A rat can go without water longer than a camel can.

The hippopotamus has skin an inch and a half thick, so solid that most bullets can not penetrate it.

The crocodile is surprisingly fast on land. If pursued by a crocodile, a person should run in a zigzag motion, for the crocodile has little or no ability to make sudden changes of direction.

The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that one gram of it can kill 150 people. Just to handle the substance can put one in a coma.

A completely blind chameleon will still take on the colors of its environment.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon's soldiers bivouacked in the chapel of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, where Leonardo's Last Supper is located. The soldiers used the painting in target practice, shooting at the central figure of Christ's head. This is why the face of Christ is almost obliterated in the painting.

In epuestrian statues: traditionally when all four of the horses hooves are on the ground, it signifies that the rider died a natural death. One hoof in the air indicates that he died of wounds sustained in action. If two are raised, it means that the rider was killed on the field of battle.

The horns protruding from the head of the famous statue of Moses by Michelangelo were a mistake! It is true that the Bible describes Moses as having horns coming from his head. This, however, was an error on the part of the translators. In Hebrew the words for "horn" and "ray of light" are spelled identically. The translators misinterpreted "ray" for "horn" and thus Moses is often portrayed in western art as looking like a devil.

A fetus in the womb can hear. Tests have shown that fetuses respond to various sounds just as vigorously as they respond to pressures and internal sensations.

A survey conducted at Iowa State College in 1969 suggests that a parent's stress at the time of conception plays a major role in determining a baby's sex. The child tends to be of the same sex as theparent who is under less stress.

Human eyes are so sensitive that on a clear night when there is no moon, a person sitting on a mountain peak can see a match struck 50 miles away. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

Tongue prints are as unique as finger prints.

The men who served as guards along the Great Wall of China in the Middle Ages were often born on the wall, grew up there, married there, died there, and were buried within it. Many of these guards never left the wall in their entire lives.

At funerals in ancient China, when the lid of the coffin was closed, mourners took a few steps backward lest their shadows get caught in the box.

In ancient China people committed suicide eating a pound of salt.

Both Gerorge Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew marijuana on their plantations.

Those condemned to die by the axe in medieval and Renaissance England were obliged to tip their executioner to ensure that he would complete the job in one blow. In some executions, notably that of Mary, Queen of Scots, it took fifteen whacks of the blade before the head was severed.

The Nazis used the guillotine to execute prisoners during World War II. Their version of the punishment had the condemned person lying on his back with his eyes forced open so that he had to watch the blade as it descended.

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top.

Honey is the only food that will not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tested by archaeologists and found edible.

In the Northern Hemisphere water goes down drains counterclockwise. In the Southern Hemisphere it goes down clockwise. DP) Does anyone know what it does on the equator?

A male spider's penis is located at the end of one of its legs.

If one places a minute amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will go mad and sting itself to death.

Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any other color.

A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off.

What is called a "French kiss" in England and America is known as an "English kiss" in France.

In ancient Japan public contests were held to see who in a town could break wind loudest and longest. Winners were awarded many prizes and received great acclaim.

In medieval China and parts of Africa one method of enforcing chastity was to sew up a girl's vaginal labia as soon as she reached puberty. The stitches were not cut until marriage; the husband then had the option of sewing them up again if he was called to war or on a long journey.

When gentlemen in medieval Japan wished to seal an agreement, they urinated together, crisscrossing their streams of urine.

The work of an artist cannot be exhibited in the Louvre until he has been dead for at least sixty years.

No one knows where Mozart is buried.

The amount of energy expended during sexual intercourse is roughly equivalent to the amount required to climb two flights of stairs. [No indication of assumed duration of intercourse - ed.]

The Roman emperor Commodos collected all the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks he could find in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers.

Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.

A collection of mysterious and unusual physical disorders: Amazia--The complete absence of breasts. Diphallic terata--The presence of more than one penis. Plica polonica--The skin and nails turn spongy and black, the hair follicles exude a gluey liquid, and the hair itself becomes painful to the touch. Oddly enough, this disease is found almost exclusively among Polish people. Polyorchidism--The presence of more than two testicles. This is the opposite of the condition known as anorchidism, in which a male is born with no testicles at all.

If you've ever wondered what the numbers on your Social Security card signify, here is a breakdown of the mysterious code: --the first three numbers show what part of the country you applied from. --the next two numbers show, in coded form, the year you applied. --the last four numbers indicate your citizen's number kept on file by thegovernment.

In Idaho a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.

Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath once a year.

In San Salvador drunk drivers are punished by death before a firing squad.

Experiments conducted at several college laboratories demonstrate that hard rock music played to colonies of termites cause the insects to enter a kind of frenzy and to chew through wood at twice their normal rate.

Anne Boleyn, one of the two unfortunate wives of Henry VIII sent to die in the Tower of London, had six toes on one foot, six fingers on one hand, and three breasts. In medical terminology the condition of having more than two breasts is known as polymazia.

The amount of nicotine the average pack-a-day smoker inhales in a week--400 milligrams--would kill a person instantly if it were taken all at once.

If all the packages of cigarettes smoked by Americans each year were laid end to end, they would circle the earth 21 times.

During World War II, the sale of Navajo blankets almost ceased in the United States. The reason for the decline was that the ancient Navajo symbol for the sun, woven into most of the blankets, looked exactly like Hitler's swastika.

For every human being on Earth, there are about 200 million insects.

The harmonica is the worlds most popular instrument.

By the time they are 65 years old, most Americans have watched more than 9 years worth of television.

The puck in ice hockey can travel at up to 118 mph (190 km/hr).

If you stretched all the nerves in your body from end to end, they would be about 47 miles long.

Humans have more than 600 muscles in our bodies.