86 Wonderfully Weird & Fun Facts You Didn't Know

Do your students love all things weird and wonderful? If so, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve rounded up 86 fun facts for your kiddos to lap up! From detailing weird and whacky truths to listing mind-bending fascinations, we hope to boost your class’s general knowledge to new heights! Step right up and explore Pandora’s box of facts!

1. Wombat Poop is Cubic: Wombats are known to produce cubic feces. This unique shape helps their droppings stay in place and mark territory.

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2. Octopuses Have Three Hearts: Two pump blood to the gills, while the third pumps it to the rest of the body.

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3. A Group of Flamingos is a Flamboyance: This term is used to describe a group of flamingos gathered together.

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4. Bananas are Classified as Berries: According to the botanical definition, bananas qualify as berries!

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5. Polar Bears Have Black Skin: Despite their white fur, a polar bear’s skin is actually black which helps them better absorb and retain heat.

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6. The Eiffel Tower Can Grow: Due to thermal expansion, the Eiffel Tower can grow more than six inches in hot weather.

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7. A Bolt of Lightning is Hotter than the Sun: A bolt can reach temperatures of 30,000 kelvins (53,540 degrees Fahrenheit). The sun, on the other hand, is only around 6000 kelvins (10,340 degrees Fahrenheit).

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8. The Tongue of a Blue Whale Weighs as Much as an Elephant: Blue whales are so large that their tongues alone can weigh as much as an elephant.

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9. Venus Rotates Backward: Venus is the only planet in our solar system that spins in the opposite direction relative to the sun.

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10. Sharks Have Been Around Longer Than Trees: Sharks appeared around 400 million years ago while the earliest tree appeared about 350 million years ago.

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11. Hummingbirds Can’t Walk: Despite their ability to fly forwards, backward, and hover up and down, hummingbirds can’t actually walk on their tiny legs.

Learn More: Birds Idea

12. Astronauts’ Height Changes in Space: Without gravity pulling them down, astronauts can grow up to two inches taller in space.

Learn More: Discover Magazine

13. Peanuts are Not Nuts: They are classified as legumes; a type of plant that bears fruit in pods.

Learn More: How Stuff Works

14. Chewing Gum Boosts Concentration: Some studies suggest that the act of chewing gum can improve your concentration.

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15. A Group of Frogs is Called an Army: This term is used to describe a group of frogs.

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16. Giraffes Have the Same Number of Vertebrae in Their Necks as Humans: Just like humans, giraffes also have seven neck vertebrae.

Learn More: Rocky Mountain Brain and Spine Institute

17. Dolphins Sleep With One Eye Open: This is because they only let half of their brain sleep at a time.

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18. Butterflies Taste With Their Feet: These fluttery friends’ taste sensors are located on their feet. By standing on their food, they can taste it!

Learn More: Flip Science

19. A Single Cloud Can Weigh More than 1 Million Pounds: Clouds may look fluffy and light, but they can be quite heavy.

Learn More: Science Notes

20. Carrots Were Originally Purple: It wasn’t until the 17th century that Dutch growers cultivated the orange variety of carrots that we’re familiar with today.

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21. Snails Can Sleep For Three Years: Some species of snails are known to sleep for up to three years to avoid adverse environmental conditions.

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22. Hippopotamus Milk is Pink: This is because it contains two types of acids; one known as hipposudoric acid and the other known as norhipposudoric acid.

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23. The Longest Word in English has 189,819 Letters: It’s the chemical name for titin, a giant protein known to be the largest known protein.

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24. Koalas Have Fingerprints: Koalas are one of the few animals, along with humans and primates, that have unique fingerprints.

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25. Cows Have Best Friends: Cows form close friendships and can become stressed when they are separated from their best friends.

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26. A Shrimp’s Heart is in Its Head: In shrimp, the heart is located in the thorax, which is near the head.

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27. Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Water: This strange phenomenon is known as the Mpemba effect.

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28. Bees Can Recognize Human Faces: Honey bees make out faces the same way we do. They take parts or components of the face and cobble them together to make out the whole face.

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29. A Crocodile Cannot Stick Its Tongue Out: Crocodiles have a membrane that holds their tongue in place on the roof of their mouth. This makes it impossible for them to stick it out of their narrow mouths.

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30. Goosebumps Are a Reaction Designed to Ward Off Predators: In animals covered with fur or hair, the standing hair will trap more air to keep them warm and make them look larger to scare off predators.

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31. Pigeons Can Recognize Themselves in the Mirror: Pigeons are one of a small number of species that pass the ‘mirror test’ – a measure of self-recognition.

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32. Birds Don’t Urinate: They convert toxic ammonia to uric acid.

Learn More: Birds Dont Pee

33. Pineapples Take Two Years to Grow: Each pineapple plant only produces one pineapple every two years.

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34. Fish Can Drown in Water: Like humans, fish need oxygen. So, if there isn’t enough oxygen in the water, they will suffocate.

Learn More: Aquariadise

35. An Octopus Has Blue Blood: To survive in the deep ocean, octopuses have a copper rather than iron-based blood called hemocyanin; turning the color of its blood blue.

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36. Chameleons’ Tongues are Twice the Length of Their Bodies: When fully uncoiled, a chameleon’s tongue is approximately double the length of its body.

Learn More: Discover Animals

37. Camels Have Three Eyelids to Protect Themselves from Blowing Sand: Two of the eyelids have lashes, and the third eyelid comes from the corner of the eye.

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38. Spiders are Not Insects: These creepy crawlies are classed as arachnids; a class that also includes scorpions, mites, and ticks.

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39. Sloths Take Two Weeks to Digest Their Food: Sloths have a very slow metabolism.

