If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee
(Hardly seems worth it).

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas was produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb
(Now that's more like it).

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet
(OMG...!).

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes
(In my next life I want to be a pig).

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death
(Creepy)
(I'm still not over the pig).

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour
(Do not try this at home .. maybe at work).

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off
("Honey, I'm home. What the....").

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field
(30 minutes...can you imagine?).

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds
(What can be so tasty on the bottom of the pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day
(I still want to be a pig in my next life... quality over quantity).

Butterflies taste with their feet
(Something I always wanted to know).

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue
(Hmmmmmm...).

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do
(If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?).

Elephants are the only animal that cannot jump
(OK, so that would be a good thing...).

A cat's urine glows under a blacklight
(I wonder who was paid to figure that).

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain
(I know some people like that).

Starfish have no brains
(I know some people like that too).

Polar bears are left-handed
(Who knew...? Who cares!).

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure
(What about the pig?).

In Shakespeare's time, matress's were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the matress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. That's where the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight" came from
(Ajum!).

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the alphabet. It was developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications
(I'm too lazy to verify. If someone finds it's not true, please send me an e-mail).

The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building
(Heavy data!).

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from World War II fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts meassured exactly 27 feet, before loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards"
(Amazing!).

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old english law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
(What about crushing it with a hammer before the masochist act?).

The name "Jeep" came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle: GP
(I ever wanted to know).

The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave it to Beaver"
(Oh shit! Is it true?).

It was the accepted practice en Babylon 4,000 yars ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month" or what we know today as the "honeymoon"
(Babylonian girls must have been really uglies!).

In english pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"
(Ohhhh! Really?).

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice
(...)

In ancient England persons could not have sex unless they have consent of the King (unless they were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have a baby, they got consent of the King and the King gave them a placard that they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.U.C.K. (Fornication Under Consent of the King) on it. Now you know where that came from
(Oh yeah!)

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

Coca-Cola was originally green.

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska!

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...) The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

Those San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

111,111,111 X 111,111,111equals 12345678987654321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.

Conception occurs more often in December than any other month.

Most boat owners name their boats. The most popular boat name is "Obsession".

If you were to spell out numbers, you'll have to go until one thousand to find the letter "A".

Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were invented by women.

Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.

There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the year.

Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

40% of all people at a party snoop in your medicine cabinet.

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "Goodnight, sleep tight".

In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

511 = Number of microbes per sq cm that reside on an office keyboard, according to a study by the University of Arizona.

8 = Number of microbes per sq cm on the average toilet seat.

A crocodile can't stick its tongue out.

A shrimp's heart is in its head.

In a study of 200,000 ostriches, over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.

It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

Horses can't vomit.

The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. And, if you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out.

Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.

Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

The number of fatal accidents on U.S. planes in the past decade (date = october 2007) was 1 for every 2.5 million flights.

Canada's most common languages are English, French and Chinese.

At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

41% of Americans agree that ancient advanced civilizations, like Atlantis, once existed.

37% of Americans agree that places can be haunted.

28% of Americans agree that it is possible to influence the physical world through the mind alone.

25% of Americans agree that some UFOs are probably spaceships from other worlds.

18% of Americans agree that creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster will one day be discovered.

8% of American men agree that astrologers, palm readers, tarot-card readers, fortune tellers and psychics can foresee the future.

18% of American women agree that astrologers, palm readers, tarot-card readers, fortune tellers and psychics can foresee the future.

If you think it takes seven years to digest swallowed gum, think again. According to experts, after gum is ingested into your body, it will process the same way as other swallowed particles -- simply passing through your system within 24 hours. While the body has a challenging time breaking down the rubbery substance, it will exit your body the same way it entered, as an intact piece of gum.

Your mother may have given you advice to "feed a cold and starve a fever," but this is one of the few instances where she was actually wrong. While this myth does take into account that your body needs energy to fight a cold, you also need fuel in order to combat a fever. As for the doctor's orders? Stay at home, eat healthy food and take a lot of fluids.

