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Fun Facts

Tigers

Did you know?

• The 350kg tiger is as heavy as 100 pet pussycats!
• Tigers can see six times better in the dark than you
• A tiger cub stays with its mum for 2 years learning how to hunt
• Tigers are carnivores and only eat meat
• A tiger can hear prey animals over a mile away
• Adult tigers are ‘solitary’ and live on their own
• A tiger eats 35kg of food at one meal, that’s 1,000 bags of crisps!

Lions

Did you know?

• A lion’s roar can be heard 5 miles away!
• Lions are the only big cat to live in groups
• A family of lions is called a ‘pride’
• Female lions do most of the hunting
• The females take turns to baby-sit cubs
• A lion can run at 35mph for short distances
• Lions can see five times better than you!
• A lion can hear prey over a mile away
• A lion weighs 200kg, as much as 57 pet cats!
• A female lion is called a ‘lioness’
• The male lion protects the pride
• Lions eat 35kg of meat in one meal (= 70 tins of baked beans!)
• There are two types of lions – African and Asiatic.  There are only 350 of the rare Asiatic in a forest in India.

Elephants

Did you know?

• Their trunk has 100,000 muscles but no bones!
• Tusks are special front teeth, which grow up to 2m long.
• Elephants are veggies and love grass, bark, leaves and roots
• They spend ¾ of their day feeding. 
• Elephants drink 225 litres of water a day = 450 bottles!
• An elephant grows to 4m high and 6 tonnes, as much as 80 people!
• An elephant’s ears are the biggest in the world!
• They flap their ears to keep cool
• There are two kinds of elephant – African and Asian
• Elephants can live for 70 years or more

Chimpanzees

Did you know?

• Chimps eat fruit, nuts, eggs, insects, even monkeys!
• Chimps share 98.5% of our genes
• Big-brained chimps are very intelligent
• Chimps live in close-knit family groups
• Chimps groom each other to keep their fur clean
• Chimps call and pull faces to communicate
• Chimps grin when they are afraid or excited

Gorilla

Did you know?

• A gorilla is 8 times stronger than a man
• Gorillas are peace-loving veggies!
• They eat 23kg of fruit and leaves each day
• Gorillas are very intelligent
• Unlike monkeys, apes don’t have tails
• A baby gorilla clings to its mother and drinks milk
• A male will baby-sit babies to allow females to feed
• Like us, gorillas have individual fingerprints
• Gorillas sleep in a nest made from twigs and leaves

Wolves

Did you know?

• An Ethiopian wolf is the size of an Alsation, but half the weight!
• The Ethiopian wolf is the only wolf in Africa.
• It hunts alone and loves to eat mole rats, hares and hyrax.
• A wolf can smell 100 times better you.
• A wolf hears things 10 miles away!
• Wolves live in a family pack led by an alpha (top) male and female.
• The top female has pups and all the pack look after them.

Bears

Did you know?

• There are seven different species of bears
• The smallest is the 50kg Sun bear (found in SE Asia)
• The biggest is the powerful 650kg polar bear (found in the Arctic), as heavy as 10 people!
• 115kg moon bears are medium sized
• They have a yellow crescent moon shape across the chest
• Bears are very clever and communicate with lots of sounds
• A bear has a territory of up to 8 miles.
• Moon bears love living in mountain forests
• They love to eat acorns, nuts, cherries, bamboo and insects.
• Moon bears are brilliant at climbing
• They usually walk on all fours, but stand on hind legs to reach food
• Moon bears are active at dawn and dusk
• They often hibernate between November and March

Giraffes

Did you know?

• The 5.5m giraffe is the tallest land animal in the world
• Their patchy coat is good camouflage and helps them blend into the background A giraffe can run at over 50km per hour
• Giraffes are veggies and eat 63kg of leaves and twigs every day
• They can go for weeks without drinking
• A giraffe’s tongue is 45cm long!
• Their tongue and lips are very tough and don’t mind sharp thorns
• The giraffe’s giant giant heart weighs 10kg
• A female giraffe gives birth after 15 months
• A baby giraffe is 1.8m and grows 2cm a day

Turtles

Did you know?

• Turtles are living dinosaurs!  They’ve been around for 200 million years.
• Turtles are cold-blooded reptiles and love the sun which warms them up
• Lizards, snakes, crocodiles and tortoises are all reptiles.
• Most reptiles live on land but turtles live in the sea. 
• Their big flippers help them swim fast.
• Turtles only come back to land to lay eggs on sandy beaches.
• The female lays hundreds of eggs but only 1 in a 1000 become an adult 
• There are seven species of turtle
• The 3m 900kg leatherback is the largest turtle
• The 65cm and 40kg olive ridley is the smallest