The longest latin name of any bird is Griseotyrannus aurantioatrocristatus, or the Crowned Slaty Flycatcher of South America.

When active, a humming bird breathes around 300-500 times every minute. The heart of a humming bird makes up for around 20% of the body volume. The heartbeat ranges from 30-1500 per minute, depending on the specie and the activity.

The Humming birds are the only birds that can fly backwards

The greater honeyguide leads the ratel or honey badger, to a bee’s nest by calling out and flying in front of it. The ratel eats the honey, then the bird eats the honeycomb wax.

The Chameleon can focus its eyes seperately to watch two objects at once.

The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil.

The average adult male ostrich, the world’s largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

Humming birds are found in North and South America. In the north, they can be found as far as Alaska and in the south, they can be spotted as far as southern Chile.

An amazing fact about the humming bird is that it can fly up, down, forward, backward and even upside down. A humming bird can rotate its wings from its shoulder blades, which enables it to hover and fly in different positions.

Birds evolved from small meat-eating dinosaurs around 150 million years ago.

Birds are a group of warm-blooded animals with two legs and front limbs modified as wings. The characteristic feature of all birds is the feather.

There are over 9,200 species of birds known from around the world and they can be found in just about every habitat.

Humming birds help in pollination as they carry pollen on their backs just like bees when they go from one flower to another in search of nectar. One humming bird visits around 1000-2000 flowers in a single day!

Turkeys will peck to death members of the flock that are physically inferior or different.

Only male turkeys (Toms) gobble, females make a clicking noise.

The waste produced by one chicken in its lifetime can supply enough electricity to run a 100 watt bulb for five hours.

An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.

California condors can fly 10 miles without flapping their wings.

A bird’s heart beats 400 times per minute while they are at rest. When they are flying however, their heart could beat up to 1000 beats per minute.

The Hooded Pitohui, which is a resident of Papua, New Guinea. You can find the poison in its feathers and in its skin.

The now extinct Elephant Bird of Madagascar laid an egg that weighed 27 pounds.

A bird’s normal body temperature is ususlly 7-8 degrees hotter than humans.

For every one of the 6 billion people on earth, nearly four tons of carbon dioxide is spewed into the air annually.

Americans consume 22% of the worlds oil, even though they make up just 5% of the world’s population – as a result the past 100 years has seen heat trapping gases increase by 22%.

A plastic milk jug takes 1 million years to decompose.

A plastic cup can take 50 – 80 years to decompose.

In the year AD1 there were about 250million humans on earth. It took 1,650 years for that number to double. Between 1650 and 1930 the human population rose 4 times to 2 billion. By the turn of the century 6 billion on Earth – 3X the population just 70 years earlier.

An estimated 14 billion pounds of trash, much of it plastic is dumped in the world’s oceans every year.

Special fleece-like fabrics used in clothes and blankets can be made out of recycled plastic bottles.

Soap from washing your car at home pollutes. Soap and dirt from washing your car can flow through our storm drains and ditches and end up in our streams untreated.

Waste from livestock pollutes our water. When it rains, water runs over fields and pastures and can carry harmful bacteria from livestock waste to streams and provides unwanted fertilizer in streams.

Too much soil in runoff can pollute. Soil from erosion carries pollutants and smothers salmon eggs in spawning gravel.

Sewage from boating can pollute. Untreated sewage is a significant risk to human health and wildlife.

The cost of one nuclear weapons test alone could finance the installation of eighty thousand hand pumps, giving third world villages access to clean water.

Littering pollutes. Litter thrown on the ground can end up in our storm drains, ditches, and streams.

The things we do everyday contribute to over half the pollution in Puget Sound. Litter thrown on the ground can end up in our storm drains, ditches, and streams.

Driveways and walkways can be sources of water pollution. Oil, antifreeze, and other pollutants can collect on your driveway. If you hose down the driveway, the water carries all these pollutants to the streams.

Nitrogen is essential to crops but too much will leak into groundwater and rivers causing nutrient pollution in rivers and oceans and severe human health problems from nitrate pollution.

More than 100 active pesticide ingredients are suspected of causing cancer, birth defects, and gene mutation.

Seventy-three different kinds of pesticides have been found in groundwater, which is potential drinking water.

When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).

The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world’s population.

India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.

India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.

The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India’s wealth.

Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.

The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.

IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.

The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.

India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.

Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.

Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).

Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages.

The World’s first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.

