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WTF Fun Fact 12767 – Lyrebird Mimicry

There are actually two types of lyrebirds, both live in Australia, and both are fabulous mimics. We just think the superb lyrebird has a better name. The other one is called Albert’s lyrebird and it’s a little less showy (but equally capable of mimicry).

Lyrebird taxonomy

The superb lyrebird belongs to the genus Menura (family Menuridae, order Passeriformes, if you like to get truly taxonomic). The birds live in the forests of southeastern Australia and do not fly – they are groundbirds.

For the most part, they’re not so impressive to look at. They look a lot like brown chickens. Well, except for the male superb lyrebird – he has to show off to attract females.

What does a lyrebird look like?

According to Britannica (cited below), “the male’s tail consists of eight pairs of ornate feathers, which resemble a lyre when erect. There are six pairs of filmy whitish feathers. One pair of 60–75-cm (24–30-inch) feathers that form the arms of the ‘lyre’ are broad and curled at the tip and are silvery on one side and marked with golden-brown crescents on the other. There are also two equally long ‘wires,’ narrow, stiff, slightly curved feathers that correspond to a lyre’s strings; they are situated in the centre of the curved ‘arms’…When the male displays in small clearings, which he makes at several places in the forest, he brings his tail forward so that the white plumes form a canopy over his head and the lyrelike feathers stand out to the side.”

Lyrebird mimicry

Here’s our favorite part of Britannica’s description: “In this position he sings, while prancing in rhythm, far-carrying melodious notes interspersed with perfect mimicry of other creatures and even of mechanical sounds.”

You might not think much of that at first, but the fact that a bird can mimic just about any sound is not only impressive but potentially creepy. Imagine walking through the deep forest in Australia (known for all manner of amazing-yet-terrifying creatures) only to hear the sound of a predator, a crying child, or a chainsaw!

We’d be freaked out, to say the least.

Seriously, listen to this bird mimic a baby crying!

Ok, now listen to construction noise (we had to double-check to make sure it was real):

Next time you head construction in the outback, look closer to the ground if you don’t see any men with tools. It may just be a lyrebird trying to troll you.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Lyrebird” – Britannica

WTF Fun Fact 12764 – Mindfulness Meditation Changes the Brain

We need more large-scale studies to make definitive claims, but mindfulness meditation seems to have some cool cognitive benefits. In fact, we can see on brain scans that people who practice mindfulness meditation experience changes in their brains.

Minding your thoughts

Mindfulness practice encourages people to stop and spend time noticing their thoughts and then letting go of the ones that are negative, disorganized, or aren’t serving a positive purpose. It’s designed to help us notice and control our thinking. (As opposed to most meditation practices, which center around emptying the mind of thoughts.)

The part of the brain affected by mindfulness practice is called the amygdala. This is also called the “fight or flight” center because it is linked to fear and emotional responses. Brain scans have shown that mindfulness practice helps shrink the amygdala. While that may sound like a bad thing, an overactive amygdala can be bad for concentration, mood, and emotional regulation.

Regulating the amygdala

However, mindfulness has been shown to help increase the connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. That’s a good thing because those connections help us regulate our emotional responses.

We need our amygdala, we just don’t want it to be hyperactive. And when we practice mindfulness, our bodies get better at regulating those emotional responses.

While some of the effects of mindfulness have been overstated in the press, there is evidence that it can modestly increase physical health and compassion and even reduce bias in addition to negative thought patterns.

The popularity of mindfulness meditation

A U.S. survey found that the percentage of adults practicing some type of mantra-based meditation, mindfulness meditation, or spiritual meditation in the previous year tripled between 2012 and 2017 (from 4.1% to 14.2%). Even among children (4 to 17 years of age), the percentage increased from less than 1% to over 5%. These emotional regulation techniques continue to grow in popularity.

Of course, there’s a lot we still don’t know about mindfulness and meditation in general, and they’re not always the best practices for everyone.

There are also different types of mindfulness meditation to practice, each with slightly different outcomes. For example, body scanning can help reduce negative thoughts. But practices in which participants are asked to observe their thoughts can sometimes lead to more negative thinking, especially among those who have just started practicing the skill and can’t let go of those thoughts easily.

