ABOUT COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES
1. The Alaska flag was created by a 13-year-old boy.
2. Military honor in no country is given with the left hand.
3. The international dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
4. Captain Cook was the first person to set foot on all the continents of the Earth except Antarctica.
5. The West African Matami tribe plays football with a human skull.
6. In Australia, the fifty cent coin initially contained two dollars worth of silver.
7. Most often, the Guinness Book of Records is stolen in English libraries.
8. National Orchestra Monaco is bigger than its army.
9. In the Sahara Desert one day - February 18, 1979 - it was snowing.
10. Canada is larger in area than China, and China is larger than the United States.
11. The only country where not a single birth was registered in 1983 is the Vatican.
12. The Nile froze twice - in the 9th and 11th centuries.
13. In Siena, Italy, you can't be a prostitute if your name is Maria.
14. In ancient Rome, a man taking an oath or making an oath would place his hand on the scrotum.
15. Tickling was prohibited by law in some ancient countries of the East, as it was considered a sinful arousing activity.
16. There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.
17. In the Eskimo language, there are more than 20 words for snow.
18. There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.
19. In France, the law prohibits the sale of dolls with non-human faces, such as “alien girls.”
20. Canada has been declared the best country to live by the UN 4 times over the past 5 years.
21. B Ancient Rome If a patient died during an operation, the doctor's hands were cut off.
ABOUT CULTURE
22. As X-rays have shown, under the “Mona Lisa” we know, there are three more of its original versions.
23. John Lennon's song "I'm a Walrus" was inspired by the sound of a police siren.
24. The most frequently performed song in the world, “Happy birthday to you,” is protected by copyright.
25. There is only one Western directed by a woman.
26. George Harrison's toilet seat sang "Lusy in the sky with diamonds."
27. During World War II, in order to save metal, Oscar statuettes were made of wood.
28. Original title " Gone with the wind- “Be-be, black sheep.”
29. In Cameroon's film Titanic, the most frequently spoken word is "Rose".
ABOUT THE LITTLE BROTHERS
30. A cat falling from the 12th floor has a better chance of surviving than a cat falling from the 7th floor.
31. When Europeans first saw a giraffe, they called it a “camelback,” thinking that it was a hybrid of a camel and a leopard.
32. Animal with the most big brain in relation to the body - an ant.
33. About 70 percent of living creatures on Earth are bacteria.
34. When young, Black Sea perches are mostly girls, but by the age of 5 they radically change sex!
35. The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.
36. The Tokyo Zoo closes for 2 months every year so that the animals can take a break from visitors.
37. Anteaters prefer to eat termites rather than ants.
38. When a giraffe gives birth, her baby falls from a height of one and a half meters.
39. Despite the hump, the camel’s spine is straight.
40. Female dogs bite more often than male dogs.
41. Every year, more people die from bee stings than from snake bites.
42. Sharks are immune to cancer.
43. Birth control pills work on gorillas.
44. A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.
45. A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.
46. The animal that can go the longest without drinking is the rat.
47. The only animals that suffer from leprosy, besides humans, are armadillos.
48. Hippos are born underwater.
49. Orangutans warn of aggression with loud burps.
50. A mole can dig a tunnel 76 meters long in one night.
51. A snail has about 25,000 teeth.
52. A black spider can eat up to 20 spiders a day.
53. With a lack of food, a tapeworm can eat up to 95 percent of its body weight - and nothing!
54. Crocodiles are responsible for more than 1,000 deaths on the banks of the Nile per year.
55. The ancient Egyptians taught baboons to serve them at table.
56. Saint Bernards, the famous rescuers of mountaineers, do not wear a flask of brandy around their necks.
57. It takes 4 hours to hard-boil an ostrich egg.
58. Within a pride of lions, 9/10 of the prey is supplied to the “family” by lionesses.
59. Sloths spend 75% of their lives sleeping.
60. Hummingbirds cannot walk.
61. A moth has no stomach.
62. Europeans, having arrived in Australia, asked the aborigines: “What are these strange jumping animals you have here?” The Aborigines answered: “Kangaroo,” which meant: “We don’t understand!”
