Our planet’s wildlife is nothing short of amazing.

But wildlife is also important to our survival as a human race. Animals keep our planet’s ecosystem functional, which in turn allows us to grow and enjoy enough food.

Below is a list of absolutely fascinating facts about our planet’s most precious inhabitants.

The Immortal Jellyfish

A certain species of jellyfish is immortal.

Turritopsis dohrnii is the only immortal living being known to man. Discovered in the 1880s, this incredible species of jellyfish begins its life as a larva developed from a fertilised egg.

Once fully grown, Turritopsis dohrnii is only about the size of a small pinky nail. Even so, these fascinating creatures have a remarkable survival skill in that they’re able to revert back to child-state after becoming sexually mature.

This means that they never die.

Sleepy Snails

Since snails need a great deal of moisture to survive, when the weather isn’t ideal, they can go to sleep for up to 3 years at a time.

Depending on where they’re located, snails can hibernate for years a time to escape climates that are too warm for their survival.

Hungry Bats

Bats have an incredible appetite. In fact, they can consume up to a mind-boggling 1,000 insects every hour. Since they live for around 40 years, this means that the average bat typically consumes around 4.3 million insects every year.

This information is based on a study from the 1960s. During the study, bats were kept in a confined space and monitored overnight, during which time their eating habits became clear.

Elephants And Humans

According to a study of wild-roaming elephants in Africa, these majestic giants of the wild make a special alarm call that means “humans approaching”.

Elephants can manipulate their vocal tracts in such a way that specific sounds are shaped in response to a situation. This “rumble” is considered by scientists to be similar to worlds in a human language. They’re made on purpose to warn others of impending danger.

The Tallest Penguin

Based on their bone structure, the now-extinct Kumimanu biceae penguin is thought to have grown as tall as 2.03 metres. This would have made them every inch as tall as basketball legend LeBron James.

This giant breed of penguin is one of the geologically oldest penguins ever discovered. Their giant size is thought to have evolved early on in their life.

The discovery of a fossil clearly showed scientists how little we actually know about the evolution of penguins, even though they’ve been around even longer than the blackjack Canada players have loved for years.

Blue-Eyed Reindeer

While in the summer reindeer eyes are golden, they often turn blue in the winter months to enable them to see better in the lower light levels.

During the summer months, the inner parts of their eyes are a shimmering gold, which makes for quite the change and contrast when they turn a deep hue of blue during winter.

So subtle is this incredible change, that it is a fact that has escaped scientists for decades. It truly is one of the most fascinating survival skills known to science.