The Mega Book of Useless Information. Noel Botham
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Camels are born without humps.
• Anteaters can flick their tongues 160 times a minute.
• Chimpanzees will hunt ducks if given the opportunity.
• Black sheep have a better sense of smell than white sheep.
• Whales and buffalos both stampede.
• A hibernating bear can go as long as six months without a toilet break.
• A bat can eat up to 1,000 insects per hour.
• Turkeys can reproduce without having sex. It’s called parthenogenesis.
• Snakes have two sex organs.
• Male rhesus monkeys often hang from tree branches by their amazing prehensile penises.
• The English sparrow is not a sparrow and it comes from Africa, not England.
• One humped camels run faster than two humped camels.
• A blue whale’s testicles are the size of a family car.
• Skunks can accurately spray their fluid up to 10ft.
• Sheep snore.
• To maintain a chimpanzee in captivity for 60 years it would cost an estimated £200,000.
• An ant can detect movement through 5cm of earth.
• Lobsters like to eat lobster.
• The only time a turkey whistles is when it is panicking.
• A group of jellyfish is called a ‘smack’.
• Camel hairbrushes are made from squirrel hair.
• Sloths sneeze slowly. They also give birth upside down slowly.
• A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4ft child inside.
• A parrot that shouts ‘Show us your t*ts’ at women on board a Royal Navy ship is always taken ashore during royal visits.
• The Andrex puppy has met a waxwork copy of itself at Madame Tussauds in London.
• A dog just over 7in long and weighing 27oz has been officially confirmed as the world’s smallest living dog.
• Deer urine can turn blue when they become dehydrated in the winter.
• Cash-strapped bosses at Moscow Zoo are renting out animals for the day in a bid to boost funds.
• The London Zoo employs an ‘entertainment director’ for the animals.
• A German pot-bellied pig called Berta has passed an audition to star in an opera.
• A lonely and confused male flamingo has caused a stir at a Gloucestershire nature reserve by trying to incubate a pebble.
• Hook-tip moth caterpillars defend their territories by drumming out warnings.
• Chinese scientists are appealing to the Guinness Book of Records to recognize a 900kg pig which died earlier this month as the biggest ever porker.
• Fish are much brainier than previously thought – and can learn quicker than dogs.
• A Chilean doctor is using alternative medicines to treat pets and their owners for mental conditions including depression.
• A Brazilian vet is offering plastic surgery and botox injections for pampered pets.
• Two polar bears have turned green at Singapore Zoo as a result of algae growing in their hair.
• The world’s first restaurant for cats is about to open in New York.
• Moscow Zoo keepers are to fit televisions in the cages of their gorillas in a bid to make them ‘think more’.
• Rescuers did a microchip scan on a stray cat that was wandering the streets of Oxford and found it had been registered in the USA.
• Scientists say they want to send 15 mice into space to help prepare for possible human missions to Mars.
• A chicken farm in Germany is claiming a new world record after a hen laid a giant egg weighing 6oz.
• Conveners of an Australian agricultural show are so concerned at the rise of cosmetic surgery among cattle breeders that they have issued new rules forbidding it.
• A German businessman who trained his dog to do the Hitler salute was given 13 months’ probation.
• Croat farmers staged a beauty contest for goats in a bid to publicize the fact that traditional goat farming is dying out.
• A Catholic priest has started holding masses for pets in the German city of Cologne.
• A German zoo has scrapped plans to break up homosexual penguin couples following protests from gay-rights groups.
• A Brazilian seaside town has built two toilets for dogs to try to stop pets fouling the beach.
• If an entire family is overweight, it is likely that the dog will be too.
• Homing pigeons are becoming increasingly lost because of mobile-phone masts, say racing enthusiasts.
• A Japanese researcher claims dogs can sense earthquakes before they happen.
• A Brazilian man who bought a 6ft boa constrictor online faces charges after it was posted to him in a paper box.
• Ptarmigans help their chicks go out into the world by teaching them which plants are more nutritious.
• A goldfish believed to be the world’s oldest in captivity is still swimming strongly – 44 years after it was won at a fairground.
• A marathon runner became the first human to win a horse-against-man race in the event’s 25-year history.
• A Brazilian company is launching a chewing gum for dogs.
• The Amazon River is home to the world’s only nut-and seed-eating fish.
• An elderly elephant in Thailand has been given a new lease of life after being fitted with custom-made dentures.
• New Zealand has abandoned plans for a flatulence tax on animals in the face of fierce opposition from farmers.
• A sea-hare can lay 40,000 eggs in one minute.
• A three-year-old boxer is being dubbed the most allergic dog in the UK after being found to suffer severe allergies to grass, flowers, cotton, lamb, soya, white fish and most materials used in bedding.
• China has built a biscuit factory to cater exclusively for the nutritional needs of its captive giant pandas.
• British dog owners spend an average of £981 a year on their animals while cat owners shell out £476, researchers have concluded.
• A gozzard is a person who owns geese.
• A zoo in Russia is claiming a world record after a hippopotamus named Mary gave birth for the 24th time at the age of 47.
• The UK’s first canine classroom assistant has been appointed to a school in Derbyshire.
• Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.
• After giving postmen training in dog psychology, the German Post Office claims attacks on them have been cut by 80 per cent.
• A gym exclusively for dogs has opened in Santiago, Chile.
• When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.
• A zoo in India is serving brandy to bears to keep them warm in winter.
• Chocolate affects a dog’s