Facts You Never Knew

[01dragonslayer]

The letter ‘E’ is the most common letter in the English language.​

It appears in roughly 11% of all words used in the English language, and is used 12 times in this very sentence alone!

 

[01dragonslayer]

New Zealand is actually part of a much bigger, sunken landmass.​

Dubbed Zealandia, it was only discovered after humans had traveled to space as they were able to easily see it from above the Earth.

Some scientists believe it should be formally recognized as the world’s 8th continent.

 

[01dragonslayer]

A female Gladiator was called a Gladiatrix.​

Gladiatrices (plural term there peeps) were much the same as their male counterparts and would fight each other for the glory of their masters and the entertainment of the crowds.

However, for some reason, very little history or knowledge of them survived – save for a few accounts written by members of Rome’s elite.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Koalas have unique fingerprints.​

So do chimpanzees and gorillas.

However koala fingerprints are so similar to human fingerprints that even the most seasoned forensic scientists would have a hard time telling a koala fingerprint from a human one.

 

[01dragonslayer]

In China, the police use geese as sentries.​

In many parts of rural China, police have opted to use geese as police animals as they are highly alert and capable of making lots of noise.

Also “police geese” sounds cooler than “police dogs”.

 

[01dragonslayer]

There are sharks which can live for up to 500 years.​

Greenland Sharks have the longest known lifespan of all vertebrate animals.

Bonus fact: They don’t even reach sexual maturity until they are roughly 150 years old!

 

[01dragonslayer]

A man survived being hit by a car and thrown 118 feet.​

Off-duty paramedic Matthew McKnight was hit by a car travelling 70 miles per hour and was catapulted 118 feet!

He suffered some fairly serious injuries but amazingly managed to recover.

He now holds the Guinness World Record for furthest distance thrown by a car!

 

[01dragonslayer]

Natural bananas contain seeds inside of them.​

The reason your store-bought bananas are nice, soft and seed free is because they have been specially bred over generations so that they do not form mature seeds.


The most common banana, the Cavendish, traces its selectively-bred lineage all the way back to 1834!

 

[01dragonslayer]

In Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro you can legally vote at 16.​

However, that’s only if you’re employed.

If you’re unemployed, then the minimum voting age is 18, much like the rest of the world.

 

[01dragonslayer]

All astronauts going to the International Space Station have to learn how to speak Russian.​

This is because astronauts traveling to the ISS must hitch a ride with Russian cosmonauts, and the controls of their Soyuz spacecraft are in Russian.

The first British astronaut to go to the ISS, Commander Tim Peake said “Learning Russian has been the single most difficult aspect of my training”!

 

[01dragonslayer]

Sharks are older than trees.​

Sharks have been about on this planet for roughly 400 million years, which is about 50 million years longer than trees!

 

[01dragonslayer]

Belgium once tried using cats to deliver mail.​

In the 1870s, the town of Liège came up with the idea of employing felines as their new mail couriers.

The mail was loaded into waterproof bags that were tied around the kitties’ little collars and they were sent to their destination.

However, this was quickly dropped as the cats proved slower and more unreliable than human post couriers. Go figure.

 

[01dragonslayer]

In China, ghost marriages are illegal.​

Alright, you had me at “ghost marriages” but what exactly is that?

Well, it’s when recently deceased women and men are matched up and ritually married by their respective families to ensure they aren’t lonely in the afterlife.

It’s kind of like those Cher lyrics, just the other way around. Do you believe in love after life?

 

[01dragonslayer]

There is a fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame.​

It was formed in 2013 and some of the inductees include Rocky Balboa, Mr. Miyagi and Happy Gilmore.

 

[GoPro]

Bees can fly higher than Mount Everest!​

Bees can fly at levels up to 29,525 feet above sea level – higher than the planet’s tallest Mountain!

That truly is amazing!!!

 

[GoPro]

The smallest dinosaur ever discovered is only 16 inches long.​

Discovered in China, the Microraptor is one of the most recent dinosaur discoveries and is the smallest ever found.

Most of the specimens that have been found have also been fully grown, so the baby Microraptors would have been even smaller!

When they talk about small dinosaur s I think of the lil green dinosaurs on the first duradtic park that swarm and eat that one guy lol.

 

[GoPro]

Koalas have unique fingerprints.​

So do chimpanzees and gorillas.

However koala fingerprints are so similar to human fingerprints that even the most seasoned forensic scientists would have a hard time telling a koala fingerprint from a human one.

So you could really through off a murder investigation lmao!!! That's something you would seen on NCIS lol.

 

[GoPro]

There are sharks which can live for up to 500 years.​

Greenland Sharks have the longest known lifespan of all vertebrate animals.

Bonus fact: They don’t even reach sexual maturity until they are roughly 150 years old!

They are extremely toxic to eat also....but they prepare it by aging the meat and it considered a delicacy in greenland. But the after taste is extremely intense and taste like vodka and ammonia.
It is very expensive and hard to come by. I was unfortunately able to try some from a friend......nasty......and that's coming from some one that grew up over seas I. Several different countries with exotic foods.

 

[01dragonslayer]

Scientists in California created a machine to harness power from snowfall.​

The machine worked by using negatively charged silicone to catch positively charged snowflakes, which created a static electric effect that was then harvested.

Impressive, yes, but a little fruitless in California right?

 

[01dragonslayer]

An ant can’t die from falling.​

Because of their incredibly small weight and rock-hard exoskeleton, an ant’s terminal velocity isn’t enough to harm it upon impact.

Simply put, they could survive being dropped from heights like the Empire State Building and walk away unscathed.