The Best Interesting Random Facts
Legend has it that whenever the French-speaking Mary, Queen of Scots, wasn’t feeling well, she would insist on a medicinal concoction made with boiled oranges. The orders the kitchen received were that Marie was malade, which is French for “sick,” leading to “Marie malade,” or marmalade. This, of course, is untrue. Marmalade is from the […]
Cactuses are thrifty plants that live in dry regions. They may not get much moisture where they live, but they manage to make the most of what they do get. Since the cactus’s long roots lie close to the surface of the ground, they can catch water from desert rains. And since the roots have […]
If you’ve ever tried to swat a fly with your hand or with a book, you’ve probably found that the pesty insect takes off before you can strike it. Flies have sensory hairs over their bodies, and these hairs can feel slight changes in air pressure. A moving hand pushes the air down on the […]
It is not its temper that makes a rhinoceros charge an intruder, but its poor eyesight. If it cannot recognize something, it will take no chances, but rush at it like a living tank, fast and furiously, ready to bite. The “horn” at the end of the rhino’s long nose, which can vary from 1 […]
Many people use llamas for packing, and they are perfect for long backpacking trips. Because of the llama’s easy-going nature, many people are enjoying wilderness treks that they would not be able to with other pack animals. Most places don’t allow you to rent one of their animals without a guide and a specific trek […]
On space flights in the past, the components of breathable air, oxygen and nitrogen, were brought up in canisters. However, when the space station built, plans were announced to have it carry equipment to recover oxygen indirectly from the carbon dioxide crew members exhale. astronauts NASA’s Johnson Space Center tested means to recycle air and […]
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 […]
Females Lobsters mate during the soft-shell phase after molting. The courtship process is a little odd. Before molting, the female approaches a male’s den and stands outside, releasing her scent in a stream of urine. When he emerges from his den, the two spar briefly, then the female places her claws on his head to […]
The keenest sense of smell in the insect world, and in fact in all nature, belongs to the male silkworm moth. This valuable moth uses its two antennae mainly to locate the female and can detect her signal, or smell, up to 6.8 miles away, amazing for an insect only about 1 inch long.
The frisky little otter, who lives on the banks of lakes and streams, is not much of a worker, but is a great player. While its neighbor on land, the beaver, is busy building dams, the otter builds slides on snowy slopes for its favorite game – bellywhopping. The otter has a smooth stomach which […]
Polar Bears have a rather good sense of smell. They can sniff out a dead seal from twelve miles away, and even detect a seal buried under 3 feet of snow. The polar bear’s most common hunting method is called still-hunting, where it uses its excellent sense of smell to locate a seal breathing hole, […]
Although lions are not exactly the most cooperative animals, people have been training them since nearly the beginning of recorded history. The annals say that the Egyptian pharoah Ramses II (1290-1224 B.C.) had a tame lion that he took into battle as a mascot, and the Roman emperor Elagabalus (A.D. 218-222) paraded in a chariot […]
The clock tower north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, often referred to as “Big Ben”, is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. “Big Ben” is neither the tower nor the clock of England’s Houses of Parliament. Rather, it’s the largest of the bells in […]
Dog shows are also known as conformation shows, or breed shows. The first modern conformation dog show was held in England in June 1859, and the only breeds scheduled were pointers and setters. Dog show judges try to pick dogs that epitomize the published standards for each breed, but this can be challenging, as the […]
Fred Astaire’s shoe size was a pretty average, 10 1/2. His height, however, sometimes caused problems. He looks tall on screen because he was very thin and angular. In reality, however, he was quite short, 5′ 8″, and sometimes needed his dancing partners to take off their high heels for dialogue scenes. Ginger Rogers, at […]
Most of Australia’s 140 Species of Native Snakes are Poisonous. Of the world’s top twenty-five most poisonous snakes, twenty-one of them are in Australia, including sea snakes that are two to ten times more poisonous than cobras. Sea snakes are venomous snakes that have evolved from terrestrial ancestors, and live in marine environments for most […]
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 giant squid is the second biggest squid and marine invertebrate in the world after the colossal squid. The giant squid is bigger than any octopus, and can grow up to 43 feet for females and 33 feet for males from caudal fin to the tip of the two long tentacles. There have been reports […]
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 […]
The only Llama we know of in Tibet would be the Dalai Lama, although he currently doesn’t live there anymore. Llamas are believed to have originated from the central plains of North America about 40 million years ago. They migrated to South America and Asia about 3 million years ago, and by the end of […]
Penguins don’t live in the Arctic because they don’t like having to swim across warm water. They are perfectly happy where they are, however, you’d be surprised how far north they can go. There are colonies in Australia and New Zealand, as well as at the southern tips of South America and Africa. But the […]
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 […]
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, […]
There are several different species of cuckoo birds, and they got their names from the call of the Common Cuckoo, which is also familiar from cuckoo clocks. The American cuckoo is about a foot long and, unlike other birds, has two toes that point forward and two that point backward, most birds have three forward, […]
From the moment the Sun King arose from his sumptuous gold bed, aligned with the rising sun at the centerpiece of his beloved Versailles, the château was alive with activity. The life of every courtier, minister, lovely lady, doctor, and cook was finely tuned to the rituals of the King, his dressing, shaving, dining, meetings, […]
It doesn’t seem to make sense for vulnerable colorful butterflies to be so brightly colored. They should be more like the other bugs, which blend so much into the background that they’re nearly invisible to their enemies. Butterflies are so bright, it’s almost as if they’re trying to be seen. It turns out, though, that […]
A greenish iridescent sheen is often found on foods containing traces of fat in water. When it is cool this mix separates out microscopically into a film, like oil on a wet road. In some types of cold meats, such as sliced silverside of beef or some hams, you may see a handsome opalescence. The […]
“He cannot be a gentleman that loveth not a dog,” reads an old proverb, and there can be no doubt that the American loveth all things canine. There are now about 1.1 million pedigreed dogs registered in this country, about one pedigreed pooch for every 200 Americans. The number of mongrels extant is anybody’s guess. […]
When a light bulb is switched on, its delicate filament is hit with a triple whammy. The resistance of the metal filament rises with its temperature. When it is switched on, its resistance is less than a tenth of its usual working level so an initial current more than 10 times the rated value surges […]
Giraffes are herbivores and love to browse and eat the twigs of Acacia trees, and they also eat grass and fruit. The giraffe has developed a specially-adapted tough tongue and lips due to their diet, which may occasionally include tree thorns. As a ruminant, the giraffe first chews its food, then swallows for processing and […]