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Here are the list of useless but amazing facts you could use to shock your peers with your intellect. Be a genius for a day!
DID YOU KNOW THAT....
"Facetious" and "abstemious" are the only words that contain all the vowels in the correct order.
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"Adcomsubordcomphibspac" is the longest acronym. It is a Navy term standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.
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"Almost" is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
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"Flushable" toilets were in use in ancient Rome.
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"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist.
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"Canada" is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
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"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
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"Duff" is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor.
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"Fickleheaded" and "fiddledeedee" are the longest words consisting only of letters in the first half of the alphabet.
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"Asthma" and "isthmi" are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between.
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"Fortnight" is a contraction of "fourteen nights." In the US "two weeks" is more commonly used.
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"Forty" is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. "One" is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.
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"Four" is the only number whose number of letters in the name equals the number.
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"Hang on Sloopy" is the official rock song of Ohio.
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"Happy Birthday" was the first song to be performed in outer space, sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on March 8, 1969.
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"Kemo Sabe", meaning an all knowing one, is actually a mispronunciation by Native American of the Spanish phrase, Quien lo Sabe, meaning one who knows."
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The lunula is the half-moon shaped pale area at the bottom of finger nails.
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"Ma is as selfless as I am" can be read the same way backwards. If you take away all the spaces you can see that all the letters can be spelled out both ways.
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"Mad About You" star Paul Reiser plays the piano on the show's theme song.
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"One thousand" contains the letter A, but none of the words from one to nine hundred ninety-nine has an A.
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"Rhythms" is the longest English word without the normal vowels, a, e, i, o, or u.
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"Second string," meaning "replacement or backup," comes from the middle ages. An archer always carried a second string in case the one on his bow broke.
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"Speak of the Devil" is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention. That's why when you're talking about someone and they show up people say "Speak of the Devil."
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"Tautonyms" are scientific names for which the genus and species are the same.
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"Taxi" is spelled exactly the same in English, French, German, Swedish, Portuguese, and Dutch.
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"Teh" means "cool" in Thai. (Pronounced "tay").
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"The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.
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"THEREIN" is a seven-letter word that contains thirteen words spelled using consecutive letters: the, he, her, er, here, I, there, ere, rein, re, in, therein, and herein.
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"Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und." $203,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.
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1 and 2 are the only numbers where they are values of the numbers of the factors they have.
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1 in 5,000 north Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.
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1 in every 3 people in the country of Israel use a cell phone.
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1 kg (2.2 pounds) of lemons contain more sugar than 1 kg of strawberries.
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1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the Unites States.
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1.7 litres of saliva is produced each day. In Discovery Channel, its a quart.
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10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment.
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10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria
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11% of the world is left-handed.
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1200 equals 1 pound (72 rupees).
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123,000,000 cars are being driven on highways in the United States.
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166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the United States.
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1959's A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway.
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2 and 5 are the only prime numbers that end in 2 or 5.
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203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.
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22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next hour.
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23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks.
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25% of a human's bones are in its feet.
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259,200 people die every day.
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27% of Americans believe we never landed on the moon.
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27% of U.S. male college students believe life is "a meaningless existential hell."
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3% of all mammals are monogamous
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315 entries in Webster's 1996 dictionary were misspelled.
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4 tablespoons of ketchup has about the same amount of nutrition as a ripe tomato.
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40% of all people who come to a party snoop in your medicine cabinet.
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40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
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43.7% of all statistics are made up right on the spot
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48% of astronauts experience motion sickness.
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52% of Americans drink coffee.
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55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses.
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56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball games each year
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67 million pounds of pesticides and about 3 million tons of fertilizer are used annually on lawns in the US.
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78 rpm albums, used prior to 1948, were only capable of recording for four minutes. It wasn’t until later that year that Columbia Records introduced 33 rpm albums capable of playing 23 minutes per side.
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80% of animals on earth are insects.
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80% of arrested criminals are male.
