, at all. But there are animals who actually have to face north or south to eat… Cows do. It has not been discovered why but according to some research, cows like to align their bodies with the electromagnetic field when munching on grass. It was also analyzed that dear do the same. But they are not navigating like birds so… other research shed some light and said that although cows and dear don’t do the north south thing in larger herds, such positioning is a leftover trade from when their ancestors migrated.
4 Sing Me A Lullaby
As we already heard, animals communicate not only with displays of the plumage or with their full body language. Many sing their hearts out like the mice. But how about giraffes? If I ask you to make the sound of a cow, you would know it, but not of a giraffe. Until recently, there was no recorded sound made by giraffes even in distress until researchers from the University of Vienna placed microphones all over the enclosures of many European zoos. What they found was incredible. Giraffes don’t seem to say much during the day but once night falls, the humming begins. It seems like giraffes like to hum to one another and even though is at a very low frequency, it can be heard by the human ear!
3 Sniff Your Way Home!
We already know birds can migrate thousands of miles home just by aligning with the electromagnetic field, others like the elephants have great memories and almost seem to have a GPS installed. But how about marine animals? Sharks have been known to know how to get home and navigate the ocean for over thousands of miles as if there where road signs in the vast empty space. It was discovered that they sniff their way home! A research for the University of California did a bizarre experiment that supports the idea of amazing sniffing skills. The researchers gathered several wild leopard sharks and moved them about 5 miles away from their homes. They then plugged the noses with cotton and let them loose facing the opposite way home… The sharks with no cotton, returned home without a problem. On the other hand, the sharks with cotton swam aimlessly until their noses where free again to take them back home. Not all scientists believe the cotton story as true. A researcher in Hawaii said that anyone with something stuff up their noses will wonder aimlessly too.
2 Dinner and a Swim
There are many birds who swallow stones to help with digestions, although it sounds bizarre, there are other animals that use stones for other purposes besides breaking down the chow. The crocodile falls into the latter category of stone eaters. This is the reason why. Since crocodiles eat anything from buffaloes to other crocodiles when fitting for territory, some of the larger rocks remain in their bellies to aid with the digestion of such heavy loads. As added bonus crocs also use them as weights when diving into deep waters.
1 No Horsing Around
This is kind of cute, looking at what seems like a horse laughing will, or at least should bring a smile to your face. But the horse is not smiling to call your attention. The reason behind the smile has to do with their sense of smell. The Flehmen response is a way the horse reaches a gland located at the end of the nose and it helps them gather more information about certain smells. It has been found that males do it more often than females and that’s because the males are figuring out if a female is on heat.
