25 Quick and Interesting Facts (at least to me!)

 

1. The shortest war in history was between the countries of Britain and Zanzibar, which lasted just 38 minutes in 1896.

2. The world's largest desert, the Sahara, is actually expanding due to climate change.

3. The human nose can detect over 1 trillion different scents.

4. The tallest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, is actually still growing.

5. The world's largest living organism is a fungus in Oregon that covers an area of 2,200 acres.

6. The shortest commercially available flight in the world is between the Scottish islands of Westray and Papa Westray and lasts just 47 seconds.

7. The world's largest living creature is the blue whale, which can grow up to 100 feet long and weigh as much as 200 tons.

8. The human body contains enough fat to make seven bars of soap.

9. The world's first computer programmer was a woman named Ada Lovelace, who worked on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in the 1800s.

10. The coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -128.6°F (-89.2°C) in Antarctica in 1983.

11. The world's largest river, the Amazon, discharges more water than the next seven largest rivers combined.

12. The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9,000 years old.

13. The largest diamond ever found was the Cullinan diamond, which weighed over 3,000 carats.

14. The world's largest library is the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., which has over 170 million items.

15. The smallest mammal in the world is the bumblebee bat, which weighs less than a penny.

16. The world's deepest postbox is in Susami Bay, Japan, and is over 10 meters underwater.

17. The oldest known writing system in the world is Sumerian cuneiform, which dates back to around 3400 BCE.

18. The world's largest salt flat is the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, which covers over 4,000 square miles.

19. The tallest mammal in the world is the giraffe, which can grow up to 18 feet tall.

20. The world's fastest animal is the peregrine falcon, which can dive at speeds of up to 240 miles per hour.

21. The largest animal ever to live on Earth is the blue whale, which is bigger than any dinosaur that ever existed.

22. The world's longest river, the Nile, is over 4,000 miles long.

23. The world's largest volcano, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, covers an area of over 2,000 square miles.

24. The world's largest pyramid is the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which weighs over 6 million tons.

25. The world's largest tree by volume is the General Sherman tree in California, which has a volume of over 52,000 cubic feet.