Our planet is home to hundreds and thousands of incredible creatures! The mystical facts surrounding these creatures are often enough to spark curiosity among kids. I personally love animals indiscriminately and want my daughter to grow up adoring and respecting them!
My daughter is at an age where every animal seems funny and adorable to her and the concept of fear is still alien (which is so great!). The other day I watched with amusement as she calmly fed some bananas to a group of monkeys near our neighbourhood temple. She was so flawless I had to capture the moment on my camera. She also loves a good animal story and wouldn’t go to bed unless I read one out for her.
I thought I’ll take things up a notch by researching about fun animal facts for kids so that Shayla, alongside having fun, can also learn a thing or two! My research was a revelation of sorts since there are so many things about animals that we (humans) are completely oblivious to. So I thought I’ll share a few of them with you guys.
Here goes…
- Pandas can consume up to 28 pounds of bamboos every day! A good part of their day (nearly 12 hours) is spent just eating.
- Sloths sleep for at least 20 hours every day. What an amazing life, am I right?
- A polar bear doesn’t have white fur! In fact, each hair strand is hollow and thus reflects light making the bear appear white. The skin of a polar bear is black to help them absorb the sun’s warmth. Fascinating, right?!
- Bald eagles aren’t bald. The word bald has been derived from ‘balde’ which is white. Woah!
- Cats are jumpers, we all know that! Did you know that they can jump up to 5 times their regular height! WHATTT!!
- A group of crows is called a Murder and a group of flamingoes is known as ‘flamboyant’. Well, they certainly seem pretty flamboyant to me.
- The famous horned lizard has a special defence mechanism where it squirts blood out of its eyes to hit its predators. Now that’s unique!
- Meerkats typically live in groups of 20-50 family members and they reside in underground tunnels!
- When baby kangaroos are born, they are the size of a single grape! How adorable is that?
- Every dog has a unique nose print! Hey, that’s just like humans’ fingerprints.
- When a cat falls from a height, it uses its tail to twist its body mid-air which allows her to land ‘purrfectly’!
- On emotional terms, elephants are much like us humans! They hold grudges, show compassion, form bonds, and even recognise their friends. How adorable is that?
- Koala bears belong to the marsupial category! They are kangaroos’ relatives, more than bears.
- A grizzly bear has claws that basically look like human fingers! Next time, try waving at one.
- The bald eagle has a super eyesight, it can spot its prey from a distance as large as 1.5 miles. So cool!
- A cat’s sense of smell is 15 times stronger as compared to a human’s. No wonder our cat makes weird faces during the day!
Being a thoroughly dedicated animal person, I could go on and on about how mystically magnificent animals are!
Do share some more exciting animal facts for kids in the comments below and make my day!