63. The easiest way to distinguish a vegetarian animal from a predator: predators have eyes located on the front of the muzzle to see the prey. Vegetarians have them on both sides of their heads to see the enemy.
64. The bat is the only mammal that can fly.
65. 99% of living creatures that lived on Earth became extinct.
66. To make a kilogram of honey, a bee must fly around 2 million flowers.
67. Blood of a grasshopper white, lobster - blue.
68. The only animals that have sex for pleasure are humans and dolphins.
69. Over the past 4,000 years, not a single new animal has been domesticated.
70. Penguins can jump more than one and a half meters in height.
71. The only pet that is not mentioned in the Bible is a cat.
72. Chimpanzees are the only animals that can recognize themselves in the mirror.
73. The word “orangutan” means “jungle man” in some African languages.
74. Emu means "ostrich" in Portuguese.
75. Elephants and humans are the only mammals that can stand on their heads.
76. Crocodiles swallow stones to dive deeper.
77. Polar bears can run at a speed of 40 km/h.
78. Dogs have elbows.
ABOUT THE GREATS
79. Rodin’s “The Thinker” is a portrait of the Italian poet Dante.
80. Singer Nick Cave was born with a ponytail.
81. Shakespeare and Cervantes died on the same day - April 23, 1616.
82. English writer Virginia Woolf I wrote most of my books standing up.
83. Sarah Bernhardt played 13-year-old Juliet at 70 years old.
84. When Walt Disney was a child, he tortured an owl. Since then, he decided to bring animals to life in cartoons.
85. Beethoven was once arrested for vagrancy.
86. Buzz Aldrin, one of the astronauts who walked on the Moon, has his mother’s maiden name Moon (Moon).
87. When Einstein died, he last words died with him: the nurse did not understand German.
88. Julius Caesar wore Laurel wreath to hide the beginning of baldness.
89. D. Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
90. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, never called his mother and wife: they were both deaf.
91. Saint Patrick, the patron saint of the Irish, was not Irish.
92. Leonardo da Vinci invented an alarm clock that rubbed the feet of a sleeping person.
93. Napoleon suffered from ailurophobia - fear of cats.
ABOUT PEOPLE
94. The nose grows throughout a person’s life.
95. Only one child out of 20 is born on the day prescribed by the doctor.
96. The ancient Greeks believed that boys grew up in right side belly, and girls - in the left.
97. If you remove space from all the atoms of the human body, then what remains can be threaded through the eye of a needle.
98. In the Middle Ages, in the dark spots of the Moon, people saw the figure of Cain carrying an armful of brushwood.
99. A sperm is the smallest single cell in the body. The egg is the largest.
100. If a real woman had the proportions of a Barbie doll, she would only be able to walk on 4 limbs.
101. Blonde beards grow faster than dark ones.
102. In Russian and English languages there is no word for the back of the knee.
103. In the 15th century, it was believed that the color red heals. Patients wore red and surrounded themselves with red things.
104. Tongue imprints are individual for all people.
105. When you blush, your stomach turns red too.
106. There is enough body fat in the human body to make 7 bars of soap.
107. 80% of the human body’s heat leaves the head.
108. A person has fewer muscles than a caterpillar.
109. At the time of death, Lenin's brain was a quarter of normal size.
110. The world's highest IQ scores on standardized tests belong to two women.
111. Most people lose 50% of their sense of taste by age 60.
112. House dust consists of 70% shed skin.
113. The tooth is the only part of a person that lacks the ability to repair itself.
114. The brain is 80% water.
115. More living organisms live on the body of one person than there are people on Earth.
116. One hair can support a weight of 3 kg.
117. The average human head weighs 3.6 kg.
118. Over the course of his entire life, a person produces so much saliva that it would be enough for 2 large swimming pools.
Animals are creatures familiar to each of us. After all, we are also members of the animal kingdom. In addition, we share the planet with an extraordinary diversity of other fauna, relying on animals, learning from them, and even forming friendships. But do you know all the nuances that distinguish an animal’s body from the body of other living beings, for example, plants or bacteria? In this article, you will find 10 interesting facts about animals and how they differ from other life forms that inhabit our planet.
Fact #1: The first animals appeared about 600 million years ago
The oldest evidence of life suggests that the first animals appeared on the planet more than 600 million years ago. The earliest fossils of ancient organisms are called stromatolites. Also, the first animals belonged to the Ediacaran biota, a group of tubular and flat creatures that lived between 635 and 543 million years ago.
Fact #2: Animals rely on other organisms to produce energy
Animals need food to support all functions of life, including growth, development, movement, metabolism and reproduction. Unlike plants, they are not capable of transforming sunlight into energy. Animals are heterotrophs, meaning that they cannot produce their own food and must instead feed on other living organisms to obtain energy to sustain life.
Fact #3: Animals can move
Unlike plants, which are attached to a substrate, most animals are mobile (able to move in space) for a certain period or all life cycle. For most species of fauna, the ability to move is obvious: fish swim, birds fly, mammals walk, run, jump and swim. But in some animals, movements are not significant or are limited to specific periods of life. They are called sessile. Sponges, for example, are sedentary for most of their life cycle, but during the larval stage, they are free-swimming animals.
In addition, it has been proven that some species of sponges can move at very slow speeds (a few millimeters per day). An example of other sessile animals that move short distances is barnacles.
Fact #4: All animals are multicellular eukaryotes
All animals have organs that are formed from several cells, in other words, they are multicellular. In addition to being multicellular, animals are eukaryotes—their bodies are made up of eukaryotic cells. Eukaryotic cells are complex cells whose internal structure (nucleus and various organelles) is enclosed in their membranes. The DNA in such a cell is linear and organized in .
With the exception of sponges, animal cells are organized into tissues that perform various functions. Animal tissues include: connective, muscle, epithelial and nervous tissues.
Fact #5: Animals diversify into millions of different species.
The evolution of animals, since their first appearance some 600 million years ago, has resulted in an extraordinary number and diversity of life forms. As a result, animals have evolved into many species, differing in their movement in space, obtaining food and perception of the environment.
Fact #6: The Cambrian Explosion Became the Basis of the Animal Kingdom
The Cambrian Explosion (570 to 530 million years ago) was a time when the rate of emergence of new animal species was the fastest in history. During the Cambrian Explosion, early organisms evolved into many different, more complex forms. During this period of time, all the basic forms of body structure that are still observed in modern animals were formed.
Fact No. 7: Sponges are the simplest animals on the planet
Sponges are the simplest of all animals on Earth. Like other fauna, sponges are multicellular, but this is where the similarities end. Sponges lack specialized tissues that are present in all other animals. The body of the sponge consists of cells embedded in a matrix. Tiny spiny proteins called spicules are scattered throughout this matrix and form the support structure of the sponge. They have many small pores and channels distributed throughout their body that serve as a filter system, allowing them to sift out food from the water stream. Sponges have been different from all other groups of animals since the beginning of evolution.
Fact #8: Most animals have nerve and muscle cells.
All animals except sponges have specialized cells called neurons. Neurons, aka nerve cells, send electrical impulses (signals) to other cells in the body. Neurons transmit and interpret a wide range of information such as well-being, movement, environment and the orientation of the animal. In vertebrates, neurons are the building blocks of advanced nervous system, which includes the animal's sensory system, brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.
The nervous system of invertebrates consists of fewer neurons than that of vertebrates, but this does not mean that it is simplified. It is effective and highly successful in solving the survival problems these animals face.
Fact #9: Most animals are symmetrical
Most animals, with the exception of sponges, are symmetrical. Exist different shapes symmetry various groups animals. Radial symmetry, present in cnidarians such as sea urchins, as well as some types of sponges, have a type of symmetry in which they can be divided into similar halves, taking into account more than two planes running along the entire length of the body.
Echinoderms, such as starfish, have five-ray radial symmetry.