According to Holly Phillips, MD, affiliated with Lenox Hospital in New York City and medical correspondent for WCBS-TV, the mantra "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" is true ... sort of. "Apples are very healthful and contain antioxidants that help fight cancer, stroke and heart disease." Dr. Phillips is an advocate of apples since they are packed with pectin, a soluble fiber which helps the body eliminate cholesterol and fends off environmental toxins. Though it's not guaranteed they'll keep the doctor away, they certainly can help.

Whether you've eaten a light snack or big meal, it matters not. Your mother's health advice of waiting an hour after eating before going swimming is, well, all washed up. "While it's healthy to wait a little while before swimming to avoid cramps, you don't necessarily need to wait an entire hour," advises Dr. Phillips. She points out that professional athletes often eat prior to training or competing and don't necessarily wait an entire hour before plunging in.

Sitting too close to the television will not cause blindness, although your mother may beg to differ. Rather, the underlying causes of blindness and visual impairment are linked to disease and malnutrition. For instance, cataracts and glaucoma are the most common ailments associated with blindness. However, if you sit closer than two feet away from the television, you may need to visit the eye doctor to test your eyes for nearsightedness.

"Eating chicken soup can indirectly help fight a cold," confirms John Corso, M.D., a board-certified internist for 20 years. While it's not necessarily a direct cure to the common cold, it indirectly helps fight the ailment. He notes that when we are sick, we become dehydrated. Hot soup restores two vital ingredients in our bodies: water and salt, which are needed to hydrate your body.

Contrary to popular belief, cracking your knuckles does not cause arthritis. Rather, arthritis is caused by a variety of factors such as genetics, age, weight, previous injury, high-level sports and joint infections. Experts say that cracking your knuckles by bending or pulling your fingers will stretch out the lubricant between joints, known as synovial fluid. Bubbles then form in the fluid and they burst, hence the pop sound. Essentially, knuckle cracking addicts may overextend their ligaments and lose some grip strength.

Two out of every three couples turn their heads to the right when they kiss.

A simple peck uses two muscles; a passionate kiss, on the other hand, uses all 34 muscles in your face. Now that’s a rigorous workout!

Like fingerprints or snowflakes, no two lip impressions are alike.

Kissing is good for what ails you. Research shows that the act of smooching improves our skin, helps circulation, prevents tooth decay, and can even relieve headaches.

The average person spends 336 hours of his or her life kissing.

Ever wonder how an "X" came to represent a kiss? Starting in the Middle Ages, people who could not read used an X as a signature. They would kiss this mark as a sign of sincerity. Eventually, the X came to represent the kiss itself.

Talk about a rush! Kissing releases the same neurotransmitters in our brains as parachuting, bungee jumping, and running.

The average woman kisses 29 men before she gets married.

Men who kiss their partners before leaving for work average higher incomes than those who don’t.

The longest kiss in movie history was between Jane Wyman and Regis Tommey in the 1941 film, You’re in the Army Now. It lasted 3 minutes and 5 seconds. So if you’ve beaten that record, it’s time to celebrate!

The first personal computer was the Berkeley Enterprises "Simon" which sold for $300 in 1950.

Seagate Technology was originally named Shugart Technology.

The precision quartz clock in a computer cannot keep accurate time.

Windows was originally named Interface Manager.

IBM, which stands for International Business Machines, was an exaggerated name derived from NCR, National Cash Register.

Floppy disks in the late 1970s were 8 inches in diameter.

The VIC-20 computer from Commodore sold for $299 in 1980 with 5K of RAM.

The world's first one gigabyte disk drive was announced in 1980. It weighed 550 pounds and had a price tag of $40,000.

Many consider the Burroughs B-5000 (circa 1955) to be the single greatest computer ever designed.

IP means both Internet Protocol and Intellectual Property. Thus when you say a company is involved with IP, nobody will know what you are talking about.

The ticker symbol for Sun Microsystems was changed from SUNW to JAVA and the company has been struggling ever since.

SanDisk used to be called SunDisk.

Apple popularized the laser printer.

