35 Happy & Cute Animal Facts That’ll Make You Smile

Prairie dogs have such a complex means of communication that they can embed descriptions of predators within their calls, and even have a specific call to describe a man with a gun.

27. The laughing falcon is a bird that has a loud cry that sounds like happy/sad/crazy laughter, and it specializes in eating snakes.

28. Helicocranchia pfefferi a.k.a piglet squid is a funny looking squid that is about the size of a small avocado and can be found most commonly in the deepwater (greater than 100 meter or 320 feet) of virtually all oceans.

29. There are birds called "sociable weavers" who construct nests which can weigh 2,000 pounds, measure 20 feet wide, and house up to 500 birds. Birds that shirk their duties on creating the nest’s main thatch structure, and focus instead on their individual chambers, are chased away from the nest.

30. The Dumbo Octopus lives 7000 meters down in the ocean. They are about 20 centimeters long and use their ears to swim.

The Nicobar Pigeon is the closest living relative of both the extinct dodo and Rodrigues solitaire. It is the only living member of its genus, Caloenas.

32. The Matschie's tree-kangaroo lives high up in the trees of Papua New Guinea. Their long, sharp claws allow them to scale tree trunks like a cat. These kangaroos have been observed jumping to the ground from up to 30 feet high in a tree without getting hurt.

33. The Norwegian Lundehund is one of the world’s rarest and oldest dog breeds. It has six toes, extremely flexible joints and was bred specifically to fetch puffin eggs.

34. The hoatzin is the last surviving species of a line of birds that diverged from all other birds 64 million years ago, just after the dinosaur extinction event, and that hoatzin chicks have claws on their wings.

35. By placing stones, bones and shells in and around his nest by size — from small to large — the male bowerbird creates an optical illusion, known as forced perspective, making his nest appear larger than it actually is from the point of view of prospective mates.