Another type of symmetry that predominates in many animals is bilateral symmetry. With this type of symmetry, the animal's body can be divided along the sagittal plane (the vertical plane that extends from the head to the rear and divides the animal's body into right and left halves).
Fact #10: The largest animal on the planet is the blue whale
The blue whale is a marine mammal that weighs more than 200 tons and is the largest living animal on Earth. You can also check out the list of others.
In what ways did people make fire before the advent of matches? They rubbed wooden surfaces against each other, knocked out a spark with silicon, tried to catch a ray of sunlight through a piece of glass. And when they managed to do this, they carefully maintained the burning coals in clay pots.
Single-celled animals are a category of organisms that stands outside the system. This means that they cannot be completely attributed to any specific kingdom. Single-celled organisms are distinguished by the absence of highly organized tissues. All animals belonging to this group do not have any common characteristics among themselves. The only thing they have in common is a simple structure.
Single-celled animals are usually so tiny that they can only be seen under a microscope. Their habitat is humid. This is soil and water, as well as the body of a person and animal. All of them, in one way or another, with the help of various devices, adapt to different conditions. First of all, it is the shape of the body. It may not have clear boundaries, constantly change, or, on the contrary, it may be streamlined, spindle-like or elongated. The types of symmetry also differ: radial, translational-rotational, bilateral. Some single-celled animals have shells on the outside, others, those that live deep under water, have unusual growths.
The cell that makes up the body of these organisms may contain from one to several nuclei. The shell is either just a membrane or a denser, more stretchable pellicle.
A single-celled organism moves with the help of various cilia, pseudopods, and flagella. They also react to the influence of such external factors, such as changes in temperature, lighting, availability chemical substances.
Single-celled animals obtain food in different ways. Thus, during phagocytosis, cytoplasmic outgrowths capture solid food particles. Pinocytosis takes place in several stages: first, the surface of the entire cell captures liquid, and then absorbs the substances contained in it, processing them using digestive enzymes, which fill the vacuoles. Inside some protozoa (chlorella) there are chloroplasts, which, using photosynthesis, can produce organic substances from inorganic substances.
Also, the entire surface of the body of protozoa participates in gas exchange: through it, decay products and excess water.
Single-celled animals reproduce both sexually and asexually. It depends on the conditions in which they exist. Asexual reproduction occurs like this. First, the nucleus is divided into several parts, then the cytoplasm is divided into the same number of parts. Thus, from one you get several (at least two).
Female and male individuals participate. Their structure and dimensions may differ, or they may be the same. As a result of their fusion, a zygote is formed, which then reproduces independently asexually. It happens that when individuals come into contact, they exchange nuclear particles. In this case, the zygote is not formed.
When conditions are not favorable for the normal functioning of protozoa, their body becomes round and covered with a dense shell. This is how a cyst is formed. As soon as conditions improve, the body is freed from the thick film and begins to lead the same lifestyle as before.
It is generally accepted that single-celled animals were the first to appear on Earth in the process of evolution. The most ancient are archaea and bacteria. They are similar in many ways (for example, the absence of a nucleus, the presence of a ring chromosome), for this reason they were previously classified as one group. But modern science proved that archaea have their own structural features and evolved in a slightly different way. Although they are just as difficult to classify as before. The fact is that archaea have never been grown in laboratory conditions, but were discovered during the analysis of samples taken from the places where they live.
Single-celled organisms are a link without which it is impossible to imagine a full-fledged biocenosis. After all, they are eaten by many animals, which themselves serve as food for a number of other inhabitants of our planet.
My colleague cites a case where five hunters shot a wild boar and, to celebrate, immediately began to cut it up and fry kebabs. We washed down the shish kebab with copious amounts of vodka. The men are healthy, they claim that each of them drank at least a liter.
All five ended up in intensive care with a severe form of trichinosis. There was no hope of saving two, but apparently God loves fools.
People don't learn anything.
Opinions were divided.
There are two approaches to prevention:
2) Opponents of this method refer to the toxic effect of drugs on the human body and recommend undergoing three examinations in the laboratory every six months (at intervals of three to four days) - giving feces, a smear, a scraping for enterobiasis and not being poisoned by chemicals, because each drug, even with A single dose has an effect on the liver.
