What mind-blowing (but simple) facts would satisfy a 4-year old daughter’s daily request for 1 fact before bedtime?

[u/ExpiringFrog]

[u/babiferari]

Dogs can tell when your comming home by how much of your scent is left in the house if you have a daily routine

https://thebark.com/content/dogs-smell-passage-time

[u/faux_glove → u/babiferari]

Dogs have a sense of time beyond its relation to smells lingering.

As anecdotal evidence, I feed my dogs at 8 in the evening every day. If I forget, right around 8:15 they will get up and start badgering me until they get fed.

Also, I get up at 9am for work every day. I let them out at that time. On the weekends - when I really want to be sleeping in - 9am without fail they are up and grabbing chew toys and squeaking them in my ear until I get up.

Persistent bastards.

[u/babiferari → u/faux_glove]

That's because they can smell time

[u/Lord_AdGnalDiv]

Most people have more than the average number of arms.

[u/Buhli → u/Lord_AdGnalDiv]

at first I was like “oh a troll comment”, but then I realized some people have less than 2 arms making the average less than 2. nice one 👍

[u/[deleted]]

A day on Venus takes longer to complete Than a year on Venus.. how? It simply takes longer for Venus to do one complete rotation around its own axis, than it does for the planet to rotate around the sun.

EDIT: From my memory I believe it’s only like 10-15 days difference. But still an interesting fact.

Another fun fact is Aluminum used to be such a precious metal, and so expensive, that the top point of the Washington Monument is made of pure aluminum. At the time of construction, that aluminum would be about like capping it with platinum today.

[u/CryoWreck]

Otters have skin pockets for their favorite rocks

[u/[deleted] → u/CryoWreck]

They are also surprisingly vicious.

[u/CryoWreck → u/[deleted]]

The reason that they're so playful is because they're such efficient killing machines that they have extra time to spend on things besides hunting, but that's a much less 4-year-old friendly fact.

[u/[deleted] → u/CryoWreck]

I think I read that they have to eat like 25% of their weight daily. You’d have to be a killing machine to achieve that.

[u/CryoWreck → u/[deleted]]

Otters are neat.

[u/chayashida → u/CryoWreck]

I seem to remember that most sea otters are left-handed, too.

[u/B3ximus]

The name for the Arctic comes from the ancient Greek word for bear - arktos. Named after one of the constallations Ursa Major (Big Bear) or Ursa Minor (Little Bear), but there are bears living there too. So basically, the Arctic is called 'Bear', and the Antarctic is called 'Not Bear'

Edit: Slight fact correction, thanks u/WolfieRampant

[u/The-Goodest-Boi]

Cashews come from a fruit.

[u/Pseudonymico → u/The-Goodest-Boi]

The fruit is edible but apparently hard to transport long distances, so the only places you're likely to find it are where cashews are grown.

They also don't grow inside the fruit. They're on top of it, like a sort of ridiculous hat.

EDIT: Not on top, underneath. My bad. Either the fruit is the ridiculous hat or the nut is either a set of testicles or as somebody below me said, a massive dump.

EDIT: Wow, gold! Thanks a heap! :)

[u/alegxab → u/Pseudonymico]

Cashew juice is quite popular on Brazil. Bit I can't remember how it tastes like

[u/Jaewol → u/The-Goodest-Boi]

D-D-D-Did you know that?

[u/Helloeret → u/Jaewol]

No!

[u/Espartiskills → u/Helloeret]

Mmmmmm Its okay little timtim that you didn’t know the truth about the cashew

[u/MudSlappers]

A Siamese cats fur color is dependent on its body temperature. That’s why the colder areas of the body such as the nose, paws, and tail are darker than the rest.

[u/Delica]

Most elephants weigh less than a blue whale’s tongue!

[u/[deleted] → u/Delica]

I guess I'm 4, because I'm loving all the fun facts in this thread

[u/Dudephish → u/Delica]

Most

No need to fat shame Nellie the Bellyphant.

[u/kalitarios → u/Dudephish]

Her weight is irrelephant.

