Ah, Valentine’s Day. The day we’re reminded that our hearts are nothing more than little beat machines, tirelessly doing their thing while we’re out here scrambling for dinner reservations, dodging awkward small talk, and pretending we’re okay with whatever chocolates are on sale at the store. Meanwhile, our hearts keep beating away like overworked employees, reminding us of our existence, all while we try to remember if we’re actually supposed to get our partner a gift this year or just go with a heartfelt “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
But hold on—why stop at one heart when you can have five? That’s right, some animals have strange heart – those creatures out there don’t settle for the single, fragile heart that most of us humans get stuck with. Oh no, they’ve figured out that if you’re going to be living the drama-filled, high-maintenance life of a wild creature, you better have backup. Multiple backups, in fact. Imagine living your life with not one, not two, but five hearts—just in case one gets tired of all the chaos. Because, clearly, “less is more” doesn’t apply to the animal kingdom.
While we’re out here trying not to panic when we hear our own heart rate spike during a stressful Zoom meeting, some animals are out there with enough hearts to start a full-fledged heart club. And don’t even get me started on the animals with unique kinds of hearts. These creatures have got style with a capital S. They’re not just collecting hearts—they’re flaunting them like they’re the exclusive VIP members of an elite club. So, let’s take a look at these overachieving creatures who clearly took the “heart” of Valentine’s Day a little too literally, shall we?
Triple the Hearts: True Blue-Blooded Royals of the Sea
Cephalopods—octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish—aren’t just the multi-armed, ink-blasting superheroes of the sea, they’re also the overachievers of the animal kingdom when it comes to heart health. With not one, not two, but three hearts, these creatures could practically fall in love three times at once. Who needs just one strange heart when you can have a backup (or two)?
Two of their hearts are busy pumping blood to their gills, ensuring they get all the oxygen they need to pull off those graceful underwater acrobatics. Meanwhile, the third heart is handling the rest of the body, making sure all those tentacles are well-nourished and ready to grab, squeeze, or swim at a moment’s notice.
But the drama doesn’t end there—no, cephalopods are all about a little flair. While our blood is a standard red (nothing special, really), their blood is a bold blue—and not in the moody, sad way. Their copper-based hemocyanin gives it a royal blue color, like they’re the underwater royalty of the animal kingdom. Forget “royalty,” these guys are basically swimming around with their own personal blue-blooded crown, ruling the seas with three hearts and an air of mysterious grandeur.
Blue Whale’s Strange Heart: The World’s Largest Nap Machine!
Meanwhile, the blue whale, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the animal kingdom, proudly flaunts the world’s biggest heart. Weighing in at a whopping 950 pounds (432 kg) and about the size of a small car, the blue whale’s heart could easily double as a kiddie pool for a family of gerbils—or, you know, a cozy jacuzzi for a group of dolphins. This massive organ needs all that size to keep up with a creature that’s as long as two school buses stacked end to end. It’s basically the heart version of a monster truck—big, bold, and built to handle a lot of weight.
But here’s the real showstopper: when the blue whale dives deep into the ocean, its heart rate drops to a mere four beats per minute. FOUR. Beats. Per. Minute. Imagine if you could slow your own heart rate down that much—you’d basically be napping your way through the day, hitting the snooze button every four minutes like a pro. The whale’s strange heart has mastered the art of “taking it easy,” allowing it to conserve oxygen while cruising through the ocean like it’s on an eternal vacation. Meanwhile, we’re over here struggling to keep our hearts from racing during a 20-minute Zoom meeting. This whale’s got a whole “slow and steady wins the race” thing down to an art!
Fish Strange Heart: One Chamber, No Drama, and a Regrowth Button
In the fish world, strange heart is not just about pumping blood—they’ve got the style! Take the zebrafish, for instance, which could totally headline its own romantic comedy. Imagine this: they get their hearts broken, and instead of crying into a pint of ice cream, they just grow a new one! No big deal, just a quick heart reboot like it’s no thing. It’s the fish version of “I’m fine, really” – and they get a shiny new heart at the end of it. Not all fish hearts are quite so dramatic, but they do come with some quirky features that set them apart from the heart-having masses.
