From getting sexually assaulted by a turtle to eating their own babies, here are 12 creepy
facts about cute animals that might change the way you look at these creatures forever!!
12.
Koalas Carry STDS
While they might look cute and cuddly, it’s a bad idea to get too close to a koala.
You especially don’t want to pick one up because most of them are infected with Chlamydia.
Up to 90 percent of the little guys are infected with the silent STD that can be easily spread
to humans.
Koalas can carry one of two strains of Chlamydia, C. pecorum and C. pneumonia.
While C. pecorum only shows up in creatures like koalas, water buffaloes, pigs, and bandicoots,
it turns out humans are quite susceptible to C. pneumonia.
This nasty bacterium leads to respiratory infections.
But how do people contract Chlamydia from Koalas?
From their urine.
If you pick up one of these plague-ridden marsupials, the koala might decide to relieve
itself all over the place.
Or, you could come into contact with something the koala has peed on.
This infection is so prevalent, actually, that some have suggested culling the population
to control the spread.
11.
Hippos are Hungry-Hungry for Flesh
Despite their dumpy, adorable appearance, hippos are the most aggressive and dangerous
animals in Africa.
It's estimated that they're responsible for more human deaths than lions, elephants, rhinos,
buffalo, and leopards combined.
But that’s not the worst of it.
Normally herbivores, hippo cannibalism has been documented on several occasions and has
even been captured on film.
Scientists say this happens when hippopotamuses become stressed due to overcrowding or when
suffering nutritional deficiencies.
It isn’t a healthy option, either.
A massive anthrax outbreak in 2004, which killed hundreds of hippos, was probably caused
by cannibalism.
Hippos also have been known to munch on the corpses of impalas from time to time, and
one wild report from the government of Addis Ababa claimed that some hippos were actually
hunting down cattle.
Hippos have long been known to attack people, killing up to 2,900 annually, and they may
eat humans as well.
River guide Paul Templer was working his way down Zimbabwe’s Zambezi River in 2013 when
he was rushed by a bull hippo.
The irate beast killed Paul’s apprentice and then tried to swallow Paul whole.
He managed to get free but he suffered 40 deep wounds, some of which exposed his lungs,
and one of his arms was amputated.
After he recuperated, he went right back to his old job.
10.
Sea Turtles Will Try to Rape You
Male sea turtles can weigh up to 180 kilograms (400 pounds).
During mating season, they only have one thing on their minds: the next conquest.
These shelled reptiles approach females from behind, grab the shoulders with their clawed
flippers, and then latch on with a claw-like tip on their tail.
Next, they generally pin their mate to the ocean floor and hang on for hours, sometimes
12 or more.
For turtles, that’s wine and chocolates on Valentine’s Day.
However, things get a lot more dangerous (and humiliating) when the reptiles decide they
want to hit on humans.
In 2007, conservation geneticist Brian Bowen was collecting fish off the coast of Australia
when a randy, 100-kilogram (220 pound), green turtle tried to mount him.
Bowen was able to keep the creature at bay with his Hawaiian sling, fighting off three
more attempts before the heartbroken beast swam away.
A loggerhead turtle similarly assaulted Bruce Gernon, an Islamorada real estate agent.
The turtle drove Gernon to the ocean floor.
As it wrapped its flippers around his shoulders and, as Bruce put it, “probed me in the
backside,” the man managed to shove a lobster into the turtle’s face.
The confused reptile let Gernon go, giving the diver enough time to swim to safety.
Boy, that really changes the way you think of sea turtles, doesn’t it?
9.
Polar Bears are Cannibals
Summer and fall are lean times for polar bears in the Arctic.
In the colder months, they prey on seals sprawling along the sea ice that fringes the bears'
terrain.
In the summer, though, much of this icy real estate melts away and the seals take to the
open seas or move north toward ice floes beyond the polar bears' reach.
Left without their usual prey, the bears occasionally resort to cannibalism.
This is usually bears eating other, smaller bears or cubs.
Scientists are divided over whether this is a rare behavior becoming more commonplace
or if it is just being better documented because of the rise of ecotourism.
Some blame climate change while others say it’s because more cameras than ever are
being pointed toward polar bears.
One scientist, Eric Regehr, suggests using caution in interpreting signs of cannibalism
because of the lack of data.
Whatever the reason, it’s disturbing.
8.
Cannibalistic Hamsters
Once you’ve gotten on the cannibal train, it’s a little hard to get off.
Nature is full of cannibalism as the strong fight to survive.
However, you wouldn’t expect to see it in those adorable balls of fluff owned by many
a seven-year-old.
I had several hamsters as a kid!
None of them were cannibals though...they all just loved to stuff their face with seeds!
Clearly there was no shortage of food at my house so they didn’t even think of being
cannibals.
Also mine never had babies.
A new mama hamster can eat her own babies for any number of reasons.
If the hamster feels stressed and afraid, or if she simply has too many children, then
she may kill them to relieve herself of the burden.
In fact, hamster owners are cautioned to leave a new mother alone as much as possible for
ten days.
If a mother doesn’t have enough food, she may resort to cannibalism.
In the wild, scientists call it a collapsing habitat.
If an owner picks up one of the new babies, the scent on the infant can confuse mama hamster
and she’ll eat her young.
7.
Dolphins Torture Animals
Don't be fooled by their smiles or their ability to toss beach balls through hoops — bottlenose
dolphins have a dark side.
(As you probably know if you have seen my “cute animals that can kill you” video!)
Dolphins are very intelligent and can be cute or cruel depending on their mood.