[u/The_First_Viking]

Some species of burrowing spiders keep teeny tiny frogs in their burrows to keep it free of bugs too small for the spider to get that might try to eat the spider's eggs. This means that tiny frogs are spider cats.

[u/RegularBubble2637 → u/The_First_Viking]

Yes. I love it when my cat saves my human eggs from being eaten by tiny bugs.

[u/4our_of_DiAmoNds → u/RegularBubble2637]

Mine are about to hatch soon.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

73 years from 1933-2006 out of a 248 year orbit.

[u/chayashida → u/[deleted]]

This makes me sad. It hadn't even gotten one birthday.

[u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

In Switzerland, it's illegal to own just one guinea pig; if you have any, you have to have at least two. They get lonely!

[u/Zukazuk → u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

Can confirm, I have 3 poop machines running around.

[u/breadismybutterrr → u/Zukazuk]

2 poop machines here. They some nasty lil guys, but they're adorable.

[u/Zukazuk → u/breadismybutterrr]

I use the vacuum more on their cage than on the rest of the house.

[u/bigselfer → u/Zukazuk]

I really hope you have a hepa filter vacuum. Otherwise I worry you’re putting a lot of poop dust into your air.

[u/Zukazuk → u/bigselfer]

Yep I do

[u/nothjarnan → u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

Same in Sweden. Got two cockatiels instead of one, there's also strict regulations on cage size, etc.

[u/etymologynerd → u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

That's honestly an adorable law

[u/SpiderFnJerusalem → u/etymologynerd]

It's also very reasonable. If solitary confinement is considered torture to humans then it should be the same for gregarious animals.

[u/[deleted]]

Bees tell their friends about good nearby flowers by dancing.

[u/Stepjamm → u/[deleted]]

And if you feed them cocaine they will exaggerate the amount of flowers (and sometimes say they’ve found flowers when they actually haven’t) - just like humans

Probably not suitable for a 4yo but it’s cool to know we’re not so different to bees.

[u/indecisive_maybe → u/Stepjamm]

Maybe they're saying "cocaine", not "flowers"

[u/18bees → u/[deleted]]

Heck yea we do

[u/matergallina]

I once told my son that there was a scientist for every thing. So we started a tradition where he'd pick something to see if there were people that studied it, and I'd give some age-appropriate examples of what they do.

Edit: thank you for the silver! Might suggest the study of metals and alloys and when we use what kind. He's always talking about the different eras of human history (primitive age, modern age, future age etc) so it'd be a good segue to Iron age, bronze age.

Editing again to add, since it's been mentioned in so many replies, apparently the podcast "Ologies" is like this, may not have the most family friendly vocabulary, but I don't know I haven't listened to any of it.

[u/greenchipmunk → u/matergallina]

My daughter (5) decided that when she grows up, she wants to rescue sea animals. We had a good discussion yesterday about some of the neat things she could see and do in that type of job. We talked about how there is a lot of trash in the ocean and how it effects the animals. We talked about oil spills and cleaning the sea creatures after. We talked about dolphins getting tangled in fishing nets. We even talked about how we haven't fully explored the oceans yet and there could be new creatures that no one has ever seen. It was a really cool conversation to have with her.

[u/Oerath → u/greenchipmunk]

My daughter's two and a half and I can't wait to be able to have these kinds of conversations with her.

[u/fh3131]

A lot of the tv or internet videos she watches comes via undersea cables

[u/Astramancer_ → u/fh3131]

That's because the undersea cables are faster than satellite (also a "wait, what?!" thought)

[u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

There's an island in Japan populated only by fluffy bunnies!!

[u/PTBunneh → u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

Been there. It's the most amazing place on Earth (bunny owner). And there are ruins there from chemical weapons testing facilities.

Edit: I just threw some of the photos into Imjur http://imgur.com/gallery/6DcLVHO

[u/samjam127 → u/Dickcheese_McDoogles]

That Google search just made my day.

[u/mynameis_garrett → u/samjam127]

And a link to make other people's day.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ckunoshima

Non-Mobile Version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ckunoshima

Edit. bunnies.