Fish hearts are the minimalist’s dream, with just one atrium and one ventricle—no unnecessary extra chambers cluttering things up. But to make sure they don’t feel too simple, they’ve added a couple of cool upgrades. First, there’s the bulbus arteriosus, which is like a little blood-smoothing tube. Think of it as the heart’s version of a stress ball—it makes sure blood doesn’t go all “wild and crazy” when it leaves the heart. Then, we’ve got the sinus venosus, a sac that holds blood like a waiting room for VIP blood before it enters the heart. It’s basically a blood lounge. These features give fish hearts a little extra swagger, like they’re saying, “Who needs four chambers when you’ve got all the cool stuff?”
Fish hearts are basically the low-maintenance, cool-kid version of the complicated, four-chambered hearts of mammals and birds. While we’re out here running marathons and obsessing over cardio, fish are cruising through life with their laid-back, heart-of-gold attitude.
Earthworms: No Real Heart, No Lungs, and Zero Stress About It!
Earthworms have taken the “no heart, no problem” approach to life—and they’re doing just fine. Instead of the usual one big heart, they’ve got five pseudohearts. Each of the pseudohearts can be thought of as a strange heart—tiny vein-squeezing ringer that help move blood along their squiggly, noodle-like bodies.Imagine a very determined set of little muscle pumps, trying to get the blood flowing like it’s a homemade slip-n-slide that’s just a little too bumpy. It’s not quite a cardiologist’s dream, but hey, it works! What a
And if that wasn’t enough to make you raise an eyebrow, earthworms don’t even have lungs. Nope, they breathe through their skin, which sounds like a design flaw in a sci-fi movie, but somehow, it does the job. While we’re out here stressing about oxygen levels and lung capacity, earthworms are just chilling, letting their skin do the heavy lifting.
For earthworms, “five hearts, no lungs” might as well be their motto, like the world’s strangest wellness plan. No complicated systems, no gym memberships—just straight-up simplicity and squirming through the dirt. If they ever start a wellness trend, it’ll be called “Low-maintenance Living: The Earthworm Way.”
Cockroaches: The Survivors with Spa-Style Circulatory Systems
Then we have cockroaches, the true legends of the insect world—if by “legends” you mean unkillable, horror-movie-worthy survivors who thrive in every awful situation. These little creatures have circulatory systems as strange as their ability to survive the apocalypse. Instead of the neat, organized circulatory system we humans have, cockroaches rock an open circulatory system. Their blood (or “hemolymph” if you’re feeling fancy) just floats freely around their body like an all-you-can-drink spa treatment for their organs. It’s like someone forgot to design their circulatory system and just let the blood do whatever it wanted. No blood vessels, no pumping heart, just a big ol’ internal free-for-all.
And get this—cockroaches don’t even need their blood to carry oxygen. They breathe through spiracles, tiny holes along their sides that act like secret ventilation shafts. Picture a cockroach, cruising through your kitchen, with its own little air conditioning system, while you’re over there sweating in the summer heat, desperately searching for a fan. Meanwhile, the cockroach is cool, calm, and collected, living its best life with its own built-in breeze.
But wait—there’s more. Flying cockroaches (yes, those exist and they definitely want to make your life a living nightmare) actually have bigger hearts than the wingless ones. Why? Probably because they need a larger organ to keep their egos inflated while they’re zooming around, terrifying people who have way too many phobias. These flying cockroaches are clearly overachievers—they’ve already conquered the earth, so why not add “aerobatics” and “dramatic exits” to their resume?
Frog Strange Heart: Keep It Simple with 3 Chambers and Zero Stress!
Frogs are the chill, laid-back heart owners of the animal kingdom, rocking a three-chambered heart like it’s no big deal. This strange heart got two atria (the rooms that collect blood, like the VIP section of a nightclub) and only one ventricle (the DJ booth, where the blood gets pumped out). Compare that to mammals and birds, who are over here showing off their fancy four-chambered hearts—two atria and two ventricles, keeping their oxygenated and deoxygenated blood as separate as their Netflix and Hulu accounts.
But here’s the frog’s secret: they don’t need all that extra heart drama. Their three-chambered design works just fine for their amphibious lifestyle. They can flip between breathing through their lungs on land and absorbing oxygen through their skin while chilling in the water—talk about a breathe-easy system! Frogs are basically the heart’s version of the minimalist, “I’m good with what I’ve got” attitude. So, while we’re stressing over four-chambered hearts and cardio routines, frogs are like, “I’ve got this down to a science—less is more!”