The Best Interesting Random Facts
The sea otter is a marine mammal that can be found on the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Its thick luxurious fur almost drove them to extinction, and is the thickest fur in the animal kingdom. The otter’s unbelievable density of fur, has about 650,000 hairs per square inch of its […]
Bears are mammals of the Ursidae family, and can be found in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Bears are usually solitary animals and diurnal, meaning they are active during the day and sleep at night. The English name “bear” comes from Old English word “bera”, which means “brown” in Germanic languages. The ancient […]
Tigers are pretty easy going about breeding in captivity and in the wild for that matter. Mating of tigers can occur all year round, but it is usually more common between the months of November and April. Enough tiger kittens are born in captivity that live captures are no longer necessary to keep zoos and […]
The word Butterfly is definitely not another word for “flutterby.” Butterfly comes from the Old English word buterfleoge, meaning “butter/flying creature.” Some linguists speculate that maybe the buter refers to the butter-yellow color of some European butterflies. However, that doesn’t make a lot of sense; plenty of colors besides yellow are represented in the butterflies […]
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 […]
It would be best not to complain about how basketball got its name, it could have easily been called “box ball” or even “trash can ball.” In 1891, when James Naismith was inventing the game for bored, snowbound students at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, he intended to use wooden boxes for his targets. But […]
Domestication of dogs by humans can be traced back to at least 10,000 years ago. Evidence of the oldest known breed of dog, the saluki, a Middle Eastern dog, appeared on artifacts as long ago as 7000 B.C. Ancient Egyptians were breeding hunting dogs that resembled large mastiffs before 1500 B.C. The irresistible, fluffy Maltese […]
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 donut wasn’t always called a nut, and when it was first called a nut, the name actually made sense. First of all, let’s dismiss one spurious but widespread legend reported by otherwise reputable sources: that the name was invented during World War I because the fighting “doughboys” went “nuts” over the doughnuts and coffee […]
So you think it’s hot where you are? Not even close. The hottest place on earth ever recorded (as of 2015) was Death Valley, California, U.S.A. where the temperature reached a scorching 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) on 10 July 1913. The previous record of 57.7 °C (135.9 °F) reported on Sept. 13, 1922. in El […]
Along with lions, tigers are the largest members of the cat family. One of the most feared animals of the jungle, the tiger has no enemies except man. Tigers are native to the Asian continent. Although many peoples have legends to explain the tiger’s stripes, the reason is really the animal’s adaptation to its environment. […]
The vegetables that are grown in the largest quantities around the world are the tomato and the potato. But the most widely used vegetable is the onion. The onion appears in more dishes and in more countries than any other vegetable. In some places, the onion is used to flavor dishes, while in other countries […]
Fleas are the best jumpers in the insect world. They can jump eight to ten inches high, many times their own height. The tiny flea is a parasitic insect, one that lives on other animals. It is best known for living on dogs and cats, but fleas also live on other animals, such as rats, […]
The Aztecs smoked tobacco through a hollow reed or cane tube, and elsewhere in Central and South America the indigenous population rolled shredded tobacco in corn husks and other vegetable materials. The conquistadores who witnessed this returned to Spain with something resembling our present day cigar. Wealthy Spaniards smoked these cigars and often tossed the […]
Beluga whales are mammals, and like all but two species of mammals, they don’t lay eggs. It would be impossible to slice them open as we do fish and pull out their eggs to salt, pickle, and sell to status seekers with too much money. But the word belukha means “white” in Russian, meaning there […]
Many weird religions would say the chicken came first without hesitation, claiming that their god created the animals and birds complete and without evolution or change. However, evolutionary evidence more strongly supports the egg-first theory. Genetically, chickens can be traced back to an earlier bird found in Indochina called the red jungle fowl. Over time, […]
Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. It is consumed regularly by one third of the world’s population, and consumption continues to rise steadily. At the turn of the 1900s, world exports totaled about one million tons. But by 1950, that figure had doubled. Today, several million tons of beans are […]
Crayons are sticks of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other materials used for writing, coloring, and drawing. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel. A grease pencil or china marker is made of colored hardened grease and is used for marking hard, glossy surfaces like glass. Water-soluble crayons are made by […]
In the mid-1800s, white hunters started using rifles to kill buffalo for their hides, which could be sold for a high profit. Soon whites were killing many more buffalo than Indians were. And unlike the Indians, who used virtually every part of the buffalo, whites took only the skin and left the rest of the […]
Alfred Hitchcock had several nicknames. His folks called him Fred. His schoolmates and friends called him kooky. He referred to himself as Hitch. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 and he pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller film genres. Hitchcock directed over fifty feature films in a career […]
There is no name for a group of tigers, because groups of tigers don’t really exist in the wild or in captivity. The relationships between tiger individuals can be quite complex, and there aren’t any set rules that tigers follow with regards to territorial rights. Although tigers avoid each other for the most part, both […]
Hippos do not sweat blood, but it’s an understandable misconception based on a glandular condition of the Nile hippo. This aquatic beast has a mucous gland that, when its owner is startled, nervous, or excited, produces an oozing, reddish-tinted liquid that’s easily mistaken for blood. The oily liquid normally helps keep the hippo’s skin from […]
Sheep farming is practiced all over the world, and has been significant in the history of many civilizations. There are over 500 different breeds of sheep around the world. Their wool varies according to the breed. The New Zealand Romney sheep, for instance, produces the best wool for making carpet. The merino, in contrast, has […]
The first European explorer to see American buffalo was probably Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (c. 1490-c. 1560), who survived one of the most incredible adventures any Spaniard underwent. Cabeza de Vaca originally sailed to Tampa Bay, Florida, as treasurer for the expedition of conquistador Panfilo de Narvaez (c. 1480-1528) in 1528. The […]
Although lemon enhances the taste of fish, that isn’t the original reason the two were served together. Six hundred years ago, lemon was introduced with fish as a safety precaution. People believed that if someone swallowed a bone, a mouthful of lemon juice would dissolve it. We now know that this isn’t the case, but […]
It is highly unlike that you will hurt or injure a llama if you pack too much load on it. However, Llamas have this great mechanism that kicks in when you load them with more weight than they can handle. They just sit down and refuse to budge. In the Inca empire llamas were the […]
A camel is an even-toed ungulate with fatty deposits we know as humps on its back. There are two species of camels. The Dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and is found in North Africa and the Middle East. The Bactrian camel has two humps, and the few remaining in the wild in […]
Miniature horses are bred for their small size, and are found in many nations, particularly in Europe and the Americas. Miniature horses are the size of a very small pony, most have regular horse characteristics and are considered “horses” biologically. They are usually friendly and have good people skills, which makes them good household pets, […]
The Crabeater Seal is the most numerous seal species in the southern ocean with a population nearing 50 million. It is the second most numerous large species of mammal on Earth, after humans, but there are much fewer than the 1.3 billion domesticated cattle in the world. More than one in every two seals in […]
This remains an unanswered question. Although the sound of a cat’s purr is familiar to all, how the cat does it still remains a mystery. Scientists do know, however, that cats have two sets of vocal chords in their throat, one above the other. Each set produces different sounds. Many scientists believe that the lower […]