Animal

ANIMALS IN HISTORY

Animals were first passed domesticated around 8000BC. The domestication of creatures meant the rise of new human ailments, as many of them carried diseases, which they passed on to man.

On board of Noah's ark he included at least one pair of every kind of animal, (seven pairs of every type of clean animal, which were for sacrifice.)  It is thought that were around 45,000 animals in the ark.

Noah's Ark (1846), by the American folk painter Edward Hicks.

The law that God gave Moses included a commandment that animals are to be looked after. According to the law, when an ox was treading out grain it was not to be muzzled so that it could eat some grain when it became hungry. The principle that a laborer is worthy of his hire applied even to animals in the Old Testament.

The first recorded example of an animal performer was the lion Antam-Nekht under Pharaoh Rameses II (1292-1225 BC). Trained tigers who would allow a man to put his head safely in their mouths were known in early China and India (12th-9th centuries BC).

Animals were first classified in the 4th century BC by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, whose system was based on the similarity of organisms in shape and structure rather than on their phylogenetic lineage. Aristotle classified birds and bats together because they both had wings and could fly.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is the oldest and largest animal welfare organization in the world. It was founded at the Old Slaughters Coffee House in London, England on June 16, 1824. Its primary goal is to prevent cruelty to animals and promote their welfare through various initiatives, campaigns, and educational programs. 

After spending one year in St Petersburg, Russia, as secretary of the US legation, Henry Bergh resigned because of his wife's ill health, and became increasingly concerned with the inhumane treatment of animals. In particular, he was taken up by the treatment of the turnspit, a dog that was bred just to run for hours on a tiny wheel that turned a spit for cooking meat. He returned to the United States and founded The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 1866.

The Cruelty to Animals Act was passed in Britain in 1876.

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was founded in 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco.

Britain passed the Wild Mammals Act in 1996 to give wild animals like hedgehogs, foxes and squirrels the same legal protection from cruelty as domestic animals.

In 2003 an English movie producer was caught trying to smuggle 217 animals out of Australia. Michael Linley was found hiding western bearded dragons, marbled geckos, squelching froglets, snakes and cockroaches in his luggage and fined more than £4,000.

FUN ANIMAL FACTS

World Animal Day is celebrated annually on October 4, the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals.

PETA attempted to get translators of the New International Version Bible to include ‘gender specific pro-nouns’ when referencing animals. They said that referring to animals as ‘it’ is “speciesist" and in a letter to the translators requested that pronouns like "he" and "she" be used instead.

Pound for pound, earthworms make up about 50% of all animal life.

The African bush elephant is the largest living terrestrial animal, with males standing 3.2–4.0 m (10–13 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighing 4,700–6,048 kg (10,000–13,330 lb).

The loudest land animal is the Howler monkey whose deep growls can travel up to three miles in the forest.

The cheetah can run faster than any other land animal— as fast as 70 to 75 mph.

The ostrich is the fastest-running of all creatures on two legs. It can move at speeds up to 45 mph.

The longest lived animal was a quahog clam that lived to be 507 years old. It was born in 1499 – only a few years after Columbus visited America for the first time and died in 2006.

The deadliest animal on Earth is the mosquito killing around 725,000 people annually. Humans are the second deadliest, killing 475,000 and they are followed by snakes with 50,000 and dogs with 25,000. 

The Placozoa are a basal form of marine free-living (non-parasitic) multicellular organism. They are the simplest in structure of all animals. 

At least 60 per cent of species on Earth are parasites.

An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.

80% of the animals on Earth are insects.

An estimated 80% of creatures on Earth have six legs.

The "No Animals were Harmed" notice that appears in film credits doesn't cover unintentional harm or harm off-screen.

The Aardvark is the first animal listed in the dictionary.

The last animal in the dictionary is the zyzzyva, a tropical weevil. 

Here's a list of songs with animals in the title.

Source Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc