31 Facts You Won't Believe Are Real
If you're like me, you enjoy a good fun fact every now and again. Sometimes, you'll want to know several facts all at once. So, for today's article, we've searched for facts that sound unbelievable, but are, in fact, real. And clues in the article's title, you may not believe that some of them are true.
Sharks predate trees by 100 million years
The ancestors of modern sharks appeared over 400 million years ago, while the first trees appeared around 300 million years ago.
Coca-Cola would be green if color wasn't added to it
Without the addition of caramel coloring, the natural color of the beverage's ingredients would result in a greenish-yellow liquid. The caramel coloring is what gives Coca-Cola its familiar dark brown color.
If the sun was the size of a white blood cell, the Milky Way galaxy would be the size of the continental United States
Just a friendly reminder of how small we really are in the universe.
If you ate a polar bear liver, you would die
Why, you ask? Well, it has 52 times the amount of Vitamin A that would kill a person.
Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn
As crazy as this may sound, there's a few reasons behind it. The unicorn, in Celtic mythology, represents Scottish independence, purity, and power. The untamed spirit of the unicorn was seen as a reflection of the Scottish people's fierce and independent nature, and its association with dominance and chivalry made it a fitting symbol for its kings.
Australia is wider than the moon
At its widest point, Australia is 4,000 km (2,485 miles) wide. The moon, however, is 3,474 km (2,158 miles) wide, meaning Australia surpasses it by 526 km (327 miles).
An octopus has 3 hearts
2 of the hearts pump blood to the gills, and one pumps blood throughout the octopus. You may have learned this fact from the 2016 Pixar film Finding Dory.
T-Rex and Stegosaurus lived farther apart than T-Rex and today
As a kid, you may have seen the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex duke it out with the armored Stegosaurus, but that would be inaccurate, to say the least. These two dinosaurs lived about 87 million years apart, which is 22 million years more than the late Cretaceous period and today. But don't be too disappointed. The T-Rex certainly did, however, duke it out with the Triceratops, as both lived in the Cretaceous period.
The ancient Egyptians are as old to the Romans as the Romans are to us
The term "ancient" is often used to describe both the Egyptians and the Romans. But, from a modern perspective, the Egyptians are actually twice as old as the Romans. The unification of Egypt began in 3150 BCE. The founding of the city of Rome took place in 753 BCE, meaning the two events were separated by 2397 years.
The lighter was invented before the match
What is considered the first modern lighter was invented in 1823 by a German chemist named Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, who created something known as the Döbereiner's Lamp, which used chemical reactions to create fire. The first friction match was invented in 1826 by British chemist John Walker, three years after the first modern lighter.
Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire
Oxford University was founded in 1096. The Aztec Empire was founded around 1325. Meaning the university predates the Aztecs by 229 years.
Oscar the Grouch was originally orange
During the first season of Sesame Street in 1969, the character of Oscar the Grouch was shown as having a more tangerine coloration. The color was later changed to green in the second season, something the show explained by having him visit the "Swamp Mushy Muddy," where he got permanently covered in slime and mold. Even more hard to believe, Jim Henson's concept of the character was magenta, but the production team thought that an orange character would be easier to see on the color TV sets of the time.
Almonds are members of the peach family...
Both belong to the genus Prunus genus, along with cherries, plums, and apricots. This botanical relationship means they share genetic similarities, a similar fruit structure (a drupe with a hard shell containing a seed), and can even be cross bred to create hybrid plants.
...and strawberries are members of the rose family
Both belong to the Rosaceae or rose family. This family also includes other fruits like apples, pears, peaches, and cherries. Their shared family membership is due to similarities in flower structure, such as having multiple pistils.
The most shoplifted food in the world is cheese
This is because of its high value, the fact that it's easy to hide in pockets and stuff, it's in constant high demand, and it's not as much of a legal concern as things like cigarettes or electronics.
A blue whale’s tongue weighs more than a female elephant
The tongue can weigh up to 3 tons, while the average weight for the female African bush elephant is around 2.2 to 2.9 tons. Also, the tongue is big enough to support about 50 people.
There is a guy named Fire Penguin Disco Panda
Not much to say about this one, aside from the assumption that this was probably not his birth name.
