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10 Little Known Facts About Stingrays

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Ever wish you knew more about stingrays? Well, it's your lucky day.

"Literally as we pulled into the net. It's actually given birth to two live young." [Animal Planet]

Ever wish you knew more about stingrays? Well, it's your lucky day.

Here are 10 little known facts about them.

Number 10. The giant stingray is the planet's largest freshwater species. They've been know to grow to be over 16 feet long and weigh in excess of 13 hundred pounds.

Number 9. Their venom can kill pain. In ancient Greece, dentists used what was extracted from the spines as an analgesic. As the stuff can be highly toxic, it's not recommended that you try that at home.

Number 8. Stingrays are built to blend. Their skin takes on the color of the sea floor, so they can go undetected by bigger rays and sharks.

Number 7. Females can control when they become pregnant. They just keep the sperm banked in their bodies until they feel good and ready to have babies. Several years ago two of the rays on display at Sea Life London became pregnant seemingly out of the blue. Neither had been near a male in at least 2 years.

Number 6. Stingrays don't use their eyes for hunting. They're just not in an ideal spot to offer much assistance. While their eyes are on their backs, their gills and mouth are on the flip side.

Number 5. How do they hunt? They rely upon their keen ability to detect electrical pulses. The natural signals are emitted by nearby prey and picked up by sensors located around a ray's mouth.


Number 4. New species were recently discovered. In 2011 two previously unknown stingrays were added to the books. They were located in the Amazon rain forest and nicknamed 'pancake' rays, as they bear a striking resemblance to the breakfast favorite.


Number 3. Laziness is one of their best defenses. As mentioned, their skin only conceals them when they're near the sea floor. Being spotted while swimming around isn't much of a problem for them as they rarely do it. For the most part they like to stay low and buried beneath a bunch of sand.

Number 2. Stingrays don't have bones. Much like their close relative the shark, their structural supports are made of cartilage. It radiates from their centers out to their edges, making them look a bit otherworldly when x-rayed.

Number 1. Their tails are to be avoided. At the base of them is a barb that's powerful enough to penetrate both human skin and bone. If the ray feels particularly threatened it can also release venom into its target. They're not aggressive by nature, though. If you leave it alone, it's likely to follow suit.
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