50 Fun Facts About Jungle Animals

Which American rainforest mammal leaves the treetops only about once a week to relieve itself?

Sloths keep so still that green algae grow in the grooves of their fur, tinting them to match the leaves. On the ground they dig a hole for their droppings and cover it afterwards.

The okapi of the Congo, with its zebra-striped legs, is the closest living relative of which animal?

Giraffe and okapi are the only living members of their family. Both walk with the same pacing gait and pluck leaves with a long black tongue, which the okapi also uses to clean its ears.

Which red-haired great ape has a name taken from Malay words meaning person of the forest?

Orangutans are the most tree-dwelling of the great apes, and each night they weave a new sleeping nest from branches and foliage. The Malay words are orang, person, and hutan, forest.

Which big cat of the Amazon kills its prey with a bite straight through the skull?

Jaguar jaws are strong enough to pierce the shells of river turtles and tortoises. It is the biggest cat in the Americas and usually strikes between the ears to reach the brain.

The red junglefowl, a wild bird of Southeast Asian forests, is the main ancestor of which farm bird?

Chicken breeds descend mainly from this forest bird, first tamed in Southeast Asia. Wild red junglefowl are much lighter than their farmyard descendants, and the two still interbreed freely.

The Amazon river dolphin, or boto, is born grey and slowly turns which colour as an adult?

Pink skin comes from wear and tear: repeated scrapes rub the grey surface away, so males, which fight more often, end up the pinkest. The boto is also the largest river dolphin.

Which tiny nectar-feeding birds, found only in the Americas, can hover and fly in any direction?

Hummingbirds get their name from the hum of wings that beat from about 12 up to 99 times a second. The smallest species weighs less than two grams.

In Africa and Asia, a black panther is really a dark-coated form of which spotted big cat?

Leopard rosettes are still there under a black panther's dark coat, hidden by the extra pigment. Black animals are most common in dense forest, where light levels are low.

Which web-footed South American rodent, the largest alive, can stay underwater for five minutes?

Capybaras are superb swimmers that live beside rivers and lakes, feeding mainly on grasses and water plants. Like other rodents, their front teeth never stop growing.

Which big cat of Asian jungles is a powerful swimmer that can cross rivers several kilometres wide?

Tiger stripes form a pattern unique to each animal, mostly vertical on the body but horizontal on the legs and forehead. On hot days it soaks in water to cool off.

Which African primate usually sleeps in a nest of branches and leaves built on the ground?

Gorillas build nests two to five feet across for both day and night use. Youngsters share their mother's nest until they are about three, then make their own close by.

Jane Goodall watched wild chimpanzees in Tanzania strip twigs into tools to fish out which insects?

Termites cling to the stalk as it is drawn out of the mound, ready to be eaten. The sight overturned the belief that only humans could make and use tools.

Which South American snake, at home in swamps and sluggish rivers, is the heaviest in the world?

Green anaconda females grow far larger than males. The snake has no venom, squeezing its prey instead, and gives birth to live young.

Which South American bird uses its huge bill as a radiator to shed body heat?

Toco toucan bills are laced with blood vessels, and the bird can adjust the flow to dump heat or save it. For its body size, it is among the largest such surfaces of any animal.

Which primates, named after restless ghosts of ancient Roman belief, are native only to Madagascar?

Lemurs were named by Carl Linnaeus, who knew the lemures, spirits driven out at a Roman festival, from the poems of Virgil and Ovid. No lemur is native anywhere else.

Which sharp-toothed Amazon fish did Theodore Roosevelt describe as vicious in his book on Brazil?

Piranha teeth sit in a single row in each jaw, tightly packed and interlocking so they shear like blades. Roosevelt met the fish on a hunting trip through the rainforest in 1913.

Which lizards, about half of them unique to Madagascar, can aim each eye in a different direction?

Chameleons' brains handle two separate images at once, one from each eye. To feed, they fire a tongue that can reach up to about twice the length of the body.

