Fascinating facts concerning the branch of science concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation.
The Portuguese Water Dog (cão de água) was bred specifically to round up fish. It can easily be trained to herd fish into fishermen’s nets. Originating in the Steppes around 700BC it was probably brought to Portugal via the Goths. It is similar to a poodle in appearance but it has amazing fishing skills. The …
Gunpowder is comprised of 75% potassium nitrate (saltpeter), 15% charcoal and 10% sulfur. You can make explosives using three basic ingredients: Sulphur (sulphur is used in the production of fertilisers) Charcoal (like what you use in your barbeque) Saltpeter What is saltpeter? Saltpeter, also known as nitrate of potash or even ‘Chinese snow’, is the …
Comet Neowise is currently passing by the Earth and will be visible with the naked eye every night until the end of July. Comet Neowise will pass the closest (103 million kilometres) to the Earth on the 23rd of July. FAQs about Comet Neowise: How often does Comet Neowise pass Earth? It has an eliptical orbit …
The Basenji is the only type of dog that doesn’t bark. Instead it ‘sings’ to express itself. Originally from the Congo and used to chase rodents, the Basenji breed is unable to bark. But, lovers of peace and quiet, before you go and buy one bare in mind that it can still make a range …
The average count of viruses in 1ml of surface layer water is about 10,000,000. The world’s oceans are teaming with viruses. A litre of seawater typically contains billions of viruses – the vast majority of which remain unidentified. Viruses: Essential to human existence Viruses play an essential role in the life of microorganisms like plankton. …
There are 10 million viruses in one drop of sea water Read More »
The carnivorous plants of the Nepenthaceae (Nepenthes) family: N. rajah and N. rafflesiana are known for eating frogs, birds, rats. Their colour odour and nectar attract the prey which are captured and digested with enzymes. These species grow in the tropical forests of Asia on Borneo Island, in Indonesia and Malaysia. Source: The Craziest Records, …
Rabbit Show Jumping (or Kaninhop in Swedish) began in Sweden in the late 1980s and is now an international sport with tournaments being held around the world. The sport began from a rabbits enthusiasts club in Sweden who decided to hold a tournament to see whose rabbit could jump the highest/furthest. The first national championship …
Welcome to the wonderfully cute world of Rabbit Show Jumping Read More »
When staff at Kansas Zoo noticed that their Peruvian penguins seemed to be a bit bored and perhaps missed having visitors, they decided to take them to the museum. The three penguins, called Bubble (5), Maggie (7) and Berkley (8) had the Nelson Atkins Museum all to themselves due to the Corona lockdown and were …
Gyoza the pug was recently used in 343 Industries’ recording studio providing a range of grunts and grumbles that we can only guess will be some sort of frightful alien species in the 2020 video game.
Chlamydia is rife in some Koala populations which are seeing a 100% infection rate. The problem is that the young koalas eat a nutritious poop from their mother and this passes on the infection.
The word vaccine comes from “Variolae vaccinae ” which is Latin for ‘smallpox of the cow’. This is because the first vaccine was made with cowpox.
In the UK it is illegal to handle a salmon under suspicious circumstances’. This is an offence under the Salmon Act of 1986. The law was actually designed to prevent people selling fish gained through illicit means – rather than those holding them, well, in a suspicious way.
Some stray dogs in Moscow have learnt to navigate the transport system. They mimick human behaviour, hopping on and off trains and seem to know which stops are more likely to result in finding food or friendly people.
Elephant art is becoming increasingly common in zoos. There is even the Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project, an “elephant art academy” in New York, which teaches retired elephants to paint.
About 250,000 pigeons were employed during the conflict, of which many were parachuted behind enemy lines.
