If you don’t commit these random facts to memory, how will we ever be Jeopardy ready? It makes you feel like a genius when you have the solution to a problem that nobody else in the room has. So if you’re a sucker for trivia, looking to crush your next game night, or just love learning new things that aren’t common knowledge, you’ve come to the right place. Part of the fun is that you never know when you’ll need to pull these facts out. We therefore cordially invite you to geek out with us while perusing our collection of oddities.
Is there such a thing as useless information? No way. All those little random interesting, funny, scary facts, or “did you know” facts you have stored in your brain are there for a reason and will surely come in handy some day… even if it’s just so you can beat your best dude at Jeopardy or amaze your bored kiddo while on a family excursion. Here are a few more entertaining, thought-provoking, or just plain crazy fun facts to have on hand in case you don’t already have enough information overloading your brain.
Interesting and Fun Animal Facts
1. Polar bear fur is actually clear, and their skin is black.
2. Rather than pink, baby flamingos are born grey.
3. When a woodpecker hammers into a tree, its tongue actually encircles its brain, shielding it from harm.
4. The head of a prawn contains its heart.
5. Elephants suck on their trunks for comfort.
6. Anteaters have no teeth.
7. Identical quadruplets are the only offspring that nine-banded armadillos ever have.
8. Wombat poop is cube-shaped.
9. The term “flamboyance” refers to a group of flamingos.
10. Hippos and horses are actually distant relatives.
11. All clownfish are born male.
12. All unmarked swans in the UK are legally owned by The Queen.
13. To keep from drifting apart, sea otters hold hands while they sleep.
14. Goats have accents.
15. Dolphins give names to each other.
16. Although gorillas can contract human colds, it’s probably still safe to visit the zoo if you’re feeling under the weather.
17. Forget bald eagles. The national bird was almost named after the turkey once.
18. A group of owls is called a parliament.
19. There are 32 muscles in a cat’s ear.
20. Snails can regenerate their eyes.
21. Do you want to know the gender of your pet turtle? Pay close attention! Male turtles grunt, while females hiss.
22. A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.
23. French Poodles are actually from Germany.
24. Seahorses are lifelong partners who are frequently spotted clutching each other’s tales.
25. A group of porcupines is called a prickle.
26. Due to the parrot’s incessant swearing, Andrew Jackson’s funeral required its removal. Polly desires to have her mouth cleaned.
27. Sloths have a 40-minute breath hold capacity.
Interesting and Fun History Facts
28. All four of Henry VIII’s “Grooms of Stool,” or the individuals tasked with cleaning his butt, received knighthoods.
29. Four years before women were granted the right to vote, Jeannette Rankin was elected to Congress.
30. It wasn’t until 1974 that women could apply for credit at a bank.
31. Prior to the development of contemporary dental implants, dentures were frequently fashioned from the teeth of fallen combatants.
32. In order to attract flies to them rather than the pharaoh, Egyptian servants were coated in honey.
33. Using a fork was once regarded as sacrilegious.
34. Abe Lincoln was a champion wrestler. He was also a licensed bartender. Maybe they should call him an “Abe of all trades.”
35. George Washington owned a whiskey distillery.
36. During the Civil War, more than 2 percent of Americans lost their lives.
37. Before they passed away or were removed from office, Joseph Stalin would have people taken out of pictures.
38. The essentials for brewing tea have been included in every British tank since 1945.
39. Because he thought Satan used black cats, Pope Gregory IV once declared war on cats. His proclamation resulted in the widespread eradication of cats.
40. That lack of cats led to a rat infestation which led to the spread of the plague.
50. The first president to reside in the White House was John Adams.
51. Head to sleep! Insomnia has been linked to the Challenger explosion, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and the Chernobyl disaster.
Interesting and Fun Travel Facts
52. The average Swedish person consumes roughly 22 pounds of chocolate annually.
53. The Wright Brothers are a well-known team, but they only had one joint flight. They assured their father that they would never travel together.
54. There are three times as many cows in Montana as there are people.
55. Sticky rice was used to build sections of the Great Wall of China.
56. Ninety percent of the world’s population lives above the equator.
57. Finland has more saunas than cars.
58. Sixty percent of the World’s lakes (three million total) are located in Canada.
59. The dogwood is the state tree and flower of Virginia, the only other state having both.
60. Before you season, consider. It is extremely impolite to salt food that has been served to you in Egypt.
61. Ninety percent of Libya is desert.
62. Depending on the temperature, the height of the Eiffel Tour can change by up to six inches.
63. Spend too much on drinks when you eat out? In fact, there is a free wine fountain in a small Italian town.
64. In order to prevent food poisoning, pilots and their co-pilots are obliged to eat separate meals prior to flights.
65. Roughly 600 Parisians work at the Eiffel Tower each day.
66. Want to go to Rome? Which one? Rome is a city that can be found on six of the seven continents. (You really dropped the ball, Antarctica.)