India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

90% of those who die from hurricanes die from drowning.

Dogs’ only sweat glands are between their paw pads

Dogs DO have better low-light vision than humans because of a special light-reflecting layer behind their retinas

Cat urine glows under a black-light!

Most lipstick contains fish scales!

The original name for the butterfly was ‘flutterby’!

The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven!

The world’s termites outweigh the world’s humans 10 to 1!

An average human heart beats over 100,000 times a day!

A flush toilet exists that dates back to 2000 BC.

According to Genesis 1:20-22 the chicken came before the egg.

Albert Brooks’s real name is Albert Einstein.

Alexander the Great was an epileptic.

Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups.

Blonde beards grow faster than darker beards.

Catgut comes from sheep not cats.

Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight.

Earth is the only planet not named after a God.

George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.

Human hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death.

Hummingbirds can’t walk.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

It is a criminal offence to drive around in a dirty car in Russia.

Jean-Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original “PREDATOR” in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes.

Men leave their hotel rooms cleaner than women do.

Nine pennies weigh exactly one ounce.

Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older.

Polar bear fur is not white, it’s clear.

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

The Chinese ideogram for ‘trouble’ depicts two women living under one roof’.

The ‘Hundred Years War’ lasted 116 years.

The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark.

There are more than 50,000 earthquakes throughout the world every year!

While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes wore a fake beard.

There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside!

After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again!

Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed!

All dogs are identical in anatomy – 321 bones and 42 permanent teeth

Dogs are all direct descendants of wolves

After birth, puppies’ eyes do not fully open until they’re about 12 days old and their vision is not fully developed until after the 1st month.

A cat can run about 20 kilometres per hour (12 miles per hour) when it grows up.

The largest frog in the world is called Goliath frog. Frogs start their lives as ‘eggs’ often laid in or near fresh water.

Dogs have no sense of “time”

An ostrich’s eye is bigger than it’s brain.

Starfish don’t have brains.

A duck’s quack doesn’t echo, and no one knows why.

All polar bears are left handed.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

The Emu can run at speeds up to 45 km/hr!

The Irukandji jellyfish is only 2.5 centimetres in diameter, but can cause death to humans within days.

The venom of a stonefish can kill a human in two hours.

Shark’s need to swim, or they will sink!

Fairy Penguins live for an average of seven years.

It takes 8 minutes 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun’s surface to the Earth.

Every second around 100 lightning bolts strike the Earth.

Every year lightning kills 1000 people.

The currently accepted value is 299 792 km/s based on several measurements.

Red, green and blue are the primary colours of light. Mixing them in various ways will make all other colours, including white.

Light is a form of energy which our sense of sight can detect. It is made of electro-magnetic radiation and travels in a straight path.

The bending of light as it passes from one transparent substance to another, like air to water, is called refraction.

When sunlight is intercepted by a drop of water in the atmosphere, some of the light refracts into the drop, reflects from the drop’s inner surface, and then refracts out of the drop. The first refraction separates the sunlight into its component colours, and the second refraction increases the separation. The result is a rainbow.

There are different colours of light because they are light waves which have different wavelengths. Red light has the longest wavelength while violet light has the shortest wavelength.

The light bulb was invented in 1879 by Thomas Alva Edison.

When you turn on a light bulb only 10 per cent of the electricity used is turned into light, the other 90 per cent is wasted as heat.

Low energy light bulbs last on average up to 12 times longer than traditional fluorescent bulbs.

Low energy light bulbs last on average up to 12 times longer than traditional fluorescent bulbs.

A heavy coat of dust can block up to half of the light.

Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14 and crayfish have 200.

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they cant find any food!

The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!

About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30!

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe!

Slugs have 4 noses!

Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet!

It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland!

Honeybees have a type of hair on their eyes!

Americans consume almost half of the world’s annual chocolate products

Every Russian and American space voyage has included chocolate bars.

Chocolate is not particularly high in caffeine. You would have to eat ten chocolate bars to get the same amount of caffeine as you find in a single cup of coffee.

Chocolate is good for you — unfortunately, its additives aren’t! Pure cocoa powder is full of iron and antioxidants. Add sugar or butter, though, and the calories begin to mount.

In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes!

Human body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!

More germs are transferred shaking hands than kissing.

The fastest speed a falling raindrop can hit you is 18mph.

Each rubber molecule is made of 65,000 individual atoms.

One in every 2000 babies is born with a tooth.