10 Animal Heart Facts For Valentine's Day

We know that our emotional connection isn't why the heart is important (to put it simply it pumps blood). However, I wanted to take this opportunity (as I stare at my newly acquired Valentines scattered with pink and red hearts) to share with you a few facts that demonstrate why the heart is amazing.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's day. (Believe me, this beats (ha!) me showing you some exposed wildlife hearts which I considered doing)

ADVISORY: The following facts make great date conversation.

1.The heart of a blue whale is as big as a car.
2. Frogs and lizards have three chambers whereas birds and mammals have four.
3. The human heart beats roughly 35 million times a year.
4. Octopuses have three hearts.
5. Dogs have a larger heart to body mass ratio than all other mammals.
6. Scientists have re-created the heart of a rat and it even started beating!
7. Pythons grow bigger hearts at mealtimes.
8.A blue whale's heart beats six times a minute (next to a human's 70 times)
9. A manatee's heart rate slows down by half during a long dive.
10. A giraffe depends on it's powerful heart that weighs up to 12kg so that it can fight the force of gravity up that long neck to the head.

Copied from Wildlife Promise: http://blogs.nwf.org/arctic_promise/2008/02/10-animal-heart.html