Impress your friends and family with your newfound animal knowledge. <\/p>
Did you hear about the hummingbird that has a beak longer than its body? Or the koala that can spend up 22 hours of the day asleep? Or how about the fact Komodo dragons can have virgin births? <\/strong><\/p> We\u2019ve rounded up some of the most extraordinary facts about animals and their fascinating world…..<\/p> 1. Komodo dragons<\/a> can have so-called virgin births. As well as mating with males the species is\u00a0parthenogenetic<\/a>: in other words, the females can lay fertile eggs without any input from males. This will only reproduce identical young, however. For the species to continue to adapt, it needs to mate.<\/p> 2. Gender is determined genetically in mammals and birds, but for many reptiles it is the temperature at which the eggs are incubated that governs whether they will hatch as males or females. For bearded dragons<\/a>, though, it is neither one nor the other \u2013 or, rather, a bit of both…<\/p> These spiny Australian lizards start off genetically male or female. However, a genetic male incubated at a temperature above 32\u00b0C becomes a fully functional female.<\/p> 3. There’s a frog that can fly. Yes really! The Wallace’s flying frog – one of the weirdest frogs in the world<\/a> – glides using its huge webbed feet, which enable it to control its descent and even steer in mid-air.<\/p>89 amazing animal facts<\/h2>