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The pointless fact thread

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:47 pm
by Jules
Between 20 percent and 50 percent of all pet gerbils suffer from epilepsy.

Re: The pointless fact thread

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 6:49 pm
by Jules
The artificial strawberry flavour in a Burger King shake contains 46 chemicals.

None of which is strawberry,

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:08 pm
by anotherone
The male platypus is the only venomous mammal.

Re:

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:10 pm
by kb892
anotherone wrote:The male platypus is the only venomous mammal.
you haven't met my wife! (that'a also my pointless fact)

Re: The pointless fact thread

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:27 pm
by stella_blues
A polar bear's fur is actually clear and not white.

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 7:38 pm
by pothole
The Bat is the only mammal that can fly.

Flying squirrels don't count..

Image

Re:

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:04 pm
by devnulljp
anotherone wrote:The male platypus is the only venomous mammal.
Not quite true. The Almiqui (Solenodon cubanus), the Cuban Solenodon, in Cuba has a venomous bite. Although it was thought to have gone extinct in the 70s, they found some alive a few years ago.

Image

The European Mole (Talpa europaea) uses venom to paralyse worms.

There are a few shrews with venomous bites, like the Eurasian Water Shrew (Neomys fodiens), Northern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda), and bot the Southern Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina carolinensis) and Elliot's Short-tailed Shrew (Blarina hylophaga) make venom.

Not that the platytpus isn't unusual and cool and weird and all :hihi:
It's interesting that other monotremes like the Echidna have the calcaneus spur that is loaded with venom in the platypus, but they don't make the venom. (So I guess the male platypus is the only venomous monotreme ... )

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:21 pm
by anotherone
Damn,I thought that was a good one. Thanks for setting me straight though,I love my zoological trivia. Funny that some of the oldest mammals would have reptilian features like venom...poor creationists :banger:
You a biologist or something dev?

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:23 pm
by AGuitarPlayer
42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:40 pm
by squarewave
The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.
A jellyfish is 95 percent water.
Fortune cookies were invented in America in 1918 by Charles Jung.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will help prevent you crying.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
In England in the 1880s 'pants' was considered a dirty word.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
In 2003 there were 86 days of below-freezing weather in Hell, Michigan, US.