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.
Learn More: Science
2. Octopuses Have Three Hearts: Two pump blood to the gills, while the third pumps it to the rest of the body.
Learn More: YouTube
3. A Group of Flamingos is a Flamboyance: This term is used to describe a group of flamingos gathered together.
Learn More: The Atlantic
4. Bananas are Classified as Berries: According to the botanical definition, bananas qualify as berries!
Learn More: Live Science
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.
Learn More: YouTube
6. The Eiffel Tower Can Grow: Due to thermal expansion, the Eiffel Tower can grow more than six inches in hot weather.
Learn More: IP Factly
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.
Learn More: Science Facts
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.
Learn More: Shark Sider
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.
Learn More: Vernon Morning Star
15. A Group of Frogs is Called an Army: This term is used to describe a group of frogs.
Learn More: Willy’s Wilderness
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.
Learn More: YouTube
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.
Learn More: Flip Science
25. Cows Have Best Friends: Cows form close friendships and can become stressed when they are separated from their best friends.
Learn More: Veg News
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.
Learn More: Metro
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.
Learn More: The Spruce
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.
Learn More: YouTube
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.
Learn More: Grahams Family Diary
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.
Learn More: Reddit
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.
Learn More: Reddit
47. Slugs Have Four Noses: Slugs actually have tentacles that they use to smell, and they technically have four of them.
Learn More: Fun Biology
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.
Learn More: India Times
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.
Learn More: Snopes
52. The Can Opener Was Invented 48 Years After Cans: Cans were opened using a hammer and chisel before a designated opener came about.
Learn More: Curious Times
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.
Learn More: So Yummy
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.
Learn More: Redbook Mag
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.
Learn More: Independent.ie
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.
Learn More: Love Food
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.
Learn More: FactzPedia
63. The Atlantic Ocean is Saltier Than the Pacific: This is due to the Atlantic’s interaction with the Arctic.
Learn More: Quora
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.
Learn More: Study
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.
Learn More: Today in History
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!
Learn More: Eco Bambu
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.
Learn More: Factzpedia
84. The Speed of a Computer Mouse is Measured in “Mickeys”: This unusual unit of measurement represents about 1/200th of an inch!
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85. A “Jiffy” is an Actual Unit of Time: It’s 1/100th of a second.
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86. Fruit Flies Were the First Animals in Space: They were aboard the U.S. spacecraft in 1947 to study radiation exposure.
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