What is a dinosaur worth? You can buy a large skeleton from a professional dinosaur hunter for about $300,000.
Category: Biology
Marigolds
I have heard that planting marigolds in your garden will keep deer away. I tried it. The deer ate my marigolds.
Bananas
Bananas do not grow on trees, they grow on big herb plants.
Why Do Humans Walk Upright?
The reason humans walk upright might be because we learned not to drag our bodies in cold, wet snow.
Largest Seeds
The world’s largest seeds weigh as much as 40 pounds each and although they look like coconuts, they are up to three times larger. They are from a rare type of palm tree.
Worst Flower
The world’s largest flower is also one of the worst smelling flowers. Rafflesia Arnoldii is often over 3 feet wide and its petals are almost an inch thick. You wouldn’t want it in your garden, however, because it smells like a rotting animal. The flower is attempting to attract flies for pollination.
Rafflesia Arnoldi, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Whale Oil
The fine machine lubricating oil for which the sperm whales were hunted was mostly in their heads – up to 500 gallons (1,800 liters) of it in one whale. Until modern chemical technology, nothing lubricated as well as whale oil. Now there is even more valuable stuff that forms in their intestines – ambergris. This foul-smelling grayish-black stuff is used by the perfume industry, not for its smell, but because it has been found to cause other smells to last longer.
Ocean Coral in Surgery
Within the next few years, doctors will start using ocean coral to replace bone in surgery. It is chemically similar to human bone and implants are well accepted by the body.
Zoopharmacognosy
In the new science of zoopharmacognosy, scientists patiently watch animals to learn about how they medicate themselves. In the most profound case, chimpanzees who are not feeling well seek out a plant called aspilia and eat one of its leaves whole. Upon studying this plant, scientists have found a chemical in it that is a strong antibiotic which may even reduce some cancers. Elephants and bears also treat themselves pharmacologically.
Living Without Parts
Theoretically, a human can survive without the stomach, most of the intestines, one kidney, three-quarters of the liver, and one lung. Furthermore, the legs and arms and sex organs can be removed successfully. Don’t try this at home.