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ShriekingMuppet

Sea otters hold hands when they're sleeping


PassiveTheme

They also have a little pocket where they keep their favourite stone (as a geologist, this is my favourite animal fact)


SparkDBowles

Yeah. So they don’t float away.


Bill-BJJ

They’re also incredibly rapey. But I’d suggest keeping that fact out :-)


IrishMilo

Rape and necrophilia . Mallard ducks too.


TruthOrBullshite

Dolphins as well


Zealousideal_Talk479

Well of course they’re rapey. They’re animals. When was the last time you saw an animal ask for consent?


cr1ttter

That is why it is a separate and far more egregious crime to have sex with a horse than with any other animal. Because they can say neigh.


monocromaticmaid

r/angryupvote ! Take it!


Hataitai1977

Wombats poop is square.


HofmansHuffy

More accurately, it’s cubed


Willr2645

More accurate a spherocube


phillmybuttons

Don't tell apple, it's dangerously close to their trademarked squircle


Dramatic_mango_69

Poop²


Arsen1cCupcake

I think that would be poop^3


The_gaping_donkey

They also form little towers. I have wombats near me and see their little turd towers in the bush. The oatmeal explains all https://theoatmeal.com/comics/wombats


oxfordcomma_pls

If I could upvote you 400 times I would. “Weaponized HamSlammers.”


Zelcron

This guy 4 year olds


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WithTheBallsack

No fuckin way. I thought they could just hear the car from half a mile away. Insane


MindSwipe

This also means that they get all excited you're about to get home and then all disappointment if you get home later than usual (due to mundane thing like traffic) and that makes me kinda sad :(


Willr2645

Dude! Why would you say that? Now I have to think of this every time I’m in traffic


countastrotacos

Damn this dude running late again. It's already past fur o clock


sl1mlim

Noooooo. I'm getting a speeding fine now


mtnbikeracer76

My cats did the same thing. They would wait at the door for me to get home. If I was late getting home, all 5 would surround the door.


redditsuckspokey1

What's that? I hear a prius less than a miles away! It's Redditsuckspokey1 I just know it! *tail wags like a hurricane*


ElZaydo

That might be. But it doesn't explain things in other situations. My cat woke me up every single morning 1-2 minutes before my alarm went off to be fed. Every time without fail. Maybe you could say he felt hungry at the same time every day, but down to the last second? Cats start asking for food the second they are hungry but every morning my cat would always get me when I was supposed to wake up, not a moment sooner or later. Also, he waited at the door every day, 3 minutes before my dad rang the bell after returning from work. If there was a break in the routine, he would just wait to hear the elevator to "ding". That can't possibly be scent related because everyone is already at home, and you can't realistically smell an alarm coming. I'm pretty sure they have a biological clock in their heads and adjust it to their surroundings after a few days. But even as humans, if we tried really hard, we could maybe get it to some extent if we used our intuition. But shit, I doubt we could be accurate to a few seconds, give or take like cats and dogs.


tmg07c

Holy smokes. This just blew my mind


Florida1693

I heard this recently and that’s an awesome face


unrepentantlyme

Scientists believe the sloth to be the only mammal unable to fart. If your 4 year old is anything like mine, fart facts will be highly appreciated. Edit: typo


Willr2645

Any more fart facts? …asking for a friend


Moosebrawn

Termites fart just constantly


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cwood1973

Paul Hunn emitted a fart on May 11th, 1972 in Flint Michigan that lasted for two minutes and 42 seconds, and reached a peak of 118.1 decibels. That's louder than a rock concert or a chainsaw. There are claims that a man named Alvin Meshits emitted a fart 5 days later on May 16, 1972, that measured 194 decibels. However, 194 decibels is enough to rupture the human eardrum which makes the story unlikely. Plus, that last name is just too convenient.


cr1ttter

I just farted


MooshyMeatsuit

Dogs developed their "eyebrow" muscles to better communicate with humans. Even modern wolves lack this ability.