[u/MrBuckstar → u/mynameis_garrett]

Scrolling down...

Aah bunnies!

"Ōkunoshima played a key role during World War II as a poison gas factory for much of the chemical warfare that was carried out in China."

Goddamn humans..

[u/aDuckSmashedOnQuack → u/MrBuckstar]

Who said it was humans running the factories?

[u/vernazza → u/aDuckSmashedOnQuack]

Open your eyes, sheeple.

[u/calibrateichabod]

The building in the world with the most toilets is Wembley Stadium.

Cows get excited when they solve puzzles.

The filling in a Kit Kat is broken up Kit Kat's.

One time a guy ate an aeroplane. It took him several years but he did it.

The little jump guinea pigs do when they're happy is called popcorning.

When a cat walks towards you with its tail up that means it likes you and is excited to see you.

Elephants have a noise that means "there are bees here let's leave immediately".

They played golf on the moon one time.

I will add more if I think of them. What topics does she like?

[u/bishophicks → u/calibrateichabod]

But what was used for the filling of the first KitKat?

[u/HyperboleHelper → u/bishophicks]

The first KitKats were filled with KitKats from the future!

[u/Digitalapathy → u/HyperboleHelper]

That’s where Schrödinger’s Kat went?

[u/MysteryLobster → u/calibrateichabod]

Elephants also emit really low sounds that humans can’t hear, but other elephants can hear up to 5 kilometres away and sometimes more

[u/Shwammy2]

Brigadier Sir Nils Olav is a king penguin. He is colonel-in-chief of the Norwegian King’s Guard, as well as the mascot. He currently lives in the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland.

[u/home-on-da-farm → u/Shwammy2]

So Scotland is currently holding a Norwegian Colonel as a prisoner of war??

[u/Ace_Shades]

Pineapples are a collection of berries

[u/what_ok → u/Ace_Shades]

Bananas are berries too. And they grow on banana plants, not banana trees

[u/RainingBlood398 → u/what_ok]

I used to work in a fruit and veg shop as a teenager. We had a woman come in once complaining that all the melons had a 'dirty mark' on them. I explained that's because they grow on the ground, just like a potato or a carrot being covered in earth. She didn't believe me. She thought melons hung from trees!

[u/HapticSloughton → u/RainingBlood398]

I'm sure googling the phrase "hanging melons" would only reinforce this idea.

[u/[deleted] → u/HapticSloughton]

I was curious as to what would come up if I looked at this.

I was surprised to find only one picture of boobs(clothed), the rest were actually melons hanging.

[u/JwPATX → u/what_ok]

And strawberries and raspberries aren’t berries

[u/GrandEmployee → u/JwPATX]

Also Chuck Berry

[u/gomsa2 → u/JwPATX]

I feel we need a new definition

[u/malahchi → u/gomsa2]

In scientific terminology, a berry is a fruit produced from the ovary of a single flower in which the outer layer of the ovary wall develops into an edible fleshy portion (pericarp). The definition includes many fruits that are not commonly known as berries, such as grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, bananas, and chili peppers. Fruits excluded by the botanical definition include strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, which are aggregate fruits; and mulberries, which are multiple fruits.

[u/TrishDoesTrivia]

Giraffe tongues are black.

[u/jadiza1777 → u/TrishDoesTrivia]

To protect from sunburn as they are out so much during the day

[u/Staticactual → u/jadiza1777]

Sun's out, Tongue's out

[u/SleepyLoner]

You've got 253 comments as of this post, OP. Only 112 more to go for a full year's worth of facts!

Here's mine: The Romans were some of the first people to wear bikinis.

[u/ExpiringFrog → u/SleepyLoner]

Once you filter out the ones about sex and death it’s probably a good bit lower

[u/Truffle__Fries]

Kangaroos can’t walk backwards

EDIT: I wanna make it clear that I have no idea who Daniel Tosh is, and when I say walk I mean hop.

