Pet Facts – Reptiles
Posted On: 10-28-2013
If you are a lover of animals scaly and slithery, or even if you’re not, you will find that reptiles are remarkable animals (as are all animals) with some incredible abilities to help them in the wild. Below are a few fun facts from America’s Family Pet Expo that show just how incredible they are.
- A frog will actually use its eyes to help swallow its food. Its eyeballs get pushed downward which squeezes the food inside its mouth down the back of its throat.
- Did you know that geckos lick their eyeballs? They do this because they do not have eyelids and this keeps their eyes from drying out!
- In the wild, a green iguana may leap from a tree into a river several stories below to escape predators. In the water, it can hold its breath for a half hour!
- A chameleon’s tongue is actually longer than its entire body!
- The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together and offers protection from predators.
- In the wild, Bearded Dragons will often stand up on their hind legs to run from danger.
- With their native habitat being the desert, bearded dragons are able excrete ‘dry’ urine to conserve fluids.
- After shedding, leopard geckos actually eat their own skin so that potential predators aren’t alerted to their presence.