Amazing Animals of the World Pt. 5

Friday’s here again already! Wow the weeks really sail by don’t they? For those of you who are keeping up with the Amazing Animals of the World series, then you were probably thinking it was about time for it to publish, and you were right. So let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

This week is a special treat, I’m going to post some of the record holding animals for y’all to marvel over. Some of these are quite impressive and crazy.

Largest Horned Toad

Let’s start off with the world’s Largest Horned Toad. Now I’m from West Texas and we used to see a lot of these around here. But over the years they’re becoming quite rare. Did you know that when a horned toad feels threatened it can squirt jets of blood out of it’s eyes? It’s true, I’ve actually had it happen to me before, when I was a kid. Pretty freaky. But anyway, the largest species is the giant or long spined horned lizard. This thing measures at a staggering length of up to 7.9 in. You’ll find this fella in the desert regions along the southern part of Mexico.

Longest Whale Tooth

When this thing was found, people thought it must of belonged to the mystical unicorn, it looks just like what you see in fantasy books. But it really belongs to the male narwhal and is a spiral ivory tusk. The narwhal’s tusks can reach an average length of 6 ft. 6 in. but are known to exceed over 9 ft. 10 in. These things weigh up to 22 lbs. and have a maximum girth of approximately 9 in. It’s a good thing these creatures of the Arctic live in water, could you imagine carrying that thing around on land?

Land’s Fastest Mammal

If you’re thinking it’s a cheetah, then you’re right! Over short distances, the cheetah can run steadily at a max speed of around 62 mph, that’s 100 km/h. This is of course on level ground, but they are of course excellent at climbing and would move very quickly no matter what the terrain. Sarah, and 8 year old cheetah was timed and she ran 328 ft (100 meters) in 6.13 seconds on a special course at the Cincinnati Zoo, in Ohio USA. At top speed they say a cheetah will take strides of around 23 feet, that’s the same as a horse!

The Tallest Living Donkey

Of course where else would you find this than in Oklahoma, USA. They call him Oklahoma Sam and he’s a 4 year old American Mammoth Jackstock. He’s measured at 15.3 hands, that’s horse talk for measuring how tall a horse is. But for those of you who aren’t familiar with that, 15.3 hands is 5 ft. 1 in. tall. Some of these Mammoth Jackstock donkeys will grow as large as a draft horse!

The Shortest Bull

I figured since we talked about a tall donkey, we may as well include a short bull too. A Dexter bull named Archie from County Antrim, UK measures only 30 in. from the hoof to the withers, he was 16 months old at that time. The smallest breed of cattle is the Vechur breed of Kerala, India. Their average height from the ground to the hump of their shoulders is only 31-35 in. and that’s for the bull.

Amazing Surfing Dog

So I thought it would be cool to include Abbie Girl, she’s a surfing dog! Abbie Girl, is a kelpie that surfed a 351 ft. 8 in. long wave at Ocean Beach Dog Beach in San Diego, California, USA. Kelpies are an Australian breed of dog and they are typically sheep herders. They will even jump on the backs of the stubborn ones and help steer them while balancing on top. I would think this is probably where Abbie Girl got her amazing surfing skills!

Alrighty folks, that it for this weeks episode, these were some really cool ones. Be sure to check back next Friday for more awesome Amazing Animals of the World.