How Long Animals Can Go Without Food

00:00
00:00
10:02
1

Hey, you hungry? Well, food equals fuel for every living being on Earth. But there are

creatures that can live much longeror much shorterthan we humans can without

anyrefueling.” So make yourself a sandwich and let’s take a look at them!

Giant anteater. Can go without food for just 1 to 3 days, but has to eat about 30,000 insects

per day! Despite its name, it also loves termites, slurping them up with its long tongue.

Kangaroo rat. This small creature can go hungry for up to 4 days, but doesn’t drink water

at all! It gets liquid from food. Giraffe. Can survive without food for up to

7 days. Giraffe’s tongue is so long that it uses it to clean its ears!

Elephant. Can go without food for up to 7 days. Elephants experience complex emotions,

just like we humans do. For example, they can feel happiness or sadness.

Wolf. Can go hungry for up to 10 days. Wolves generally need no more than 7 pounds of food

per day to survive, but they like to get as full as possible, so they can gobble up to

20 pounds in one sitting. Lion. Goes without food for up to 12 days.

Lion males are lazy hunters and let their lionesses do all the job instead.

Tiger. Up to 14 days without food is easy for this massive feline, but when it gets

to feeding at last, it can gorge itself, eating as much as 75 pounds of food in a single sitting.

Rabbit. Although this little furry creature needs as little as 8 oz of food per day, it

can easily last without food at all for longer than a tigerabout 15 days.

Condor. Can hunt for food without actually eating for 15 days. Condors are some of the

largest birds out there, and because of their huge weight they need the help of strong winds

to stay in the air. Domestic cat. Surprisingly, can deal with

hunger for 20 days if there’s enough water for it to drink. Just like humans, cats need

water more than food. Horse. Much like cats, equines can go hungry

for 20 days in a row, but then they need lots of fresh grass to graze onabout 15-20

pounds of it, to be precise. Amoeba. Despite its microscopic size, amoeba

can survive without feeding for 3 weeks. And its food are bacteria and other microscopic

creatures. Axolotl. These weird critters feel pretty

happy without food even for 21 days, and only need a couple of worms to stay this way for

another long period of time. Leopard gecko. Its cold-blooded nature allows

gecko to stay content without eating for a whole month, then munch on several large crickets,

and go on a diet again. Komodo dragon. These lizards are huge, but

can go hungry for a month as well. Still, they usually eat as much as their own weight

in one sitting and then lie in the sun, digesting. Cockroach. They say cockroaches will survive

anything, and no wonderthey can live without food for up to 30 days, and they don’t

even need head for that! Domestic dog. It all depends on the size of

a dog, of course, but a large one can survive for as long as 38 days without any food. It

will need water, though. Spotted salamander. Although it’s smaller

than a leopard gecko, a salamander goes even further when it comes to staying hungry — 40

days is a joke for this lizard. Camel. The ship of the desert, as this proud

animal is often dubbed, can easily deal with a 40-days-long hunger. It stores water and

sustenance as fat in its humps, and fills them again in one go.

Earthworm. These crawlers have no eyes or bones, but they feel okay without food for

50 days in a row. Usually, though, they need half their weight per day to feel satiated.

Human. Given enough water, we can go without food for about 2 months! Nah, come on, I can’t

survive even an hour without checking out the fridge for a snack.

Hedgehog. This curly ball of needles can survive for over two months without sustenance, and

it doesn’t only eat fruitinsects and even small rodents are a large part of a hedgehog’s

diet. Shark. Theyre toothy -- theyre scary,

but they only feed when necessary, being able to swim around hungry for 70 days. And they

don’t eat much: 3-7 pounds per day is usually enough for a shark to be content. Just don’t

take the 7 pounds out of me, please! Gila monster. If you haven’t ever heard

of it, relaxneither have I until recently. It’s another lizard that can wave away food

for almost 3 months and only needs 30% of its body mass eaten once per month.

Bear. When hibernating, these animals can sustain themselves on their own fat for over

100 days. But then they constantly hunt for food, eating about 90 pounds of berries, fish,

and meat per day. Emperor penguin. Females lay their eggs and

leave fathers to stay with them, while traveling over 50 miles across the ice. All this time,

about 4 months, neither of them eat anything at all.

Blue whale. The largest animal that ever lived (yes, it’s bigger than both T-Rex and megalodon

shark) can go hungry for up to 5 months, yet it normally gobbles up around 8,000 pounds

of krill! Badger. Small as it is, a humble badger lies

hibernating, just like bears do. This way, it can survive without food for almost half

a year, and then needs just a dozen mice to get full.

Python. Snakes are cold-blooded, like lizards, which helps them feed more rarely. And pythons

also have peculiar feeding habits: they swallow one big animal and then digest it for a while.

Galapagos tortoise. The biggest and oldest tortoises in the world have very slow metabolism,

allowing them to stay hungry for over a year. They can live over a hundred years, though,

so it’s just a moment for them. Spider. Slowly luring prey into its web, a

spider can tolerate hunger for a year and then gorge when the meal is ready.

Scorpion. Just a couple of large crickets once a week, and a scorpion is pretty happy.

If no food is available, well, it can survive for a year no problem.

Salmon. For a fish so big, it eats surprisingly little: just 2-3 ounces per day. And if necessary,

it can easily fast for over a year. Okay, here’s my joke: what did the bear say to

the salmon? Give up? “So, what’s eating you?”

Frog. Some species of these leaping amphibians can deal with a year-and-a-half fasting like

its nothing. They don’t like staying hungry, though.

Tick. Two years without any food is absolutely okay for this tiny creature. It lies in wait

until an animal comes close, then jumps on it and finally eats as long and as much as

it likes. Crocodile. The largest and most ancient reptiles

in the world coexisted with dinosaurs, and that’s probably thanks to how long they

can survive without food: up to 3 years. Lungfish. A fish that has lungs is weird enough,

but a fish that can stay hungry for over 4 years is even more so. Imagine seeing a fish

going out to the shore to bask in the sun! Trogoderma. Sounds like a new soap. But no.

Larvae of these insects can sleep without eating for over 5 years, while adult critters

only live for 5-10 days at most. Olm. These strange creatures are sometimes

callhuman fishbecause of their pink skin and tiny hands. They only live deep in

underwater caves and can stay without food for 10 years at a time.

Tardigrade. Cockroaches? Ha! Tardigrades can survive the most extreme conditions on the

planet and live happily without food or water for 30 years. Wow! How’s that for survival

skills?

Hey, if you learned something new today, then give the video a like and share it with a

friend! And here are some other videos I think you'll enjoy. Just click to the left or right,

and stay on the Bright Side of life!