Animals are full of surprises. Cows form close friendships, rats squeak with something very like laughter, sea otters keep rocks in a pouch of skin to crack open shellfish, and one tiny jellyfish can turn its life cycle backwards. Below are 24 of the most delightful facts about animal behaviour, each with a short explanation of what scientists have actually found.
A few of these facts are rock solid and backed by decades of research, such as dolphin “names” and capuchin monkeys rejecting unfair pay. Others are charming but stretched in the version that circulates online, such as sea otters always holding hands or every cat having a nose print like a fingerprint. Where a popular claim goes further than the evidence, we say so, because the real science is usually even more interesting than the meme.
The facts are grouped by theme: friendship and family, communication, fairness and feelings, remarkable bodies, the wonderful words we use for animals, and how animals shape the world around them. At the end you will find a few thoughts on what these discoveries tell us about the creatures we share the planet with.
Friendship, family and courtship
1. Cows can have best friends
Cattle are herd animals, and being alone stresses them: isolated heifers call more and show rising heart rates and cortisol levels. Research by Krista McLennan at the University of Northampton, reported in 2013, suggested cows also have preferred companions and appear calmer when penned with a chosen partner than with a random herd mate. For farmers, keeping familiar animals together is a simple welfare win.
2. Sea otters sometimes hold paws while they rest
Sea otters sleep floating on their backs, and to avoid drifting apart or out to sea they often wrap themselves in kelp or rest together in groups called rafts, which can number from ten to over a hundred animals. Holding paws has been filmed, most famously in a much-shared aquarium video, but it is an occasional behaviour rather than a nightly habit. Sea otters are listed as Endangered by the IUCN.
3. Seahorses pair up and greet each other every morning
Many seahorse species form pair bonds that last at least through a breeding season, and courting pairs meet shortly after dawn to swim side by side, brighten in colour and sometimes hold tails or grip the same strand of seagrass. They are not known to mate for life, and some species switch partners readily. The male carries the eggs in a brood pouch and gives birth.
4. Gentoo penguins court with pebbles
Gentoo penguins build their nests from piles of stones on ice-free ground in places like the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Good stones are precious and fiercely guarded, and a male can win a female’s favour by bringing her a well-chosen pebble. Calling it a “proposal” is a cute exaggeration, but the pebble really is part of the courtship.
5. Puppies hold back when they play
Researchers who study dog play describe “self-handicapping”: a bigger or stronger dog lets a partner win, rolls over or bites softly to keep the game going. The popular version says male puppies specifically let females win, but that particular claim has little evidence behind it. Fair play, not gallantry, seems to be the rule.
Songs, names and conversations
6. Humpback whale songs spread like hit records
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Male humpbacks sing long, complex songs during the breeding season, and all males in an area sing a similar version. The songs change gradually as whales copy new phrases, and they have been shown to spread from one population to neighbouring ones over successive seasons. In the Southern Hemisphere, whole songs are sometimes replaced in rapid “revolutions”.
7. Dolphins use signature whistles like names
Each bottlenose dolphin develops its own signature whistle in its first year of life, and others use it to identify and locate that individual. A 2013 study by Stephanie King, Vincent Janik and colleagues showed dolphins copy a companion’s whistle to address it. Dolphins have also remembered the whistles of former companions after more than 20 years apart.
8. Earthworms may coordinate through touch
Earthworms have touch-sensitive receptors all along their bodies and react strongly to vibration. Belgian researchers reported in 2010 that worms in a group appeared to influence one another’s direction of movement through physical contact, a kind of collective decision. “Snuggling” is a playful way to put it, and the work is still a small area of study.
9. Rats chirp with something like laughter
Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp found that young rats tickled by researchers make high-pitched chirps at about 50 kHz, far above the range of human hearing. The rats sought out more tickling, and Panksepp and Jeff Burgdorf published the work in 2000, cautiously calling the sound possible laughter. It has become a key model for studying positive emotions in animals.
Fairness, empathy and play
10. Monkeys protest unequal pay
In a famous 2003 experiment, Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal trained capuchin monkeys to trade a token for food. When one monkey got cucumber while its neighbour got grapes for the same task, the short-changed monkey often refused the cucumber or threw it back. Later studies found similar reactions in some macaques, like the pair pictured, and in dogs, though scientists still debate whether this is a sense of fairness or simple disappointment.
11. Elephants show concern for others, even other species
Elephants support injured herd members, stand by dying relatives and investigate the bones of their own kind. There are many accounts of elephants avoiding harm to people and animals, and Asian elephants have passed the mirror self-recognition test. The picture of an elephant walking with a small white dog recalls the widely reported friendships between sanctuary elephants and dogs.
12. Young chimpanzees play with “dolls”
Primatologists Sonya Kahlenberg and Richard Wrangham reported in 2010 that young female chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park sometimes carry sticks around and treat them like infants, resting with them and even making them nests. Young males did this far less often. It is one of the most striking examples of pretend play in a wild animal.
