Doctor Jungle's

Amazing Pets and Animals Trivia!

Did you know?
A crash of rhinoceros, a dole of turtles and a troubling of goldfish. I wish I'd been on the panel that created these, now that's a job. A group of jellyfish is called a "smuck".

Dr. Jungle says, "and I always thought it was that guy who stole my girlfriend."

"Remember to buy 3-in-one oil with your hamster wheel" - Dr. Jungle

Mice are the smallest mammals to ever be domesticated. Mice weigh on average 1 ounce and are approximately 2.5 to 3.5 inches long (without the tail). Mice not only captivate our imagination but they play a very important part in history also.  One of our favorite mice is Mickey Mouse who has delighted us since the late 1920's.  The mouse is a very adaptable creature who can thrive in almost any environment and has resisted mans' attempts to eradicate it for centuries. 

  Another misconception is that sharks must keep moving in order to pass water over their gills.  While this is true of many of the larger open water sharks, there are many kinds of sharks that just lie on the bottom waiting for unsuspecting animals to fall into their clutches!

Click to see the Sharks and Rays

Man-eating Fish

  Legend has it that one catfish, the giant Manguruyu, Paulicea lutkeni, can reach 3 meters in length and has been held responsible for eating small children in such rivers as the Rio Branco in the Amazon basin. Click here to see more Catfish.

 The Livingtonii Cichlid Nimbochromis livingstonii from Lake Malawi in Africa has an unusual behavior! It will "play dead" on the bottom of the aquarium, lying on its side for long periods of time. When smaller fish approach as if to nibble at the dead carcass, they are captured with a lightning quick lunge! From this behavior originated the German name for these fish, the " Sleeper". These tricksy fish are definitely predators!

All domestic canaries available today originated from the Island Canary, Serinus canaria.

Canaries were introduced to Spain in 1478 when the Spaniards conquered the Canary Islands. For over 100 years, until the 16th century, the Spaniards maintained control of these delightful little birds, selling only males to other European countries. Then, due to a shipping accident, a large cargo of canaries escaped and flew to the Island of Elba. They soon were sold all over Europe.

Canaries were classified for by their shape and the geographic areas in which they were developed while others are named and classified for their plumage, song, or color. Different countries became known for the classification they bred, for example, the Germans bred for song while the English and French bred for coloration.

Associated with Indonesian parrots including the Eclectus parrot is the fungal disease, Candidiasis. It results because these birds need a relatively high amount of Vitamin A. Dry seed is notably deficient in Vitamin A, which is why they need additions to a seed based diet. Candidiasis is apparent in the mouth. The bird will play with its food rather than eating it, and you may notice a sticky whitish discharge from the beak. Inside the mouth will be whitish patches of Candida fungus. Your vet can give you medication for this, but you will also need to improve the birds diet.

African Grey parrots have been known to have vocabularies of well over 200 words and in one case a bird named "Prudle", a male African Grey, is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having a vocabulary of over 1000 words.

Macaws are definitely among the most colorful and strikingly beautiful birds of the parrot family. Because of their great beauty and engaging personalities, they are a favorite pet among bird lovers and have been kept for centuries. Widely kept as pets since the beginning of the 20th century in the United States, they have been kept by the Pueblo Indians since 1100 A.D. The Pueblos especially prized the Scarlet Macaw.

Chinchillas are an adorable animal with long ears, large eyes and bushy tails. Their tail looks like a squirrels' tail and accounts for about one third of their length.They have the finest fur of all the mammals which makes them very soft."The Chinchilla's exceedingly soft, dense coat is the cause of it's present extreme rarity in the wild"

Guinea pigs, more accurately called "cavies," are rodents that originated in South America. They were domesticated between 9000 and 3000 B.C. by the Incas of Peru, and were killed for their fur as well as used for food. English and Dutch slave traders took some of these guinea pigs to Guinea (thus the name "guinea") and then to Europe, where they became popular pets.

  Although hamsters were not kept as pets until 1930, they are naturally tame and enjoy being handled.  Their name comes from the German word hamstern which means to 'hoard'.  They have pockets in their cheeks which can hold an incredible amount of stuff!

Sizes of hamsters vary with the type of breed. The giant hamster gets to be 8-12 inches long, the middle sized hamster, which is the most common hamster found in pet stores, is 5-6 inches long while the dwarf hamster is only 2-4 inches long!

Mice not only captivate our imagination but they play a very important part in history also.  One of our favorite mice is Mickey Mouse who has delighted us since the late 1920's.  The mouse is a very adaptable creature who can thrive in almost any environment and has resisted mans' attempts to eradicate it for centuries. They are the smallest mammals to ever be domesticated. Mice weigh on average 1 ounce and are approximately 2.5 to 3.5 inches long (without the tail).

Adrian DeCock, of the Netherlands started developing the Holland Lop in 1949. He bred Netherland Dwarfs with French Lops in an attempt to produce a miniature French Lop but instead ended up with what is known today as the Holland lop. The Hollands were then brought to the United States in 1975 by Aleck Brooks III who is the founder of the Holland Lop Rabbit Specialty Club.

Sugar gliders are small possums found in Australia, Tasmania, Indonesia, and Papua-New Guinea. They are mammals classified as marsupials and got the name "sugar gliders" from their sweet tooths and because they have a membrane that helps them glide - similar to flying squirrels.

Some labyrinth fish have voices!...and the Pearl Gourami is no exception!

   The Pearl Gourami and the Snakeskin Gourami have a kind of vocal, that sounds like cracking tones. Though this is generally most pronounced during breeding or territorial type behaviour, it is not known whether it has any special function.

The hatchetfishes, Gasteropelecidae, leap from the water and fly through the air flapping their large pectoral fins to catch flying insects!. They are generally accepted as being the only true "flyingfish" as they are the only fish that move their pectoral fins to aid in their flight!

According to National Geographic, one of the most commonly kept marine hobbyist fish, the Engineering Goby, is also one of the most unigue fish in the world! The real name of these fish is the Convict, and in the wild it is believed that they are the only fish in the world that evolved to have the parents rely on the young to feed them predigested plankton!

For more information on this unigue fish, see National Geographic, June 2005, "Clues From a Convict".

Dr. Jungle says, "kids supporting their parents, what a great idea!"

Though it is a bottom dwelling fish, very seldom going to the surface, in oxygen depleted waters the Four-lined Pimodella can change almost entirely to surface breathing! This catfish locates its' food by smell and by feeling it with its antennae.

Catfish are found all over the world and belong to a large family of Carp-like fish.They are different from most other fish since catfish don't have scales, although some catfish have armor or bony plates for protection.

Most catfish are also nocturnal, becoming active at night.

The most interesting thing about the patterning of the Black-Banded Leporinus, Banded Leporinus, or Eight-banded Leporinus is that as a youngster it only has 5 black bands. Starting at one year of age, the first of these bands splits, dividing into two bands. Then every six months another band will split into two. By the time the Black-Banded Leporinus is 3 years old, it will have ten bands with the yellow colored band turning orangish. You can actually determine the approximate age of this fish by the number of bands it has.

Dr. Jungle says, "the femal leporinus can't fib about her age?"

The Polish Dwarfs are quite intelligent little bunnies! They can follow voice commands and hand signals, which they learn mostly through repetition. Along with the Netherland Dwarf, the Polish Dwarf is one of the most common small animal breeds used by Magicians for their magic acts. This is because they are not only small and smart, but they have the right temperment! They are not afraid of children and enjoy being petted by them!