Jack Hanna's Wackiest, Wildest, Weirdest Animals
June 2, 2009— -- Jack Hanna stopped by "Good Morning America" today with five of his most interesting animal friends.
In his new book, "The Wackiest, Wildest, Weirdest Animals in the World," Hanna, the director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, shares some of his extensive animal knowledge with kids of all ages.
Two North American porcupines, a lemur, a slow loris, a serval and a giant toad all came to visit the "GMA" Times Square studio. Learn more about them and see below for more of Jack Hanna's wild and wacky animals.
North American Porcupine Babies
The North American porcupine babies Hanna brought are just four weeks old, so their quills are still soft. They live throughout the North American desert regions and in the West all the way to Canada.
North American porcupines are the second largest of all rodents. The porcupine has a life span of about 10 years in captivity and between five and six in the wild. They grow to 25-40 inches long, have a thick muscular tail that can be as long as 8 inches and weight anywhere from 10 to 40 pounds.
They are usually solitary, nocturnal animals that spend much of their time up in trees.
A porcupine has up to 30,000 quills interspersed among the dark, coarse guard hairs on its back and tail. The black-tipped, yellowish quills are stiff, barbed spines about 3 inches long that can be deadly once embedded in another animal's flesh.
But porcupines don't use the quills for catching prey -- they are strict vegetarians. The quills are their way of protecting themselves.
When a porcupine feels romantic, the male will look for a mate with a high falsetto squeak and the female will announce her availability with a squall. When the two come together, they confirm their interest by rubbing noses.
The naked mole rat uses its teeth for digging. Its mouth is specially designed to close behind the teeth to keep it from getting a mouthful of dirt while it works. The naked mole rat can live up to 30 years or more and can run as fast backward as it can forward.
Elephant
Did you know that in an elephant's trunk alone, there are about 40,000 muscles? Humans, on the other hand, have only 600 to 800 muscles in their entire body. An elephant drinks up to 50 gallons of water per day.
Ostrich
An ostrich can run up to 45 miles per hour, which makes it the fastest animal on two legs. The ostrich has only two toes on each foot.
Okapi
The okapi doesn't need cotton swabs; it can lick its own ears. The okapi eats leaves, grasses, fruits, fungi, and even charcoal.
