The Best Interesting Random Facts
The average life expectancy for male indoor cats in captivity is about 12 to 14 years, with females usually living a year or two longer. There have been some reports of cats reaching into their 20s and even 30s, however, with the oldest known cat, Creme Puff, living to a ripe old age of 38. […]
This is a gullibility test. The Bathtub was introduced in England in 1828. The first tub in America was used by a Cincinnati resident named Thompson in 1842. After an argument among medical authorities concerning the benefits and hazards of bathing, the Bathtub was banned in Boston in 1845. Six years later, the first Bathtub […]
The skua is a seabird that nests on the ground in temperate and Arctic regions and are long-distance migrants, and have even been sighted at the South Pole. The name skua comes from the Faroese word “skúgvur”, and refers to the species Stercorarius skua which is from the island of Skúvoy in central Faroe Islands, […]
Guard dogs have been proven a useful tool for reducing sheep losses to predators, and are very effective when full-time members of a large flock. Llamas and donkeys are also often kept in sheep pens to scare off predators. Donkeys have been used for centuries to protect sheep and other herding animals, and are extremely […]
Bob Burns, radio humorist, in a letter to the author, says that he coined this term “bazooka” to fit the alleged musical instrument that he has made familiar to radio listeners. His explanation follows: I started taking mandolin and trombone lessons when I was six years old in Van Buren, Arkansas. When I was eight, […]
There are sometimes odd exceptions to rules in the animal kingdom. For example, virtually all mammals give birth to their young. However, take careful note of the “virtually” in the last sentence, of the 4,500 known species of mammals, 4,498 of them deliver their babies live. The two that don’t are related to each other, […]
The state of Wisconsin definitely has badgers, but it’s not why it’s called the badger state. Wisconsin doesn’t have many more badgers than any other state, but you have to admit that Wisconsin has one up on Michigan. However, the state wasn’t really called that because of its badgers, surprise, surprise, except indirectly. “Badgers” became […]
Llamas are not too picky about their food and will eat hay, grass, and grain. Domesticated Llamas are usually fed a mixture of bromgrass hay, alfalfa hay and corn silage, and a llama owner has a wide variety of commercial and farm based food products to choose from. Young llamas, which are still growing, require […]
The words parkway and driveway come from the days when only the well-off could afford an automobile. The long, winding roads from the highway to the manor were, and are still, called “driveways.” Driveways rarely have traffic lights, although some leading to commercial businesses and parks that have heavy traffic sometimes do. On the other […]
White tigers have white or almost white fur, and their unique coloration is caused by a recessive gene. There aren’t many white tigers left in the wild due to over-hunting of their pelts, and they are considered an endangered species. White tigers are a rare sight, and their eye-catching whiteness puts them at a disadvantage […]
Although the smallest snakes are no larger than worms, they are all predators. Small snakes eat insects. Larger snakes eat rats or squirrels or rabbits. The huge pythons and anacondas can swallow a deer. Some snakes use poison called venom to catch animals. They deliver their poison with a bite. Others are constrictors, which means […]
The longest known case of aquatic crustaceans living out of water is about 10,000 years, a record set by brine shrimp. Brine shrimp is the English name for the Artemia genus of marine crustaceans. The tiny shrimp have evolved little since the Triassic period. Brine shrimp, also known as “sea monkeys” in toy stores, can […]
Have you wondered how soap is made? The history of soap is actually quite interesting. Soap is made from combining fats and oils with an alkali. When mixed with water, soap loosens and attracts dirt, allowing it to be washed away. The earliest known soap-like material was found in the excavation of ancient Babylon and […]
One human year is not exactly seven dog years. The seven-to-one ratio used to measure dog years was just an average figured by comparing human life expectancy with dog life expectancy. Here’s how it more accurately breaks down. The first year of a dog’s life is equal to about nineteen or twenty human years, give […]
There are four variants of Peru’s national coat of arms. They are, the Coat of Arms per se, the National Coat of Arms or National Shield, the Great Seal of the State, and the Naval Coat of Arms. All four versions of Peru’s national coat of arms include the vicuña, because it is the national […]
