Hobbies And Interests
The Dangerous Hippopotamus
Apart from snakes and insects, hippopotamuses kill more people annually in Africa than any other animal. Science-facts.com, a resource and fact Web site, reports that the hippo's large tusks and strong jaw are both responsible for the creature's deadly bite. Most hippo attacks occur near watering holes where humans come to close to the territorial animal. The strangest and most shocking part of this statistic is that the African hippopotamus is not a meat-eating animal. It is a plant eating herbivore.
The Ripe Age of 4,600 Years
The oldest living thing on Earth is a tree in California called the Bristlecone Pine Tree. Tree-dating technology allows scientists to calculate the age of any tree by counting the rings on its trunk, and inserting a core into the center of the tree and then removing it allows scientists to view the rings without having to cut down the tree.
Female Dominated Populations
Very few to no males exist in certain insect, worm and lizard populations. The females are able to lay eggs entirely independent of a male through a process known as parthenogenesis. The Whiptail Lizard, a part of the Teiidae lizard family, is an example of such a parthenogenic species. The offspring are 100 percent genetic clones of the mother.