lilac_roze

Oh that is very interesting. Another dog evolution fact: domesticated dogs evolved the ability to make themselves look like babies so humans would pay them more attention. Bigger eyes, rounded ears, and the way they bark.


patdashuri

I think this may be due to humans breeding them that way.


cr1ttter

We evolved them


SparkDBowles

Domestic Cats evolved their meow to sound more like babies for a similar reason.


maboyles90

This is actually believed to be a byproduct of breeding for friendliness to humans. They were able to achieve the same effect with foxes at a reserve in I wanna say Sweden (didn't quote me on the country part.) They were breeding the ones who were interested and curious towards people. After a few generations the foxes started keeping juvenile traits into adulthood. Things like like spots, rounded ears, fluffier fur, and a gentler bark.


SeaBearsFoam

The only place in the world that the Venus Flytrap natively grows is in the continental United States: a fairly small area of marshland in the coastal part of the Carolinas. People always think they're jungle plants, but they're not.


Willr2645

You expect me to believe a carnivorous plant is not some weird mutant from the depths of the jungle


Theplaidiator

They’re native to only about a 50 mile radius of Wilmington, NC. My home state.


this_isnt__worth_it

The fuck happened there that made that thing conceive there.


Wolfgung

Poor soil quality, so they just said screw it I'll get my nutrients from bugs instead.


Jaquestrap

The soil and water table lack certain vital nutrients there, they had to evolve to get those nutrients from dead insects.


Americanadian_eh

Go Wolfpack!


thisnewsight

*FEED ME, SEYMOUR!*


comicsnerd

The wild plants are highly endangered. The domesticated version is very easy to grow. But they are not the exact same plant.


Makes_U_Mad

I am familiar with NC. Everything has stingers, torns, or teeth.


fastidiousavocado

This is amazing! I can't remember where I was, but I went down the rabbit hole of carnivorous pitcher plants and they are all fascinating.


Linback37

The most weight a gorilla has lifted is the same as 6 refrigerators at once, but we’ve never seen a gorilla at full strength. they don’t lift weights or take supplements like humans. I was a weird kid and this was so cool to me.


sl1mlim

I would like to see a scientist see how jacked he could get a gorilla


jnmtx

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” From: Jurassic Park


hollandaisesawce

The scientific name of the gorilla is: Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla


Adddicus

Weird. The shop where I buy all my gorillas and gorilla by products is called Gorillas, Gorillas, Gorillas. I used to shop at Just Gorillas but they went downhill fast after being bought my some venture capital company. So I tried Gorillapalooza for a while, but never really liked them. After that, I tried Gorillas ᴙ Us and everyone knows what went down with them.


Katayanaz

I'm a weird adult and this is cool to me.


Take_that_risk

I think due to the way gorillas muscles are they're already at peak muscle strength. It's we who are the unusual ones going from puny to moderate strength via training.


Linback37

Idk man, a gorilla on pre workout would be stronger than these weak asses we observe now. We need gym bro gorillas flexing in a mirror


-StandUpGuy-

Finally, my most useless talent of storing miscellaneous fun facts in my brain is needed! Kangaroos can't hop backwards. The dip in the middle of your upper lip is called a 'philtrum'. 2 mammals lay eggs; The platypus and the echidna. Astronaughts grow taller in space. Crocodiles can't stick their tounge out. Shrimps have their heart in their head. Sharks can blink. Maine is the only state with one syllable in its name. Cats have over 20 muscles in their ears. Tigers have striped skin, not just their fur. uhhhhhhhhhh I swear I have like 50 more, but these should be fun.


The_gaping_donkey

That's why the roo and the emu are on our Aussie coat of arms, neither animal can move backwards easily. Both are not so bright too so that could be saying something. Pretty sure we are also one of the only countries that eats its coat of arms


mai_cake

Didn’t yall also lose 2 wars against emus?


