Unknown things

Weird and wacky geographical facts

CANADA HAS A LOT OF LAKES.

Canada is the second largest country in the world, so it may not come as a surprise that it has a lot of lakes. But it might shock you that the country has more than half of all the natural lakes in the world. An impressive nine percent of the country is covered in fresh water.

THE ENTIRETY OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION COULD EASILY FIT IN TEXAS.

If the entire world were as densely populated as New York City, the whole population would only cover 250,404 square miles. That means the entire world could fit into the state of Texas. For comparison, if the world had the same population density as Houston, Texas, it would cover 1,769,085 square miles. Even then, being able to hypothetically fit over 7 billion people in an area smaller than half the United States is pretty impressive.

AUSTRALIA MAY BE SURROUNDED BY WATER, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE THE WORLD’S LONGEST COASTLINE.

Being its own continent and completely surrounded by water, you’d think Australia would easily have the honor of being the country with the longest coastline. However, that title goes to Canada. Canada has 152,100 miles of coastline, compared to Australia’s measly 16,000 miles. In fact, Australia ranks seventh on the list of the world’s longest coastlines, coming in behind Indonesia, Greenland, Russia, Philippines, and Japan.

MT. CHIMBORAZO IS CLOSER TO SPACE THAN MT. EVEREST.

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth, so it would stand to reason that the top of the mountain would be the highest point on Earth (and therefore closest to space). But when you remember that Earth is slightly oval-shaped, things get interesting. Our planet is slightly inflated around the equator, meaning countries like Ecuador and Kenya have a bit of an edge. With this added elevation, the top of Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo (which is only 20,564 feet tall) is closest to the stars.

ANTARCTICA IS HOME TO ALMOST ALL OF THE WORLD’S FRESH WATER.

At 14 million square kilometers (about 5,400,000 square miles), the ice sheet in Antarctica is the largest solid ice mass on the planet. The enormous frozen structure contains about 90 percent of all the fresh water on Earth.

CHINA AND RUSSIA ARE BOTH BORDERED BY 14 COUNTRIES.

Although China is just a little more than half the size of Russia—the largest country in the world—they share the same number of land neighbors. The 14 countries bordering China are: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Nepal.

Geographical facts

The largest city in the world – based on surface area, is Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia which is 263,953 km squared.

The hottest temperature recorded on earth is El Azizia Libya at 136 F, the coldest was -134 degrees fahrenheit in Vostok Antarctica. The hottest average temp is in western Australia, it is 96 degrees year round on average.

San Marino claims to be the world’s oldest constitutional republic – it was founded in 301 by a Christian stonemason fleeing persecution under Emperor Diocletian. Its constitution of 1600 is the oldest written constitution in the world. San Marino is pictured above.

Though Mt. Everest is the highest altitude in terms of sea level on the planet, Mount Chimborazo is the closest to the moon. The Marianas Trench is the lowest place on earth.

Alaska is the most Northern, Eastern, AND Western state in all of America. It is the only state that enters the “Eastern Hemisphere” making it also the most eastern lying and western lying state.

Vampire Squid

The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. "vampire squid from Hell") is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Unique retractile sensory filaments justify the vampire squid's placement in its own order: Vampyromorphida (formerly Vampyromorpha), which shares similarities with both squid and octopodes.

As a phylogenetic relict it is the only known surviving member of its order, first described and originally classified as an octopus in 1903 by German teuthologist Carl Chun, but later assigned to a new order together with several extinct taxa.

With the largest eyes (proportionally speaking) of any animal in the world, this deep sea creature is born to live in the depths. And no, it doesn’t suck blood, in fact its tentacles barely have suckers at all. The name actually comes from its intensely red eyes and cloak like webbing.

Red-bearded Titi

The Caquetá titi (Callicebus caquetensis), also known as the red-bearded titi or the bushy-bearded titi, is a species of titi monkey endemic to Colombia found in the Department of Caquetá region. Taxonomically, it is a member of the Callicebus cupreus group, following Shunsuke Kobayashi's Callicebus grouping. It was first described by Thomas Defler, Marta Bueno and Javier Garcia in 2010. It is highly endangered due to habitat fragmentation and a small population.

As it appears the adorable bearded little things are critically endangered, with an estimated surviving population of less than 250. The red-bearded titi, like many primates, shares a surprising number of characteristics with humans.

One such characteristic is that they mate for life – an uncommon habit in the primate world. A typical couple has a baby every year, and males are responsible for a majority of the infant’s care. Couples have often been seen sitting together on tree branches with tails intertwined.

Mantis Shrimp

Mantis shrimps, or stomatopods, are marine crustaceans of the order Stomatopoda. They branched from other members of the class Malacostraca around 400 Mya. Mantis shrimps typically grow to around 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in length. A few can reach up to 38 cm (15 in). The largest mantis shrimp ever caught had a length of 46 cm (18 in) and was caught in the Indian River near Fort Pierce, Florida, in the United States.

A mantis shrimp's carapace (the bony, thick shell that covers crustaceans and some other species) covers only the rear part of the head and the first four segments of the thorax. Varieties range from shades of brown to vivid colours, as there are more than 450 species of mantis shrimp.

They are among the most important predators in many shallow, tropical and sub-tropical marine habitats. However, despite being common, they are poorly understood as many species spend most of their life tucked away in burrows and holes. Also called the “sea locusts“, “prawn killers” and even “thumb splitters”, this is one of the most common predators in tropical and sub-tropical waters.

Yeti Crab

Kiwa hirsuta is a crustacean discovered in 2005 in the South Pacific Ocean. This decapod, which is approximately 15 cm (5.9 in) long, is notable for the quantity of silky blond setae (resembling fur) covering its pereiopods (thoracic legs, including claws). Its discoverers dubbed it the "yeti lobster" or "yeti crab".

Given the presence of a substantial quantity of silky blond setae, its discoverers were quick to dub it the ‘yeti crab’. The unusual little decapod reaches an average length of around fifteen centimetres (just under six inches) and lives around hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean.

It is for this reason that the fur-like setae contain filamentous bacteria, which allow the creature to detoxify poisonous substances emitted in the water by vents. It has been speculated that the yeti crab may actually feed on such bacteria – but it is generally believed to be a carnivore.

Glaucus Atlanticus

Also known as the blue dragon, this creature is a is a species of blue sea slug. You could find it in warm waters of the oceans, as it floats on the surface because of a gas-filled sac in its stomach.

These sea slugs are pelagic: they float upside down by using the surface tension of the water to stay up, where they are carried along by the winds and ocean currents.

Glaucus atlanticus is camouflaged: the blue side of their body faces upwards, blending in with the blue of the water. The silver/grey side of the sea slugs faces downwards, blending in with the silvery surface of the sea.

Glaucus atlanticus feeds on other pelagic creatures, including the venomous siphonophore, the Portuguese man o' war. This sea slug stores stinging nematocysts from the cnidarian within its own tissues as defense against predation. Humans handling the slug may receive a very painful and potentially dangerous sting.

Sunday, 2 April 2017