In the end, it may be best for those who are new to mindfulness and observing their thoughts to do so with guidance from a teacher or tool so that they can stay on the right track and get the most out of their mindfulness practices. – WTF fun facts

Source: “10 Things We Know About the Science of Meditation” — Mindful

WTF Fun Fact 12758 – Jason deCaires Taylor’s Underwater Sculptures

Jason deCaires Taylor is an environmentalist and artist who is drawing attention both to and away from the world’s vulnerable ocean reefs.

While there are many factors affecting the world reefs and the rest of the aquatic ecosystems, tourism has been a major factor in damaging some of these structures. So Taylor has decided to give people something else to visit – underwater sculptures.

The underwater sculpture parks of Jason deCaires Taylor

Throughout the world’s oceans, you will find amazing, sustainably made sculptures – and in some cases entire sculpture parks. Divers can not only visit these, but in some cases they are becoming their own ecosystems.

According to CBS News (cited below0: “Each year, over half a million people worldwide visit Taylor’s museums and sculpture parks. These unique underwater attractions act as portals to the marine world and provide visitors with intimate encounters with marine life and an alternative perspective on our blue planet.”

The underwater sculpture park

Luckily, you don’t have to be an expert diver to visit many of these creations. In fact, you can just get out your snorkle for most of them.

Taylor’s Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park off the coast of Grenada is a mere 15 feet deep. It was created after a hurricane damaged many coral reefs off the coast of the island.

According to CBS news: “The sculptures made of non-polluting concrete kept growing and changing as ocean creatures moved into them along with plants and fish. Coral is slowly turning the sculptures into artificial reefs.”

Encouraging life under the sea

Taylor builds his eco-friendly pH-neutral concrete sculptures in barren parts of the underwater world. That way, he’s not displacing anything that already lives there.

In the end, the fact that his art encourages life to flourish nearby is giving aquatic creates more options to sustain life. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Artist turns seafloor into art by creating underwater museums” — CBS News

WTF Fun Fact 12757 – The Bahamas’ Underwater Statue

Have you ever wanted to see a famous statue but didn’t want to wait in line?

Well, how do you feel about going to the Bahamas to see it?

Ok, NOW, how do you feel about diving into the crystal clear ocean about 16 feet down to see it?

If you’re still thinking “this sounds great!” it might be time to book a trip to Nassau, Bahamas.

What, exactly, is the underwater statue “Ocean Atlas”?

According to Culture Trip (cited below): “You’ll find Ocean Atlas, a spectacular underwater sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor, off the western coastline of New Providence, which has the largest population of any island in the Bahamas. It’s also where you’ll find the Bahamian capital, Nassau. Ocean Atlas is the world’s largest single underwater sculpture, and it doubles as a navigational aid, with a flag attached to the top poking above the water.”

The sculpture isn’t of the Greek god himself, but of a little girl carrying the weight of the ocean on her shoulders.

No mercy from Zeus

If you remember being taught about ancient Greek gods and goddesses, Atlas was a Titan – one of the deities who came before the ancient Greek gods. When the Titans tried to fight the gods, Atlas’ punishment from Zeus (who was, let’s face it, a real jerk) was being forced to hold up the heavens for eternity.

The statue is just a nod to the myth, and the subject is a local Bahamian girl. She can be viewed from just 16 feet beneath the clear water, so snorkeling or scuba diving will give you a great view of the piece which weighs 66 tons.

A sustainable underwater sculpture

The coolest thing about the “Ocean Atlas” is that it’s made from pH-neutral materials and does not damage the surrounding ocean environment (other than draw tourists). it was actually designed to draw divers away from more popular spots so the reefs and aquatic life could start to recover.

According to the artist’s website, the materials are stainless steel, pH-neutral cement, basalt and aggregates.

It’s just not an option to close some of those other sites since many tourists go to the Bahamas just to dive and see the reefs.

A whole new world

The VERY coolest thing about “Ocean Atlas” is that it is now breeding its own ecosystem as wildlife is attracted to it and it serves as an artificial reef that houses some coral (which is what gives reefs their color).

It’s also not super easy to get to, so you have to rent a charter boat and follow directions pretty closely in order to see her. In other words, humans have to behave responsibly around the statue so it’ll be there for the oceans and the people who live above them to enjoy. – WTF fun facts

Source: “How to See Ocean Atlas – the World’s Largest Underwater Statue” — Culture Trip

WTF Fun Fact 12754 – Sudan Pyramids Outnumber Egypt’s

Interested in ancient civilizations? Want to see pyramids without all the tourists? Then you may want to consider visiting the Meroe region in Sudan. In Sudan, pyramids outnumber the Egyptian kind by nearly 2:1.

