Fact a Day 2022

3/29 – The male Gentoo and Adelie penguins “propose” to females by giving them a pebble.

Factoid for 3/29: After carefully studying hominin fossils found in Kenya, Ethiopia and Chad, German scientists have concluded that 4 distinct human species coexisted at the same time about 3 million years ago. What isn’t known is how or if they are related and whether they interacted with one another.

Final maple syrup post: Early settlers developed their own process for creating sugar. They began with the collection of sap in wooden buckets and then boiled the sap in a row of iron kettles. As the syrup would thicken, the sugar-maker would spoon the thicker syrup into the next kettle and add more sap into the first pot. This ensured a more…[Read more]

3/28 Pygmy Marmosets tend to stay in the treetops and behave a lot like squirrels.

3/27 A full-grown pygmy marmoset could fit in an adult human\’s hand, and it weighs about as much as a stick of butter. But there is nothing tiny about a pygmy marmoset\’s tail: it\’s longer than its body! The tail is not prehensile, but it helps the little monkey keep its balance as it gallops through the treetops.

3/28: Today is Respect Your Cat Day!

3/28
How many calories should a cat have each day?
The average indoor cat should have 20 calories per pound to maintain weight. The average outdoor only cat should have 35 calories per pound to maintain weight. Indoor/outdoor cats are somewhere in between. If your indoor cat weighs 10 pounds, then they should be eating approximately 200 calories per day.

3/28 – Tigers are the most vengeful animals on the planet.
Research has found that tigers will seek vengeance on those that have wronged them. One situation was stated wherein a tiger held onto this grudge for over 48 hours before attacking and killing hunters that tried to kill it.

Factoid for 3/28: Fleas are small insects that survive by feeding on animal or human blood. Their bites can cause discomfort, itchiness, and irritation. Sometimes, fleas can infect people or pets with the germs that cause flea-borne typhus, plague, or cat scratch disease.

Maple sugar was far more common that the maple syrup that is now found at the supermarket. Dry maple sugar was much easier to store than liquid syrup, so it made more sense to create that instead. Maple sugar was given as gifts and used in trade. It was also eaten with berries and grains and even mixed with bear fat.
Early New England settlers saw…[Read more]

3/27
do cats get cataracts?
older cats often get them as a natural consequence of the aging process. Other potential causes include traumatic injury that results in a perforated lens and exposure to certain drugs or toxic substances, radiation, or electric shock. In many cases, however, the cause of a cataract is unknown.

3/27: cats only sweat through the paw pads on their feet

3/27 – Earth has never been perfectly round. The planet bulges around the equator by an extra 0.3 percent as a result of the fact that it rotates about its axis. Earth\’s diameter from North to South Pole is 12,714 kilometers (7,900 miles), while through the equator it is 12,756 kilometers (7,926 miles).

Factoid for 3/27: Pharmacists in 19th-century England made tea from roasted dandelion roots. The drink is still trendy today, thanks to a coffee-like taste and color without caffeine.

Mom is housesitting again at her regular 3-doggie house, so of course our factoid files are at home. We have more info about maple syrup, and today was the day when farms were open for tours, etc., including one about 1/2 mile from our house, but mom couldn’t go due to museum duties. It’s nice to know there are sites all around this state for…[Read more]

3/26
do carrots really hep your vision?
Everyone has heard, “Eat your carrots to have good eyesight!” Is there any truth to this statement or is it a bunch of baloney? Well, yes and no. Carrots won’t improve your visual acuity if you have less than perfect vision. A diet of carrots won’t give a blind person 20/20 vision. But, the vitamins found i…[Read more]

3/26: it\’s not the tryptophan in the turkey that makes people sleepy, it\’s all the carbs from the side dishes and the amount of food eaten.

3/26 – A tip for our Humans: If ever you get lost out at sea with your pet cat, don’t waste your freshwater on it. It doesn’t need it. Cats can drink seawater. Their kidneys are so efficient that they can filter out the salt.

Factoid for 3/26: An asteroid or meteor is more likely to hit Earth because Earth is a lot bigger than the Moon, giving a meteoroid more area to hit! But we can see many thousands of craters on the Moon and we only know of about 180 on Earth! Why is that? The truth is both the Earth and the Moon have been hit many, many times throughout their…[Read more]

3/25 Pygmy marmosets are the smallest living true monkey in the world, hence, they have been given a genus of their own, Cebuella.