Ground squirrels live across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. They have built homes in diverse landscapes, from deserts to forests.

Likewise, they are small to medium-sized with sturdy bodies and short legs. Their tails are bushy, and their fur comes in earthy tones. 

Ground squirrels create extensive tunnel systems to protect themselves from harsh weather and predators. These tunnels also contain food storage rooms and nurseries for their young. 

Moreover, these squirrels are most active during the morning and late afternoon and are mainly vegetarians. However, they will occasionally snack on insects and small vertebrates.

The Indian Giant Squirrel inhabits India's rainforests. It is one of the largest squirrels in the world, with a body length ranging from 25 to 45 cm and a tail that can grow up to 60 cm. 

The squirrel's coat is a mix of chestnut, maroon, black, and white, and its big, round eyes help it see in the dense forests where it lives.

Indian Giant Squirrels live alone, high up in trees, constructing large, globe-like nests from twigs and leaves. 

They eat fruits, flowers, nuts, tree bark, insects, and bird eggs and play an essential role in spreading seeds and helping new plants grow.

Besides their impressive size and colorful appearance, Indian Giant Squirrels are skilled acrobats. They hang upside down from branches, stretching their bodies to reach their food.

The Alpine Marmot is a squirrel relative found in Central and Southern Europe. It resides in rocky terrain and lush alpine meadows between 800 and 3,200 meters above sea level. 

The marmot digs burrows for shelter that can reach depths up to 3 meters, often located among the region's native flora, which makes up the marmot's diet. 

Likewise, the Alpine Marmot usually lives in colonies of up to 20 members. Each colony is a large family led by a dominant breeding pair and filled with their offspring.

Alpine marmots are hardy creatures built for survival in harsh climates. These squirrels hibernate  for up to nine months during the icy winters, only emerging when spring arrives. 

The Alpine marmot also does a unique whistle, echoing through the mountain air, which signals the rest of the colony that danger is near.

The Black Giant Squirrel has a striking black coat contrasted by cream to cinnamon hues on its underparts. Their body can grow up to 15 inches while their tails can be twice as long.

It's an arboreal animal found in Southeast Asia's mature forests that feeds on seeds, nuts, fruits, leaves, insects, bird eggs, and young birds.

Like oriental giant squirrels, this squirrel rarely ventures to the ground, preferring the trees' safety, where it communicates with its fellow squirrels through distinct calls.

The Variable Squirrel, or Finlayson's Squirrel, stands out due to its diverse coloration. This varies from black and white to grays and even lively hues of orange and red. You can identify them by their medium size, bushy tails, and rounded ears.

You'll find Variable Squirrels predominantly in Southeast Asia. Their habitat spans from forests to urban parks. Adaptation is their stronghold, allowing them to thrive in a wide range of environments.

Their diet largely consists of seeds, fruits, and nuts. However, they also occasionally consume insects.

The Layard's Palm Squirrel boasts a mix of grays and browns with an off-white underbelly. Noticeably, it has two thin and one thick stripes of orange along its body.

Found primarily in South Asia, these squirrels favor habitats with tropical weather. They are tree-dwellers, spending most of their time in rainforests, gardens, plantations, and woodland areas. Their choice of residence allows quick access to their preferred food sources.

Layard’s Palm Squirrels have a diverse omnivorous diet. They feast on various vegetation, including fruits, nuts, and flowers, but also consume insects and bird eggs when available. Their active daytime behavior involves foraging for food and agile tree-hopping.

Grizzly bears are known to break down car and house doors like there's nothing to it. They are one of the strongest land animals. Grizzly bears have massive bodies, can grow as tall as 8 feet, and weigh 900 pounds.

A grizzly bear preys on big animals like cattle, caribou, and black bears. It also feeds on fish, berries, fruits, nuts, and roots. Grizzly bears routinely lift huge rocks and logs out of their way in search of food. They are not good tree climbers, but they run fast, covering 35 miles in one hour.

In 2006, researchers at Montana State University experimented to test the strength of grizzly bears. They found that one grizzly bear had the strength of 2 to 5 humans. Sam the bear easily lifted a 700 pounds dumpster can and, with one paw, turned over a 675-pound stone.

Elephants are the largest land animals in the world, and African elephants are bigger than Asian elephants. Two species of African elephants exist African forest elephants and African bush elephants. The bush elephant is the larger of the two.

Adult African bush elephants can weigh 18,000 pounds and stand at a shoulder height of 13 feet. They are considered the strongest land animal and strongest mammals in the world by pure strength. An African bush elephant can lift a 250 kg object with just its trunk.

Despite their enormous size, elephants are agile and can run as fast as 40 miles per hour. They can also walk long distances and cover 25 to 195 km per day in search of food and shelter. Read more about these amazing majestic animals in our elephant facts.

Dung beetles feed on animal poop and use it to build their homes. With their powerful hind legs, a dung beetle pushes its dung balls, which can sometimes be as large as apples. Considering that the body size of a dung beetle varies from 0.2 to 1.2 inches, that is some heavyweight.

There are many species of dung beetles. In 2010, the Royal Society Journal B published a study that crowned the horned dung beetle5 as the world's strongest insect. 

The extraordinary strength of this dung beetle species comes from its ability to pull loads up to 1,141 times its own weight. That is like an average human lifting two 18-wheeler trucks.

For more reading, explore more dung beetle facts. And noting that these little creatures aren't exactly the prettiest, you might also like our compilation of the world's ugliest animals, which we love despite their appearances.

The rhinoceros beetle is also called the elephant beetle, Atlas beetle, or Hercules beetle. Rhino beetles are among the largest species of beetles in the world. They can grow to about 6 inches. Rhinoceros beetles have two horns3, one on the head and the other just below the head.

The rhinoceros beetle can pull objects 30 times their body weight without slowing down. That's the same as an average human carrying a rhino, as if they picked up a piece of paper. 

Some rhino beetles have the strength to carry 850 times their body weight, which helps the rhinoceros beetle claim the title of the world’s second-strongest insect.