STRANGE BUT TRUE
1. The tallest sunflower is recorded at 7.17m (23ft 6.5 in) tall which is 1.08m (3ft 6.5 in) taller than the tallest recorded giraffe

2. The worlds largest spider, the bird-eating spider, has a leg span of 26.6cm (10.5 in)
3. Owls are one of the only birds who can see the colour blue
4. humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure
5. The women of the Ubangi tribe in Zaire, Africa, stretch their necks considerably with rings as a sign of beauty, each year adding one more ring
6. A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off after which it dies of starvation
7. Butterflies taste with their feet
8. The giant water-lilly of Brazil has pads 1.8m (6 ft) in diameter and are strong enough for a 63.5kg (ten stone) man to use as rafts
9. The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly
10. JM Turner, a great English painter, had himself tied to the mast of a ship during a terrible storm, so that should he survive, he could recapture it on canvas
11. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon
12. Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland
13. Although first inventedd in 1827, contact lenses where first manufactured in 1887 by Eugen Frick.
14. The most common name for a human in the world is Mohammed
15. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath
16. Dolphins sleep with one eye open
17. A horse called Napolean was bred in Argentina that when fully grown was only 0.51m (20 in) tall and weighed just 31.8kg (70lb)
18. The sloth, for reasons of camouflage, never washes and is consequently covered in green moss-like algae
19. Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they cant find any food
20. The North American daddylonglegs uses its feet as ears to listen to the chewing of insects inside wood
21. Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day
22. In 1972 a British rail company applied for a patent to build a flying saucer that would transport 22 passengers either on earth or in outer space. Considering the technology to create the vehicle did not exist they allowed the patent to lapse
23. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously
24. Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet
25. A newly born whale on average measures 7.3m (24 ft), which is larger than an adult elephant
26. Snorign can reach loudness of 69 decibels, which is about the same as loudness of a pneumatic drill (65-90 decibels)
27. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails
28. In certain parts of the world ther are fish, particularly members of the perch family, that are able to, and do, climb trees
29. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere
30. The U.S.S.R. were the first to start the age of space travel by launching a dog called Laika into orbit on board Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957
31. you're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206
32. The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all board meetings of the University of London
33. banging your head against the wall uses 150 calories an hour
34. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "leave it to beaver"
35. Ball lightening had been discovered since 1557, but got most attention in 1984, when a fireball was reported to fly into the side of a jet plane. It flew with a deafening noise above the passengers, split into two, rejoined, and left the plane
36. The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs
37. The most poisonous sea and land snakes both come from Australia
38. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan"
39. Polar bears are left handed
40. The biggest bull recorded to date weighed in at 2268kg (5001 lb)
41. The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1
42. The Atlantic Giant Squid can grow to a length of 16.76m (55 ft). It has the largest eyeball ever known
43. Only one person in 2 billion will live to be 116 or older
44. Transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
45. More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world 46. An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain
47. The worlds quickest spider is capable of covering 33 times its own body length per second 48. The starfish is one of the only animals who can turn it's stomach inside-out
49. The biggest Brussels spout was grown in 1974 and weighed 7.26 kg (16lb)
50. David Prowse, was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie
51. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump
52. The African egg-eating snake can ditend its jaws to over 4 times the circumference of its body
53. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
54. The worlds largest recorded hailstone fell in Kansas, USA, and was measured at 43.18cm (17 in) long
55. Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie
56. The humming bird of Cuba is 5.7cm (2.25 in) long, weighs 14.2 gm (0.5 oz), lays eggs which are 0.6cm (0.25 in) long and will fight bords 4 to 5 times bigger than their own size
57. Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category
58. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue
59. The sting of the sea-wasp jelly-fish found off the coasts of Australia causes death within minutes. Some 60 people have died from the sea-wasp in the past 25 years
60. Thomas Edison, lightbulb inventor, was afraid of the dark
61. In the great fire of London in 1666, half of London was burnt down, but only 6 people were injured
62. Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age
63. The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head
64. A snail going flat out would take 11 days to cover the distance of 1.6km (1 mile)
65. The sloth, although enormously bigger than the snail, would take 19 more days
66. Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours
67. In Australia there is an inappropriately named crocodile ("mugger") was so docile that it ignores people who might walk around it
68. You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than a poisonous spider
69. In 1939, an electric eel discharged a current that could run a miniature train, a radio and light up 300 neon bulbs
70. If you yelled for years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat up one cup of coffee
71. Leanardo Da Vinci invested the scissors
72. The first roller skates appeared on their Belgain inventor Joseph Merlin. Legend has it he skated into a Londan ballroom, playing a violin
73. On average, people fear spiders more than death
74. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times
75. The Boston university bridge is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train, driving under a car, driving under an airplane
76. In Baalbek, Lebanon are three stones that were placed exactly in position to form a temple 2000 years ago. The three stones weigh 800 tone and are the length of a 6 story building. A feet that would not have been able to be done today, despite our technology
77. Over 1000 birds a year die from smashing into windows
78. In the early 1900's premature death was quite common, with doctors not understanding the nature of comas and catelepsy. Fredrick, J Harvey weas pronounced dead and buried only to be undug 4 months later because of his fiancee's beliefs. He woke a few days later
79. A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years
80. A rare spider in Leicester, England, is able to secrete a web onto a wall, pull itself in and catcpult out for distances of up to 0.6m (2 ft)
81. A pigs organsm lasts for half an hour
82. One of the reasons why marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30's lobbied against hemp farmers - they saw is as competition. It is not chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol or caffeine
83. Slugs have 4 noses
84. The smallest elephant was specially bred at 0.91m (3 ft) tall
85. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, silver, and month
86. In the mid to late 1980's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered 100% compatbile unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator
87. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave
88. The biggest pumpkin ever grown weighed in at 103.9kg (229lb)
89. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds
90. Fleas can achieve high jumps of 20cm (7.75 in) which is over 130 times their own height
91. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not
92. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
93. the strongest muscle in the body is the tongue
94. Our eyes are always about the same size from birth, but our nose and ears don't stop growing
95. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand
96. During the first world war, Jones Wister invented a gun that could shoot around corners. Although never used, a similar invention was used by Germans in the second world war
97. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying
98. A newly born kangaroo is born so small, that 15 could fit comfortably in an egg cup
99. A jellyfish is 95 percent water
100. Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to find a cure for his sea-sickness