Adobe Photoshop was originally called Display, then ImagePro. It was not developed by Adobe, but licensed from a college student named Thomas Knoll in 1988.

Ink jet ink costs $5000 per gallon.

The precursor to today's GPS car navigation system was released in 1985. It was the ETAK Navigator and used a computer with a dead reckoning program to navigate.

Intel's irst microprocessor was the 4004. It was designed for a calculator, nobody imagined where it would lead.

SCO, the company that sold a version of Unix, used to be called the Santa Cruz Operation.

Computers should be turned off at night.

Peter Norton of the fabled Norton anti-virus program once said that there was no such thing as a computer virus and considered the whole idea some sort of hoax.

"Modem" means modulator/demodulator. This referred to the modulation and demodulation of an analog signal to make it digital. By this definition the device called a cable modem is a misnomer. It should be called a network adapter.

Dell Inc. was originally called PCs Limited.

The Apple 1 was the first computer developed by Apple and was nothing more than a bag of parts. The Apple II was the first finished product sold by the company.

Lenovo means "new legend" -- "Le" for legend and "novo" for new.

In the 1950s computers were commonly referred to as "electronic brains."

It takes your food 7 seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.

One human hair can support 3 kg (6.6 lb).

The average man's penis is 3 times the length of his thumb.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women reading this will be finished now.

Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

(Received by e-mail - April 13, 2009).

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert; the average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, ice.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ' Big Village '.

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles' full name is: El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula... and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

The term 'The Big Apple' was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time - The Big Apple. There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin , Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel.

There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade.

The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4.53 sq. km.

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts and, as of 2001, has a population of 80 (20 less people than the Vatican). It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt , Algeria, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits'.

St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye after a man named Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant who set up the first business there.

Chances that a road is unpaved: in the U.S.A. = 1%; in Canada = .75%

The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia. It reached a depth of 12,261 meters (about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles). It was drilled for scientific research and gave up some unexpected discoveries, one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen -so massive that the mud coming from the hole was boiling with it.

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

The water of Angel Falls (the world's highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.

A relatively simple explanation of the near-death experience requires little scientific reasoning and absolutely no measurable evidence. If someone is on death's door and then suddenly pulled back into the realm of the living, perhaps he or she glimpsed into the moments prior to the soul leaving the body and joining the great cosmic consciousness beyond. This ghost-in-the-shell hypothesis, if you could call it that, is ubiquitous and seems to satisfy the imaginations of the public at large. In fact, 71% of Americans believe in the persistence of the soul after death. And in 1907, Massachusetts physician Duncan MacDougall claims to have measured the mass of the soul as it exited the body upon its passing--21 grams, to be exact.

Granted, nobody has ever managed to reproduce MacDougall's findings, and there exists not a single shred of physical evidence as to the existence of the, lets face it, fundamentally unmeasurable soul. So, scientists have set out to find an evidence-based explanation for near-death phenomena.

First of all, I think it's interesting to note that the vast majority of near-death survivors never actually report having a near-death experience. And in one study, around half of the people who reported one were not actually in danger of dying. What's clear is that when the brain undergoes severe trauma, like reduced oxygen flow, blood pressure drops, or sharp increases in blood carbon dioxide levels, interesting things start to happen psychologically.

First, a white light at the end of a tunnel, as David Hovda, of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center explains, is the only thing we can really expect a person to see as they get closer and closer to death. For efficiency's sake, the brain tends to function only in areas needed for basic survival, like the hindbrain, which includes the pons and medulla. Given that the rest of the higher brain regions are essentially shut down, if visual areas like the superior colliculus or occipital cortex are suddenly activated, no higher-level processing can exist, and a bright light is all we would be able to see.