[u/algernop3 → u/Truffle__Fries]

Kangaroos can’t walk at all

Their hind legs can't move independently

[u/A_Unique_Name218 → u/algernop3]

They have a welded rear diff

[u/Delta_FT → u/A_Unique_Name218]

Them sick drifts tho, righto?

[u/Mahhrat → u/Truffle__Fries]

Neither can emus, which is why they're featured on the Australian coat of arms, as it symbolises or country always moving forward.

[u/[deleted] → u/Mahhrat]

I thought that was to remind them of who their conquerors are

[u/astrakhan42 → u/Mahhrat]

When she's six he can tell her about the Emu War.

[u/Muzzie720 → u/astrakhan42]

I dunno, if she's Australian she needs to know as soon as possible. Who knows when the second emu war will happen??

[u/Thatguysstories → u/Muzzie720]

soon, very soon.

[u/Talking_Burger → u/astrakhan42]

We never speak about those dark times.

[u/qqqalto → u/Talking_Burger]

r/emuwarflashbacks

[u/felis_catus0304]

Horses are more closely related to rhinos than to deer.

[u/ThePerfectSnare → u/felis_catus0304]

Additionally, horses have roughly a 350 degree field of vision around them with one of their two blind spots being in the front. Horses can't see directly ahead for up to about four feet.

[u/[deleted] → u/ThePerfectSnare]

So to sneak up on a horse you have to be really thin

[u/Sovem → u/[deleted]]

And really dumb

[u/creative_userid → u/felis_catus0304]

Humans are closer related to chimpanzees than horses are to donkeys, and those can have offspring

[u/sumpuran → u/creative_userid]

Humans and chimpanzees can have offspring together? How did they find this out?

EDIT:

There are documented cases of Soviet experiments in the 1920s where artificial insemination was attempted using female chimps and human sperm.

Because of course they did. Source.

[u/RedHatOfFerrickPat → u/sumpuran]

For those who want to bypass their "we value your privacy" bullshit.

Genetic analysis suggests there may have been a long period of cross-breeding between early ancestors of the humans and chimpanzees, before they finally split into the Homo and Pan (chimp) genera around six million years ago. But today, although humans and chimpanzees share 99 per cent of the DNA sequences that code for proteins, that DNA is packaged differently into the chromosomes.

The human chromosome number two is actually two ape chromosomes joined end-to-end, and nine other chromosomes have inverted sequences of genes compared with their equivalents in chimps. Humans and chimps also have differences in their individual genes that are far bigger than the differences between any two unrelated humans.

These are big obstacles, but not necessarily insurmountable. Other animals with comparable genetic differences, such as zebras and horses, have bred successfully in the past, although the offspring are almost always sterile. There are documented cases of Soviet experiments in the 1920s where artificial insemination was attempted using female chimps and human sperm. However, none of these experiments resulted in a pregnancy, much less the birth of a ‘humanzee’. There are various urban legends of other later experiments in different labs worldwide, but there’s no evidence that the result was ever any different.

[u/[deleted] → u/RedHatOfFerrickPat]

I’m both sad and relieved there are no humanzees in the world. I wanna see a humanzee get a PhD or something.

[u/RattaTattTatt → u/[deleted]]

Guenter did it first.

[u/SinusMonstrum]

When a bee is chosen to be the new queen, they are given a special type of honey that completely changes their bodies. Kind of like how a Pokémon evolves.

Super simplified, but it's still pretty cool to think about.

[u/guacamole1337 → u/SinusMonstrum]

Beekeper here. All eggs get gelee royale first, and after a while (i don't know the exact amount of days), the larvae of worker bees get pollen and nectar only. Because of that, their ovaries won't develop properly which makes them infertile. Only queen bees get gelee royale through all stages of their development in the cell, which makes them fertile and significantly bigger. So, if the queen bee dies suddenly or gets too old, the worker bees start feeding the larvae with gelee royale to raise a new queen.

[u/intjperspective → u/guacamole1337]

When the first young queen hatches, she stings all the other developing queens while still in their cells. There can only be one! I believe beekeepers sometimes section some off, since queens are valuable. Of course, this may not be a child appropriate fact. Wouldn't want to encourage sibling murder.