In Kipling's The Jungle Book, Kaa, who helps rescue Mowgli from the monkeys, is which kind of snake?

Kaa is an Indian python who kills with his crushing coils and scorns venomous snakes as cowards. In Kipling's stories he is Mowgli's ally and mentor, though Disney's films recast him as a menace.

Which layer of a tropical rainforest is home to most of its animal life?

Canopy leaves catch about 95% of the sunlight, leaving the ground below in deep shade. By one estimate, nine in ten rainforest animals live up in this layer.

Which leaf-eating American primates give deep dawn calls that carry far through dense rainforest?

Howler monkeys owe their volume to an enlarged, hollow bone in the throat. Males call mainly at dawn, and the sound is thought to keep rival groups at a distance.

Leafcutter ants of the American tropics carry cut leaves back to their nests to grow which food?

Fungus gardens are the colony's food, and the leaves are only compost for them. A new queen leaves home with a scrap of the old garden tucked in a pouch in her mouth.

Which feature of both sexes in African elephants is usually missing in female Asian elephants?

Tusks in a female Asian elephant are tiny tushes, seen only when her mouth is open. Some bulls never grow them either; such males are known as makhnas.

Which African rainforest monkey, the largest monkey of all, has red and blue skin on its face?

Mandrill males show the brightest colours when they are dominant, and those males father the most young. Charles Darwin thought no other mammal so extraordinarily coloured.

Which rainforest raptor, named after winged spirits of Greek myth, plucks monkeys from the treetops?

Harpy eagle talons are the largest of any living eagle, and a female can seize a large monkey in flight and fly off without landing. The harpies of myth carried the dead away.

Which Asian snake, the longest venomous one in the world, is the only snake that builds a nest?

King cobra females heap dry leaf litter into a mound for their eggs and guard it through incubation. The genus name, Ophiophagus, means snake-eater, after its habit of eating other snakes.

Which Asian primates swing between branches at up to 55 km/h and sing duets as mated pairs?

Gibbons are the fastest tree-dwelling mammals that cannot fly, crossing gaps of up to 15 metres in one swing. A pair's song can be heard a kilometre away.

Which pig-shaped forest mammal has a short grasping trunk and babies with striped and spotted coats?

Tapir relatives are not pigs at all but horses and rhinos, the other odd-toed hoofed mammals. The flexible snout bends in every direction to pull down leaves that would be out of reach.

Which flightless bird of New Guinea and northeastern Australia has a dagger-like claw on each foot?

Cassowary kicks drive a claw up to 125 mm long, which is why it is often called the world's most dangerous bird. It can also sprint through dense forest at up to 50 km/h.

In The Jungle Book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, who guards a family from deadly snakes, is what animal?

Mongoose hero Rikki-Tikki-Tavi nearly drowns in a storm and is taken in by a British family in India. Kipling probably drew on a far older Indian tale of a mongoose and a snake.

Which honey-loving tree climber of Southeast Asian forests is the smallest of all the bears?

Sun bears take their name from the orange-to-cream patch on the chest. They raid honeycombs with an exceptionally long tongue and climb better than any of their relatives.

The proboscis monkey, whose males have a huge drooping nose, lives wild only on which island?

Borneo's mangroves and coasts are its home, and it may be the most aquatic of all primates, able to swim 20 metres underwater. A male's nose can hang lower than his mouth.

A sleeping glass frog turns more see-through by packing most of its red blood cells into which organ?

The liver hides about nine-tenths of a resting glass frog's red blood cells, making it two to three times more transparent. Awake, the heart can be seen beating through its belly skin.

Which rainforest lizard of Central America flees predators by sprinting across the surface of water?

Basilisk feet have flaps of skin along the toes that trap tiny air bubbles and hold it up for a short dash on its hind legs. The feat earned it the nickname Jesus Christ lizard.

Which toothless mammal of Central and South America flicks out a sticky tongue about 60 cm long?

Giant anteaters tear open an insect nest with their foreclaws, then lap up eggs, larvae and adults alike. Barely able to move their jaws, they crush each mouthful against the palate.

