Amusing Facts

They lurked in the same primordial swamps from which many of the ancestors of today’s animals first crawled out, only to die in the great Ice Age, or whatever it was that knocked off the dinosaur population. “They”, are crocodiles, reptiles that have slithered in and out of the waters in both American continents, China, […] More

When two neighbors are as close as Canada and the U.S., there’s bound to be a little pushing and shoving over the lines in between. Especially when those lines are a bit blurry. In the winter of 1838-39, the Aroostook or Pork and Beans war, “erupted” between the state of Maine, then part of Massachusetts, […] More

When the phrase “child prodigy” was coined, they might have been thinking of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). In an age when children were not pampered, some began to take on responsibilities and duties in the family at a young age. But in the Mozart household, where father Leopold Mozart was a violinist and lesser-known composer, […] More

The vocalizations of different species vary greatly, depending on what the sound is used for. Those uses can include warning off predators, advertising their availability to mate, or simply stating “this is mine”. Of all four-footed creatures in the wild, the roar of the lion is perhaps the most impressive, and certainly the one heard […] More

What has two pairs of wings, six segments to their abdomen, three eyes and a three-jointed beak? Oh, and it can be heard 1/4 of a mile away when calling their ladylove. It’s the “common” cicada, which has a drum-like covering on its stomach, that vibrates to make the noise that attracts females. The “drumming” […] More

The Great White Shark is one of the most fearsome creatures on Earth, holding sway in the ocean over most other inhabitants, even if they don’t eat them. Great Whites dine primarily on seals, sea lions, fish, smaller sharks and turtles. Their only serious threats are the Killer Whale, Sperm Whales and Man. The public’s […] More

Pity the poor pig, for its undeserved reputation of being a dirty little swine, all because they roll in the mud. They’re not doing it because they’re…well, pigs…they’re doing it because they have no sweat glands, and their only way to cool off is to lower their body temperature by direct contact with cooler substances […] More

In the state that gave birth to Coca-Cola, there still exists the first visual of the now famous flowing writing on an outdoor building. Appropriately enough, the sign is found on the side of a brick building that houses a pharmacy in Cartersville, Georgia. The original drink, classified by its inventor John Pemberton as cocawine, […] More

Our image of heroic occupations centers around such things as doctors and nurses, and when it comes to those with high risks, we think firemen and policemen. Granted, the latter are riskier than most, but do not result in a high incidence of injury and/or death. For that you have to go down to the […] More

As popular stories go, this little town in Utah is literally the bellybutton of the state. People like to recount that story of its origins, because the town is located in what appears to be the geographical center of Utah. They explain the name as being derived from “navel” spelled backwards. But nobody seems to […] More

Although a relationship between man and apes has long been acknowledged, little was ever done about examining just how closely behaviors of one could be mimicked or duplicated by the other. Then a ground-breaking experiment in the mid 1960s which involved trying to communicate with a chimpanzee, set the stage for the longest-running inter species […] More

If familiar at all to the public, a hydra is a creature out of Greek mythology, a many-headed snakelike water creature that re-grows its heads when severed. Oddly enough, although the myth was born 2,000 years ago, there is a real hydra with similar properties, although it’s nowhere near the size nor nature of the […] More