67. If you travel to Key West, you’re really nearer Havana than Miami.
Interesting and Fun Music Facts
68. Mary, of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” fame, was a real person and the song is based on a true story.
69. The first song ever played on Mars was “Happy Birthday.” On its first anniversary on the planet, the Mars Rover Curiosity sang the song to itself.
70. Your heart can beat in time with the beat of the music you’re listening to.
71. President Nixon was an accomplished musician. He was an accordion player among his five instrument repertoire.
72. Got a song stuck in your head? That’s called an “earworm.”
73. The Beatles members were not genuinely able to read music.
74. But George Harrison was said to be proficient on 26 instruments.
75. “I Write The Songs” was not actually written by Barry Manilow.
76. The only band to play on all seven continents is Metallica.
77. To slow down customers and encourage them to stay longer in the store, most department stores play slower music. The opposite is true for restaurants.
78. Monaco’s army is dwarfed by its orchestra.
79. Once, a concert promoter offered 1,000 tickets for a Spice Girls show in Hawaii that was never scheduled. Perhaps that’s where the concept for Fyre Fest originated.
80. Leo Fender, the inventor of the Stratocaster and the Telecaster, couldn’t play guitar.
81. Mozart outsold Beyoncé in album sales in 2016.
82. During a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, someone donated $35,000 so that VH1 Classic would have to play “99 Luftballons” on repeat for an entire hour.
83. “A Boy Named Sue” wasn’t written by Johnny Cash. Shel Silverstein wrote it.
84. To dissuade teenage rioters in 2015, Belfast police played music from ice cream trucks.
Interesting and Fun Sports Facts
85. The University of Florida Gators inspired the name of Gatorade.
86. China’s Olympic medal drought lasted from 1984 to 1984.
87. There are 336 dimples on an average golf ball.
88. The game of tennis was first played with just the hands.
89. The only other team that has never hosted or participated in a Super Bowl is the Cleveland Browns.
90. The Volleyball Hall of Fame includes Wilt Chamberlain.
91. Some golf balls are filled with honey.
92. The average baseball game lasts for about three hours, but only has about eighteen minutes of actual play.
93. MLB umpires must have black pants on hand in case their pants split.
94. Bo Jackson turned down the initial attempts by teams to draft him in football and baseball.
95. Both volleyball and basketball were invented in Massachusetts.
96. It was once eight seasons (beginning in 1990) that Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls did not have a three-game losing streak.
97. NFL refs also get Super Bowl rings.
98. Using a medicine ball, President Hubert Hoover created the game “Hooverball,” which was a hybrid of volleyball and tennis.
99. Three major championships in a single year have only been won by one city. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, the Tigers won the World Series, and the Detroit Lions won the Super Bowl in 1935.
100. In an average professional baseball game, over 100 baseballs are used.
Interesting and Silly Human Facts
101. You can’t hum with your nose plugged.
102. Tomatoes have more genes than humans.
103. In the morning, we stand one to two centimetres taller than at night.
104. Our feet contain 25% of all of our bones.
105. The amount of fat in an adult human body is equivalent to roughly seven bars of soap.
106. You can’t lick your elbow.
107. You can’t tickle yourself.
108. We will have sat on the toilet for about a year by the time we pass away.
109. Your brain just chooses to ignore the fact that you are constantly focusing on your nose.
110. Astronauts can grow up to two inches taller while they’re in space.
111. A blue whale’s blood vessels are large enough for people to swim through.
112. We’re the only species known to blush.
113. One nostril at a time is all you ever breathe out.
114. Compared to adults, babies have more bones at birth. (Adults only have 206 bones, but babies have 300.)
115. By the time they are six months old, most newborns have lost all of their natural hair.
116. It’s impossible to burp in space.
117. Everyone, with the exception of identical twins, has a distinct scent.
118. Thumbs have their own pulse.
119. Goosebumps originated to cause our ancestors’ hair to stand up, giving the impression that they were more dangerous to predators.
120. A hundred miles per hour sneeze sends ten thousand germs hurtling through the atmosphere.
121. Are you aware of how whales and bats communicate through echolocation? Humans are also capable of echolocation.
122. Metal can be dissolved by stomach acid’s potency.
123. The longest period of hiccups was 68 years long.