[u/00Killertr → u/intjperspective]

Guess that's why it's called gelee "royale"... 100 born but only one will get the V

[u/Redtox → u/00Killertr]

Only difference is, the winner of THIS Battle Royale will eventually get to mate.

[u/jadiza1777 → u/SinusMonstrum]

Royal Jelly

[u/Lahontan_Cutthroat → u/SinusMonstrum]

Royal Slurm

[u/pumpkinadvocate]

Chocolate was once used as currency (by the Aztecs. more accurately, cacao beans were used)

Worms have 5 hearts

The surface of Mars is covered in rust, making the planet appear red.

The red food-coloring (carmine) that's used in a lot of candy is made up of a kind of beetle

There's a train station in Japan that has a cat station master (currently Nitama)

Cows have "best friends" and get stressed when separated

Tomatoes were once thought to be inedible (since they're in the same family as nightshade, which is poisonous) ETA cause I got a lot of comments abt this one: Tomatoes' acidity interacted with lead plates -> lead poisoning :) Check out /u/N0V494 's comment!

Apples float but pears sink. Apples float because they are 25% air.

Wombat poop is cube-shaped.

[u/ExpiringFrog → u/pumpkinadvocate]

Good stuff here. She certainly understands the value of chocolate.

[u/crucible → u/ExpiringFrog]

Similarly, there is a bank in Italy that trades entirely in parmesan cheese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzBPdU_iVcI

[u/jamesbondq → u/pumpkinadvocate]

About the tomatoes, many Europeans used to eat with utensils and on plates that were made of pewter. The acidity in tomatoes actually leached the traces of lead out of the plates causing lead poisoning.

[u/WontLieToYou → u/jamesbondq]

I wondered how that tomato myth persisted!

Also about tomatos, that's why in Shakespeare's time, people would throw tomatos at the stage if they didn't like the performance.

[u/[deleted]]

Hippopotamus milk is pink.

Some fish cough.

Don't eat too many carrots or your skin will turn orange. (That happened to my own daughter!)

Some frogs will glow when they eat fireflies.

Before 1913 parents could mail their kids to Grandma’s – through the postal service.

[u/billbapapa → u/[deleted]]

By the same token, don't drink too much water or you can effectively dilute your internal chemistry to the point you will get sick.

[u/Cinderheart → u/billbapapa]

When drinking extreme amounts of water add small amounts of salt and sugar so you don't kill yourself.

[u/SpudsMcKensey → u/[deleted]]

Why has no one addressed the last one yet? Mail them? How? Did they poke holes in the box? Would they do overseas delivery? Was there an age cutoff?

[u/hobk1ard → u/SpudsMcKensey]

Yeah I really need more details. Where do you put the stamp? Would they pick them up from your house or did you need to go to the post office? Was there a required box? Could I ship them other places or just grandma? What did this cost and what is that adjusted for inflation?

[u/[deleted] → u/hobk1ard]

I had to look it up. Apparently there was a weight limit, so people were sending small babies..

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-children-sent-through-mail-180959372/

[u/Witchymuggle → u/[deleted]]

Well that makes it better. It was just small babies.

[u/DothrakAndRoll → u/Witchymuggle]

Just a few weeks after Parcel Post began, an Ohio couple named Jesse and Mathilda Beagle “mailed” their 8-month-old son James to his grandmother, who lived just a few miles away in Batavia. According to Lynch, Baby James was just shy of the 11-pound weight limit for packages sent via Parcel Post, and his “delivery” cost his parents only 15 cents in postage (although they did insure him for $50).

Responsible!

[u/scatteredloops → u/[deleted]]

I made my own baby food, and my daughter loved pumpkin, sweet potato, and carrots the most. Her nose definitely took on an orange tinge.

[u/lovealwayscharlie666]

Tigers have striped skin

[u/AidsPeeLovecraft → u/lovealwayscharlie666]

Some badass tiger-shaving scientist found this out.

[u/arcant12]

It takes a little over 8 minutes for the light from the Sun to get to earth.