Nubian pyramids in Sudan

The pyramids belong to the ancient Nubian kings, who lived in the northern part of present-day Sudan. Meroe was the capital city of the Kingdom of Kush. The structures themselves are nearly 5000 years old and are largely untouched these days.

The main source of destruction to the pyramids was an Italian “explorer” named Giuseppe Ferlini. He blew up quite a few and destroyed the tops of many structures in his hunt for the kings’ treasures in the 1880s.

What’s inside Sudan’s pyramids

These little-known Nubian tombs have paintings on the inside celebrating the kings buried inside. And since the Nubians did business with other ancient civilizations, you can see Greek and Roman, influences in the artwork.

Since the Kushite kingdom is part of the Nile River Valley, the most prominent influence is that of the Egyptians. (Of course, Egypt’s pyramids are much older, dating back to the era of the New Kingdom from the 16th century BC to the 11th century BC).

Of course, many of the tombs were raided by Ferlini during his destructive episode, and the “loot” now resides in many European museums. But they had been plundered in ancient times as well.

Preserving the past

Luckily, the Nubian pyramids are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and are generally protected from more harm. Until 2019, National Geographic funded further excavations of the site to learn more about the ancient kings and their civilization.

Much of the excavations require researchers to dive underwater to enter the structures.

According to NatGeo, “The largest and oldest pyramid at Nuri belongs to its most famous resident: the pharaoh Taharqa, a Kushite king who in the seventh century B.C. rallied his troops to the northern edges of his empire to defend Jerusalem from the Assyrians, earning him a mention in the Old Testament.” – WTF fun facts

Source: “Dive beneath the pyramids of Sudan’s black pharaohs” — National Geographic

WTF Fun Fact 12751 – Snails Can Sleep For 3 Years

You know have knowns snails live their lives at a leisurely pace, but snails can actually sleep for three years at a time!

They’re also hermaphrodites, which means they have male and female reproductive organs, so they don’t even need other snails to mate. They are the ultimate hermits.

But those three-year naps aren’t necessarily a good thing (no matter how comforting they might sound to your right now).

Snails sleep longest in summer

Some snail hibernation is called “estivation.” Hibernation is something that happens when animals sleep to conserve energy in the winter. Snails also sleep in the summer – that’s estivation. Snails can actually do both, but it mostly depends on species or geography (nevertheless, it’s still a skill we’re jealous of).

But why do snails sleep for three years?

Well, not all do. In fact, a three-year estivation typically occurs when the snail’s resources are so depleted that it’s either sleep-or-die. (Yes, we know how relatable this sounds – especially if you have little ones.)

A gooey slumber

Even if snails are estivating for much shorter periods of time, they secrete mucus that covers their whole bodies if the weather is too hot or dry. The mucus helps to protect them from hot or dry weather.

Snails need moisture to survive, so they just provide their own!

Of course, a gooey nap doesn’t protect them from predators thinking they’re dead.

Snail power naps

Snails usually sleep for about 15 hours at a time and then are awake for 30 hours. But that’s under optimal environmental conditions (which are kind of hard to come by these days, no matter what your species.)

This kind of sounds like a productive schedule, if we’re being honest. (Or maybe we could just use a very alert 30 hours to get our work done.)

Beware the sleeping snail

If you think a snail is dead, consider that it may just be taking a power nap. This is especially the case if you keep a snail as a pet. If it is stuck to the side of an aquarium but not moving, it’s likely still alive because it’s secreting mucus to make it stick.

Pet snails are unlikely to hibernate for years (mostly because if humans are providing suboptimal conditions, it’s likely bad enough to just kill the snail).

If the snail’s body is shriveled and dry (if you can see into the shell), then the snail is almost certainly dead (sorry for your loss).

And if you see a snail in the garden, well, that’s up to you and how much you want them around, but crushing it because you think it’s dead could be a deadly mistake for the snail.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Let’s Learn Exactly How Some Snails Sleep” — AZ Pet Vet

WTF Fun Fact 12733 – The PAWSCARS

Each year, American Humane puts on its own award show to celebrate the “furry, winged, and scaled” members of television and film casts. It’s called the PAWSCARS™, and it celebrates animal actors past and present.

