Animals: trivia, oddities and information

          Someone said once to make your reading work for you. That’s what I’m doing for this post.
ALLIGATORS—even in the wild—may lay 30 to 50 eggs, but only about 2% of the hatchlings make it to adulthood. (D. Thomason, Hot Springs Sentinel Record, 9.4.’15)

BEES cannot drink while flying (unlike hummingbirds) and so must land to feed.

Three different BEETLES attack pine trees: the Southern pine beetle, the IPS engraver beetle and the turpentine beetle. (J. Carson, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

The difference between BLOODHOUNDS: one is a trailing dog who keeps his head up to sniff; one is a tracking dog which puts his nose to the ground and follows footsteps. Both can be trained (field work) for search and rescue and narcotics detections and apprehension. (A. Wallworth, AD-G, April 2, 2012)

A BREED OF CHICKEN is Sicilian Buttercup.

CANADA GEESE defecate 92 times a day. (AD-G)

“If CATS are not fed at a regular location, their instinct is to roam.”  (J. Franks, a feline rescue volunteer)
[I hoped this was true, because once, I left eight feral cats without any food for two weeks. When I returned, six were still here. But how many squirrels and birds met their deaths during that period? Another time, I left for ten days; the cats were still here. The third time, I left for a week, and only three had persevered.]

COD prey on lobsters.

DOG breeds I’ve never heard of until now: “basenji” and “Chinese hairless crested.”

DOMESTICATED animals define what it is to be a human.”  (S. Brooks, assistant professor of equine genetics, Cornell University.)

DRUM (FISH) are native to Arkansas, a gray, freshwater species. Not usually sought by fishermen. They are bottom feeders that eat other fish and insects. (R. J. Smith, AD-G)

  FEMALE LOBSTERS are hens.

Several years ago. FOUR U. S. ZOOS housed giant Pandas: Zoo Atlanta, San Diego, Memphis and Washington D. C.

A newly-discovered FROG SPECIES, paedophryne amanuensis, is the world’s smallest vertebrate … less than half the diameter of a US dime. It lives in rainforest litter. (Science Now, January 23, 2012)

On land, GEESE are a gaggle; in the air, they are a skein.

GIANT PANDAS in the wilds of China number 1600, with 300 more in captivity, 108 of those which were at a breeding center at the Chengdu Panda Base, at the time this article came out.

GORILLAS are given the same kind of birth control as women and are given the same pregnancy test. (L. L. Williams, AD-G)

GREENHEAD DUCKS are known by some as “green timber.” (from an obit)

The HALIBUT is the largest flatfish.

A 68-pound rare KEMP’S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE was released in the Gulf of Mexico after a trip---supposedly via the powerful Gulf Stream-- and was found in the Netherlands in 2008. After three years of rehab, he was flown to Miami and trucked to Sarasota, outfitted with a satellite tracking system allowing scientists the ability to monitor his travels. (December 28, 2011)