Invertebrates don’t have backbones or bony skeletons. They range in size from microscopic mites to giant squid with soccer-ball-size eyes.
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These seabirds are known for their wild look and sound—no wonder they’re sometimes called the rock stars of the penguin world.
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Wolves live in groups called packs. A pack is a family of 7-8 wolves with a mom, dad, and offspring. The wolves‘ communication skills are very important to the pack’s survival. Wolves work together to hunt, raise their young, and protect their territory. Wolves communicate with more than howls. They whimper and whine, growl and bark, yelp and snarl. They also use scents produced by their bodies to communicate. A wolf’s sense of smell is 100 times stronger than a human’s. One source of scent is urine, which they use to mark territory and to tell other wolves in their own pack where they are. Another way wolves communicate is through body language. If a wolf feels confident, it will approach another wolf with its head and tail held high and ears perked up. If you saw a wolf slinking toward another with its body lowered, its tail between its legs, and its ears flattened, you’d know it was approaching a dominant animal. When a pack of wolves does howl, it can be heard from ten miles away. The howl is used as a way to call to another pack or warn of danger. Each pack has a unique howl, and while they don’t howl at the moon, wolves howl more when the moon is full and bright. When a wolf wants to play, it prances about happily and bows—lowering the front of its body while its rump stays up in the air with its tail wagging. When its angry, a wolf may furrow its forehead, show its fangs, or growl. A wolf’s body language may remind you of another animal: a pet dog. Wolves and dogs are closely related, and the ways they communicate are similar. Young wolves stay in their parents‘ pack for at least two years before some of them take off to join other packs or to start their own. They may stay close to their parents or go far away. Wolf pups play a lot as they’re growing. They leap and pounce, chase and wrestle, play hide-and-seek and tag—a lot like you do! A new wolf couple will produce one litter of pups every year. Just like a human older brother or sister looks after its younger sibling, the older wolf offspring care for their younger brothers and sisters by finding them food. In some areas, gray wolfs are classified as endangered, but in most places, they are seen to have healthy population numbers.
Amazing Animals Watch to discover interesting facts about animals from all over
When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant’s throat. Since African elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. First they squirt a trunkful of cool water over their bodies. Then they often follow that with a sprinkling of dust to create a protective layer of dirt on their skin. Elephants pick up and spray dust the same way they do water—with their trunks. Elephants also use their trunks as snorkels when they wade in deep water. An elephant’s trunk is controlled by many muscles. Two fingerlike parts on the tip of the trunk allow the elephant to perform delicate maneuvers such as picking a berry from the ground or plucking a single leaf off a tree. Elephants can also use its trunk to grasp an entire tree branch and pull it down to its mouth and to yank up clumps of grasses and shove the greenery into their mouths. When an elephant gets a whiff of something interesting, it sniffs the air with its trunk raised up like a submarine periscope. If threatened, an elephant will also use its trunk to make loud trumpeting noises as a warning. Elephants are social creatures. They sometimes hug by wrapping their trunks together in displays of greeting and affection. Elephants also use their trunks to help lift or nudge an elephant calf over an obstacle, to rescue a fellow elephant stuck in mud, or to gently raise a newborn elephant to its feet. And just as a human baby sucks its thumb, an elephant calf often sucks its trunk for comfort. One elephant can eat 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in one day. People hunt elephants mainly for their ivory tusks. Adult females and young travel in herds, while adult males generally travel alone or in groups of their own.
Amazing Animals Watch to discover interesting facts about animals from all over
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Get to know trees.
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Fish are vertebrates (vertebrates have backbones) that live in water. They breathe using special organs called gills.
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Fish are vertebrates (vertebrates have backbones) that live in water. They breathe using special organs called gills.
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Get penguin facts, photos, and videos!
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Dive in to discover seven species of sharks with mind-blowing traits.
Think all sharks are gigantic, toothy eating machines?
