The fun fact of the week:
Did you know that
Americans buy 75 million pounds of chocolate on Valentine’s Day? 🍫
In today’s post:
TRIVIA OF THE WEEK
What's the biggest organism on Earth? 🌎
(Explanation at the end!)
5 FACTS
Pandas do handstands to pee? 🐼
Pandas are full of surprises:
Pandas are carnivores that mostly eat bamboo. Since their bodies digest meat better than plants, they have to eat 14 hours a day to get enough nutrients! 🎍
They poop around 40 times a day, letting scientists study exactly what they ate! 💩
When they’re born, baby pandas weigh as much as a stick of butter, or about 1/900th the weight of an adult. That’s the equivalent of a human baby weighing less than 3 ounces! 👶
Pandas are surprisingly good climbers and excellent swimmers! They naturally float and can swim in search of food. 🛟
Male pandas pee on trees to mark their territory, and sometimes they’ll do handstands so they can aim higher and smell more impressive! 🚩
DID YOU KNOW?
Why reading helps your (and your kid’s) brain! 📖
Surprising benefits of reading:
Reading can delay Alzheimer’s disease 💪
People who stay mentally active can delay Alzheimer’s by 5 years and lower their risk of developing it by 38%!
Surprisingly, this reduced risk and improved memory and thinking held up even when patients had physical signs of Alzheimer’s in their brains. This suggests that years of reading and training protected them from developing symptoms!
Reading can increase your child’s empathy and creativity 🖍️
Reading with kids (even when they can read on their own) can boost their empathy and creativity in just 2 weeks!
Sources: ZME Science | The Conversation
PICK OF THE WEEK
Crows are amazing thinkers:
Fun crow facts:
When a crow dies, they hold “crow meetings” to study what might have caused the death 🕵️♀️
They bring shiny gifts to people who feed them 🎁
They remember human faces for up to 5 years 📷
TOP 3 FINDS
Some of our favorite finds from around the web! 🌐
P.S. The biggest organism is a giant underground fungus (Armillaria ostoyae) in Oregon - 3.7 square miles wide and up to 8,600 years old! You can read more about it here!