Hope you had a great Easter!
🐣 Ever wonder why Easter keeps moving around? Easter happens on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring (with some exceptions). It can happen anytime between March 22 - April 25, depending on the moon.
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Here’s what we’ve got this week:
TRIVIA
How many ancestors? 🧮
How many humans have ever lived?
(Explanation at the end!)
ANIMAL FOCUS
Anteater superlatives 🐜
Their tongues can be over two feet long! Their tongues are so long they don’t even fit in their mouths - they’re attached way down at their sternum. Their tongue is one of the longest (compared to body size) of any animal! (Chameleons come in first - theirs can be twice as long as their bodies!) 👅
They eat up to 30,000 insects a day! Each snack only takes a few seconds, but they move from nest to nest nonstop. By the end of the day, that adds up to thousands of ants and termites! 🍽️
They may look gentle, but they can fight! When threatened, a giant anteater can stand on its back legs and spread its arms wide. Its long, sharp claws are powerful enough to scare off even a jaguar! 🐆
They have one of the lowest body temperatures of any mammal - about 91°F! Like reptiles, this cooler body temperature helps them save energy because ants and termites don’t have many calories. ❄️
Their sense of smell is 40 times stronger than ours! They have poor eyes, so they use their smell to find ant and termite nests - even ones hidden underground! Then they dig them up with their powerful claws. 👃
NEW: Want to see how their tongue works (plus a video)? See our website for more fun facts!
EVER WONDER?
Why do we wake up before our alarm? ⏰
Ever wake up right before your alarm rings? Your brain planned that!
Your body’s master clock 🧠
Deep in your brain is a region called the suprachiasmatic nucleus - basically your body’s master clock. This region helps control your circadian rhythm, including:
When you feel sleepy
When you wake up
Your body temperature
When you get hungry
How it knows when you’ll wake up ⏰
If you always wake up around the same time, your master clock learns the pattern. Before your alarm goes off, it starts getting your body ready by releasing cortisol, a hormone that helps you feel alert.
So sometimes you wake up right on schedule - even without the alarm!
When things get messy 😴
If your sleep schedule is all over the place, or if you’re stressed or anxious, your cortisol can spike at the wrong time. That can make you wake up too early or have trouble staying asleep.
What to do? Try and keep a consistent sleep schedule and stay calm!
Scott Kalter | Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2025
Thanks for reading, see you next week!
- Steve