Here is a series of questions about the animal life – and their answers will definitely surprise and delight you!

What Is The Difference Between Seals and Sea Lions?

Seals and sea lions are members of a group of mammals known as pinnipeds. There are three families within the group: true seals, eared seals and walruses.
True seals include species like the grey, spotted, elephant and monk seals, while eared seals are not really seals at all, and include sea lions and fur seals.
As the name suggests, one of the main differences between the two families is their ears. True seals have no external ears, just one tiny hole on each side of their heads, while eared seals have small ear flaps.

However, there is a simpler way to tell seals and sea lions apart; they have completely different body shapes and ways of moving. True seals are much better adapted for swimming than they are for moving around on land; their short arms and inflexible tails make them clumsy out of the water, but beneath the waves they move gracefully, using their front limbs to steer. Eared seals have longer front limbs, and can curl their back flippers underneath their bodies. They use their front fins to pull themselves through the water, and on land, they can walk on their limbs quite effectively.

Do All Animals Have Eyelids?

For humans, eyelids are crucial for keeping our eyeballs clean and moist, but many animals have different solutions.

In the water, eyelids are not always necessary. Fish eyes are constantly being moistened by their environment, so they don’t need eyelids. Aquatic mammals like dolphins and whales can blink, but they do so much less often than us.

Back on land, reptiles often lack eyelids too. A snake’s eyes are each covered with a thin, transparent scale, connected directly to the rest of the skin. These scales are fixed into position, keeping the eye safe but preventing any blinking. Some geckos are also unable to blink, and use their tongues to keep their eyes clear of debris.

Insects have compound eyes that are completely different to our own, and
do not need to be kept wet to function properly, so they have no need for eyelids at all.

Which Birds Are Unable to Fly?

There are a surprising number of flightless birds living today, and even more than that have been lost to extinction. Papua New Guinea and Indonesia have cassowaries, with razor sharp claws and distinctive ‘casques’ on their heads, and the Galapagos Islands are home to the only species of cormorant that cannot fly. In Australia there are emus, in South America there are rheas and in Africa there are ostriches, the largest birds on the planet.

New Zealand is home to more flightless birds than any other country, with 16 living species, including kiwis and a type of flightless parrot called a kakapo. Then, of course, there are the penguins, which are found along coastlines across the Southern Hemisphere.

Do Animals Ever Help Each Other?

Survival in the wild is tough, but many species have found that things are easier when they work together, known to scientists as ‘biological altruism’. This most often happens among animals of the same species. For example, if a herd of prey animals are eating and one individual spots danger, they often alert the rest of the group, risking drawing attention to themselves in order to save the others.

However, there are examples of animals aiding one another in a completely different way, and some of the most widely observed animal helpers are dolphins.

Reports of dolphins helping sailors date back to ancient times, and more recently, there have been many occasions where dolphins have come to the rescue when other animals are in trouble. They have been reported guiding stranded whales back out to sea, nudging injured companions towards the surface for air, and even protecting human divers from circling sharks.

Which Animal Has The Largest Number of Eyes?

Spiders might seem like good contenders for the title of ‘most eyes in the animal kingdom’, but even with an impressive eight, they don’t come close to the record holders. If you’re looking for animals with lots of eyes, the best place to search is under the sea.

Nautiluses and giant clams have eyes like pinhole cameras; rather than having a lens, they simply have a hole. This hole functions a little like a pupil, allowing the animals to vary how much light enters the eye. These primitive eyes are not great for building up detailed pictures of the environment, but they can rapidly detect changes in light and shadow, perfect for detecting movement nearby.

Giant clams need this ability because they have colonies of photosynthesising algae living in their bodies. The clams open up to expose this algae to the light, allowing it to grow, but if something dangerous swims overhead, they need to snap shut for protection. To do this, they have not one or two, but thousands of tiny eyes lining each side of their mantle.