Animal facts for kids


Few fish inspire fear, but taking a dip in a piranha-infested river is probably high on most people's must-avoid list. The piranha is a vicious and voracious fish, with strong bear-trap jaws and razor-sharp teeth. Although piranha primarily feed on...

Deer come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from the South American pudu, weighing 20 pounds and reaching only 14-15 inches at the shoulder, to the moose of North America and Europe, which can reach a shoulder height of 7.5 feet and weigh more than...

Meerkats are not cats with low self-esteem: They are a type of mongoose that inhabit the open plains and savanna of southern Africa. And unlike the character Timon in the movie The Lion King, most meerkats do not hang out with warthogs -- they prefer...

Warthogs are not considered one of the more attractive members of the animal kingdom -- except perhaps by the people who study them, and by other warthogs, of course. These bristly, thick-skinned animals are a species of wild pig found in the savanna of...

The early bird may get the worm, but an owl will stay up all night for a more substantial meal. Owls are stealthy nocturnal predators who operate between dusk and dawn, swooping down out of the darkness to capture small mammals (particularly...

Arachnophobia

June 21, 2010 | In: Animal facts for kids

Tarantulas may be small and furry, but these eight-legged critters are rarely considered cute or cuddly. However, our fear of tarantulas is based more on their creepy appearance than on any danger they represent. Although tarantulas are venomous,...

Earthworm is one of the slimiest creatures in this world. There are approximately 2,700 different kinds of earthworms. Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms more than 100 years ago. Worms are hermaphrodites. Each worm has both...

Spiders have two body segments. The front segment is called the Cephalothorax. The second part of the body is called the Abdomen. There are more than 30,000 species of spiders. There can be up to nearly 5 million spiders per hectare. A jumping...

Otters are semi-aquatic (or in one case aquatic) fish-eating mammals. With thirteen species in seven genera, otters have an almost worldwide distribution. The only continents where otters do not live are Australia and Antarctica. They mainly eat...

The Golden Lion Tamarin is also known as Golden Marmoset. This lion tamarin is a reddish orange to golden brown in color. The tail and forepaws of this monkey may have a black coloration. Its body may be up to 335 millimetres (13.2 in) long and...

Sheep were domesticated by humans around 10,000 BC. Spinning wool into thread began about 5,000 years ago. Sheep originated in the mountains of central Asia. Depending on the breed, the mature weight for female ewes range from 90 to 300...

The heaviest crustacean ever found was a lobster weighing 42 lb (19 kg), caught in 1934. Lobster can have many different colors, including blue-green, blue, red, yellow, red-orange and white. A lobster has 19 body parts and each of them is covered...