Pods of dolphins have been seen chasing and attacking porpoises for fun, and even playing
"volleyball" with baby sharks.
In 2011, scientists in California observed dolphins killing harbor porpoises for no apparent
reason.
Eventually, they noticed only males comprised the gang of dolphins and that it was mating
season.
They put the pieces together and realized that the dolphins were doing it to take out
their sexual frustrations.
There weren’t any females for them and so they formed a gang and killed the porpoises
to get out their anger.
Evil cuteness- pretty terrifying.
This next one will definitely surprise you but first if you are new to this channel welcome!
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6.
Emperor Penguins Kidnapping
Female emperor penguins that have lost their own chicks will frequently steal unattended
chicks.
If there are none available, things get violent.
Fights break out as mobs of broody mothers struggle with each other to steal a chick
from another penguin family.
These kidnappings last from a few minutes to a few days.
Most end with the female losing interest and abandoning the chick to die in the cold or
be gobbled up by predators.
One confused penguin even kidnapped its own natural enemy, the chick of a penguin-eating
bird called a skua.
Whoops.
This behavior puzzled scientists for decades.
Now, though, they think that a high level of the parenting hormone, prolactin, may be
to blame.
Emperor penguins are unique among birds, in that they nest in the middle of winter.
The females go to sea to feed, leaving the males to keep their offspring warm.
Most birds lose interest when out of sight of their eggs but the mothers maintain a high
level of that hormone to retain interest over their two months at sea.
Scientists theorize that when the female returns and there is no chick, she acts out on the
hormone by kidnapping other chicks, even if she leaves them to die later on.
5.
Platypuses will Poison You
They may look like the cute, harmless child of an otter and a duck, but platypus males
have half-inch long venomous spurs on their back feet.
That doesn’t make them less cute, but you probably shouldn’t grab one and squeeze
it like Elvira.
Male platypuses (or platypi) use the spurs in late winter when they fight over females
during the breeding season.
When they fight, they wrap their back legs around their opponent and use the spurs to
tear into them.
As they do this, they inject venom.
The venom is made by their sweat glands and is only created during their mating season.
It’s a really brutal toxin.
It doesn’t kill the losing male and won’t kill a human.
However, it is so incredibly painful that conventional painkillers cannot relieve the
agony.
What’s worse is that the pain is instant and while you’re dealing with it, you’ll
have to pull the platypus off of yourself.
He won’t let go on his own.
He’s just a helpless little platypus after all!
JK.
On the heels of the pain, you’ll also become nauseated, weak, and the muscles around the
stung area will waste away.
One 57-year-old man paid a high price for his encounter with a randy platypus.
After the spurring, he remained weak and hypersensitive to pain for three months.
4.
Slow Loris has Killer Arms
The doe-eyed slow loris is a popular exotic pet.
It’s not hard to see why.
They’re adorable and there is something comical in its slow movements.
However, these little fur balls are one of the only poisonous mammals in the world.
Normally no more than 15 inches long, the slow lorises secrete a toxin from the brachial
gland in the upper arm.
They mix it with their saliva to create a toxic bite that can send the victim into anaphylactic
shock.
When threatened, the creatures lick the secretion and bite the predator, delivering the poison
into the wound.
3.
Wombats are Living Battering Rams
Wombats look like fuzzy, harmless balls of adorabless who would love a good cuddle.
But remember Elviiiira!
Don’t be that girl!
They are highly aggressive and won't hesitate to attack humans.
They use their heavy, dense bodies to knock people over and then repeatedly bite them.
In 2016, Kerry Evans, from Canberra, Australia, was walking her dogs when a wombat attacked.
The dogs panicked and knocked Evans down.
The wombat bit her more than twenty times.
Evans thought she was going to die but passersby rescued her by controlling her dogs, which
allowed her to scramble away.
2.
Sugar Gliders Don't Care
What could these cute little fluffers do that's so terrible?
Well, they've just eaten so many Tasmanian swift parrot chicks that the birds are now
critically endangered.
Dr. Dejan Stojanovic and his team from the Australian National University recently discovered
that sugar gliders ate approximately half of the adult female swift parrots that nest
in mainland Tasmania every year, as well as their eggs and chicks.
Genetic evidence confirmed that sugar gliders were introduced to Tasmania from mainland
Australia within the last 200 years.
To protect individual parrot nests in glider-infested areas, Dr. Stojanovic has placed lethal traps
to humanely cull sugar gliders, similar to those used to control feral brushtail possums
in New Zealand.
Something must be working because in 2016, these parrot sanctuaries have given a boost
to the population.
1.
Meerkats are Baby-Killing Tyrants
A dominant male and female couple rule over a clan of meerkats in a Machiavellian fashion.
These alphas assign duties and strictly regulate who can mate with whom but only the alpha
female is allowed to have babies.
If any other female gives birth, then the dominant one will kill them.
Game of Thrones meerkat version.
The offending mother then gets two options.
Either she can raise the alpha female’s babies, or she can leave the colony forever.
Usually, meerkats choose Option A, becoming wet nurse slaves.
The few that don’t are banished from the mob, forced to survive on their own.
Predators quickly kill most females kicked out of the clan.
Terrified, a few actually return to the colony and beg to be let back in.
If they’re accepted, they’re enslaved and forced to care for the alpha female’s
kids, a job that consumes all their time and causes them to lose an incredible amount of
weight.
Pretty scary, and no Hakuna Matata in this meerkat life.
Thanks for watching!
I hope I didn't ruin these animals for you!
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