And in 2005, researchers in Switzerland found that the so-called out-of-body experience so commonly reported in near-death cases can be induced by stimulating the temporo-parietal junction on the right side of the brain. This research offers compelling evidence that disruption of the very brain region thought to be responsible for sensory integration and the so-called sixth sense of proprioception--or understanding where your body is in space--could produce a sensation like we're floating above our own bodies. And anyone who has abused the drugs ketamine or dextromethorphan understands what a dissociative anesthetic can do. These drugs act on NMDA receptors in the brain and can produce a sensation that you're detached from your own body or even from the world. Knowing that out-of-body experiences can be induced both during neurosurgery and recreational drug use provides clues that such experiences likely have a neurological basis.

And in my opinion, one of the most fascinating, yet highly controversial explanations of near-death phenomena comes from Dr. Rick Strassman, who, in the 1990s, proposed that dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, is actually found within the human brain and released in large quantities from the pineal gland during death's approach (and perhaps during birth, as well). DMT is a naturally occurring psychedelic, and it's been dubbed the spirit molecule for its intense psychotropic properties. So, if Strassman's research pans out, it could be the case that the near-death experience is little more than a really good trip.

Cara Santa Maria
(The Huffington Post - March 27, 2012).

do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

Ever wonder...

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dish washing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

I like this one! If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe,why do they call the airport the terminal?

(Received by e-mail - May 3, 2012).

"There is not much energy on the surface of the coals -- as long as you do not linger, [you won't get burned]," explains Jearl Walker, a professor of physics at Cleveland State University.

"You want to walk at a moderate pace and you do not want to run," because running kicks up embers, resulting in burns.

Some reports indicate that some of the injured people hesitated when crossing the fire. Standing on the coals too long or walking across freshly raked coals also increases the chance of sustaining burns.

"Prior to traversing a bed of hot coals, people step on wet grass, which protects them from burns. (Although Walker admits he is normally so nervous his feet are sweaty enough to provide a layer of moisture.)

The dampness protects the skin because of a phenomenon called the Leidenfrost Effect. Walker says people can easily observe this in the kitchen. If one sprinkles water on a hot skillet, at a temperature of less than 100 degrees Celsius, the water sizzles and evaporates. But if the temperature exceeds 100 degree Celsius, the water spreads, causing a vapor layer, which actually prevents the water from evaporating quickly. This also happens when people with damp (or sweaty) feet walk across the coals: "When you walk over coals [the water] might produce a vapor layer and you avoid a burn because of that," Walker says.

Also, frequent firewalkers stroll around without shoes to build up calluses on their feet. (Pro tip: avoid pedis prior to a firewalk.)

"If you get really thick calluses and you burn part of them... you are not going [feel it]," Walker says.

Meghan Holohan
(v. NBC News - July 23, 2012).

Myths are just a part of life. There have been myths about famous people, events or even strange occurrences -and sometimes they are really convincing. Myths don't just stop with humans. Animals, who have existed for millions of years, have had their share of bizarre and nonsensical tales told about them, too. However, modern science is debunking many of these false beliefs as animals are being studied more and more in the wild. Here we are setting the record straight on 5 misconceptions about animals:

Elephants are not afraid of mice.

This myth has been depicted in movies, cartoons, and even touted as fact, but there is no scientific basis to the claim that elephants are afraid of mice. Researchers have disproved this myth and attributed it to elephants being startled by anything that blends in with their environment and then suddenly becomes present -which can be any small or large camouflaged animal. To assert that one species is frightened by another species is bogus. Or is it? Experts actually discovered that as an evolutionary safeguard for plants that would otherwise get trampled by elephants, when plants are blanketed by ants, the massive animals stay away. Perhaps elephants are actually fearful of ants, but certainly not of mice.

Dogs can look up, and they frequently do look up at the sky.

Like many other tall tales, the idea that dogs cannot look up has traveled quite far, but it is another myth that simply has no merit. It is unclear where this story had originated from, but it was made even more famous after the 2004 comedic zombie movie, Shaun of the Dead. While your canine companion may be more focused on finding food or treats that us humans may clumsily drop on the floor, they are able to look straight up. Dogs often look up at flying insects, birds and airplanes. They can look up and all around, and often do.

Ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand when a threat is present.

