Animal Facts About Survival

The Kangaroo Rat can last longer without water than a camel.

To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.

The lungfish can live out of water for three years in a state of suspended animation.

Elephants are terrified of Bees and actually have a special, distinct vocalization for “Run away the Bees are angry”

A rat can fall from a five story building without injury.

More than 90% of shark attack victims survive.

A snail can enter dormancy for up to three years during drought conditions.

A cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.

In 2005, a 12-year-old Ethiopian girl was kidnapped by seven men trying to force her into marriage. When police found her a week later, three lions were standing guard around her. The kidnappers were gone. The lions turned and walked back into the forest as the humans approached.

Some birds in cities have learned to line their nests with cigarette butts in order to ward off parasites, as burnt nicotine works as an insecticide to ward off mites, lice, and fleas.

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food.

Army ants are used as “natural sutures”. Their jaws are so powerful, natives staple wounds by forcing ants to bite them and break off the body.

Hippos secrete a red-pink fluid, dubbed "blood sweat", which acts as a skin moisturizer, water repellent, sunscreen, and antibiotic.

Some older/less efficient worker termites will develop 'backpacks' of toxic chemicals that explode when the termite is threatened. They are essentially used as suicide bombers when the colony is being attacked.

15% of snails survive digestion by birds and are found alive in their droppings, potentially leading to the spread of snail populations.

Parrotfish make themselves a kind of mucus 'sleeping bag' which masks their smell from predators and keeps parasites away.

In 2004, four lifeguards were swimming off Ocean Beach, New Zealand when a pod of seven dolphins suddenly herded them into a tight group and started circling. For 40 minutes, the dolphins swam inches from their bodies, slapping the water with their tails. When one swimmer tried to break away, two dolphins pushed him back. Only then did he spot the 9-foot great white shark circling two metres below them.

Quokkas are known as the world's happiest animal because they always look like they're smiling. But when a predator shows up, mothers eject their baby from the pouch and let it flop around on the ground as a distraction while they run away.