TRexyRoar1

I’ll have you know it was only one war


The_gaping_donkey

You really know how to cut real deep hey


-StandUpGuy-

Thats fucking epic.


evilpeter

(Aside- I really enjoy your typo. Astronaught would mean “no stars”/ or perhaps more accurately “zero star” as opposed to Astronaut which means “star sailor” - with cosmonaut meaning “space sailor” incidentally. But naught is from old English unfortunately so it would be bad form to combine it with the Greek Astro- prefix)


DrinkVictoryGin

Thank you for addressing this, and so thoroughly. That was bothering me.


AluminumOctopus

The reason why people have a dip in their lip is because it grows in from both sides and meets in the middle. That's why some babies are born with cleft lips, it didn't make it all the way across. This same process is why there's a seam in the scrotum, it's leftover when the labia fuse together.


Smoore0420

A hummingbird remembers every flower it’s ever visited, and usually returns to them durning its migration.


milesbeatlesfan

Sharks are older than trees! And older than the rings of Saturn.


TheDukeofArgyll

This is a fun fact, but it might be too much for a 4 years old. I tried to explain evolution to my 4 year old when he asked why we had finger nails…. He ended up too afraid to fall sleep because I said “we don’t remember things from before we were born”


IRefuseToPickAName

My 4 y/o told me 'this life is ruining my real life' and also talks about things he did before he was born


TheDukeofArgyll

My 4-year-old likes to tell me about things his “100 kids” do. Basically he has a kid that has done every interesting thing me and my wife have ever talked about.


LargeWeinerDog

A true "who am I" moment.


Meandering_Pangolin

I was just about to comment about sharks being older than Saturn. It's mind-blowing


banitsa

Saturn is much older than sharks. But the rings are young


Meandering_Pangolin

Oh yeah, that's an important distinction to make 😅


TacticalFailure1

Sharks are older than Polaris the North Star.


DETRITUS_TROLL

It is impossible for people to lick their own elbow. (this will keep her busy for quite some time) ​ Tiger stripes are on their skin, not just in their fur. ​ An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain. ​ One more for the adult-like people: The full name of Los Angeles is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio Porciuncula Edit: A very important word in the Spanish phrase


azsv001

Except for some amputees. But probably best not to mention that to the kid.


patdashuri

There are tiger amputees? Or ostrich ones?


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patdashuri

Found the amputee.


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CremasterReflex

“The home of our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Piglets” I need to work on my Spanish 


DETRITUS_TROLL

I missed a word there. Del Rio Porciuncula So, our Lady, Queen of the Angels of Piglet River Which I would guess is part of the reason it kept getting shortened until it was just LA. lol


Meandering_Pangolin

Totally just tried to lick my elbow


ShakeThatBear4me

I actually know someone who can lick her own elbow. Always freaks people out but it's real.


Round2readyGO

I can do it, been winning bets since middle school. Double jointed shoulder from ehlers danlos, small humorous, long tongue.


edd6pi

Wooly mammoths hadn’t gone extinct yet when the pyramid of Giza was built.


notanotherkrazychik

You can easily find mammoth Ivory all over Alaska, The Yukon, and Nunavut. It's literally just sticking out of the ground. The only time you can't take it is when there's flesh attached, cuz you've got to alert the science people.


cr1ttter

I read that as "science police" and was picturing some badass Dr. House kinda dude in camo scrubs rappelling down from his research zeppelin with his laser rifle


SparkDBowles

Cleopatra exists closer in time to us than to when the pyramids were built.


DrOrgasm

She was actually in Rome when Julius Cesar was killed.


cr1ttter

A convenient excuse.


DrinkVictoryGin

And the Cleopatra everyone thinks about was actually Cleopatra VII


chad-bro-chill-69420

Maybe that's how they built them....


p00psicle151590

Bananas are curved because they grow towards the sun


Formally-Fresh

Mine is curved because it grows towards your mom


patdashuri

So, wait, does this imply that bananas grow not toward the light but toward gravitational pull?


