Sky to Sea! Weird Animal Facts

Wombats poop cubes, and that’s just the start! Travel from sky to sea on a pick-your-path trip full of weird animal facts. For kids 3–7+, free to preview.

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Illustration from Sky to Sea! Weird Animal Facts

Let's meet some of the most surprising animals on Earth, from the top of the sky to the bottom of the sea! Who's that, curled up at home? It's a CAT! Here's a secret. Cats can't taste sweet things. Imagine birthday cake with no sweetness!

Now off to the Australian bush. Look! Who's that, digging a burrow? It's a WOMBAT! And here's the funny part. Wombats poop CUBES. Little square poops, like tiny dice! Why square? Scientists think it stops them rolling away. Clever poop!

Next, the wide grasslands of Africa. Who's that, racing past on long legs? It's an OSTRICH, the biggest bird in the world! And look at those eyes, each one twice as wide as yours. An ostrich's eye is even bigger than its brain!

Up high, a giraffe’s long neck hides a surprise. Down low, a frog swallows with its EYEBALLS! Up or down?

Weird animal facts for kids

Sky to Sea! is an interactive story that takes kids aged 3 to 8 from the top of the sky to the bottom of the sea to meet some of the most surprising animals on Earth. We start at home, then travel up mountains, down rivers, under the ground and deep into the ocean, with every page written to be read aloud together. Here are some of our favorite weird animal facts.

A giraffe has seven neck bones, the same as you, but each one is almost as long as a ruler.
Wild mountain goats called ibex walk right up a steep dam wall in Italy to lick salt off the stones.
An owl can't move its eyes, so it turns its whole head to look around, nearly but not all the way round.
A hummingbird can fly backward, and even upside down for a moment.
Chinchillas have the thickest fur of any land animal, so they bathe in dust instead of water.
Underwater, a platypus shuts its eyes, ears and nose, and finds food by feeling tiny electric signals with its bill.
A catfish has taste buds all over its body, so it's been called a swimming tongue.
A star-nosed mole's nose has 22 wiggly feelers that can touch about ten things in one second.
A rabbit's front teeth never stop growing, and chewing keeps them short.
Long ago, people who found olms washed out of caves thought they were baby dragons.
The barreleye fish has a see-through head, and the "eyes" on its face are really its nostrils.
An octopus has three hearts and blue blood.

What's inside the story

The journey starts at home and out across the grasslands, then heads either up high or down low. From there it opens into four paths, each exploring one kind of place: the open night sky, the snowy top of the world, secret tunnels underground, or the deep sea.

The story has 28 pages, four paths and four different endings, and every ending leaves kids with something to notice, think about or try back home. Every fact is checked, and the whole story is narrated for read-aloud time together.

Cool and random animal facts

What are some cool animal facts for kids?

Emperor penguins can't fly in the sky, but they fly through the water instead and dive deeper than any other bird. In Japan, young snow monkeys even roll snowballs, seemingly just for fun.