Skip to content

Animal facts

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

Eurasian magpie

  • Eurasian magpies belong to the crow family.
  • They breed in Romania and remain through winter.
  • Dark feathers can show blue and green iridescence.

European bison

  • The European bison is the heaviest land animal in Europe.
  • The last wild European bison was killed in 1919, and the species survived only in zoos.
  • All European bison alive today descend from just 12 animals.

European hamster

  • The European hamster is the largest hamster in the world.
  • Unusually for a mammal, the European hamster has a black belly.
  • It hibernates for about six months, waking every few days to eat from its stores.

European hare

  • A European hare can run at about 70 km/h.
  • Hares do not dig burrows; they rest in a shallow hollow called a form.
  • Young hares, called leverets, are born furred and with their eyes open.

Falcon

  • In its hunting dive, the peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on Earth.
  • Female falcons are usually larger than males.
  • Falcons have a notch on the bill, the tomial tooth, used to kill prey.

Fennec fox

  • The fennec is the smallest fox in the world. Related profile: Types of foxes.
  • Fennec foxes can hear prey moving under the sand.
  • Their large ears also help them lose heat in the desert.

Firefly

  • Fireflies are not flies but beetles.
  • There are about 2,000 known species of fireflies.
  • Firefly light is made by a chemical reaction between luciferin, luciferase, oxygen and ATP.

Flamingo

  • There are six species of flamingos, and it takes a sharp eye to tell some of them apart.
  • Flamingos' pink colour comes from carotenoid pigments in the algae and small crustaceans they eat. Without these pigments in their diet, they slowly turn pale.
  • Flamingo chicks hatch with grey and white down and a straight bill. They turn pink after a year or more, and their bill bends as they grow.

Fly

  • More than 150,000 species of flies have been described by scientists, and the real number is probably much higher.
  • A female house fly lays about 500 eggs in her life, in batches of about 75-150, and the young can become adults in about a week.
  • Flies have large compound eyes on the sides of the head, and most also have three tiny simple eyes on top. Their compound eyes let them see almost all around them.

Fossa

  • The fossa looks like a cat but belongs to the family Eupleridae.
  • Its long tail helps with balance; it does not grasp branches.
  • It is a carnivorous mammal endemic to Madagascar.