Kingdom Animalia, the taxonomic kingdom comprising all animal species inhabiting the Earth, is one of the most important component of the planet's ecosystem. With more than a million lifeforms to its credit, the animal kingdom is definitely one of the most diverse components of the planet, and has a crucial role to play in maintaining a balance in the planet's biodiversity. On one hand, we have small crustaceans, which can't be seen with the naked eye, and on the other, we have mammoth blue whale, whose young one is bigger than an adult human at the time of its birth. If scientific estimates are to be believed, 99 percent of species that inhabited the Earth have become extinct since the planet came into existence. It's surprising that people are still oblivious such facts. Regardless of whether they are interesting or weird, facts about animals do grab your attention from the word go, and the compilation of strange facts that we have for you here, validates this very fact. Top 10 Weird Animal Facts Did you know that cows kill more humans every year than various species of snakes do? Weird, but true! The sight of a spider can make many people go for cover, but did you know that your chances of being killed by a champagne cork far exceed your chances of being killed by a venomous spider. Again weird, but absolutely true. There exist hundreds of such facts that can leave you amazed and at the same time, make you laugh. Here are a few of them ...

1. The peregrine falcon, with its amazing ability of clocking a speed of 200 miles per hour in air, is the fastest animal on Earth. What's even more surprising though, is the fact that the bird has the ability to spot its prey from a distance of 8 km.
2. Cockroach, one of the most common pests in urban homes, can live for as long as 9 weeks after it is decapitated, only to die of starvation eventually. It can pull off this amazing feat as its brain is not located in its head.
3. Weighing less than an ounce, the hummingbird is the lightest bird in the world. While that may not be weird, the fact that hummingbirds have the ability to fly backwards surely is.
4. At 60 mm, the rhinoceros beetle may seem like any other beetle species in the world. Interestingly though, it has the distinction of being the strongest animal in the world in terms of its size. It can lift things that are 800 - 850 times heavier than itself.
5. The armadillos and sloth bears spend 80 percent of their lives sleeping. In fact, sloths are so lazy that they take an hour to cover a distance of 6 feet.
6. The Common basilisk, also referred to as the Jesus Christ lizard or the Jesus lizard, has the amazing ability of running on the water surface. This reptile pulls off this seemingly impossible feat with amazing ease owing to its large hind feet with scaly fringes and the momentum that it gets while running.
7. Even though we see them feeding on carcasses most of the time, vultures have an amazing appetite. At times, these scavengers eat so much in one go that it becomes impossible for them to take off in the air.
8. It's not possible for birds to go into outer space―a feat achieved by Laika (the Soviet space dog, which became the first animal to orbit the Earth), as they need gravity to assist their digestion process.
9. Owing to its specific frequency, a wolf's howl doesn't echo even when the animal howls while standing right in the middle of a valley. It's a natural adaptation, which plays a crucial role in their communication and hunting.
10. If you thought wild cats or snakes are most dangerous animals for us, you can't be more wrong. The distinction of being the most harmful animal for humans is held by deer, who cause more traffic accidents and human deaths than any other species in the world.

You must have come across most of these facts for the very first time, which isn't quite surprising, considering that our priorities seldom give us enough time to see what's happening around us nowadays. While this compilation consisted of mere 10 facts, there must be several more facts which are weirder than these. The fact that animal kingdom is so vast makes it virtually impossible for us to amass all knowledge about it and thus, the best we can do is try to amass as much as we can.