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The Best Interesting Random Facts

cheetahs are the oldest living cat species

How is the Cheetah the Oldest Living Species of Big Cat and Where did it Come From?

The cheetah was previously believed to be the primitive species among the big cats and evolved approximately 18 million years ago. Recent studies have suggests that the last common ancestor of all species of felines lived only about 11 million years ago. The same research shows that the cheetah, does not have ancient lineage, and […]

Nike shoe

Where Did the Nike Name Come From and How Did the Nike Logo Originate?

In 1972, the Blue Ribbon Shoe Company turned to the art department of nearby Portland State University for a student who could design a distinctive logo. Carolyn Davidson was chosen, and she set about the first real job of her career. Company founder Phil Knight asked for something both functional and stylish. He wanted what […]

bear-03

Do All Bears Sleep Through Most of the Winter When They Hibernate?

Only bears that eat more vegetation than meat, like the brown and black bears sleep through most of the winter when they hibernate. Their main food supplies die or get buried under snow in winter, so it’s a good time for them to go undercover and live off their fat for three to seven months. […]

armadillo

Are Armadillos Poisonous and Are Armadillo Bites Painful?

To a bug or snail, armadillo bites are painful and deadly most of the time. However, to anything bigger like humans, armadillo bites aren’t really painful, unless you’re a wuss. Armadillos aren’t poisonous either, so there’s no need for a trip to the hospital. An armadillo’s teeth are located at the back of its mouth, […]

biggest cake in the world

What Was the Largest Cake Ever Baked?

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! […]

where did corn originate

Where Did Corn Come From?

Corn is the second most widely grown crop on earth today, after wheat, and in the United States it’s the largest crop. But no one in Europe knew about corn until Columbus sailed for the New World. Corn probably first grew in Central America and, by at least 2000 B.C., was cultivated by the Indians […]

How did the Tree Kangaroo get its Name, Where does it Live, and Does it really Live in Trees?

Tree kangaroos are macropods that live in trees in the mountainous rainforests of New Guinea, northeastern Queensland Australia, and a few islands nearby. Tree-kangaroos evolved from animals similar to modern kangaroos, and have strong hind legs and very long tails for balance, and stronger forelimbs with longer claws for climbing. On the ground, tree-kangaroos are […]

what is goat hair used for

Why Do Male Goats Have Beards and What Is Goat Hair Used For?

Both male and female goats can have beards, just like humans. Got more questions? Is goat hair used for anything? Mohair and cashmere are both fancied-up names for material made from goat hair. Neutered horses are geldings, but what’s a neutered goat called? A neutered goat is called a wether. How rude is it to […]

tiger mascot

What is the Most Common Nickname For College Football Teams in the United States?

The Tigers is the most common nickname for College Football teams in the United States. Felines do very well in the NCAA. Cat nicknames like the Tigers, Cougars, Lions, and Pumas outnumber dog nicknames like Bulldogs, Terriers, Wolves, and Huskies by more than two to one. Other common names for college football teams include Eagles, […]

like hogan's goat

What Does the Expression “Like Hogan’s Goat” Mean and Where Does It Come From?

Poor old Hogan is merely an innocent bystander in the modern Americanism “like Hogan’s goat”. Just as with “Hogan’s brickyard,” a slang designation of a baseball diamond, the goat could be the property of Jones, Smith, or Rockefeller, or VanTassel. That is, the name of the owner has no bearing whatever on the meaning of […]

statue-01

How do Statues of Men on Horses Tell How the Rider Died and What are the Various Depictions?

An equestrian statue is a statue of a horse-mounted rider, and the term comes from the Latin word “eques”, meaning “knight” and a derivative of “equus”, which means “horse”. Statues of horse and rider are exclusively of monarchs or great warriors and are usually found in places of honor. The tradition is that if the […]

Where do Silkworms Come From and How Long is the Thread from a Single Silkworm Cocoon?

The silkworm is the larva of the domesticated silkmoth known as Bombyx mori, which means “silkworm of the mulberry tree” in Latin. Bombyx mori is a domesticated variety bred from the Bombyx mandarina species from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan and eastern Russia. As hinted by its Latin name, the Silkworm loves white […]

brown eggs are not better than white eggs

How are Brown Eggs Healthier Than White Eggs and Which Chicken Lays Blue, Green and Spotted Eggs?

Brown eggs being healthier than white eggs is a stupid myth that started because people assumed that brown foods like breads, sugar, flours are healthier than white ones. In fact, the fictional James Bond would only eat one type of egg, the one from the Helsumer chicken. Its egg is a dark, chocolaty brown, sometimes […]

coast-01

What Does the Phrase “The Coast is Clear” Mean and Where Did it Come From?

The person who says, “The coast is clear,” sounds as though he or she is being cautious about avoiding legal detection, and so it should. It originated as the standard cry from the man in the crow’s nest of every pirate ship before it chanced a landing. When the captain verified with his telescope that […]

elephants communicate with low frequency sounds

How Do Elephants Communicate With Each Other and Why Do They Make Loud Trumpet Noises?

