Dolphin
Baby dolphins take about half an hour to learn how to swim once they are born. Immediately after giving birth, the mother pushes her “calf” up to the ocean’s surface so it can have its first breath of air. Like humans, dolphins are very dependent on their mothers for the first few years of their lives.
Elephant
Elephants are pregnant for a whopping 22 months (that’s nearly two whole years!) and the baby is over 100 kilograms when it comes out. No wonder female elephants aren’t exactly the most promiscuous of animals, in fact a lot of male elephants turn to homosexuality so they can mate all year round.
Snake
Although it’s commonly believed that a snake’s first instinct is to attack someone who startles it, this is actually a myth. Like us, the snake’s first instinct to panic and get the hell out of there. And in the fright of the moment, often both the person and the snake will dart for the same escape passage. This is where people mistake this for an act of aggression on the snake’s part, when really he’s just zigzagging his way out of the danger zone.
Opossum
While possums are commonly found in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and certain regions of Indonesia, they are not to be confused with the Opossum, which is found in North America. People tend to be afraid of opossums carrying disease but they’re actually much less likely to carry diseases than wild dogs. In fact, most opossums are immune to rabies.
Penguin
Antarctica is the place to be if you’re a penguin – the penguins in Antarctica don’t have a single land-based predator, so as long as they stay away from the water, they can relax and feel safe. That being said, they mainly get their food from underwater, they can drink sea water, and a lot of their skills apply to being underwater so maybe it’s worth the risk!
Kangaroo
A male kangaroo is called a boomer, a female kangaroo is a flyer, and a baby kangaroo like this one is called a joey. When Captain Cook first arrived in Australia and spotted this native animal, he asked an Aboriginal local what it was called. The local said, “kangaroo”, which translates to “I don’t understand you” in his native tongue. But Captain Cook took it to mean the animal was called a kangaroo and clearly the name stuck!
Shark
There are over 465 species of sharks swimming around the oceans, and while they’re high enough up the marine food chain that they can relax a little, they’re by no means the top of the food chain. Shark skin is essentially just made up of scales to form an outer skeleton for easy movement.
Cheetah
Cheetahs are the world’s fastest land animals, clocking in a ridiculous average top speed of 103 kilometres an hour, and can even get from 0 to 72 kilometres an hour in just two and a half seconds. A baby cheetah only weighs between 150 and 300 grams when it’s first born.
Chihuahua
Ever travelled through Mexico and chuckled at the fact they have a state called Chihuahua? Well, that’s actually where this breed of dog gets its name from, as that’s where Chihuahuas originated from – Chihuahua, Mexico. They’re also the smallest breed of dog with an average adult weight of less than a kilo and a half.
Bats
Some species of bat are up and about, flying and hunting all on their own within a month of being born. When they first come out, bat babies are bald, pink and scrawny. However, they have strong claws from the get go for latching on to their mothers and then the cave roof when she’s out hunting, because if they fall they will won’t survive.