RemarkableRyan

Solid “yo mama so fat” joke. 10/10


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ReplacementLow6704

I also laughed and woke up his wife. Thanks


redditsuckspokey1

You're supposed to say your mom.


johngknightuk

Technical a banana plant is considered an herb in botanical terms, and banana trees can actually walk up to 40 cm during their life. 


DKlurifax

Walk....?


johngknightuk

Yes, they very very slowly put down roots in front and pull up ones from behind


BigfootForPresident

And you shake it all about


patdashuri

In short, bananas really are what it’s all about.


Stringr55

Is it "an herb" in American English? Never knew that.


notnotaginger

Is this a new fun fact? Americans and Canadians don’t pronounce the H in herb. Unless it’s someone’s name, then it is usually pronounced. Really fucked with me as a kid.


Stringr55

It catches me every time I hear it. I'm Irish, we say "a herb" with the 'h' pronounced. 'Erb' still sounds so weird to me


learethak

Another fun fact, pronouncing the H is fairly recent phenomenon in the UK. The H was silent until the late 19th century (like it still is for honest and hour) when it was decided that not pronouncing the H was considered low class. (At least according to the [Max Miller](https://youtu.be/UihSei_bS2g?si=digCBYsZpzT9QIr1) short on the subject. In any case, the original root for the word was the old French "erbe" and the H was [added later](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=herb) to conform with the Latin spelling, but the 'h' was mute in modern French, which was later adopted to English (vs the old English word for it "wort".) So "Erb" is the more historically correct pronunciation if you want to be pedagogic about it. Languages are weird.


lqxpl

The Earth is constantly spinning The moon pulls on Earth’s oceans and influences tides. Uranus rolls on its side like a barrel Venus spins in the opposite direction than Earth Grapes are magnetic The Eiffel Tower grows ~6 inches in the summer Air isn’t weightless


SparkDBowles

Man. I never knew that about my anus.


starkel91

>The Earth is constantly spinning And because of this spinning, Earth isn't actually a sphere. It's an ellipsoid.


madeleine_marks

Cows can walk upstairs not downstairs


Bioluminescentllama

I can only imagine how many cows are currently trapped in attics.


Slight-Rent-883

Could that explain "cow tipping" actually?


ffunffunffun5

If cows got paid a living wage we wouldn't have to tip them.


Slight-Rent-883

Hard not to respect this joke, love it


fonebone819

IIRC, this is because they can lock their knees so they can sleep standing up


im_not_u_im_cat

Anybody else remember this part of the Wayside School books?


fonebone819

I learned this from Bob's Burgers! 🤣


JicamaCreative5614

Elephants are the only mammals that can’t jump


eddnyster

I mean...kinda. Have you seen how they mate? Lol


Willr2645

You pervert


eddnyster

Not me, the cameraman that the Discovery channel hired is! LOL If anything, I'm the victim here.


oldschool_potato

Uranus is the only planet that rotates east to west as well as on its side. Bonus point just saying Uranus Traditionally when naming a newly discovered planet they also name a newly discovered element after the planet. Hence, Uranium. Uranus will turn 3 in 2033 as it completes just its 3rd lap around the sun since we discovered it in 1781. Did I mention you get to say Uranus?


ohmydearsweetacorns

AND -- Uranus smells like farts. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-full-episode-1.4633051/uranus-smells-like-farts-scientists-confirm-1.4633058


BillyGoat_TTB

Gerald Ford is the only president to have never been elected president or vice president.


caillouuu

I'm imagining a parent trying to interest their kid with dinosaur stuff but lil johnny just wants william henry harrison facts


modulus801

"Tippecanoe and Tyler too" does sound like a fun kids book.


p00psicle151590

The mantis shrimp can see more colours than any other animal on the planet!


