Nature is full of mysteries. Whether you’re exploring the wilderness or your backyard, plenty of strange and fascinating facts about nature are waiting to be discovered. This article will explain some of the most interesting facts about nature.
1. The Amazon rain forest produces more than 10% of the world’s oxygen
10% of the world’s oxygen comes from the Amazon rain forest. The Amazon basin is such a huge area that it can provide yearly oxygen supply for the entire planet and still have some left over. In fact, in 1571, naturalist Sir Walter Raleigh described seeing vast areas where trees “stretched so far and so wide that they are nowhere hedged in or walled on.”
2. Blue whales are the biggest animals on Earth
The largest animal in the world is the blue whale. These whales can be up to 100 feet long and weigh as much as 300 tons. Scientists have discovered that blue whales hibernate in cold Arctic water, so these animals will likely be giant during this time. Blue whales are believed to have lived alongside humans for thousands of years, and their bones have been found in Egyptian tombs.
3. The Milky Way is the biggest galaxy
The Milky Way is our home galaxy, containing about 400 billion stars. Our galaxy is approximately 100,000 light-years across. By comparison, the Virgo Supercluster of galaxies is 160 million light-years across and contains 50 clusters of around 1000 galaxies each. The observable universe may have more than 170 billion galaxies – many more than we can see with the naked eye. But only 1% of the light coming from them reaches Earth.
4. The giant squid is the largest invertebrate in the world
The giant squid is an elusive creature that lives at great depths in all of Earth’s oceans. These creatures can reach up to 60 feet long and weigh as much as 1,000 pounds. Giant squids are covered with large blunt tentacles that can stretch over a foot across, and each tentacle is covered with thousands of sharp little hooks.
5.Lobsters don’t die of old age
Lobsters are covered in tiny chitinous plates. Their shells can grow and shrink with their body size as our fingernails do. Their bodies also can regenerate lost limbs, which helps them survive predators by developing new ones. Lobsters are more closely related to spiders than crabs or shrimp, which makes sense because it’s pretty hard for a crab or shrimp to create a new claw.
6. All animals and humans on Earth share the same genetic code
All animals, including humans, have the same DNA. The only difference between them is how they utilize the genetic code. We all share the same code in mitochondria, a cell organelle that produces energy. The DNA in mitochondrial DNA is different from that of regular human cells.
7. Pineapples take two years to grow
Most people think that pineapples take around a year to grow, but the fruit takes up to two years. Pineapples are grown on large plantations that have the perfect conditions for growing them. They require high temperatures and constant humidity for optimal growth.
8.Cows kill more people than sharks
Sharks may be infamous for their aggressive nature, but they only kill humans an average of five times yearly. This is certainly not a high number compared to the number of people sharks kill yearly. A recent study has estimated that cows kill nearly 30 people each year.
9. Sharks rarely attack humans
It’s commonly believed that sharks are ferocious creatures that attack anything that moves and will not stop until they have killed you. However, this is not true. Only 5% of sharks kill people, and only because they have been mistakenly identified as food.
10. The average person walks an equivalent of three times around the Earth every year
People walk 3 miles every day without even thinking about it. This means that people who live to be 80 years old will have walked the equivalent three times around the Earth. This is a long way, but the journey is not fast – you would need to walk at a speed of 2.5 mph for 10 hours a day, every day, to complete this journey in one year.
In conclusion, nature is full of mysteries, and this article has given you a taste of some of the most interesting facts about nature.
