By Makenzie Walsh
Most animals are unanimously loved. Some are just terrifying. Of course, that leads to yet another list that can lead to your gut twisting like a thousand worms. So sit back, but get a little closer to the edge, and prepare yourself for some awful animal facts.
- The Greater Short-horned Lizards are flat, wide-bodied reptiles with a particular ability. They can build up blood pressure in the regions behind their eyes and accurately squirt their blood up to three feet. The blood is shot through ducts in the corners of their eyes to protect from predators. Their blood even contains a chemical noxious to coyotes and wolves. Imagine startling a lizard, and instead of it biting you or running away, it aggressively cries blood like a possessed little girl in a horror movie.
- Would you prefer bread, plants growing in a lake, or the flesh of the nearest person to you? As it turns out, some ducks would answer with the third option. Yes, some ducks turn to cannibalism and can do so at any age. The underlying reason for this is not entirely known, but it has been associated with if you can believe it, boredom. This occurrence has also been aggravated by faulty nutrition, overcrowding, and a lack of ventilation. There is a way to stop a cannibalistic duck, but this article isn’t about that, is it?
- When you think of sharks, you probably envision something powerful, dangerous-looking, and awe-inspiring to look upon. And then there’s the goblin shark. It looks like the illegitimate child of a great white and an anglerfish and generally looks like an easy target for a “not even once” joke. Those horrible jaws of its extend to snatch its prey, like Hell’s claw machine. If this is your first time finding out about the goblin shark, it is probably going to be living in your mind rent-free for the remainder of your life. Enjoy!
- There is such a thing as a parasite that eats and replaces a fish’s tongue. It gets in through the gills and severs the blood vessels in the fish’s tongue. This causes it to come off, so this freakish isopod can sit where it was. The parasite then proceeds to leech off the fish, taking the fish’s food for its own gain. Now, what if subspecies of that very creature evolved specifically for bigger targets? Let that idea hang in your mind for a bit.
- A horse’s teeth take up more space in their skull than their brain does. Of course, it makes sense with how much they eat, but it results in their skulls looking horrific. They can have between 36 and 44 teeth, depending on the horse’s sex. You may think you are safe, but horses can be raised on a (vaguely) omnivorous diet, not to mention how fast they are. Watch your back.
With that said and done, we can release this article back into the wild. Of course, there are plenty more facts about animals where these five came from, so feel free to head out and learn more… unless you’re now thinking, “that’s enough internet for today, actually”. That’s completely understandable.
