Fun Facts

Some of the familiar clothes moths (Family Tineidae) feed on mammalian hair during their larval stages. Adult moths lay their eggs on a carcass after all the fly larvae have finished with it. On hatching, their larvae forage on any hair that remains. Tineid moths are therefore the final animals contributing to the decomposition of a carcass.

When disturbed, Piophila casei larvae can jump for distances up to 15 cm (6 inches). Commonly known as cheese fly maggots, they are intentionally introduced to cheese in Sardinia, producing casu modde, a viscous, pungent gooey cheese.

The first man-traps in Britain came into use around 1750 and were set to catch the poor who had taken up poaching.

Every year, 90,000 animals and 4,000 children ingest toxic antifreeze.

Coprophagia, the consumption of feces, is normal behavior in rabbits and rodents. It appears to aid bacterial synthesis of nutrients, particularly B group vitamins and vitamin K in the colon. Food needs to pass through the rabbits' intestinal tract twice for the rabbit to be able to extract all the essential nutrients. Rabbits do not consume the dry droppings, they only reingest the bigger soft pellets during the night directly from the anus. If they can't do this, the stuff builds up on the poor rabbit's backside. These "night feces" are called cecotropes.

The penis bones of whales, called oosiks by the Inuit, are used for making sled dog harness parts.

Male-killing bacteria are inherited through the female line and kill only male offspring. Men, worry not, they are only known in five different orders of insect.

Approximately 3 million people in the United States are infected annually with pubic lice.

About a hundred people choke to death on a pen every year.

The rectum has only a single-cell wall, while the vagina has a wall 40 or so cells thick.

An estimated 65 to 80 percent of horse-grooming products are purchased for human use.

The above fact originally appeared in the premier issue of La Vie En Rose zine first printed in mid-2002. New issue coming soon!

Phantom pregnancy or pseudocyesis, where the desire to have a child brings on physical symptoms of pregnancy including labor pains, is said to have been quite common before the advent of modern prenatal care, occurring about once in 25 pregnancies.

According to some, one in five men on anti-depressants like Prozac may not experience orgasm, although they can ejaculate.

Human flesh may have been a fairly regular menu item for our prehistoric ancestors, according to researchers. They say it's the most likely explanation for their discovery that genes protecting against prion diseases -- which can be spread by eating contaminated flesh -- have long been widespread throughout the world. Source: American Association For The Advancement Of Science, April 11, 2003

25% of all mammals on Earth are bats.