Hello everyone 
I recently watched a documentary and discovered that the Platypus (a mammal found in Australia) is one of the world’s few venomous mammals! Males have a stinger in their hind feet and can deliver a painful blow.
Who knew? Not me!
The animal kingdom is full of weird and wonderful animals outside of our everyday pets! (but interesting facts about them are welcome as well)
Do you have any random animal facts or encounters?
On the Galapagos these incredible reptiles Marine Iguanas can only get moving when the sunshine sufficiently warms up their bodies, they also spit excess salt out of their noses.
This was taken by me on the strange and little visited Island of Floreana (read about the murder mystery there).
@BonnyinBrighton Their colour is beautiful but so prehistoric-looking. Interesting facts, especially about the salt. Is it because they drink salt water? However, I am now intrigued about the murder mystery and Googling!
Before feeding, the lizards must raise their body temperature to about 36°C, as they can lose up to 10°C when in the ocean, and they must also warm their bodies again following the dive. They do this by basking on rocks in the sunshine. Consequently, the dark coloring of the iguanas is critical to allowing them to absorb sunlight. Additionally, as this is the only species of lizard that feeds in the ocean, it intakes significantly higher levels of salt than its body is used to, so its ancestors developed quite a unique way of getting rid of it. The Galapagos marine iguana has special glands connected to its nostrils that are able to clean the salt from their blood, which they then sneeze out.
This one was basking on a stone wall as we walked into the Floreana settlement it’s male and about 3 feet long.
Google the ‘Floreana Affair’ …. it’s a very strange story and we met a descendant in his late 70s who was born during the ‘strange times’ and still lived on the Island.
Oh, I see this is very unique. Thank you for the extra information I find all of this so fascinating. I bet that Island and the neighbouring ones have so many unique and rare animals.
I found this article with photos and it’s such an interesting read! I can’t believe you met a descendant, so fascinating! Thank you for sharing this, exotic animal facts and a murder mystery is right up my street 
FACT: A donkey is not waterproof, so needs shelter from the rain.
We owned a donkey his name was ‘Chippie’ and he became famous when another donkey moved into the village and he fell in love. The Headline in the local paper says it all ‘Chippie’s Dawn Chorus!’ The neighbours had put a petition together to get rid of Chippie 
as he was waking everybody up at 4am every morning! We eventually found him a place in a service animal retirement home with Sefton the famous army horse that’d been blown up in the London IRA bombings. Chippie lived to age 46….
That’s soooooo adorable, and so sad at the same time, but I love the beautiful ending. 
@HappyDeb My hisband has Donkeys on his list to housesit so I will share this interesting fact!
@BonnyinBrighton 46, what a long life to live out with his retired friends
Thank you both for sharing.
There is an adorable donkey on TikTok. His name is Donkey ( from Shrek movies). He LOVES rubber chickens to sling around and play with. People send him chickens from all over the world. Always makes me smile!
