Grist has weekly staff meetings, wherein we discuss timely and important topics. At a recent meeting, the question came up: is hippo milk pink?

I haven’t been able to sleep for wondering. Also, I don’t want y’all to think that my journalistic curiosity is limited to shrinkage, bathrooms, and parties in my pants (ahem). So I conducted some Real Research (involving Google and the words “hippo,” “milk,” and “pink.”

Reader support makes our work possible. Donate today to keep our site free. All donations TRIPLED!

Well, the Bank of Random Knowledge says yes, hippo milk is bright pink. But on their page header, they misspell “knowledge,” so I don’t think we can really count them as a definitive source.

Here we are told that baby hippos themselves are bright pink at birth. And here we learn that, “Hippos do not have sweat glands, but they do have pores that secrete a reddish-pink fluid.” Ew. And here — can it be true? — we learn that yaks give pink milk!

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How

Ah, the internet. What did we ever do without it?

But … but … if the Bank of Random Knoweldge is wrong about the hippo milk, is it also wrong about these exciting animal “facts”? Surely misspellings and grammatical errors don’t mean they’re wrong! Can anybody verify the below for me? Because I want desperately to believe them.

  • Jellyfish don’t have brains.
  • A shrimps heart is in its head.
  • Turtles can breath through their butts.
  • A cockroach can live 9 days with out its head before it starves to death.
  • An albatross can sleep while it flies it apparently dozes while cruising at 25 mph.
  • A polar bear’s skin is black, and its hair is clear.
  • In the Caribbean some oysters can climb trees.
  • Frozen lobsters can come back to life when thawed.
  • The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
  • The female pigeon cannot lay eggs if she is alone. In order for her ovaries to function, she must be able to see another pigeon.
  • Only humans and horses have hymens.
  • If you feed a seagul Alka Seltzer its stomach will explode.
  • Orcas kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath causing the shark to explode.
  • Octopi have gardens.
  • A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won’t.
  • Horses and Rabbits cannot vomit.
  • Montana mountain goats will but heads so hard their hooves fall off.