The Jack Russell Terrier is a small terrier that originated from dogs bred for hunting in the 1800s using traditional fox terriers. It is commonly confused with the Parson Russell Terrier and the Russell Terrier with the term “Jack Russell” commonly mistakenly used for other small white terriers. Most historians say the pre-1900 fox terrier […]
Ice Age marsupials from Australia were pretty freaky-looking for sure. But America had some interesting creatures too during the Ice Age. For example, the giant sloth, which resembled the modern-day tree sloth but was much bigger, about the size of a bull ox, and lived exclusively on the ground. There was also an interesting armadillo […]
Before the electronic age, ticker tape was a thin paper ribbon of information fed mechanically to the brokers on Wall Street. At day’s end, floors were ankle deep with ticker tape. On October 28, 1886, the elaborate dedication of the Statue of Liberty was visible from the brokers’ windows, causing such excitement that they began […]
Back in the late 1500s and early 1600s the young men of England had a game of football that seems to have borne some resemblance to the later game of rugby. The player might either kick the ball or strike it with his arm or hand, though the inflated ball was so large and so […]
The bald eagle is not bald, but is so called because it has a head of pure white feathers. Its tail is also white, but the rest of its feathers are dark brown, and the wings may have silver tips. Known as the “king of birds,” the bald eagle looks majestic and proud, and seems […]
The domestic chicken descended mostly from the Red Junglefowl, or “Gallus gallus”, and is classified as the same species. The name chicken comes from the Old English word “cycen”, which means “young fowl”. It later evolved to mean “young chicken” in Middle English, which then was used to refer to any chicken, adult or juvenile. […]
The beautiful creatures with human bodies down to the waist and scaly, fish-like tails from the waist down exist ONLY in folklore and in fairy tales of many lands. In ancient Greek mythology, mermaids were beautiful sirens who lured sailors to their deaths. In German fairy tales, these maidens were said to have lived in […]
Some early news sheets were headed with N-E-W-S as points of a compass, but it was simply a clever gimmick. The word news predates these publications and emerged with its current meaning within a letter written by King James of Scotland in 1423. In 1616, his descendant, James I of England, wrote another letter, which […]
Rabies is a virus, and the usual route of transmission to humans is by the bite of an infected animal. Rabid dogs are the main transmitter of the illness in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In the United States, where vaccination of pets has controlled the disease, the infection is uncommon, and when it does […]
That’s like asking how you got into your skin. The turtle is born with its shell on. A turtle’s shell is part of its body, half on top attached at the sides to the half underneath. The shell has two layers: the outer layer is a shell of hardened skin tissue, and the inner layer, […]
Two centuries before Christ’s birth, the Druids celebrated the winter solstice with mistletoe because it enhanced fertility and was a favorite of the gods. The Romans hung it prominently during orgies, which is how it became associated with kissing and also why the church banned it in the fourth century. The name mistletoe is from […]
Quick, name a flower. Well, you may not have said rose, but if you were to experiment with the question you’d probably find that, of the estimated 300,000 species of plants on earth, the rose is the first flower to pop into most minds. Why? It’s difficult to say. Many other flowers are larger, more […]
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. The character was designed by animator Bob Clampett and introduced in the short “I Haven’t Got a Hat” which was released on March 2, 1935. The unmistakable voice of Porky Pig was originally done by Joe Dougherty, who […]
If you have a sweet tooth, you should have been in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1976 celebration of America’s Bicentennial. In honor of the event, bakers put together a cake that weighed more than 70,000 pounds. The huge dessert, the largest cake ever baked, contained some 120,000 eggs and more than 20,000 pounds of sugar! […]
The Tasmanian devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world and can only be found in the Australian island state of Tasmania. Stocky and muscular and the size of a small dog, Tasmanian devils have black fur, smell bad when threatened, and has an extremely loud and disturbing screech. Just like the cartoon, Tasmanian […]