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Animal facts

Discover the remarkable lives of animals, one fact at a time.

Horse

  • Horses can rest while standing, but they also need to lie down for normal sleep, including REM sleep.
  • Teeth can help estimate a horse's age, although wear and dental condition make the estimate less precise as the horse grows older.
  • A horse may curl its upper lip in the flehmen response while investigating an interesting smell.

Hoverflies

  • Hoverflies have one pair of wings used for flight.
  • They have no venomous sting, even when they resemble wasps.
  • The larvae of certain species eat aphids.

Hummingbird

  • There are about 360 species of hummingbirds.
  • Hummingbirds live only in the Americas.
  • The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world.

Hummingbird hawk-moth

  • It is a moth that is mainly active during the day.
  • It drinks nectar without landing on the flower.
  • It can learn to associate colours with food.

Humpback whale

  • The humpback whale has the longest flippers of any whale, up to about 5-6 m.
  • Each humpback can be identified by the pattern on the underside of its tail.
  • Humpbacks hunt by blowing "nets" of bubbles around shoals of fish.

Hyena

  • Hyenas sometimes kill and eat other hyenas, including cubs from rival clans.
  • The female spotted hyena is dominant: she is larger and more aggressive than the male.
  • Competition between hyena cubs can be intense, but it should not be described as always ending in a fight to the death.

Iguana

  • The word "iguana" comes from <em>iwana</em>, a word in the Taíno language of the Caribbean.
  • Green iguanas can fall 12-15 metres from a tree without being hurt.
  • Iguanas have a light-sensing "third eye" on top of their head.

Impala

  • The common name impala comes from a southern African language; no exact translation is asserted here.
  • Impalas can make powerful leaps while escaping predators.
  • An impala can leap about 3 metres high and about 10 metres long.

Indochinese tiger

  • Indochinese tigers can be studied without being caught: camera traps photograph the stripes that identify each individual.
  • Tiger numbers in Thailand's Western Forest Complex grew by about 250% between 2007 and 2023, while tigers disappeared from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
  • A forest needs plenty of deer, wild pigs and wild cattle to support tigers; trees alone are not enough.

Indri

  • The tail of Indri indri is only about 5 cm long.
  • Members of a group can sing together.
  • It is a day-active, herbivorous lemur endemic to Madagascar.