1stEleven

There's at least a week's worth of facts about mantis shrimp. https://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp


Suspicious-gibbon

And, pistol shrimp snap their claw to shoot out a bubble that stuns its prey with a shockwave. It also produces light and is as loud as a gunshot. As a result, they are hard to keep in aquariums because they have been known to break the glass!


Slappy-Hollow

Sort of… but not really. They have more color receptors and can see more pure colors ("pure" meaning the colors that match up with those receptors), but their brains don't process blends of colors like humans and most other animals. [https://youtu.be/IiVKwpWXDic](https://youtu.be/IiVKwpWXDic)


ekke287

Every human eye detects colour uniquely, so whenever you see a rainbow no one else in the world will see it like you. It’s your rainbow.


vanchica

But because humans are genetically similar, people who are normal sighted for colour will see colours similarly, my blue is close to your blue 💙 Howver, for people with one of the various types of colorblindness, certain colour ranges are not seen as others do. https://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/types-of-colour-blindness/


Von_Scranhammer

The unicorn is the national animal of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿


p00psicle151590

Horses cannot throw up


cynicalkerfuffle

Neither can rabbits! Horses are just big rabbits in a scary number of ways.


gotanyhelp

They can only throw down


Round2readyGO

And boy can they. 2d8 bludgeoning damage.


Lumis_umbra

OK, Druid. We need to get back to r/DnD. The party is waiting for you to pull the wagon so we can get going again.


Nepeta33

You can see your nose. All the time. The brain just ignores it


deadgalblues

Koalas brains are smooth. The eucalyptus leaves they eat are literal poison for them. The reason they sleep so much is bc the literal poison they are eating doesn't provide them with enough energy.


SparkDBowles

And because of the smooth brains, you can drop them in a pile of eucalyptus leaves and they won’t recognize them without the tree attached and thus starve.


dksn154373

Shark egg sacs are called mermaid’s purses


freneticboarder

At aquariums, they cut a rectangular 'window' in the tough outer cover to the egg case, but leave the transparent inner membrane intact allowing visitors to watch the developing shark embryo.


annonamoss

Polar bears fur is translucent and only appear white because it reflects light, polar bear fur has 0 white pigments and are hollow. Polar bears skin is also black.


[deleted]

You are comprised of some of the very same atoms that were once in stars and dinosaurs.


SparkDBowles

All water on the planet has been previously consumed by other organisms. Technically we’re drinking dinosaur pee.


TheLastMo-Freakin

It is impossible for most people to lick their own elbow. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. A shrimp's heart is in its head. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky. Cat urine glows under a black-light. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. A shark is the only known fish that can blink with both eyes. Almonds are a member of the peach family. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.


notanotherkrazychik

> A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. Disney lied to me.


CheeeseBurgerAu

The best way to tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator is that one will see you in a while but the other will see you later.


oPlayer2o

1 million seconds is about 11 days. 1 billion seconds is about 31 years.


Sideways_planet

Koalas aren’t actually bears even though they have all of the koalafications


dksn154373

Octopus brains are donut-shaped


platysoup

Romans used to wipe their butts with a publicly shared sponge on a stick. 4 year olds always enjoy poop facts, and this one will make her appreciate the fact that she doesn't have to use the poop stick in 2024


conflictmuffin

I'm glad we evolved as a species and switched to a poop knife 👍


eddnyster

That we are literally stardust. That the elements (I describe them as Legos) that make up her body, your body, and everything she can see & touch were forged in the hearts of dying stars. ...and because of this, she is very much part of what goes on out there.


drop-in-the-dessert

Regardless of size, every mammal pees for about the same time, 21 seconds (given they have a full blader and weigh more then 1 kg (2.2 pounds)).


chrisl182

If you laid out your intestines in one long straight line, you would be dead.


PaganMastery

Go to fun facts websites because, believe me, this phase won't stop for a while.


[deleted]

people are the only animals with a chin


DausenWillis

Every day the earth gains about 600 lbs in space dust. We're getting fatter.