13. Quokkas look like the happiest animals on Earth
Quokkas, small wallabies from Western Australia, became internet stars thanks to “quokka selfies”, because their face shape makes them look as if they are smiling. They do not actually smile, and they are listed as Vulnerable. On Rottnest Island, where most live, touching them is illegal and feeding them can lead to a fine.
Remarkable bodies and skills
14. Butterflies taste with their feet
Butterflies have taste receptors on their tarsi, the end segments of their legs. A female lands on a leaf and “tastes” it to check whether it is the right food plant for her caterpillars before laying eggs. These receptors only work on contact.
15. A tiny jellyfish can turn back its life cycle
The so-called immortal jellyfish, now known as Turritopsis dohrnii (once lumped with T. nutricula), is less than 5 mm across. When starved, injured or stressed, it can transform its cells and revert from an adult medusa to the polyp stage, then grow again. It is “biologically immortal” only in theory; in nature most are eaten or die of disease first.
16. Common swifts live almost entirely in the air
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A 2016 tracking study led by Anders Hedenström found that some common swifts stay airborne for about ten months without landing. They feed on flying insects, drink and even sleep on the wing, touching down mainly to nest. No other bird is known to spend so much of its life in flight.
17. Some fish use rocks as tools
In 2009, biologist Giacomo Bernardi filmed an orange-dotted tuskfish carrying a clam to a rock and smashing it open with sideways flicks of its head. The same anvil trick has since been seen in several wrasses. For a long time tool use was thought to be limited to mammals and birds.
18. Cat nose prints are said to be unique
The ridged skin on a cat’s nose leather has its own pattern, and it is often claimed that no two are the same, much like human fingerprints. The idea is plausible, but it has been studied far less than dog nose prints, which some identification systems use. Treat it as a fun claim rather than settled science.
The wonderful words we use for animals
19. A group of flamingos is a “flamboyance”
Flamboyance is one of the most loved collective nouns in English, and it suits these pink, showy birds perfectly. Like many such terms, it is more playful than official; scientists usually just say a flock or colony. Flamingos get their colour from pigments in the algae and crustaceans they eat.
20. Baby rabbits are called kits or kittens
Young rabbits really are called kits or kittens, so the photo of a kitten with a rabbit is a pun with two kinds of kitten in it. Rabbit kits are born hairless and with their eyes closed, unlike hares, which are born furred and ready to move.
21. A happy rabbit does a “binky”
Rabbit owners use the word binky for a sudden leap in the air with a twist of the body and a kick of the legs. It is widely seen as a sign that a rabbit feels safe and playful. Rabbits that have space to run and hop are more likely to show it.
22. A group of porcupines is a “prickle”
Prickle is another whimsical collective noun, and a fitting one for animals covered in thousands of sharp quills. Porcupines cannot shoot their quills; the quills detach easily when touched. They are mostly solitary, so you will rarely see a prickle in the wild.
Animals that shape the world around them
23. Squirrels plant trees by forgetting their nuts
Grey squirrels are scatter-hoarders: each one buries nuts and seeds in several thousand small caches per season. Not every cache is recovered, and the ones left behind can sprout, making squirrels important forest regenerators. The often-repeated figure of “millions of trees a year” is an estimate rather than a measured number.
24. Cows may give more milk to calm music
Researchers at the University of Leicester reported in 2001 that dairy cows played slow, soothing music produced slightly more milk, reportedly around 3%, than cows played fast music. The likely explanation is reduced stress rather than musical taste. It was a small study, but it fits wider evidence that calm animals are healthier and more productive.
What these facts tell us
Many of these discoveries share a theme: animals have richer social and emotional lives than we used to assume. Friendship in cattle, fairness in monkeys and play in chimpanzees have changed how scientists think about animal minds, and they have influenced farm and zoo welfare standards too.
They also remind us that many of these animals need protection. Sea otters, quokkas and gentoo penguin colonies all face pressure from pollution, habitat loss or climate change. Enjoy wildlife from a respectful distance, support good conservation work, and share the science, not just the cute photos.
Sources: Fact list previously shared by BuzzFeed (Chelsea Marshall) and ViralNova; Wikipedia: Cattle; Wikipedia: Sea otter; Wikipedia: Seahorse; Wikipedia: Gentoo penguin; Wikipedia: Humpback whale; Wikipedia: Signature whistle; Wikipedia: Jaak Panksepp; Wikipedia: Inequity aversion in animals; Wikipedia: Elephant cognition; Wikipedia: Quokka; Wikipedia: Butterfly; Wikipedia: Turritopsis dohrnii; Wikipedia: Common swift; Wikipedia: Tool use by animals; Wikipedia: Eastern gray squirrel; Wikipedia: Earthworm.
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