This is another myth that many of us have seen in cartoons and even learned about when we were children. It has stuck with many people, who still believe that these birds hide their heads in the sand. Yet an ostrich cannot breath with its head in the dirt. If the fact that an ostrich would die if it buried its head in the earth each time it became frightened isn't enough to convince you, maybe the fact that the longtime legend actually stems from an optical illusion that the animal creates will convince you. It's seriously just a trick of the eye; when the giant birds are picking at the ground, from a distance it can actually look like their heads are buried in the sand. The ostrich does spend some time tending to their eggs that they bury in the sand, since they turn the eggs several times per day.

A mother bird will not reject their young if they have been touched by a human.

This is a myth that was likely created to stop human adults and children from handling helpless and fragile little peeps who have fallen from their nests. However, most birds have an extremely poor sense of smell and cannot detect the human scent on their young. The only bird with exceptional scent perception is the vulture, who uses this ability to detect dead and rotting animals for meals. Otherwise, most birds lack a developed sense of smell. Still, it is not advised to handle baby birds as they are probably learning to fly and should not be disturbed.

Camels do not store water in their humps.

It is one of the most common myths, but camels do not hold water in their massive humps like it has been assumed; instead they use them for fat storage. The reason why camels can avoid dehydration by surviving 7 days without water is not due to their humps, but because of their red blood cells that are shaped like ovals. The animal's kidneys and intestines are the parts of their bodies that retain water and not the camel's humps. The humps contain fat and not water, but they are still fascinating since they equal the same amount of energy as three week's worth of food.

Catherine Gill
(v.Care2 Causes - February 12, 2015).

15 Animal Myths That Are Absolutely False

If you chop earthworms in half, both halves live.

Although it might not look like it, earthworms do have a head and a tail. If you chop it in half, the part with the head and all of its vital organs will survive and most likely regenerate its tail but the original tail, without its organs, dies.

Cows lay down if it's going to rain.

Who didn't hear this one on a road trip growing up? If a cow is laying down, it means rain is coming. Unfortunately whatever adult fed the kids this piece of information was wrong, though. Dr. Jamison Allen, a livestock researcher that investigated when cows stood or laid down during the day, says that, "If an animal is left on its own in a pasture, it will spend a third of its time gathering food, a third of its time eating, and a third of it sleeping. If they're lying down, it probably doesn't signal much beyond the fact that it's sleeping time."

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

While the old adage may be a good metaphor on how to get people to take your side, it's not real for actually catching flies. As it turns out, flies, specially the ones often found in homes, are very fond of apple cider vinegar and filling some containers with it and a tad of sugar is the best way to trap them.

Pigs sweat a lot, hence the expression "sweating like a pig."

Anyone who follows Esther the Wonder Pig on Instagram knows pigs do love a mud bath and a water bath, and that is because they don't actually sweat. They do have a few sweat glands but that is not how their body cools off. The expression "sweating like a pig" comes from the process of iron smelting. When liquid iron was poured back in the day, the shape resembled a mother pig and her piglets. The process was done at extremely high temperatures and at one point, the air around the mould would turn into steam and the piglets would look like they were sweating.

Bats are blind.

Some bats can see 3 times better than humans.

Bats will suck your blood.

Nope, not true either. There are more than 1,300 types of bats and most of them are insect eaters. Vampire bats live in Mexico, Central America and South America and do suck blood but not human blood -at least not commonly. They feed mostly on cattle and are more like mosquitos than a Dracula-esque threat.

Mice like cheese.

Just about every cartoon features a big piece of cheese on a rat trap to grab the critter when it can't resist the treat, but in reality Tom would have had a lot more luck catching Jerry if he had used cereal or fruits. Studies have shown that while mice will eat cheese if hungry enough, that's not their number 1 snack choice.

Fish have a 10 second memory.

There's only one fish with a short term memory and her name is Dory. However, studies show that all other fish can remember things like sounds 5 months later. They are also self-aware enough to recognize themselves in a mirror, they hunt collaboratively with others in a group, some of them like being petted and even "ask" for it from divers sometimes, and they have feelings and can feel stress.

Cats like drinking milk.

