Animal Facts

Bears don't like to be filmed

Deep-Sea Diving Penguins have developed a clever trick for avoiding the "bends."

King and Adelie Penguins are capable of diving hundreds of metres into the ocean and staying there for minutes, yet they are also able to return to the surface quickly without suffering from the decompression sickness that afflicts human divers.

They do this by stopping halfway in their ascent then slowly float to the surface at an oblique angle that allows their lungs to gradually acclimatize.

The North American Bull Elk mixes up his own version of a love drug.

To attract females, the elk engages in a complex highly macho display. His main technique for wooing female elk is to let out a deep, resonant bugling sound. As he does this he simultaneously sprays urine over his chest, neck and stomach.

The elk then digs a hole with his hooves and antlers, sprays yet more urine over himself until he is caked in a pungent-smelling mud.

The aroma of the elks eau de cologne is so powerful, females are soon wandering over, their heads bowed submissively, ready for mating.

The phrase "quiet as a mouse" is misleading as mice do much more then let out the occasional squeak.

A study of male mice discovered that they reacted to the sexual smells of females by emitting ultrasonic sounds. When scientists slowed these sounds down, they found they were songs. They concluded the mice were serenading their potential partners.