10 Animal Facts For Kids To Help Them Learn About Cool Creatures

Animals are so fascinating, so it’s no wonder that children want to learn all about every single one.

There’s so much information out there, so we rounded up 10 fun animal facts to satisfy any kid’s curiosity.

Elephants are actually the only animals who can’t jump. This might seem surprising, but, to be fair, the average elephant weighs 8,000 pounds, and an elephant can get as heavy as 16,000 pounds. Not only is that literally tons of weight to get off the ground, but the bone structure of an elephant’s feet isn’t ideal for jumping.

You might be surprised to learn that dolphins can be pink. But this is actually seen in two different species: the Amazon river dolphin and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin of Hong Kong.

Pandas usually live on their own, but whenever they need to find each other — like during mating season — they use their pee to share their scents. Male pandas will sometimes do a handstand before peeing so they can leave their mark higher up on a tree, which will allow their scent to cover a larger area.

While a giraffe’s spots may get darker with age, a 2019 study revealed that giraffes with darker spots also seem to prefer to fly solo. According to the study, giraffes with paler coloring like to travel in groups, while giraffes who are darker don’t mind living on their own.

Gentoo penguins like to give their mates pebbles as a romantic gesture because these little rocks are good for building nests in a cold, snowy climate.

Instead of bone, a shark’s skeleton is entirely made up of cartilage, which is softer and more flexible. Cartilage isn’t as dense as bone either, which can keep a shark from sinking and can help him swim faster and turn quicker.

While wolves may live in packs, they’re actually monogamous animals — which means they mate for life. In fact, the alpha males and female wolves are the only ones socially permitted to have pups. So they mate for life to establish themselves as the pack’s power couple.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, there’s a rumor that a tiger’s pee smells like buttered popcorn. (Hey, there are worse things it could smell like.)

Horses are considered obligate nasal breathers, which means they can only breathe through their noses — and not their mouths. Horses can’t throw up, either.

A lion’s roar can be heard from so far away because it’s incredibly loud. Lion roars can be up to 114 decibels — that’s as loud as 25 lawnmowers — because of the shape of their vocal cords.

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