American Humane has long played a role in ensuring the health and safety of animals on entertainment sets. According to their website:

“Since 1877, American Humane has been at the forefront of every major advance in protecting animals from abuse and neglect. Today we’re also leading the way in understanding human-animal interaction and its role in society. American Humane advocates for the American values of caring, compassion and hope. Our programs enrich our communities, prevent abuse of animals, and embrace the power of the human-animal bond. American Humane works in association with the American film and TV industry to help ensure the well-being of animal actors and promote the human-animal bond. They are on the set to protect animal actors. American Humane also celebrates the achievements of extraordinary dogs across the country with its annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards™. In addition, the organization enlists and works with many celebrities who speak on behalf of the voiceless that American Humane aims to protect.”

Their Hollywood initiative also includes the annual award show, which we really think should be televised since we would totally watch that (and we’re sure other animal lovers would too!).

Interestingly, the ASPCA also has Pawscers Awards, but these go to adoptable animals throughout the country, not to animal actors.

American Humane’s PAWSCER awards got the most press in 2016, when fans voted on their all-time favorite animal movies. The winners included

Favorite Animal Buddy Movie of All Time: “Turner and Hooch”

Favorite Animal Drama of All Time: “Seabiscuit”

Favorite Animal Family Movie of All Time: “Old Yeller”

Frankly, we want to know what people were thinking when they chose Old Yeller, which has a pretty devastating ending and scarred generations of children. But to each their own – the people have spoken.

American Humane’s explanation was that “Disney’s timeless classic from 1957 is credited as one of the first films to demonstrate the importance of the human-animal bond, the inextricable link between people, pets and the world we share.”

Overall, the PAWSCERS are designed to honor “some of America’s most treasured institutions.” And while we haven’t heard much about the awards in the last few years, we think it’s time to add more animal award shows to the television line up!

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Pawscers Awards” – The American Humane Society

WTF Fun Fact 12724 – Creating Summer Indoor Entertainment

Without Willis Carrier’s 1902 invention of the air conditioner, we’d have a very different world. And it would have started with missing out on opportunities for indoor cultural experiences in the summer when people are most commonly off from work and school.

Carrier’s original design was meant for a publishing company in Brooklyn that needed to keep its paper from expanding and contracting so it could achieve proper print quality while it was hot and humid. But not long after that, businessmen saw the opportunities to add it to factories (which technically cut off some summer break for workers who could now work more safely in the summer) and then to department stores. The real cultural moment came when it was added to movie theaters in the mid to late 1920s and regular theaters in the 1960s.

For example, Carrier’s company put an air conditioner in Lincoln Center in 1961. This extended the performing arts season in New York City from “a single season to 52 weeks a year,” according to the Carrier website.

For more cool facts and stories about the history of air conditioning, check out:
Slate, “A History of Air Conditioning”
JSTOR Daily’s “Can We Live Without Air Conditioning?”
BBC, “How Air Conditioning Changed the World”

— WTF fun facts

Source: “The History of Movie Theaters and Air Conditioning That Keeps Film Lovers Cool” — WPLF

WTF Fun Fact 12721 – The Wara Art Festival

Niigata isn’t a typical travel destination, but it does draw people in for a unique festival held each year between August and October.

The Wara Art Festival is held in Uwasekigata Park and shows off amazing sculptures made of rice straw left over after the annual rice harvest.

People weren’t quite sure what to do with all the straw, but now tons of it is donated to art students at Musashino Art University in Tokyo as well as local volunteers who are tasked with making giant animal sculptures with it. Some of them are up to 16 feet tall!

The sculptures include gorillas, dinosaurs, bears, rhinos, and more. Underneath is a wood frame skeleton to ensure the sculptures stay up throughout the festival, but over two weeks, more and more layers of wara are added. Some are braided, others thatched – in fact, there are many techniques the artists use to build their sculptures.

If you do go to Niigata for the festival, be sure to try the rice, which is considered to be the best in all of Japan. And according to Japan’s tourism association, the town is also known for its sake as well “thanks to the high snowfall in the prefecture which creates pristine conditions for rice growing. Centuries-old sake making traditions are kept alive by the toji, or Sake Masters, of Niigata. Local sake from breweries in Niigata are revered nationwide for their dry, sharp finish and refreshingly crisp flavour.”

If you visit the park, there are sake breweries within walking distance as well as beer breweries to visit. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Wara Art Festival, Niigata” — Japan National Tourism Association