Tidbits of facts about animals- the odd, the outrageous and the downright unpleasant. Very similar to The Truth About Animals or Animal Ignorance. Unfortunately, this one lacked some in quality compared to the other two. It’s so breezy in style, I thought it would be a quick, easy read- amusing, fun and a bit informative. Well, the facts are presented so briefly there’s little to no context at all, so I was often left wondering if the author’s explanation was meant to be a joke, or was it just misinformation? That started to irritate me after a while, so at one point I wasn’t going to finish but I did. Lots of the details in here I was already aware of, some not.
Here’s some that stood out (to me): the cassowary has the deepest voice of all birds, using low frequencies that humans can’t hear. Rats (and other rodents) are physically unable to vomit. Screech owls put blind snakes (they’re quite small like worms) in their nests- apparently the snakes eat debris and keep the nest cleaner. There’s a small oceanic snail that uses minerals to make its shell into iron pyrite. This book says it is for protection against other snails that fire poison darts, but the internet tells me it lives on underwater volcanoes and probably has the iron shell to deal with pressure and heat. The blanket octopus has perhaps the largest sexual dimorphism (size difference between male and female). The male is only as big as the female’s iris! (it reminds me of that fish where the male is just a tiny thing that attaches itself permanently to the female when he finds one). Harbor seals listening to whales can tell if the approaching orcas are fish-eaters or mammal-eaters- a good distinction to make if you’re a tasty seal, and I’m not at all surprised by this!
Other bits I felt dubious about: rattlesnakes shake their tails to generate static electricity which they use to find prey? I found one article online about this, but couldn’t read the whole thing (paywall). Female guppies are attracted to males with orange spots because they like orange fruit. Um, what? I don’t think guppies eat fruit on a regular basis. Sure, the females probably like orange spots on their suitors, but not because it looks like food. The population of amazon molly fish are all female. Yes, apparently this is true. They reproduce asexually, but actually need to mate to start the process, although they don’t use the male’s sperm. They usually mate with male sailfin mollies, which live in the same habitat. Male quolls die after mating, so they only live one year. It’s because they don’t sleep during the mating season and become so exhausted they collapse. This is true! Female ferrets on the other hand, might die if they don’t receive a mate- because they remain in estrus until the act occurs, and the high level of hormones in that state causes health problems if sustained too long. I don’t at all get the paragraph that says sloth bears are the only mammal that carries its young on its back. What about possums, chimpanzees, marmosets, koalas, baboons . . . ? and I’m sure there are others, too.
Borrowed from the public library.
3 Responses
Sounds like maybe the best thing about this one is its title; sure caught my eye.
I have to admit, though, that I enjoyed the short “trivia” list you culled from reading the book. Oh…and I share your skepticism on the second bunch of “facts” you cited.
How frustrating not to be able to trust the book! That’s the kind of thing that really drives me nuts, because if I can’t trust it on some of the facts, how can I trust it on anything? Surely life is too short to fact-check every damn claim!
Exactly. And these are just the ones that jumped out at me, so I stopped to look them up because my brain instantly questioned it. There were probably lots others that I breezed right over, taking the author’s word for it.