Random Animal Facts That Sound Fake, But Are 100% Legit (11 items)

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  (#8) Bald Eagle

  • Food

  The animal kingdom is full of bizarre mating rituals. The bald eagle has one of the most distinctive as it takes place entirely in the air. The male and female will come together while flying, linking their talons together so that they are attached to one another. They then dive towards the ground performing a cartwheel-like tumble until they are moments from hitting the ground and then suddenly they separate.
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  (#6) Thousands Of Garter Snakes Mate In Huge Balls

  Red-sided garter snakes have one of the most unusual mating techniques in the animal kingdom. After emerging from eight months of hibernation, the snakes begin to huddle together in small dens within cave systems. Thousands of them can come together in these huge writhing balls as males try to find a female to mate with. Any female is quickly swarmed as there might often only be a few dozen of them compared to the thousands of male snakes.
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  (#9) Hummingbirds Can Fly Backwards

  The hummingbird is probably the most capable flying animal in the world. They can beat their wings at an astonishing rate of 80 times per second and this gives them the ability to perform feats that no other bird can do. In order to sip nectar from plants, hummingbirds are actually able to hover in the same place like a helicopter. They can even fly backwards – something no other bird has been observed to do.
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  (#10) Mantis shrimp

  • Order

  The mantis shrimp probably takes the title for being the most powerful puncher in the animal kingdom. The small crustacean is capable of delivering a blow that can reach a top speed of some 60 mph. It uses this lightning-fast punch to either club prey or spear them with barbed appendages. The movement is so quick that it causes the water around them to vaporize.
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  (#3) Antechinus

  • Organism Classification

  The antechinus is an Australian mammal that closely resembles a common mouse. When they reach one year of age they suddenly stop producing sperm as they prepare for their mating season. With no way to create more sperm, the creatures have to spend the next few weeks having sex as much as possible in order to pass on their genes as they will not get another chance. This forces them to do almost nothing other than mating – something which completely exhausts them. In fact, the constant mating causes their immune system to fail as their bodies are filled with so much testosterone. They literally begin to fall apart as infections ravage their defenseless bodies.
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  (#5) Great white shark

  • Animal

  Although it might seem outlandish to claim that sharks are older than trees, the truth is that they have been around a lot longer. The first species of what scientists classify as trees emerged some 350 million years ago in the form of the extinct Archaeopteris. Meanwhile, the first sharks evolved around 400 million years ago. This makes them roughly 50 million years older than trees and significantly older than many living things on Earth.

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