Choose for yourself.
Prevention
Trichinosis- testing of meat in veterinary laboratories. Trichinosis meat is destroyed in any case. There are cases when hunters, sparing meat, boiled pieces for a long time and fed them to dogs. Then the dogs had to be finished off so that they would not suffer.
Boiling 1cm thick meat for 2-3 hours theoretically kills Trichinella. But I repeat, trichinosis meat is thrown away. It’s better to burn it so that the homeless don’t pick it up.
Freezing practically does not work for trichinosis. I have a friend in a veterinary laboratory, and he has been tormenting a piece of pork with Trichinella for six months now. Freezes, then defrosts, cuts off a piece and places in a favorable environment. So these bastards have been coming to life for six months now.
Where to take the meat?
To the veterinary laboratory.
For intestinal- most often this is fever, nausea, vomiting, loose stools, skin rashes like urticaria, heaviness and pain in the abdomen, fatigue
For trichinosis- the onset of the disease, like intestinal ones, then pain in the joints and muscles, swelling of the face. I would like to emphasize the last sign, since the hunting season is in full swing and many hunters bring home boar meat.
Cysticercosis- depending on the hit:
Brain - headaches, convulsions, pseudoepileptic seizures
Eyes - visual impairment
Heart - heart rhythm failure
Dirofilariasis is a feeling that something is crawling under the skin.
Antibiotics are another group of drugs designed to affect microorganisms.
When traveling to Africa and Southeast Asia, you should follow a few simple rules:
- Never eat any food outside of large restaurants and cafes(if a Thai offers you a scorpion on a skewer near the hotel, kick him away);
- Do not swim in untested freshwater bodies(only pools and the sea), in fast-flowing mountain rivers - it’s still possible, but in lakes, puddles, ponds and swamps, and especially in rice fields - it’s better not to;
- Don't walk barefoot on green grass. And don't go barefoot at all. Only on sand on the beach;
- Wash your hands. Constantly. Several times a day. Before eating and after using the toilet;
- Do not drink untested water;
- A few weeks after arrival, it is better to go to the laboratory and get tested;
- Relax in your homeland (just kidding).
For animal lovers
If your cat or dog is walking on the street, there is no talk at all.
Carry out prophylaxis with veterinary drugs once every six months. It’s possible with human ones, but there is a risk of not calculating the dose, because your pet does not weigh fifty kilograms.
Imagine you are infected with a creature that not only eats half of your food, but also shits directly into your body. It also clings to the walls of your intestines with hooks and or suction cups. It can also be carried into the liver and lymphatic system.
Giardiasis
The topic is slippery. To be honest, I didn’t want to bring it up.
Until recently, Giardia was considered a normal human microflora and almost symbionts. Only in last years They decided to resettle them into the enemy’s camp. The main problem with Giardia is that it is everywhere. If the analysis shows their absence, then it is a bad analysis.
In the CIS they proudly declare that there is no Giardia in our tap water! But German laboratories detect Giardia in bottled water and mineral water from their famous springs. Either the Germans are so dirty, or there’s something they’re not telling us.
Giardia - unlike the worms described above - is a simple organism. Which means it's very small. Giardia cysts pass through the filters of city water supply systems; they are constantly found in wells and pumps, lakes and ponds.
Giardia exists in two forms. Motile and cyst. A person becomes infected with cysts. Dirty hands and household items are to blame for this. Infection occurs even if you haven't washed the fruit too much. clean water or while swimming they swallowed some lake water. Our smaller brothers, dogs, cats, and rodents can also be sources. Giardia cysts enter the water with the feces of a patient or carrier and survive in the water for five to six weeks.
Giardia affects the liver and small intestine. Infected people have pale skin, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, and rash. In some regions of the CIS, a significant percentage of children and adults are infected with Giardia and are their chronic carriers. By the way, in Europe and the USA in some regions there are no less, so don’t let them show off.
Our body is a place of compact residence for millions of invited and uninvited guests from the world of viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and animals.