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40. Honey Never Spoils: Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3000 years old and still perfectly edible.

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41. Cows Have Four Stomachs: Cows actually have one large stomach that contains four compartments to aid them through the different stages of digestion.

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42. It’s Impossible to Hum While Holding Your Nose: You can’t hum while holding your nose closed because the air cannot escape creating the sound.

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43. Dragonflies Have Six Legs but Can’t Walk: Although they’re great fliers, their legs are only used for landing and grabbing onto things- not walking.

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44. The Amazon Rainforest Produces 20% of the World’s Oxygen: This is why it’s often referred to as the “Lungs of the Earth.”

Learn More: Rainforests Mongabay

45. Some Turtles Can Breathe Through Their Butts: The process is called cloacal respiration and it’s used by turtles when they hibernate.

Learn More: PBS

46. Bats Are the Only Mammals Capable of Sustained Flight: Other “flying” mammals, like flying squirrels or gliding possums, can only glide or parachute.

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47. Slugs Have Four Noses: Slugs actually have tentacles that they use to smell, and they technically have four of them.

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48. The Tallest Mountain in the Solar System Is on Mars: Olympus Mons on Mars stands about 13.6 miles high- nearly three times the height of Mount Everest.

Learn More: Science | How Stuff Works

49. The Earth’s Ozone Layer Will Make a Full Recovery in 50 Years: According to UN and World Meteorological Organization scientists.

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50. The Smallest Bone in Your Body Is in Your Ear: The stapes bone in the human ear is the smallest bone.

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51. More People Die Each Year from Coconuts Than Sharks: Approximately 150 people per year are killed by coconuts, compared to just 10 per year from sharks.

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52. The Can Opener Was Invented 48 Years After Cans: Cans were opened using a hammer and chisel before a designated opener came about.

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53. Some Cats Are Allergic to Humans: Just like humans can be allergic to cats, cats can also have allergies to humans.

Learn More: Cattitude Daily

54. A Rubik’s Cube Has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 Possible Configurations: That’s 43 quintillion!

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55. “Dreamt” Is the Only Word in the English Language That Ends in “mt”: The words “dreamt” and “undreamt” are the only words in English that end with “mt”.

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56. Coca-Cola Would Be Green Without Coloring: Coca-Cola would be green if you remove the food coloring.

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57. Octopuses Can Lay up to 100,000 Eggs at a Time: The mother spends six months devoted to protecting the eggs that she doesn’t eat.

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58. The Lyrebird Can Mimic Almost Any Sounds It Hears: Including that of a chainsaw!

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59. Human Teeth are Just as Strong as Shark Teeth: Both are made from calcium phosphate.

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60. You Lose Up to 30 Percent of Your Taste Buds During Flight: This is one of the reasons why airline food is often strongly flavored.

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61. There Are More Lifeforms Living on Your Skin Than There Are People on Earth: The average human body carries around 100 trillion microorganisms.

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62. Jellyfish are 95% Water: This makes them so similar to the surrounding water that they can be almost completely invisible when viewed from the side.

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63. The Atlantic Ocean is Saltier Than the Pacific: This is due to the Atlantic’s interaction with the Arctic.

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64. There’s Only One U.S. State Capital Without a McDonald’s: Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital where you won’t find McDonald’s.

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65. Hawaii Moves 7.5 Centimeters Closer to Alaska Every Year: Due to tectonic plate movements, Hawaii moves a little closer to Alaska every year.

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66. The Sun Makes up 99.86% of the Solar System’s Mass: This leaves just 0.14% of the mass to be split amongst everything else in the Solar System; including the eight planets.

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67. Recycling One Glass Jar Saves Enough Energy to Watch Television for 3 Hours: This is because creating a glass bottle from recycled material uses significantly less energy than creating one from scratch.

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68. One Piece of Space Junk Returns to Earth Each Day: Not to worry though, because it usually burns up upon reentry.

Learn More: National Geographic

69. Caterpillars Have About 4,000 Muscles: Humans, by contrast, have an average of just more than 600.

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70. There Are More Ways to Shuffle a Deck of Cards Than There Are Atoms on Earth: To be specific, there are 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824 possible combinations.

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71. It Snows Metal on Venus: The planet’s atmosphere contains metallic elements that condense and fall as snow.

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72. Dolphins Give Each Other Names: These fascinating creatures develop unique whistles and they recognize their and other dolphins’ names.

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73. A Blue Whale’s Heart is so Big, a Human Could Swim Through the Arteries: The heart of a blue whale is about the size of a VW Beetle!

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74. The Shortest War in History Was Between Britain and Zanzibar on August 27, 1896: Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

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75. The World’s Largest Pyramid Isn’t in Egypt: It’s the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico.

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76. One-Quarter of All Your Bones Are Located in Your Feet: Of the 206 bones in the adult human body, 52 are in the feet.

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77. An Astronaut’s Suit Costs US$12 million: About 70% of its cost is for the control module and backpack.

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78. Bubble Wrap Was Originally Intended to Be Used as 3D Wallpaper: The inventors only later realized its potential as a packaging material.

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79. Ostriches Can Run Faster Than Horses: And the males can roar like lions!

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80. Polar Bears Can Eat as Many as 86 Penguins in a Single Sitting: However, they would have to travel a long distance to do so since polar bears live in the Arctic, while penguins are in the Antarctic.

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81. Bamboo Can Grow Up to 91cm in a Day: That’s an amazing growth rate of almost 4 cm an hour!

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82. Starfish Can Regrow Their Arms: In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body.

Learn More: Seed To Feed Me

83. An Apple, Potato, and Onion All Taste the Same if You Eat Them with Your Nose Plugged: They all have similar textures and the smell contributes significantly to our sense of taste.