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In Disney's Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey played an apprentice was named Yensid, which is Disney spelled backward.
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By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.
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One in ten people live on an island.
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84% of a raw apple is water.
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85% of men who die of heart attacks during intercourse, are found to have been cheating on their wives.
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85,000,000 tons of paper are used in the United States each year.
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28% of Africa is classified as wilderness. In North America, its 38%.
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Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
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Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
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90% of bird species are monogamous; only 3% of animals are.
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90% of New York City cab drivers are recently arrived immigrants.
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98% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim.
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98% of the weight of water is made up from oxygen.
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99% of the pumpkins sold in the US end up as jack-o-lanterns.
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A "2 by 4" is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2.
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A "Blue Moon" is the second full moon in a calendar month (it is rarely blue).
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A "hairbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch.
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A "quidnunc" is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip.
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A 1,200-pound horse eats about seven times it's own weight each year.
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A 1.5 oz. milk chocolate bar has only 220 calories. A 1.75 oz. serving of potato chips has 230 calories.
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A 10-gallon hat actually only holds about 3/4 gallon.
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A 14-year old French girl had extraordinary electrical power. With a gentle touch she could knock over heavy pieces of furniture and people in physical contact with her received an electrical shock.
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A 17 year old girl from Miami, Florida started to sneeze on 4th January 1966 and continued till 8th June 1966.
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A 6 pound sea-hare can lay 40,000eggs in a single minute.
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A 7-year study, which concluded in the summer of 2000, found that 33 U.S. deaths were caused by rottweilers, pit bulls were responsible for 27 deaths.
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A acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2000 pounds of beans after hulling or milling.
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A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945.
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A Baboon called "Jackie" became a private in the South African army in World War I.
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A bat is the only mammal that flies.
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A bathometer is an instrument for indicating the depth of the sea beneath a moving vessel.
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A bean has more DNA per cell than a human cell
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A bee could travel 4 million miles (6.5 million km) at 7 mph (11 km/h) on the energy it would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of nectar, or it could just sit down on and enjoy that honey properly.
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A beaver's teeth never stop growing.
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A bibliophile is a collector of rare books. A bibliopole is a seller of rare books.
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A bird requires more food in proportion to its size than a baby or a cat.
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A Blue Earth, Minnesota, law declares that no child under the age of twelve may talk over the telephone unless monitored by a parent.
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A blue whales heart only beats nine times per minute.
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A body decomposes four times as fast in water than on land.
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A Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
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A bowling pin only needs to tilt 7.5 degrees to fall.
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A broken clock is right at least twice a day.
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A butterfly can look at you through 12,000 eyes.
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A Californian doctor has set the record of eating 17 bananas in two minutes.
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A Canadian tattoo artist had 4,831 tattoos on his body.
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A capon is a castrated rooster.
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A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
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A cat has 4 rows of whiskers.
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A cat uses it's whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.
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A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.
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A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.
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A Cheetah at full speed takes strides of 8 meters.
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A cheetah is the fastest animal, clocked in at: 70mph.
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A chef's hat is tall and balloons at the top so as to counteract the intense heat in the kitchen. The unique shape allows air to circulate around the scalp, keeping the head cool.
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A Chicago law forbids eating in a place that is on fire.
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A chicken who just lost its head can run the length of a football field before dropping dead.
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A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't.
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A citizen of Calcutta, India , grew the fingernails on his left hand to a length of 76 inches.
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A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers.
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A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.
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A cockroaches favorite food is the glue on the back of stamps.
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A company, Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song "Happy Birthday".
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A Cornish game hen is really a young chicken, usually 5 to 6 weeks of age, that weighs no more than 2 pounds.
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A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph.
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A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
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A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.
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A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
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A crocodiles tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth.
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A cucumber is 96% water.
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A Dalmatian is the only dog that can get gout.
A decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.
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A dentist invented the Electric Chair.
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A device invented sometime around the time of the birth of Jesus as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero is used today as a rotating sprinkler.
