Sho
cking Life Facts You Never Knew
Life is full of surprises, and sometimes even the most mundane things can take us by surprise with their incredible facts. From the science behind everyday objects to the crazy and unexpected things about the world we live in, here's a list of mind bending, shocking and cold facts you never knew!
1. The Huia Bird - extinct bird of New Zealand, had the unique ability to use its beak like a pair of scissors to strip bark from trees in search of insects- a one of a kind ability found nowhere else in the world.
2. The largest organism in the world is a fungus - Armillaria ostoyae, which covers over 2,200 acres of land in Oregon. It is estimated to be over 2,400 years old and covers an area larger than the size of forty football fields!
3. A teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh over a billion tons; neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars in the universe.
4. Pineapples take two years to mature as they are originally from South America, meaning they had to travel by ship to other parts of the world.
5. The tallest waterfall in the world is the Angel Falls in Venezuela. It falls over 3,200 feet and is 15 times taller than Niagara Falls.
6. A Camel's hump is not filled with water, but it is a fat reservoir that can be later used as energy and nourishment when food is scarce, hence helping them survive for long periods of time without food.
7. The dream of controlling the weather can be dangerous; the US Government has undertaken weather modification experiments since the 1940s, resulting in some devastating weather and environmental impacts.
8. The average lifespan of a taste bud is about 10 days.
9. The platypus is one of the few mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth. They also have no nipples, and instead milk their young through pores in their skin.
10 A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.
11. The Statue of Liberty was not always green; it was originally copper in color, but over time, oxidation turned it green.
12. The Earth has more than seven billion people living on it, which accounts for less than 1% of all living organisms on the planet.
13. The longest mountain range in the world is under water; the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is over 40,000 miles long and runs from the Arctic Ocean to the Southern Ocean.
14. Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.
15. The world's largest snowflake on record fell in Montana in 1887 and was 15 inches wide and eight inches thick.
16. The Great Barrier Reef is over 500,000 years old.
17. A group of rhinos is called a crash.
18. A flock of crows is called a murder.
19. A hedgehog's heart rate can drop to around two beats per minute when it's hibernating.
20. The highest city in the world is La Rinconada in Peru, which is over 16,700 feet above sea level.
There you have it, some of the most fascinating and surprising facts about the world we live in. These cold, and often unbelievable, facts show us how much we have yet to learn and discover about our planet and the creatures that inhabit it!