When cats are not trying to catch mice with pieces of cheese, they're usually drinking milk out of a bowl. What those classic images didn't show was that the feline probably had terrible diarrhea afterwards. While cats will drink milk, their bodies can't properly digest lactose, which means stomach problems will usually follow.

A bear will walk away from you if you play dead.

The National Parks Service does not suggest playing dead when seeing a bear. Instead it advises people to carefully and quietly walk away. In the case of a brown or grizzly bear attack, laying on your stomach and playing dead is an option but if the bear turns you over, the best option is to fight back. If attacked by a black bear, the agency stresses to never play dead. Can't identify which type of bear is attacking you? Fight back and run for your life. Playing dead will most likely have you end up dead.

One human years equals 7 dog years.

In reality the math is a little more complicated. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, for a medium-size dog, the 1st. year equals 15 human years. The 2nd. year of a dog's life equals about 9 years for a human and after that each human year is equivalent to about 5 years for a dog.

Dogs can only see black and white.

It's a common misconception that dogs only see black, white and shades of gray. The truth is that they do see colors, just not all the colors. While humans can see all different shades, dogs see mostly yellows, blues and violets. That means greens and reds will appear to them as blues and yellows but it's still more cheerful than black and white.

Bulls see red and attack.

The imagery of a matador using a red cloth to lure bulls in for the kill made this myth widespread but it's not the color of the cloth that makes the bull charge for the matador (and on a good day to strike him). Mythbusters did a test with different colored cloths and found the animal doesn't have a preference for (or a grudge against) any color. It's the movement in the fabric that entices him to attack.

Dolphins will protect you from sharks in the ocean.

While a couple of dolphins have played heroes in the past, don't count on all of them to do you a solid if a shark comes around. Dolphins have been known to also flee when approached by sharks. On top of that, even though we'd love to believe dolphins love humans, the truth is that they don't.

Lobsters mate for life.

Sorry, Phoebe. Ross and Rachel might have ended up together but not because they were each other's lobsters. The animals actually have multiple partners along their lives and they don't walk around holding claws. The whole courtship is a lot less romantic than that -more reminiscent of a one night stand than a storybook romance.

Natalia Lima
(v.Care2 Causes - May 19, 2016).

(V.Ripley's - December 11, 2019).

(V.Ripley's - August 3, 2020).

(V.Ripley's - September 27, 2022).

Earth's population is approximately 7.8 billion people. For most people, that's a large number, that's all.

However, if you count the world's 7.8 billion people as 100%, these percentages become clearer.

From 100% of people:

11% are in Europe
5% is in North America
9% - in South America
15% - in Africa
60% are in Asia
49% live in villages
51% - in cities.

12% speak Chinese
5% in Spanish
5% in English
3% speak Arabic
3% in hindi
3% in bengali
3% in Portuguese
2% in Russian
2% in Japanese
62% in their own language.

77% have housing
23% have nowhere to live.

21% of people eat in excess
63% can eat as much as they want
15% of the people are malnourished
The daily cost of living for 48% of people is less than $2
87% of people have clean drinking water
13% either do not have clean drinking water or have access to a contaminated water source.

75% have telephone mobile
25% not
30% have internet access
70% do not have internet access.

7% received higher studies
93% of people never went to college or university
17% of people are illiterate.

33% are christians
22% are muslims
14% are hindus
7% are budists
12% - other religion
12% have no religious beliefs.

26% live for less than 14 years
66% have died between the ages of 15 and 64
8% of people over 65 years of age.

If you have a place to stay, eat healthy food and drink clean water, have a mobile phone, you can travel on the internet and you graduated from a college or university, you're in a small privileged group (in the category of less than 7%).

OUT OF 100% OF THE WORLD'S PEOPLE, ONLY 8% CAN LIVE TO 65 YEARS OLD.

If you are over 65 years old, be content and grateful. Seize life, seize the moment. You didn't leave this world before you turned 65, like 92% of people who have died. Cherish every moment you have left!

Vadim Torgai
(September 4, 2023).

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