Water cooler: Ponder these animal facts about the critters that keep us scratching our heads
The world is full of wonder, but that’s easy to forget when you’re stuck inside a house. Here are seven neat animal facts to remind you of all the cool, yucky, cute, wild and funky creatures that call our world home.
The heart of a shrimp is located in its head. It is much safer up there than in its tail.
Giraffes were thought to be silent creatures with the exception of the occasional snort, but a study published in 2015 revealed that giraffes use their larynx, also known as a voice box, to produce low-frequency humming during the night that is audible to the human ear.
The fingerprints of chimpanzees and orangutans are indistinguishable from human fingerprints. Even more surprising, so are the fingerprints of koalas. Like humans, koalas have fingerprints to allow them a sensitive sense of touch and the ability to better grip rough surfaces – except they use those abilities for inspecting eucalyptus leaves.
Ghost crabs, named for their pale exoskeleton and night-owl habits, have the ability to growl using the small teeth inside their stomach, forming what is known as a gastric mill. Its primary function is to shred food after it enters the stomach.
A mantis shrimp punches faster than a speeding bullet, literally. Its punch travels over 50 mph, accelerating faster than a .22-caliber bullet and giving it the ability to smash through quarter-inch-thick glass.
There is a specific species of ant that only lives in New York City. While gathering local samples of ants, biology professor Rob Dunn happened to come across a new species of ant that hadn’t been recorded not only in North America, but anywhere in the world. It didn’t match one of the 13,000 documented species of ant. These ants have only been found in the medians where 63rd and 76th streets cross Broadway and they also have high levels of carbon in their bodies due to their high corn-syrup diet acquired by living in the city.
Some species of sharks can glow in the dark. A study published last August described a form of visible biofluorescence from the skin of catsharks. Biofluorescence (the glow) is common to fish and other sorts of marine life. Eels are often depicted with their signature glow. The tissue of the skin absorbs the ambient blue light of the ocean and then re-emits it as lower-energy, longer wavelengths, which make the light appear green, orange and sometimes red.
Social circle
Brain train
Test your knowledge with today’s trivia question
What type of fish was Dory in the movie “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory?”
Clownfish
Manta ray
Pacific blue tang
Beta
Tuesday’s answer: “Frozen II”
How it’s made
While many of us are stuck at home, some important workers still report on-site to their jobs. This includes a lot of factory workers who provide us with the food and supplies we depend on. Get an inside look at some of these factories and the important people (and machines) who make them up with these factory tours on YouTube.
“How M&Ms are Made: Exclusive 360-degree Candy Factory Tour,” posted by Food Network: This tour lets you take the wheel with 360-degree views that let you look all around the different machines in the M&M factory.
“Learn how chocolate is made with a visit to the chocolate factory,” posted by Eat Happy Project: This video shows you every step of chocolate production, from the harvesting of cacao seeds in tropical regions such as the Ivory Coast in West Africa, to the processing of cacao into different types of chocolate.
“Where it’s Made: Visit a Lego Factory,” posted by The New York Times: This segment of their “The Daily 360 series” takes you to a Lego factory in Billund, Denmark, where 1,350 Lego pieces are made every second.
“Tour of the Jelly Belly Factory,” posted by Library VHS Rips: You may have to start this video explaining what a VHS was, but after that, learn about jelly beans are mixed, colored, shaped and sorted before they get to a grocery store.
“Fruit for Kids with Blippi – Apple Fruit Factory Tour,” posted by Blippi: See how apples make their way from the orchard to the factories, where they are cleaned and packaged, then sent out for delivery to the grocery store.
Craft time
Quick crafts to keep the kids busy while school is out.
Tissue Box Monsters: Transform a used tissue box into a monster. Use the whole as the mouth and add teeth, spooky eyeballs, tentacles, hair or whatever you can think of.
Paper Bead Necklaces: Roll up strips of paper and secure them with glue or tape to make your own beads. Slide them over string to make a necklace. Great for using up old wrapping paper.
Mini Lid Banjos: Use one of those jar lids you have in the kitchen that doesn’t seem to go to anything. Wrap rubber bands or any sort of stretchy string tightly around the lid. Use popsicle sticks or leftover cardboard to make the neck of the banjo. If you don’t have a lid, you can use a used tissue box for this craft as well, and use a used paper towel cardboard tube for the neck.
Thumbprint Tree: Celebrate the new spring buds on the trees. Draw a tree with only branches. Then dip your thumb in some paint and use it to stamp leaves on the tree.
Suncatchers: Use tissue paper or any transparent paper material. Cut it into the desired shape, dip it in water and it will stick to the window and “catch” the sunlight as it passes through. You can make any design you’d like and it is easily removable.