Interesting facts about animals: an introduction to kingdom animalia

Kinds of animals.No one knows exactly how many kinds of animals there are. New kinds are found every year. So far, scientists have identified more than 1 1/2 million types of animals. About 1 million of these are insects. There are about 21,000 kinds of fish, 9,700 kinds of birds, 6,500 kinds of reptiles, 4,000 kinds of amphibians, and 4,500 kinds of mammals.

Largest ears and eyes.The largest ears of all animals are those of the African elephant. Elephant ears grow as large as 4 feet (1.2 meters) across. The largest eyes of all land animals are those of the horse and the ostrich. They measure about 1 1/2 times the size of human eyes.

The flying dragon is another name for the draco lizard. This lizard can spread out folds of skin to form "wings" that it uses to glide through the air from tree to tree. It lives in Asia and the East Indies.

Lives of animals range from several hours to many years. An adult mayfly survives only a few hours or days. Some giant tortoises have lived more than 100 years.

The world's only known poisonous bird is the hooded pitohui, which lives on the island of New Guinea. This brilliantly colored orange-and-black bird has poison on its feathers and skin. This poison serves as a defense against hawks, snakes, and other enemies. It is the same type of poison as that carried by the deadly poison-dart frog of South America.

The hummingbird can fly straight up like a helicopter. It can hover in front of a flower to suck the nectar. The bee hummingbird,which grows to only 2 inches (5 centimeters) long, is the smallest of all birds.

The chameleon's tongue is as long as its body. This lizard swiftly shoots out its tongue to capture insects for food. Certain chameleons can quickly change color and even develop spots and streaks that make them seem to be part of their background.

A tree-climbing crab lives on many tropical islands. It is called the coconut crab because it cracks coconuts with its powerful claws and eats the sweet meat.

The platypus,a mammal, has a bill like a duck and lays eggs as birds do. But it nurses its young with milk as do other mammals. It lives only on mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania.