50 Fun Facts About Wild Kratts

The flying headquarters that Aviva built for the Wild Kratts team is shaped like which animal?

A turtle is the model for the Tortuga, a jump jet that doubles as a spacecraft, and tortuga is the Spanish word for the animal.

Which color is the Creature Power Suit worn by Martin Kratt, the brother who loves naming animals, in Wild Kratts?

Blue is Martin's signature color, while his more methodical brother Chris always suits up in green.

Which bird of prey, the fastest animal on Earth in a dive, nests on a villain's skyscraper in Wild Kratts?

Peregrine falcon dives have been clocked at more than 240 miles per hour. The birds really do nest on tall city buildings, where they hunt pigeons.

Which African big cat is Blur, the friend Aviva tries to outrun with her inventions in Wild Kratts?

Cheetah sprints reach about 60 miles per hour, faster than any other land animal, so the brothers doubt that anything Aviva builds can beat Blur.

Which extinct bird of Mauritius do the Wild Kratts travel back to the 1600s to meet, using a time machine?

The dodo was last reliably seen in 1662, less than a century after Dutch sailors first recorded it. Its closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon.

Which Australian mammal hunts with a 'sixth sense' that Martin borrows to rescue stolen eggs in Wild Kratts?

Platypus bills carry about 40,000 sensors that pick up the faint signals given off by the muscles of prey, so the animal can hunt underwater with its eyes closed.

How does the mother crocodile that guards her nest for months in Wild Kratts carry her hatchlings to the river?

In her mouth is where a crocodile mother carries her hatchlings, and the sight convinces a doubtful Aviva that these reptiles are caring, devoted parents.

Which US network airs Wild Kratts, while TVOKids shows the series in Canada?

PBS Kids has aired the series since 2011, long enough to make it the longest-running show the Kratt brothers have made.

What kind of animal was Zoboomafoo, the co-host of an earlier series by the Wild Kratts brothers?

A lemur named Jovian, a Coquerel's sifaka, played Zoboomafoo on screen, while a puppeteer performed the talking version of the character.

Which birds turn up in the Arctic in a Wild Kratts mystery, even though they never live there in the wild?

Penguins live almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere, far from Arctic land predators such as wolves. In the episode, a villain turns out to have moved them north.

Each Wild Kratts episode is mostly animated, but how are the real Kratt brothers shown at its start and end?

In live action, the real Chris and Martin introduce an animal and its abilities, then turn into their cartoon selves for the adventure.

What do Chris and Martin insert into their Creature Power Suits to load a new animal's abilities in Wild Kratts?

A disc holding an animal's abilities slots into each suit, and the team's pilot often teleports a fresh one to the brothers in the middle of an adventure.

What is Zach Varmitech, the robot-building villain who met Aviva at summer camp, secretly afraid of in Wild Kratts?

The dark frightens the inventor, an odd weakness for a villain who has known Chris and Martin since they were all children.

Which Wild Kratts villain freezes live animals with a 'pose beam' to turn them into jewelry and clothing?

Donita Donata is a fashion designer who travels by pink jet, and her schemes stand for the real-world use of animal products in clothing.

Which orange-and-black butterfly do the shrunken Kratt brothers follow on its long migration to Mexico in Wild Kratts?

Monarch butterflies cover thousands of miles on their autumn flight south, and the return north in spring is spread across several generations.

A stowaway koala in Wild Kratts is found hiding among the leaves of which tree, the animal's main food?

Eucalyptus leaves are so low in energy that koalas sleep up to twenty hours a day, and they contain toxins that put most other mammals off eating them.

Which Arctic animal, whose spiral tusk is really a tooth, do the Wild Kratts track after spotting an Inuit carving?

Narwhal tusks are canine teeth that grow out through the upper lip, and a few males really do grow two, just like the carving that puzzles the team.

Which lizard, the largest alive today, has its eggs targeted by chef Gaston Gourmand in Wild Kratts?

Komodo dragon males can grow 3 meters long and weigh 150 kilograms, yet the species lives wild on only a handful of Indonesian islands.

Wild Kratts shrinks its heroes to learn how which lizard walks up glass using the tiny hairs on its toes?

Gecko toe pads grip smooth surfaces without any liquid or glue, and the hairs clean themselves of dirt within a few steps.

Which deep-diving mammal do the Wild Kratts brothers watch fighting a giant squid in the Southern Ocean?

Sperm whale dives can go deeper than 2,000 meters, and giant squid really are on the menu for the largest toothed predator on Earth.

Which small but fearless African animal is revealed as the toughest predator of the Kalahari Desert in Wild Kratts?

Honey badger skin is thick and remarkably loose, so the animal can twist around inside it when grabbed, and it has few natural predators.

The Draco lizards of Borneo, seen in the Wild Kratts episode where Chris falls from a tree, are known for what?

Gliding between trees is possible because the lizards spread flaps of skin over extra-long ribs, and single glides of 60 meters have been recorded.

Chris and Martin disguise themselves as red kangaroos in Wild Kratts to blend into a group that is properly called what?

A mob usually holds ten or more kangaroos, and the red kangaroo the brothers copy is the largest marsupial alive.

Which Australian scavenger turns Chris half-wild by biting his Creature Power Suit in Wild Kratts?

Tasmanian devil jaws deliver one of the strongest bites for their size of any land mammal, yet the animals eat carrion more often than they hunt.

Aviva's flamingo suit comes out white in Wild Kratts until the team learns which food gives the birds their pink color?

Brine shrimp and other plankton are rich in carotenoid pigments, and flamingos that go without enough of them fade to a pale pink.

Which natural material, stronger than steel for its weight, does Aviva copy to make a tougher rope in Wild Kratts?