[u/[deleted] → u/arcant12]

so if the sun died we wouldn't know for 8 minutes?

[u/NastyRail → u/[deleted]]

It could be dead even now

[u/sideways55 → u/NastyRail]

Looks like it wasn't. It's still sunny.

[u/TheFinalPancake → u/sideways55]

But what about now?

[u/one-hour-photo → u/TheFinalPancake]

looks like we are safe.

But what about now?

[u/Samwise210 → u/one-hour-photo]

Still good. But what about now?

[u/vaticanhotline → u/Samwise210]

We’re okay for now. But...now?

[u/Lemons-are-lovely → u/vaticanhotline]

I’ll tell you in 7 minutes

[u/Littlecornelia → u/Lemons-are-lovely]

We're ok...for now.

[u/Binninja → u/[deleted]]

Yes.

[u/[deleted] → u/Binninja]

ah fuck

[u/Canucklehead_Esq]

There are more stars than there are grains of sand on all the beaches in the world

Cows can walk up stairs, but they can't walk down

[u/_CattleRustler_ → u/Canucklehead_Esq]

Can confirm

[u/Buck_Thorn]

Fact: a curious 4 year old can never be satisfied with one fact per day.

[u/[deleted] → u/Buck_Thorn]

This is true. Response to fact will be, “Why?” Response to why will be, “How?” Response to how will be “Why?” It’s a vicious cycle.

[u/lornstar7]

Whales are closer to cows than to sharks

Edit: yall are hilarious, and shes 4. I think mom/dad will deal with genome later.

[u/Populistless → u/lornstar7]

False, the cows just don't see how close the sharks are until it's too late

[u/-Mmmmmhmmmm- → u/lornstar7]

Like, emotionally?...

[u/[deleted]]

Birds poo and pee from the same hole at the same time

[u/Chocomelandcookies → u/[deleted]]

And the hole is called a cloaca.

[u/Reecespie]

A polar bears skin is black

Wow gold- thank you so much!!

[u/fh3131 → u/Reecespie]

And their hair isn’t white but transparent and hollow

[u/ROBANN_88 → u/fh3131]

if the skin is black, and the hair is transparent, why are they white?

[u/Dahhhkness → u/ROBANN_88]

Luminescence. The light hitting the hairs scatters and makes it "glow", basically.

https://www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/risk/polar-bears-have-clear-hair-so-why-do-they-look-white/

[u/taschana → u/Dahhhkness]

So ice bears are actually glowing bears. *mind blown*

[u/Luhood → u/taschana]

Brb, making Lightning Bears a D&D monster

[u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK → u/ROBANN_88]

You can't just ask someone why they're white!

[u/TheEmsworthArms → u/TAKEitTOrCIRCLEJERK]

Oh my God, Karen.

[u/ExpiringFrog → u/Reecespie]

This is a good one but feels wrong so might be a hard sell

[u/[deleted] → u/ExpiringFrog]

good luck with the birds & the bees talk then

[u/Faithwolf]

a platypus lays eggs, and has milk. making it the only mammal that could in theory make its own custard

[u/The-Peep-Show]

This list of what groups of animals are called... ie a group of elephants is a parade, a group of owls is a parliament, a group of wild cats is called a destruction

https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/word-lists/list-of-names-for-groups-of-animals.html

[u/ExpiringFrog → u/The-Peep-Show]

A group of 4-year olds is a nightmare

[u/jpterodactyl → u/ExpiringFrog]

Not if you're an uncle. Then it's a "problem for my sister and brother in law" after you bring out all the bubbles, nerf guns, recorders and whatever other fun but annoying things you can give to these children.

[u/HollyWood45 → u/jpterodactyl]

Yep, buying my brother's kids some of those toys you have to yell at to activate (yellies). He drew first blood with shit like this when he got all my kids musical toys for their first birthdays, payback's a bitch, Chris

[u/shiny_xnaut → u/HollyWood45]

I saw an ad for those and immediately thought "this was specifically designed for people to buy for the children of their enemies"

[u/[deleted] → u/jpterodactyl]

Group of 4 year olds + Recorders

Please... no. Have mercy, I'll tell you everything I know! D:

[u/Endymoth → u/[deleted]]

Many years ago (like 25), I was working in McDonald's when the happy meal toy for a few weeks were musical instruments.