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A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.
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A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. A quarter has 119.
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A dog can hear high frequency sounds, which a human ear cannot.
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A dragonfly can fly 25 mph.
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A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
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A dragonfly is also known as "devil's darning needle", "horse stinger" and "devil's steelyard".
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A Fag is to work hard or to tire by strenuous activity and cigarettes are sometimes called Fags
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A fagot is a bundle of sticks or a bundle of pieces of wrought iron to be shaped by rolling or hammering at high temperature.
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A father Emperor penguin withstands the Antarctic cold for 60 days or more to protect his eggs, which he keeps on his feet, covered with a feathered flap. During this entire time he doesn't eat a thing. Most father penguins lose about 25 pounds while they wait for their babies to hatch. Afterward, they feed the chicks a special liquid from their throats. When the mother penguins return to care for the young, the fathers go to sea to eat and rest.
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A father sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. He will not eat until his young are born, which may take several weeks.
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A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
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A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time.
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A female swine or sow will always have an even number of teats or nipples.
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A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.
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A fingernail or toenail takes about 6 months to grow from base to tip.
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A fish's memory span is 3 seconds.
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A five and a half year old weighing 250 pounds was exhibited at a meeting of the Physical Society of Vienna on December 4, 1894. She ate a normal diet and was otherwise in good health. The problem: she wasn't able to sweat.
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A flea can jump 350 times is own body length. (That would be like you jumping the length of a soccer field)
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A flock of sheep grazed during Woodrow Wilson's term. Their wool was sold to raise money for the Red Cross during World War I.
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A fly always jumps backwards for a quick getaway when you try to hit it.
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A fly hums in the middle octave, key F.
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A foal is a baby horse.
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A full moon is nine times brighter than a half moon.
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A full-grown bear can run as fast as a horse.
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A full-grown pumpkin has about 15 miles of roots.
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A ghost writer pens an anonymous book.
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A giant squid has eyes that can grow up to 20 inches in diameter. (Now think of how big your computer screen is..)
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A giraffe and rat can go longer without water than a camel can.
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A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue. i know some people who can do some amazing stuff too.
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A goldfish has a memory span of 3 seconds.
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A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros. Mathematician Edward Kasner supposedly asked his nephew Milton Sirotta to suggest a name for the number, and he came up with this word.
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A grasshopper needs a minimum temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit in order to be able to hop.
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A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group in the air is a skein.
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A group of crows is called a murder.
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A hamlet is a village without a church and a town is not a city until it has a cathedral.
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A hard-boiled egg will spin. An uncooked or soft-boiled egg will not.
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A healthy (non-colorblind) human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray.
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A healthy individual releases 3.5 oz. of gas in a single flatulent emission, or about 17 oz. in a day.
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A hedgehog's heart beats 190 times a minute on average and drops to only 20 beats per minute during hibernation.
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A hedgehog's skin is so tough that when they get run over, its entrails come out of its mouth and its ass.
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A herd of forty-five thirsty, rambunctious elephants stampeded into a brewery in Midnapore, where they smashed vats and slurped up beer in a bender that went on for two days.
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A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
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A hippopotamus can run faster than a man can.
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A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.
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A honey bee must tap two million flowers to make one pound of honey
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A honey bee travels an estimated 43,000 miles to gather one pound of honey. A pound of honey consists of 29,184 drops.
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A honeybee can fly at fifteen miles per hour.
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A horse can sleep standing up.
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A Horse has 18 more bones than a Human.
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A human being loses an average of 40 to 100 strands of hair a day.
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A human has a bone just after the spine ends, which helps proves that humans once had tails (possibly).
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A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated.
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A human's scent membrane in the nose is about the size of a postage stamp. A dog's is about the size of a handkerchief. It's olfactory lobe is also 4 times that of a human.
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A humming bird flaps its wings up to 90 times in one second or over 5000 times a minute.
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A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