Spider silk beats steel weight for weight yet stretches instead of snapping, and the brothers shrink down to watch a golden orb weaver spin it.

Which North American animal, seen in Wild Kratts shrugging off venomous snake bites, is also famous for playing dead?

Opossum blood carries proteins that neutralize snake venom, and the animal's habit of feigning death when terrified gave English the phrase 'playing possum'.

Which scaly mammal, likened in Wild Kratts to an artichoke on legs, is rescued from chef Gaston Gourmand's traps?

Pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails, and demand for them has made these the most trafficked mammals in the world.

Which snake, the world's longest venomous species, guards a nest of eggs in a Wild Kratts adventure in India?

King cobra females are the only snakes that build an above-ground nest for their eggs, and the species feeds mainly on other snakes.

Which ape shows the Wild Kratts how to chew a leaf into a soothing lotion for sore muscles?

Orangutan self-care is real: the apes use a plant called Dracaena cantleyi as an anti-inflammatory balm. In the episode, the remedy rescues the sore, vine-swinging crew.

Jimmy Z, the Wild Kratts team's pilot, works the teleporter that sends the brothers gear with which gadget?

A game controller runs the ship's matter transporter, which is how fresh gear and new creature powers reach Chris and Martin out in the field.

Paisley Paver, a villain who wants to pave wild places, debuts in a Wild Kratts episode about which white animal?

Spirit bear is the name for a black bear born with white fur, most common on a few islands off British Columbia, where Paver plans a giant storage depot.

Leafcutter ants, met by the Wild Kratts in the Amazon, carry leaves back to their nest to grow which food?

Fungus is the real crop: the cut leaves are fed to it rather than eaten, and the ants can haul loads up to 50 times their own body weight.

Which Amazon fish do the Wild Kratts brothers copy to drive off caimans and jaguars after their ship crashes?

Electric eel shocks can reach 860 volts, yet the fish is not a true eel at all: it is a kind of knifefish that swims to the surface to breathe air.

The subnivean zone, where the Wild Kratts find small animals sheltering through winter, lies beneath a layer of what?

Snow at least six inches deep works like a blanket, holding the ground beneath near freezing however cold the air above, and mice, voles and shrews rely on it to survive.

Martin's short-lived pet Juice, whose death launches the 100th episode of Wild Kratts, is which kind of insect?

A fruit fly lives for only a few weeks, so losing Juice sends the team around the world in search of animals that can reach 100.

Liturgusa krattorum, a species from Peru named in honor of the Wild Kratts brothers, is what kind of insect?

A mantis only a few centimeters long, it lives in tall trees, and the brothers thanked the scientist who named it on screen in a special episode.

Which cat-like hunter, the largest meat-eating mammal on Madagascar, does Chris meet with her baby in Wild Kratts?

Fossa ankles are so flexible that the animal can climb down trees head-first, and it has been compared to a small cougar despite not being a cat.

Which prairie hunter, once declared extinct, does Martin stumble on a lost colony of in Wild Kratts?

Black-footed ferret numbers crashed along with prairie dogs, which make up most of their diet, and the species was written off in 1979 until a wild group turned up in Wyoming.

Which New Guinea creatures, whose males dance in showy feathers to win mates, inspire Aviva to dance in Wild Kratts?

Birds-of-paradise males are best known for their extravagant plumage, and in the episode a reluctant Aviva has to dance to save the birds from a villain's clothing line.

Which fish, known for clinging to sharks with a built-in sucker, gives its name to Aviva's Rocketsub in Wild Kratts?

Remora suckers are really a modified dorsal fin, and the fish spend most of their lives riding on a host; the brothers use the sub to stick with a great white shark.

Which tiny primate with enormous eyes shelters the Wild Kratts brothers when their night-vision goggles fail?

Tarsier eyeballs are each about 16 millimeters across, as big as the animal's entire brain, which suits a hunter that is active only at night.

Which process, explored in Wild Kratts at deep-sea vents, lets living things make food without any sunlight?

Chemosynthesis draws energy from chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide in place of sunlight, and whole communities of animals at hydrothermal vents depend on it.

Which Canadian city became home to the Kratt brothers in 2008 and is where Wild Kratts is produced?

Ottawa is where the American-born brothers film and produce the series, which is why Wild Kratts counts as a Canadian show.

In which US state did Wild Kratts creators Chris and Martin Kratt grow up, in a place called Warren Township?

New Jersey is where the brothers went to Watchung Hills Regional High School, which added both of them to its hall of fame in 2013.

Which breed of dog is Nostril, the scent tracker who works for chef Gaston Gourmand in Wild Kratts?

Basset Hound is the breed of Nostril, the assistant the chef whistles for in the red fox episode to chase the animal that stole his egg.

In which other children's series do the Wild Kratts brothers appear as bats called the Batt Brothers?

Nature Cat hosted the crossover, with the bat brothers searching for a new home; the Kratts have also turned up as themselves in Odd Squad and Molly of Denali.

Which university awarded Martin Kratt of Wild Kratts his degree in zoology, the study of animals?

Duke University gave Martin a Bachelor of Science, while his brother Chris studied biology at Carleton College and went on to win a Watson Fellowship.

Which desert bird of prey, the lightest of its kind anywhere, do the Wild Kratts find nesting inside a cactus?

Elf owl pairs usually raise their young in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti, and no owl on Earth is smaller or lighter.

Which lizard of Costa Rica, able to sprint across the surface of water, is befriended in Wild Kratts as Splash Claw?

Basilisk feet have flaps of skin along the toes that trap tiny air bubbles, letting the lizard dash across a pond before it sinks.