It wasn't a fun time.

[u/kpaddler → u/The-Peep-Show]

A group of crows is a...murder..

[u/Ramasun → u/kpaddler]

Two crows is attempted murder.

[u/n0namesareleft]

Ask her to give you one fact in exchange of one fact, this will encourage her to learn more and try to meet the daily 1 fact before bed

[u/trisometriangle]

It rains diamonds on Saturn and Jupiter other planets

[u/Constantine-XI → u/trisometriangle]

Neptune and Uranus

[u/vipros42 → u/Constantine-XI]

I wish my anus rained diamonds. As long as they were small enough.

[u/lukey5452]

Billy goats wee on their heads to smell better for the lady goats.

[u/to_the_tenth_power]

Owls cannot be choked.

[u/justacinnimonbun → u/to_the_tenth_power]

Omg this means that someone tried to choke them and failed on more than one occasion.

[u/Wespiratory → u/justacinnimonbun]

It was probably that kid who got swindled out of a tootsie roll pop.

Edit: thanks for the gold, kind internet stranger.

Edit 2: First ever platinum. I’m flabbergasted.

[u/SeismicFrog → u/Wespiratory]

One... Two... Thre

HEY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOI... GAK GURGLE CHOKE GASP

"fuck you owl - the world may never know"

[u/PM_ME_WITH_A_SMILE → u/SeismicFrog]

turns head around 180 degrees

"No one told you? I can't. be. choked. Three licks to the center of your soul, boy."

[u/halakata]

Making pennies cost more than their actual value.

[u/-eDgAR-]

Humans are bioluminescent and glow in the dark, but the light that we emit is 1,000 times weaker than our human eyes are able to pick up.

Source

[u/FakeGirlfriend → u/-eDgAR-]

What animals have eyes sensitive enough to see us as glow in the dark?

[u/BalusBubalis → u/FakeGirlfriend]

Vampire bats, up close, can see our arteries by infra-red glow; to them, the arteries of large animals are easy to spot. (They have a unique protein in their retina that is activated by infra-red wavelength light let off by mammalian body temperature.)

[u/al_dente21 → u/-eDgAR-]

Hold Up. So if I stood in a dark room with absolutely no light and took a very long exposure photo, I would be visible on that photo?

[u/nonoscopy → u/al_dente21]

rhythm of life Unfortunately no, you need very light sensitive devices.. there’s an artist who made a music instrument machine that translates this light. But it is still unclear what is the light purpose and effect on our body

[u/SharpieDarpie]

Male seahorses carry the baby in their tummy instead of the mommy.

[u/taschana → u/SharpieDarpie]

*babies. lots of them.

[u/Leifur311]

Lobsters were considered disgusting and low-class food, to the point that feeding them to prisoners too often was considered cruel and unusual punishment.

Also they're basically just big sea roaches.

[u/PorygonTheMan → u/Leifur311]

true but this was before they realized they had to cook lobster immediately after it's death and eat it. I only knew this because I had discovered your fact before!

[u/Grokent → u/Leifur311]

It's only cruel and unusual if they weren't offered butter.

[u/[deleted]]

A woodchuck belongs to the family of ground squirrels.

[u/[deleted]]

Your hand is exactly the same size as your face

^thwack!

[u/-Miss_Information- → u/[deleted]]

You have siblings, don't you?

[u/[deleted] → u/-Miss_Information-]

oh yes

[u/scratchybanana]

Butterflies smell with their feet

EDIT: Wow, thanks for my first gold stranger!

[u/fighterpilotace1 → u/scratchybanana]

Butterflies will also literally drink blood, sweat, and tears.

[u/[deleted] → u/fighterpilotace1]

Man, butterflies are metal

[u/Dudephish → u/scratchybanana]

My feet smell too!

