Bird Truth: The average robin lives to be about 12.

     Q: You are painting a life-size mural of a blue whale. Should his belly button be: (a) six inches across; (b) eight inches across; or (c) ten inches across?
    A: Eight inches is about right (National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.)

     Farm Fact: The female pig is the fastest barnyard mama. Miss Piggy gestates in three months, three weeks, and three days.

     Q: Is a baby eel called: (a) an elvis; (b) an elver; or (c) an eely?
     A: An elver.

    Croc Truth: You can shoot a crocodile all day long with a .22 and he won’t even slow down. It takes at least a .45.

     Q: If your voice had the same power in proportion to your weight as that of your canary, how far away could your kids hear you screaming: (a) 8 miles; (b) 80 miles; or (c) 800 miles?
     A: 800 miles.

     Q: If a mother rat washes her newborn baby, she’ll take good care of it from then on. If you wash, will she: (a) eat it; (b) trade it to another rat; or (c) wash it again anyway?
     A: She’ll eat it.

    Q: Your swordless female swordfish wants a sword. Should you: (a) look in the Yellow Pages under "Plastic Swordfish Surgeons;" (b) tell her to buzz off; or (c) feed her hormones?
     A: With good doses of hormones, she can grow her own sword.

     Chicken Vitamin Truth: Chickens absorb vitamin-D through their combs from sunshine.

    Q: Can a common house fly process visual information: (a) slower; (b) 5 times faster; or (c) 10 times faster than humans?
     A: Ten times faster, which explains why they’re so hard to swat.

      Legal Truth: In Sweden it’s against the law to train a seal to balance a ball on its nose. 

     Q: Did an orangutan at the Toronto zoo die in 1998 during a fight over: (a) another ape; (b) bananas; or (c) cookies?
     A: Cookies, tossed into the cage by zoo visitors. During the fight over the cookies, 8-year-old Kartiko fell into a moat and died of respiratory failure.

     Q: You’ve decided to make a career change and become a seal trapper. Should you concentrate on trapping: (a) bachelor seals; or (b) married seals?
     A: Trap bachelor seals. Married seals will have their skins scarred by teeth marks from family arguments.

     Chicken Truth: If your hen is average, she will lay 227 eggs a year (columnist L.M. Boyd).

     Q: Have zoo officials in Hiroshima produced the world’s first test tube: (a) walrus; (b) kangaroo; or (c) chimpanzee?
     A: The female chimp weighed 2.9 pounds. No word on the name.

     Q: Your pet sardine is four years old. Can you expect him to live another: (a) one year; (b) five years; or (c) 10 years?
     A: Assuming he’s an average sardine, he’ll live to be 14.

     Q: At birth, is a baby kangaroo: (a) about an inch long; (b) about a foot long; or (c) about a yard long?
     A: About an inch long.

     Q: When chimpanzees watch TV, do they prefer: (a) sports; (b) games shows; or (c) soap operas?
     A: Game shows. (No one knows why)

     Q: When your moose kneels, is he: (a) praying; (b) resting; or (c) eating?
     A: A moose’s neck is too short and his legs too long for grazing. He has to kneel to eat (Poor Cedric’s Almanac by Cedric Adams).

    Q: According to research in both California and England, which is most likely to anticipate in advance when its owner will arrive home: (a) a dog; (b) a cat; or (c) a gerbil?
     A: A dog.

     Q: Is the lifespan of a robin: (a) 2 years; (b) 12 years; or (c) 22 years?
     A: 12 years.

     Q: Your camel has a hole in his foot. Should you: (a) make him wear sandals; (b) fill the hole with cement; (b) patch it with leather?
     A: Sew a leather patch firmly to his tough foot.

     Toad Truth: Toads are the only animal species that never have cancer.

    Q: You just noticed a bat on your ceiling fan. Should you: (a) let him ride until he gets dizzy; (b) get a bat and play basebat; or (c) turn on all your lights and open a door?
     A: Try #c; your batfriend should fly quickly for the darkness. (A bat would never come calling in the daytime.)

     Q: You want to get rid of the silverfish in your bathroom. Should you: (a) put goldfish in your toilet; (b) draw bug pictures on the shower door with a glue stick; or (c) put a quarter-inch of flour in a straight-sided glass, run a strip of adhesive tape from bottom to top on the outside, and leave the glass in the bathroom floor?
     A: The Old Farmers Almanac says #c will have skads of silverfish scampering up the tape and jumping into the glass, but they won’t be able to get back out.

    Q: What does People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals do with the thousands of fur coats they receive each year from converts? Do they: (a) donate them for transplants to animals with skin problems; (b) sell them and donate the money to the SPCA; or (c) give them to homeless people?
     A: Winter gifts to the homeless.

     Q: How many people does it take to perform neck surgery on a giraffe: (a) 10; (b) 13; or (c) 16?
     A: 13, three to operate and 10 to hold up the patient’s head. The giraffe in question was 9-year-old Brindisi at the Dvur Kralove zoo in the Czech Republic. Brindisi damaged some neck nerves when she poked her 18-foot neck through the bars in her pen and got stuck.

     Q: Your cat is chewing on your house plants. Should you: (a) buy him some tobacco; (b) give him a teaspoon of Maalox; or (c) give him some celery?
     A: A little celery now and then will take care of whatever problem your cat has.

     Q: Rabbits are eating your flowers. Should you: (a) get a shotgun; (b) get a cat; or (c) get a shunk?
     A: A cat or dog will keeps rabbits away. Or you could dust your flowers with sulfur or red pepper or spray them with a teaspoon of Lysol in a gallon of water (Old Farmers Almanac).

     Fishy Truth: A baby dolphin can swim and keep up with adults an hour after it’s born.

     Q: You just know your ticks have Lyme disease. Should you: (a) call Tickbusters; (b) wear a spacesuit when you mow the lawn; or (c) bring in some California fence lizards?
     A: Research at the University of California at Berkley shows that chewing on a western fence lizard will cure ticks of Lyme disease.

    Quick Truth: A one-day old baby cockroach, about the size of a spec of dust, can run almost as fast as its parents.

     Q: According to old English tradition, which part of a chicken is called the "parson’s nose:" (a) the rump; (b) the beak; or (c) the comb?
     A: The rump. No one seems to know why.