The binturong, or bearcat, of Southeast Asian forests gives off a scent much like which snack?

Popcorn owes its smell to the very same compound, formed when the kernels are heated; the binturong carries it in its urine. It also grips branches with a long, bushy tail.

Which green cloud forest bird, revered by the Maya and Aztec, gives Guatemala's currency its name?

Quetzal tail feathers were so prized that Maya and Aztec law forbade killing the bird; it was caught, relieved of its long plumes and set free. It also appears on Guatemala's flag.

Which nocturnal primate taps tree trunks to find grubs and hooks them out with a thin middle finger?

Aye-ayes tap up to eight times a second and listen for the echo of a hollow tunnel, then gnaw into the wood with teeth that never stop growing. No nocturnal primate is larger.

Which South American spider, the heaviest in the world, flicks irritating hairs at its attackers?

Goliath birdeaters rarely live up to the name, feeding mostly on worms, amphibians and other large invertebrates. Only the giant huntsman has a wider leg span.

Alex, who learned over 100 words in Irene Pepperberg's studies, was which bird of equatorial Africa?

Grey parrot Alex could sort objects by colour, material and shape, and showed a grasp of something like zero. The species is prized as a pet for its skill at copying human speech.

Which big-eyed nocturnal animal of Southeast Asia is the only primate with a toxic bite?

Slow lorises arm the bite by licking a gland on the arm, whose secretion turns toxic when mixed with saliva. They have also been seen rubbing it into their fur as a defence.

Which rainforest insect tops the Schmidt sting pain index and is woven into gloves for initiations?

Bullet ant stings are used by the Sateré-Mawé people of Brazil: about 80 sedated insects are woven into each glove, stingers inward, and an initiate wears it for five to ten minutes.

Which South American river fish, really a knifefish, stuns prey with shocks of up to 860 volts?

Electric eels are the most powerful of all electric fishes; the main organ alone can discharge at least 600 volts. Despite the name, they are no close relatives of true eels.

Which Amazon bird, nicknamed the stinkbird, hatches chicks that climb using claws on their wings?

Hoatzin meals of leaves ferment in the gut, much as grass does in a cow, and that gives the bird its manure-like smell. Chicks use the wing claws to scramble through branches above water.

In which family of forest birds does the female seal herself inside a tree hole to nest?

Hornbills wall up the entrance with mud, droppings and fruit pulp, leaving one narrow gap. Through it the male passes food to his mate and, later, to the chicks.

Which giant Amazon fish, among the largest in fresh water, must come to the surface to gulp air?

Arapaima scales are tough enough to be used as nail files, and its bony tongue serves as a grater. Because it has to rise to breathe, fishermen traditionally harpoon it at the surface.

Which rainforest relative of the raccoon hangs from branches by a grasping, monkey-like tail?

Kinkajous share that grasping tail with just one other carnivoran, the far larger binturong of Asia. Strictly nocturnal, they live in forests from Mexico to South America and are seldom seen.

Which cat-like hunter, the largest meat-eating mammal on Madagascar, can climb down trees head-first?

Fossa ankles are flexible enough to turn for the descent, and it also leaps from tree to tree. It has been compared to a small cougar, though its claws only partly retract.

Which wild pig of Sulawesi has upper canine teeth that grow up through the skin of its snout?

Babirusa means deer-pig in Malay. In males the upper canines pierce the flesh of the snout from below and curve back over the face toward the forehead.

Which Amazon predator, the longest member of the weasel family, hunts fish in noisy family groups?

Giant otters can reach 1.8 metres and are the noisiest of all otters, with distinct calls for alarm, aggression and reassurance. In Spanish they are sometimes called river wolves.

Which rainforest marsupials of New Guinea are the only macropods adapted to life up in the branches?

Tree-kangaroos climb and jump between trunks where their ground-dwelling cousins hop. They also live in far northeastern Queensland, and most kinds are threatened by hunting and forest loss.