As absurd as it can sound on paper, the truth is that facts are just fun, the more obscure, weird and random, the better. After all, everyone needs a handful of interesting trivia to pull out at parties or during very awkward silences.
Someone asked “What is the most unusual fact you know?” and thousands of netizens answered the call, sharing the bizarre and fascinating parts of the world that most people don’t even know about. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and if you have your own “fun facts,” be sure to share them in the comments below.
#1
Otters carry around their favorite clam-opening rock in their armpit, and mothers will even pass on their favorite rock to their baby.
Image credits: kill_a_kitten
#2
When a caterpillar enters a chrysalis and becomes a butterfly, it doesn’t just sprout wings and legs. It essentially disintegrates into goo, and a new butterfly is built from that.
But that’s not the weirdest part. The weirdest part is that it’s possible to teach something to that caterpillar, and after it becomes goo and then re-forms as a butterfly, it still remembers what you taught it.
Image credits: bglickstein
#3
I noticed this when visiting museums, looking at old paintings: hands are often ‘hidden’, covered by flowers, clothing or they disappear in the shadows. I researched it later and learned it is true. Even the best painters struggled with drawing and painting hands. I look for hands in every painting now.
#4
Chickens have the DNA for teeth, it’s just not turned on.
Image credits: italyqt
#5
Pelicans have three stomachs and one of them is just for bones.
Image credits: squawk_kwauqs
#6
If you eat polar bear liver it will kill a human and if a polar bear eats your liver it will too.
Image credits: wetlettuce42
#7
A weird fact is that honey never spoils; archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old and still perfectly good to eat!
Image credits: MysticMelo24
#8
That divider at grocery stores that separates stuff on the conveyor belt is called a spratchet.
Image credits: TemptingWomen1
#9
The swimming pools on the Titanic are still full of water to this day.
#10
The minimum number of humans required for the species survival is about two hundred. The minimum number required for *any* level of survival is fifty. Below that, the inbreeding becomes a problem in the long term.
Image credits: Lugbor
#11
Great white sharks have never been seen mating. Ever. By anyone. Zero record made by a human. Strange considering what a mighty presence they have on humans.
Image credits: Stunning-Queen5
#12
LASER is an acronym (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) but in most cases should be LOSER because the light is oscillated, not amplified.
Image credits: dazzumz
#13
For me it is that the lighter was invented before matches.
Image credits: Lokitusaborg
#14
Spiders curl up when they die because the thing that keeps their legs out is blood pressure, which releases when they die.
Image credits: Bradmaster77
#15
Off the top of my head, maybe that fact that the great cats roar, but do not purr; lesser cats purr but do not roar.
Image credits: WildlifePolicyChick
#16
Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood so fascinating!
Image credits: TenderMyrla
#17
The first public game of basketball was played the same week and less than 100 miles away from the last American vampire hunt.
On March 11, 1892, James Naismith debuted his new game in front of a crowd of 200 spectators at the Armory Hill YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, on March 17, 1892, in Exeter, Rhode Island, a crowd of concerned villagers dug up the grave of 19 year old Mercy Brown. She had died two months earlier and locals had become convinced that her vampire was feeding on her sickly brother. In an effort to stop the undead Mercy, the crowd exhumed her corpse, burned her heart and liver, and gave the ashes to her brother in a tonic.
Image credits: Sporch_Unsaze
#18
Your eyes have their own immune system. If your “normal” immune system discovers this it will attack your eyes and you’ll go blind.
Image credits: Legitimate_Bird_5712
#19
All cheetahs are genetically cousins. They almost went extinct thousands of years ago, down to like 100 individuals.
#20
The spinal cord has the consistency of a ripe banana.
Image credits: Horny44Sweetheart
#21
John Tyler, the 10th US president, was born in 1790 – that is during the first US president George Washington’s first term.
His grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, is still alive – that is the current US president Joe Biden’s term.
Think about it – just three generations (father,son and grandson) to cover the entire US presidential history.
#22
The only animal other than a human that can perform a headstand is an elephant.
Image credits: TheGhostOfDonaldDuck
#23
Killer whales are a natural predator of moose.
#24
Australia is wider than the moon.
Image credits: Desperate_Photo1081
#25
The Grand Canyon is so large that you could fit EVERYONE who ever lived inside it and still not fill it.
Image credits: RevGrimm
#26
The mantle plume hotspot that is half the cause of Iceland’s intense volcanism (the other half being the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) is believed to have been the cause of the largest mass extinction event in the planet’s history, back when it sat under what is now Siberia.
#27
I grew up on a dairy farm1960’s. US milk production today is twice what it was then and there are half as many cows. Each cow produces four times as much.
Image credits: OperationNo3934
#28
An average storm cloud weighs about 47,627,199 kilograms.
Image credits: Lovely-4Princess
#29
The career that has the most s****des per year is dentist and then serving
Second most is veterinarians.
Image credits: Remarkable_Manner_45
#30
Most polar bears are left handed.