You can see four states from Willis Tower
These states are Illinois (where the tower is located), Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Cashew nuts and poison ivy are closely related
Both of these plants are in the same botanical family, the Anacardiaceae family, and both can cause allergic reactions because they contain urushiol oil. Raw cashews are never sold in their shells because the oily shell contains urushiol, the same irritant found in poison ivy and can cause a severe rash if it contacts human skin. All commercially sold cashews, even those labeled "raw," are steamed or roasted at high heat to deactivate this oil.
It’s possible to turn peanut butter into diamonds
Before you reach for that jar of Jif, hoping to make yourself some diamonds, hear this first: to even attempt this, one would need laboratory conditions with high pressure and heat, which can't be replicated at home. However, with the right equipment, scientists can use the carbon found in peanut butter and put it through pressure millions of times greater than Earth's atmosphere to rearrange the carbon atoms into a diamond structure.
Wombat poop is cube-shaped
Wombat excrement takes this shape because the animal's uniquely muscular intestines sculpt the feces into a cube shape during a long and slow digestive process, which also helps dry the poop out. The intestine walls have sections with varying stiffness—some parts are more elastic and others are firmer—which, along with the drying, molds the waste into flat sides and corners as it passes through.
During the release of the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2000, over 9,000 FedEx trucks and 100 airplanes were used with no other purpose than to deliver the book
There's not really anything else to say about this fact, other than the fact that we can get a glimpse of how popular the Harry Potter series is.
The full name of the city of Los Angeles is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.”
Translated from Spanish, this means “The People of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula.” The name was given by Spanish settlers in 1781 and was later shortened for common use.
There are only 26 episodes of the original Scooby-Doo, and 15 episodes of the original Mr. Bean
Granted, there are far more episodes of Scooby-Doo that came after the original series, not to mention two movies and an animated series for Mr. Bean, but some thought that there were far more episodes to both of these hit shows.
A shrimp’s heart is in its head
Although, more accurately, the heart is in the fused head and thorax area known as the cephalothorax. This is a protective adaptation because the front of the shrimp has the thickest and hardest exoskeleton, shielding the heart and other vital organs. This also means, theoretically, a shrimp would facepalm during the national anthem (if shrimp were Americans, and patriotic ones at that).
Giraffes and humans have the same number of neck bones
That number is 7, for those wondering. Although, needless to say, a giraffe’s neck bones are far larger and heavier than a human. Giraffe necks can actually weigh up to 272 kg (600 lbs), which is over 3 times more than the average adult human.
Orcas are a natural predator of moose and polar bears
Though rare, encounters between moose and orcas have been documented in places like Alaska and British Columbia. Similar incidents involving polar bears have been documented in Alaska and the far north of Canada.
Speaking of moose, they can, in fact, swim, and have been known to dive for seaweed
During dives, moose can hold their breath for up to 30 seconds, dive up to 6 meters deep (20 ft), and can swim up to 9.6 km/h (6 mph). But swimming poses a risk for moose, because, as mentioned above, orcas will prey on moose in the water (albeit very rarely).
Fir trees can grow in your lungs
Even though plants need sunlight to photosynthesize (which is one reason why watermelons can’t grow in your stomach), fir tree saplings have been known to grow in your lungs, though this happenstance is extremely rare, and only a few cases have been recorded.
All the electricity that powers the internet weighs as much as an apricot
The weight of the electricity that powers the whole internet is estimated to only be around 50 grams, which is about the same as an apricot or large strawberry. But that's based on the mass of the electrons in motion across servers. This small weight represents the energy of the electrons used for data transfer, not the physical infrastructure of the internet. A more realistic, albeit much larger, estimate would include the physical infrastructure like servers, cables, and data centers, which collectively have a far greater mass.
Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries aren't berries. Bananas, watermelons, tomatoes, kiwis, pomegranates, and avocados are berries
In botany, a berry is a simple fruit that comes from a single flower with one ovary. True berries have seeds inside the fleshy part of the fruit, which the berries listed above are.
Bananas are slightly radioactive
Bananas are rich in potassium, and a small fraction (0.012%) of this is the radioactive isotope potassium-40. Despite this, and needless to say, they aren't toxic enough to hurt you.
Did any of these facts surprise you? Leave a comment!
Sources: DK UK, BuzzFeed,
modernsuffragetteCommunity ContributorApproved and edited by BuzzFeed Community Team