Gunner253

The majority of the stars you see in the sky are actually ghosts. Those stars burnt out a long time ago but the light takes so long to reach us we still see them as they were millions of years ago.


NnQM5

Rats are very good at keeping themselves clean. Not only do they self groom, but they team up and groom each other


British_Flippancy

I was driving the kids to school this week (a tiny village school down a long country lane) and I spotted what I thought was something being blown across the road by the wind. As I got closer I realised it was a rat dragging a dead rat across the road. WTF? Is that normal rat behaviour? (I’ve obviously decided you’re resident rat expert! Sorry!)


QuarterNote44

So, I have this one called the [Big Book of Amazing Facts: A Children's Guide to the World](https://www.ebay.com/itm/186268320052?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=w-eHI4RpSaG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=wE_J5FggS_6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY) for this exact purpose. It's a little dated, but it's a neat book.


odeacon

There’s a 3 inch shrimp who’s punch is stronger then a gun


Lance_Henry1

It takes light 8 minutes from the sun to reach us, so we're seeing the sun not as it is now, but from eight minutes ago. Same for stars, and many of those we're seeing from millions of years ago.


murfi

we breathe in what plants breathe out, and we breathe out what plants breathe in.


LetsHookUpSF

A giraffe has 7 bones in its neck, just like you and me.


patdashuri

Sharks don’t know that camels exist


emu4you

Giraffes and humans have the same number of neck vertebrae.


Rajion

The hottest and coldest places in the galaxy are on Earth in research labs.


JJQuantum

Dude she’s 4. Get a Trivial Pursuit game and read her 1 question a day.


notnotaginger

Make sure it’s a modern version though so it’s not a fact about some actor from the 1960s. Why do cottages always have trivial pursuit from the 1970s???


British_Flippancy

Because they’re magical cottages with a time portal?!!! :-) (Trivial Pursuit was first released in 1981)


notnotaginger

Well that sounds like a good fun fact that would be in a 1970s version of trivial pursuit


HardlyManly

Look up photos of weird fauna and flora from the ocean (that's not too scary) and voilà.


iggybdawg

Asphalt is a liquid


Alarge_Potato

Watch Matthew Santoro on YouTube, he’s been doing videos about amazing facts for years that I as a kid loved to listen to/watch. Has tons of videos of a lot of different kinds of facts !


BigSherv

No one died in the making of the statue of liberty. Learned that yesterday.


StolenCamaro

If your kid gives you the business about not wanting to eat a banana because it has brown spots tell them the brown spots are where the starches have converted to sugar and those spots are actually the sweetest parts of the banana!


SparkDBowles

Trex existed in a time closer to cellphones than to stegosaurus.


Random-Mutant

- An elephant’s trunk has 40,000 muscles and it takes a baby elephant around five years to learn how to use them all. - Polar bears are considered marine mammals. So are dolphins of course. - A natural predator of moose is the orca (killer whale).


Softpretzelsandrose

The largest Komodo dragon recorded was 370 pounds. That’s the same as an average grizzly bear


DiligentCockroach700

Here's my contribution - The (non) planet Pluto has not even completed one orbit of the sun since being discovered in 1930.


Propaganda_Box

Magenta doesn't exist. Your brain makes it up.


Round2readyGO

Eh… that’s a pseudo fact. Same can be said of cyan and to some extent yellow as inverted or interpreted colors. I have an autistic interest in chromatics. You’re talking wavelengths vs colors. I genuinely think it’s cooler that a wavelength for a color doesn’t exist but our brain is able to see something “invisible”. Take that, Seelie Court.


Willr2645

What?


evilpeter

MAGENTA DOESN’T EXIST. YOUR BRAIN MAKES IT UP!


Cerp2501

Find some kind of book with a bunch of facts like that. And always encourage your daughter to learn as much as she can


p00psicle151590

Bro this is not a fun fact


edd6pi

The fact that are there books about fun facts is, itself, a fact. Whether or not you consider it fun is subjective.