Elephants make several sounds when communicating, and are famous for their trumpet calls made by blowing through its nostrils. Trumpeting is often made when an elephant is excited or startled. Researchers have known for years that elephants use their trunks to interact socially. However, they’ve more recently discovered that elephants use low-frequency verbal communication as […]

circus lion and no trainer

How Long have People Been Training Lions and How Dangerous is the Profession?

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 […]

what is a mammal

What Is a Mammal?

Mammals are one of the classes of animals. Scientists have classified, or divided, all animals into groupings according to the ways in which they are alike. All mammals have one characteristic that no other animal have, mammals are the only animals whose females produce milk to feed their young. The word mammal comes from the […]

How did the Beluga Sturgeon get its Name, What does it Mean in Russian, and What is Beluga Caviar?

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 […]

adams-apple-02

Where did the Term Adam’s Apple Come From and Why is the Lump in a Man’s Throat Called an Adam’s Apple?

The Adam’s Apple, also known as the laryngeal prominence, is a feature of the human neck. Both men and women have the thyroid cartilage, but it is usually more prominent in adult men. The Adam’s apple got its name from an ancient embellishment of the story of Adain and Eve. Folklore had it that when […]

How is the Australian Box Jellyfish the Deadliest Jellyfish in the World and Where does it Come From?

The Box jellyfish is a cube-shaped jellyfish known for its potent venom and can be found in northern Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii, and other tropical waters. The Box jellyfish uses its venom to catch prey and as a defense against predators. Its sting is extremely painful and sometimes fatal to humans, making it one of the […]

vulcan-01

Where is the Planet Vulcan Located, How did Vulcan Get its Name, and Does the Planet Vulcan Really Exist?

In 1845, some astronomers believed that the only explanation for Mercury’s confusing and erratic orbit of the sun would be the presence of gravitational pull from an unseen nearby planet, which they named “Vulcan.” French mathematician Le Verrier, who came up with the hypothesis to explain Mercury’s orbit, died in 1877, still convinced of having […]

cheetahs purr

How do Cheetahs Communicate and What Kind of Sounds Do Cheetahs Make?

Unlike true big cats, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar. By contrast, the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling. There’s no such thing as a cheetah’s roar, since cheetahs don’t roar. They do, however, purr like a kitten, hiss, whine, and growl. And when they want to […]

rudolph the red nosed reindeer

When did the Christmas Song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” become Part of the Christmas Tradition?

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer made his debut in 1939. Not surprisingly, Rudolph was originally created as part of an ad campaign. The Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department store asked an employee, veteran copywriter Robert May, to come up with a character the store could use in holiday coloring books to pass out at Christmas. As he […]

tigers sometimes eat people

What is the Best Way to Avoid Being Attacked and Eaten by Tigers if You Encounter One in the Wild?

If you’re concerned about being attacked or eaten by tigers, staying in America and away from zoos and circuses is a safe bet. On their own turf, tigers can be a real menace, more so, even, than the other big cats. For example, one female tiger in Champawat, India, was blamed for killing at least […]

platypus

How did the Platypus Get its Name, What does it Mean, and Why did the British think it was a Hoax?

We don’t know what the local aborigines thought when they first saw what they called a tambreet, or boonaburra in the Mallangong language. Although an aboriginal myth about how the platypus evolved has to do with a teenage duck disobeying her father by going ashore and getting raped by a water rat. The name “platypus” […]

another way to solve a Rubik's Cube

Who Invented the Rubik’s Cube, How Did it Get its Name, and How Did the Rubik’s Cube Originate?

In 1980, Rubik’s Cube became a worldwide craze. Its Hungarian inventor, Professor Erno Rubick, had created the cube as a math aid for his students. After realizing the cube’s potential as a toy, he sold two million in Hungary alone before introducing it to the West, making him the Communist world’s first self-made millionaire. The […]

snake or serpent

What is the Difference between a Snake, Viper and Serpent?

The subject is a confusing one because of the rather inexact use of terms in most post-Roman cultures. Especially large or poisonous snakes are commonly called serpents, and biblical tradition calls the shape Satan assumed to tempt Eve a serpent. But technically speaking, all snakes can be called serpents, from the Latin derpere, meaning to […]

Easter Island Statues

Who Were the First Explorers of Ancient Civilization?

Thousands of years ago, vast empires rose and fell in Egypt, Greece, Italy, the Middle East, northern Africa, China, and India. Bold explorers from these civilizations, such as Pytheas and Hanno, ventured into unknown lands and seas. Most of them searched for new trade routes or places to settle. Today, scholars have limited knowledge of […]

the moon as seen from earth

How Much Does the Moon Weigh?

The weight of an object is really a measure of the force of gravity exerted on it by the earth. So bodies such as the earth and the moon don’t really “weigh” anything. But the earth and the moon do have mass, which is a measure of how much matter these bodies are composed of. […]

donkey ass

Why Is a Donkey Called an Ass?

A donkey and an ass aren’t quite the same thing. An ass is a smaller relative of the horse, with longer ears and a shorter mane. A donkey is a domesticated ass. So all donkeys are asses, but not all asses are donkeys. The word “ass” is much older than the word “donkey.” The Latin […]

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