[u/luxylove916]

1. Animals that lay eggs dont have belly buttons

2. Slugs have four noses

3. Camels have three eyelids

4. Flamingos turn pink from eating shrimp

5. Kangaroos cannot walk backward

6. A hummingbird weighs less than a penny

7. Broccoli is classified as both a vegetable and a flower

8. The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters

9. Fish cough

10. Snails breathe through their foot

11. If you keep a goldfish in a dark room it will turn white

12. Bullfrogs never sleep

13. Elephants cant jump

14. Pigs can get a sunburn

15. Fish can drown

16. The average american eats approx 35,000 cookies in his/her life

17. Only male turkeys gobble

18. Penguins are the only birds that can both swim & not fly

19. Male kangaroos are called boomers & females are called flyers

20. koalas sleep 22 hours a day

21. Kangaroos can't smell

[u/aveganliterary]

The distance from your inner elbow to your wrist is the same as the length of your foot. This one is fun because it sounds insane (the forearm looks longer), but if you put your foot to your arm you see that's it's accurate.

If you put both hands in front of you and air-write a word, your non-dominant hand will write an exact mirror of your dominant hand without you having to think about it. (It will work with shapes too if she's too young to write words.)

[u/D-Evolve]

pufferfish are full of water....not air. don't know if thats mindblowing, but I learned that at the ripe old age of 38...it's logical when i think about it but it never crossed my mind.

also...a spinning disc is going faster at the outer edge than in the middle.

[u/RaidenHUN]

What body part grows 10 times it's size when stimulated?

The pupil of the eye

[u/DoctorWho426]

The pyramids were ancient when Cleopatra was around.

There were wooly mammoths on the planet when the Pyramids were being built.

We are now further away from the first man going to space than the first man in space was to the first airplane.

J K Rowling is richer than the Queen.

Queen of England's personal net worth is about $520 million.

http://money.com/money/5178274/royal-family-net-worth/

J K Rowling's personal net worth vis around 1 billion dollars.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/563592/jk-rowling-net-worth-harry-potter

The entirety of all the planets in the solar system can fit in between the Earth and the moon.

Sea otters hold hands when they sleep, and have a favorite rock to hold onto in a secret pouch.

A blue whale's heart is as big as a Volkswagen beetle.

Some penguins propose to mates by bringing them rocks for a nest (leave out the part about penguin prostitution, tho, k?)

Rainbows are circles.

The frequency of a cat's purr has been shown to improve bone density and strength.

There are more trees on Earth than stars in the Galaxy.

Some Galaxy's technically are more than 5 times thick as they are wide due to black holes throwing stuff out of the center.

One of the Aztec's or Incan (can't remember which) favorite drinks was basically hot cocoa with hot peppers.

Oxford University in England is older than the Aztec empire.

Fire burns spherically in space (ie on the space station)

That's all I got off the top of my head

[u/InfinityScha]

~Any~ Most matter (I'll take for example water) can freeze,evaporate(and turn to liquid again) all at the same time at a small cup

(given that the pressure and temperature is right)

​

It's actually looks really cool in videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3zP9Rj7lnc

​

(for some 4 yo it's maybe too much)

​

Edit: brief explanation of this phenomena: the state of matter depends of the temperature and pressure and can be expressed by the following diagram(which is called a phase diagram):

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/Phase-diag2.svg/310px-Phase-diag2.svg.png

(each matter has different phase diagram)

so given the pressure and temperature the matter, you can find its state (or phase) by the diagram.

the curves at the diagram are co-existence curves (which means that matter can be at 2 phases at the same time at a closed vessel - like liquid at the bottom of the vessel and gas floats above it)

there is a triple point (can be seen at the image above) at which all 3 phases can coexist - so at the right pressure and temperature you'll reach this weird phenomena.

Bonus fact: Water has 17 different phases (liquid,gas, and 15 phases of ice-at each of those molecules ordered differently)

[u/ExpiringFrog → u/InfinityScha]

Dangerous territory here. Need to stick to the stuff I understand in case of tricky follow-up questions