Roseville, CA Copyright © 2005 Compiled by Doug Batchelor All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Amazing Facts, Inc. P.O. Box 1058 Roseville, CA 95678-8058 www.amazingfacts.org Edited by Anthony Lester Cover Design & Illustrations by Haley Trimmer – Halo Square Communications Text Design & Layout by Greg Solie – Altamont Graphics Final Copy Editing by Tarah Solie – Altamont Graphics ISBN 1-58019-189-4 Contents Foreword Amazing Animals Amazing Places Bizarre Bible Facts Fascinating Science Incredible Biology Interesting People Mechanical Marvels The Phenomenal Human Body U. S. History and Culture World History and Culture Foreword I continue to be a curious person. All my life I have sought to add to my knowledge. That journey led me to the Bible and the truths contained inside. Along the way, I have also come across little bits of knowledge about the amazing world around us. Did you know that the attention span of a goldfish is about three seconds? Mine is a bit more, but I still need to write these astonishing items and stories down. This book is the second volume of these amazing facts that I’ve compiled. If you enjoyed the Book of Amazing Facts, Volume 1—and in speaking with many of you or reading the numerous emails and letters we’ve received you have—then you will enjoy Volume 2. I have found the use of the information in these volumes as a way to better share and teach the gospel, just as Jesus used man's natural curiosity as a tool for instruction. Whether you’re an educator, pastor, a lay evangelist, or a dedicated Bible worker giving studies one at a time, you can illustrate the principles of God’s Word with these intriguing and sometimes obscure facts. You may recognize some of the information here. We use these facts during the Bible Answers Live radio program and on the pages of Inside Report. As always, if you happen to spot an inaccuracy along the way, write to let us know. We’ll make appropriate corrections in future editions. In many cases, the accuracy of these facts is simply dependant on the faithfulness of our sources. So here are just a few facts about God’s amazing planet and the incredible people, places, and things that call it home. Doug Batchelor Contents Loyal Love Birds A Little Flap A Little More on Hummingbirds Sleepy Animals Beetle Bombers Marine Friends Jellyfish Harriet the Tortoise Longwinded Sprinter Carrion Picnickers Scaly Behemoth Deep-Sea Weirdo Under Wings of Love Desert Wanderer Spiny Evolutionary Enigma No Ordinary Tuna The Fire Lizard? So Small, So Strong Tacky Feet As the Penguin Swims … and Sees The Royal Version Spider Silk Animals That Thaw Pest Controller Brainless Regenerates Arachnid Scuba Divers Old Dakota Three-Toes Pond Dwellers That's a Big Vegetarian A Peculiar Bird Ocean Mammals Armored Road Warrior Tall & Swift The Living Fossil Loyal Love Birds The awesome migration of geese offers a number of inspiring lessons of sacrifice and teamwork. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in their favorite V formation, the entire flock adds at least 70 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back in to take advantage of the formation. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the V and another goose flies point—all the while the geese behind are honking their encouragement. Even though they weigh between 20 to 25 pounds, geese can fly about as high as any other bird. A Himalayan mountain climber at 16,000 feet was amazed to see a flock of geese flying northward at about 27,000 feet—honking as they went. This is amazing, considering that at 7,000 feet, an average man has a hard time talking while running. Canadian geese can reach speeds of up to 60 mph during their flights, and can fly for up to 16 hours without rest. These migratory wonders will often fly up to 3,000 miles to their destination. For birds, geese are very loyal creatures. When a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot and falls out of formation, two other geese follow it down to lend help and protection. Geese also mate for life (about 20 years) and stay together during all seasons. They are also excellent parents, sacrificially placing themselves between any perceived threat and their young. Pet geese even make devoted “watchdogs,” hissing and honking loudly when strangers come around. There are many accounts of a family goose laying its life down to save a child from a venomous snake or rabid dog. If only people would stand by each other like a goose. A Little Flap More than 300 kinds of hummingbirds exist in the world, and they come in every color of the rainbow. The smallest is the bee hummingbird from Cuba— it’s only two inches long and weighs less than a dime. The largest is the giant hummingbird, which can reach a whopping eight inches in length. Yet even though hummingbirds are small in size, they have enormous appetites. Hummingbirds feed often and must consume more than their body weight in food each day. In order to obtain enough nectar, they feed every 10 or 15 minutes from dawn until dusk. Although they end up consuming only four to seven calories a day, humans with the same metabolism would have to take in 155,000 calories a day! Fortunately, they also have good memories that help them remember where to find their food. The hummingbird’s copious need for calories is due to their extremely high heart rate and metabolism. In fact, it is believed that some hummingbirds’ metabolisms are so accelerated that if you could see the world though its tiny eyes, everything else would seem to be moving in very slow motion. This makes hummingbirds amazing hunters of insects, frequently plucking mosquitoes, gnats, and fruit flies right out of the air while hovering. Hummingbirds are not very social animals, which is why you’ll never see them flying in flocks. In fact, males and females live apart until breeding season. And after mating, the female is on her own to build the nest and raise her young. Mothers usually lay one or two very tiny eggs, about the size of a pinto bean. When babies hatch, they are very vulnerable to predators— including large insects! Still, when it comes to flying, nobody does it better than a hummingbird. In fact, they are so good at it that most of them never walk more than two inches and can terrorize birds ten times their own size with their acrobatic skill. Like a helicopter, it can go up, down, sideways, backwards … even upside down! This is because most of its wing is made of hand bones, instead of arm bones like other birds. The ruby-throated hummingbird, for example, is reported to have a wing rate of 70 beats per second—or 4,200 per minute! But did you also know that the Bible teaches that angels do not travel at the speed of sound or even at the speed of light but rather at the speed of thought? … And Did You Know? A goldfish’s attention span is three seconds. Animals that lay eggs don’t have belly buttons. Beavers can hold their breath for 45 minutes. A Little More on Hummingbirds Millions of hummingbirds migrate 500 risky miles across the Gulf of Mexico each year—a trip that takes about 20 hours of constant flight! So how do they get the energy to sustain this nonstop flight? Evidently, the world’s smallest birds feast on nectar constantly for about a week to store up the calories they need to fuel their trip, often doubling their body weight in the process. Likewise, as Christians, we need to start storing up the nectar of God’s Word in our hearts to make our journey of faith through the coming tribulation. Sleepy Animals If you don’t like to sleep, a giraffe might be the perfect pet—they sleep only 1.9 hours a day. But if you prefer a lot of sleep, you might want to own a brown bat, which sleeps about 19.9 hours a day—spending nearly 83 percent of its life in dreamland! … And Did You Know? Slugs have four noses. A camel has three eyelids. A honeybee can fly at 15 miles per hour. A queen bee can lay 800 to 1500 eggs per day. A bee has five eyes. Beetle Bombers There are more than 300,000 different species of beetles in the world, but among them, the bombardier beetle has been created with one of the most incredible defense systems in the natural world. Whenever threatened by an enemy attack, such as ants, frogs, and spiders, this spirited little beetle shoots a jet of boiling chemicals and irritating, foul-smelling gases at its attacker. This toxic spray explodes from two tail pipes on the tip of its abdomen right into the face of the unfortunate aggressor. With some bombardier beetles, you can actually hear the explosion as a loud popping, which is a result of rapid firing. This rapid-fire action is called “pulse combustion” and jets the boiling liquid out at more than 500 pulses per second at 212 degrees F! In addition, the beetle can rotate the end of its abdomen 270 degrees in any direction, like a tiny cannon, and hit the target with great accuracy.