1,001 Facts That Will Scare the S#*t Out of You: The Ultimate Bathroom Reader (76 page)

567

FACT :
If cornered, some
horned lizard species can shoot blood from their eye sockets up to six feet
. Though not toxic, the blood has a foul taste, particularly to canine predators like coyotes and foxes.
You know, if I corner something that wants to live so badly that it’s willing to shoot blood from its eyes, I’d spare it just on principle.

Wade C. Sherbrooke, Introduction to Horned Lizards of North America (University of California Press, 2003).

568

FACT :
Cone shells are a dangerous type of snail with
hollow, venom-filled teeth
that it can shoot like darts at its victims. Their deadly venom causes paralysis and can sometimes kill humans within minutes.
Killed by a snail—that would suck. I need to tell my wife to lie for me if that happens, tell people I ate it hang-gliding or climbing Mt. Everest or something cool. Not by a snail.

Edmund D. Brodie and John D. Dawson, Poisonous Animals (Macmillan, 2001).

569

FACT :
To fight off predators,
poison dart frogs ooze a slimy neurotoxin
from their colorful skin. One frog produces enough toxin to kill ten humans.
“This season on
Jon & Kate Plus 8
, the kids get a pet frog and the entire family croaks.”

“Top 10 Deadliest Animals,” LIVEScience,
www.livescience.com
.

“Ten of the Most Bizarre Animal Defense Mechanisms,” WebEcoist, November 4, 2008,
www.webecoist.com
.

570

FACT :
When threatened, the hairy frog, or “horror frog,”
intentionally breaks its own bones
to produce claws that puncture through the frog’s toe pads to become defensive weapons.
I liked frogs better when they just peed in your hand and gave you warts.

“Top 10 Deadliest Animals,” LIVEScience,
www.livescience.com
.

“Ten of the Most Bizarre Animal Defense Mechanisms,” WebEcoist, November 4, 2008,
www.webecoist.com
.

571

FACT :
A tiger shark’s bite is powerful enough
to slice through a hard turtle shell
.
That doesn’t mean they will. That’s a lot of work for a little bit of meat—kinda like crab legs.

Mark Carwardine, Shark (Firefly Books, 2004).

572

FACT :
Sharks can be dangerous even before they are born: while dissecting a sand tiger shark, one scientist was
bitten by a pup in its mother’s womb
.
I’d bite him, too, if he killed my momma.

Walter Sullivan, “In Shark Womb, Fetus ‘Cannibalizes’ Rivals,” New York Times, December 7, 1982,
www.nytimes.com
.

573

FACT :
In some species of sharks,
embryos are cannibalistic
, feeding on each other in the womb until only the strongest shark remains.
Sibling rivalry starts early.

“Where’s your brother? And what’s that in your mouth?”

Walter Sullivan, “In Shark Womb, Fetus ‘Cannibalizes’ Rivals,” New York Times, December 7, 1982,
www.nytimes.com
.

574

FACT :
If you swim in ocean areas known to contain sharks, avoid wearing yellow or orange: sharks have very good eyesight and
find these colors particularly irritating
.
Which makes felons’ day out at the beach even more fun to watch.

“The 10 Most Dangerous Animals in the World,” AOL Travel,
www.travel.aol.co.uk
.