Animal Myths, Busted!

Animal Myths, Busted! book cover — Table of Contents Hippos Sweat Blood 4 Birds cannot Smell Koalas Are Bears 8 Dogs Have Cleaner Mouths Than Humans Do 10 Cheetahs overheat While Hunting 12 Ostriches Bury Their Heads in the Sand 14 Camels Store water in Their Humps 16 Bats Are Blind 18 Sheep Are Not Very Bright 20 Chameleons Change Color to Blend In 22 Porcupines Shoot Their Quills 24 Snakes Unhinge Their Jaws to Swallow Prey 26 Fact Sheet 28 Glossary 30 For More Information 31 Index 32 About the Author 32

Animal Myths, Busted! — page 1 — Busted Hippos Sweat Blood contained blood They called the Ancient Greeks were puzzled by the hippopotamus or hippo The Greeks noticed hippo sweat looked substance blood sweat Scientists assumed the blood sweat red The enormous African mammals protected the hippo's skin while in seem to sweat blood Nineteenth the water This is true But blood century Europeans studied the phenomenon Like the Greeks the explorers assumed a hippo's sweat sweat is not sweat at all Hippos do not have sweat glands They are unable to sweat The blood sweat was not really blood either Observers discovered AGGRESSIVE PLANT EATERS Hippos are usually slow moving A plant eating mammals But if another animal threatens their RSS territory hippos will attack They can move surprisingly fast running up to 20 miles per The red blood hour 32 km h They can bite BS sweat of a hippo a crocodile in half Hippos are is not blood considered the most dangerous or sweat mammal in Africa C

Animal Myths, Busted! — page 2 — Scientists have T discovered pigments turn the mucus red that blood sweat was really an oily blood They do mucus It moisturizes the hippo's not sweat at all skin and protects it from the sun Science helped bust The mucus makes the skin water an ancient myth repellant It also protects hippos from germs in dirty crowded watering holes It protects them from infection if they are injured in a fight Average weight in pounds 2 930 kg of an Exposure to sunlight turns the adult hippo mucus red It took until 2004 for scientists to discover what made so Scientists used to think called blood sweat red Scientists hippo sweat had blood 6 460 in Japan studied the chemicals in Later scientists discovered blood sweat is not sweat but an oily blood sweat They found there were two pigments in blood sweat One is red and one is orange They help protect the hippo from getting sunburned Hippos do not sweat mucus The mucus turns red when exposed to sunlight

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