When you really stop to think about it, our pets can seem like friendly aliens that we have adopted into our households. Sometimes we simply cannot imagine what drives them to do the crazy things they do. And wild animals are even bigger mysteries. What on earth are they doing out there? Author Augustus Brown shared this curiosity with the rest of us, and decided to do something about it. Brown went through scores of scientific archives and studies, visited numerous zoological and biological websites, and talked to leading animal experts to increase his knowledge and understanding of these funny creatures we share the planet with. He compiled some of the most interesting and bizarre facts about animals in his new book Why Pandas Do Handstands; and other curious truths about animals.
Why Pandas Do Handstands is great fun to read. The book is a series of short vignettes on the unexpected behaviors of our animal friends, organized into categories about food, family, and frolic as well as other aspects of animal (and human) life. Brown’s compendium of the strange but true aspects of the animal world is great for light reading before bed, on the train, or by the litter box: easy to pick up, put down, and pick up again. Which is perfect for when you’re traveling and you see a strange animal up to crazy antics!
A “lady never tells” does not apply to the baboon community. They love to discuss their sexual romps with not only their friends but the whole neighborhood!! Female baboons talk about sex. And the better it was for them, the more noise they make about it.
It has always been a myth that one’s physical size and mass determines alcohol tolerance and how quickly alcohol can affect one’s behavior. The Frat Kings of the animal world prove us wrong. Studies have shown hamsters can develop a taste for alcohol with a tolerance that is forty times greater than humans’ in proportion to their body weight. This is the equivalent of a human drinking a case of wine a day – with no visible effect.
Dumbo might have worked for peanuts – but not these guys. Elephants in the world-famous Moscow State Circus survive the freezing winters by drinking vodka. A daily dose of two liters of vodka keeps the cold at bay.
They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games … so he got drunk instead! Elk gorge themselves on aged, fermented apples. As a result they often end up in an aggressive, drunken stupor. Elk have been known to charge joggers. In 2005, a drunken party of elk surrounded an old people’s home and had to be removed by armed police.
Wanted: SYF (single yellow female) seeks SYM that can fly, provide Seed, sheds very little, and has great wings. Clear singing voice a plus! Such is the power of the male canary’s virtuoso voice, females who hear it immediately adopt a posture that signals they are ready for sex.
I should be done building your house by 5:30 – wanna do dinner at 6? Male chichlid fish build sandcastles to impress the girls. The height of the construction gives females a clear idea about the males’ health. The bigger the castle-the better the genes are likely to be.
Being a pig is not always a bad thing. Humans, dolphins and possibly dogs are the only species that have sex for pleasure, although the orgasm of a female pig lasts thirty minutes.
I swear this never happens! Buffalo sex takes five seconds.
Yes Ma’am!! When she is in heat, a lioness craves sex every half hour nonstop for five days and nights.
SPF Natural. Hippos sweat is a red-orange color. Scientists believe it may act as an antibiotic sunscreen.
Think you’re a professional BS artist? Try and sell these guys a used car! Frogs bluff: they produce deep croaks that suggest they are bigger than they are. An Australian species of octopus is capable of imitating seaweed. Animals can pretend to be something they aren’t in order to fight off predators. California gopher snakes pretend they are rattlesnakes. Faced with danger, they spread out the back of their heads, hiss loudly, and vibrate their tails.
Some strong weed man … wait what? Cattle sheep, and horses in the western United states and Mexico can get addicted to a plant nicknamed locoweed. An animal that gets hooked on locoweed starts behaving in an increasingly bizarre manner. They start doing odd things like bumping into telephone poles and making exaggerated leaps into the air. Too much of the locoweed can kill the animals. So farmers have developed a rehab program for addicted cows, sheep, and horses. Cold turkey consists mainly of eating so much salt with the weed It makes the animals violently sick.
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