A mud volcano is a landform created by the eruption of mud, water and gases. The mud is heated deep below the surface and is forced upwards through a geological fissure due to subterranean pressure imbalances. They can be as large as 700m high and 10 km wide. Their temperatures can reach nearly 100 °C. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Mud volcano – Wikipedia
There is a tree called the Idiot Fruit tree which only occurs in Australia’s Daintree rainforest. It is also known as the green dinosaur due to it dating back over 100 million years. – WTF Fun Facts
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a parasitic fungus, effectively turns ants into zombies. The fungus compels the ant to bite onto the underside of a low-hanging leaf where it dies, and the fungus then sends a fruiting body out through the ant’s head to disseminate spores. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Cordyceps zombie fungus takes over ants’ bodies (nationalgeographic.com)
At the center of every snowflake is a pollen or dust particle, which an extremely cold water droplet freezes onto to form an ice crystal. – WTF Fun Facts
The world’s oldest potted plant is the Eastern Cape giant cycad (Encephalartos altensteinii) in London’s Kew gardens. The plant, which now weighs over a ton and is nearly 13 ft tall, arrived to Kew in 1775. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/oldest-pot-plant-in-world-eastern-cape-giant-cycad
Japan has spent over $600 million fortifying two rocks that are part of the Okinotorishima coral reef so they can claim a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the atoll. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Okinotorishima – Wikipedia
A fingerprint consists of one or more connected ridge units of friction ridge skin. There are three basic patterns of fingerprints: whorl, loop, and arch. Some people have one pattern, others two, and others all three patterns. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Say What?! Fingerprints, A Crazy Concept – Allbodies
Out at sea, a tsunami is only about 3 feet high, and could pass a boat without being noticed. As it approaches the shore, its sudden deceleration from about 500 mph to 30 mph creates the enormous wave. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: How a tsunami wave works | National Oceanography Centre (noc.ac.uk)
Sand is the most extracted material in the world, exceeding fossil fuels and biomass. Each year over 50 billion metric tons of sand is mined for construction, land reclamation projects, shale gas extraction, and beach renourishment programs. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Are We Running Out of Sand? | Earth.Org – Past | Present | Future
The tallest mountain from base to summit is not Mt. Everest but instead Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii. Everest stands 29,035 feet above sea level but Mauna Kea is ~33,500 feet tall with over half of its height underwater. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/earths-tallest-mountain-is-hawaii-2015-6
Since 2014, anyone climbing Mt. Everest has to pay a $4,000 deposit, which is refunded if the person returns with 18 lb. of garbage — the average amount that a single person produces during the climb. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Poo on Mount Everest: Mountain waste is a big problem – CBBC Newsround
In the 1930’s, Dorothy Beck used an underwater periscope to sketch fish as she travelled around the world. – WTF Fun Facts
‘Botanical Sexism’ is a process by which urban landscapers, in an effort to keep streets clear of seeds & flowers, plant only male trees. The male trees lack the seeds of their female counterparts but unfortunately have more pollen. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Botanical sexism with trees making seasonal allergies worse • Earth.com
In 2020, the Lost Apple Project, which rediscovers apples previously thought to be extinct, found 10 “lost” varieties of apples. In winter, they get a graft from the “lost” apple tree and store it in a conservatory to restore the species. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: 10 kinds of apples that were thought to be extinct have been rediscovered – CNN
Acacias, a tree whose leaves giraffes feed on, release an airborne chemical called ethylene when eaten. Ethylene alerts nearby acacia trees to produce tannin, a toxin that makes the leaves poisonous. Giraffes avoid this by first eating trees downwind from others. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.tanzania-experience.com/blog/acacias-clever-species-of-trees/
Researchers have found the Fritillaria delavayi plant, which has been used for 2,000 years in Chinese traditional medicine, has evolved camouflage in heavily harvested areas. The plant camouflage seems to have evolved in response to people, as the regions that experience greater harvesting pressure are more camouflaged than other areas. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: A medicinal plant has evolved camouflage in heavily picked areas | Science News
On November 30, 2017, the world’s longest rainbow lasted for nearly 9 hours over the city of Taipei in Taiwan. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Rainbow lasting 9 hours ‘breaks world record’ set in Yorkshire | Metro News
A four-year-old girl discovered an extremely well preserved 220 million-year-old dinosaur footprint at a beach in Wales. According to a local paleontologist, the creature probably stood about 29.5 inches tall, was about 8 feet long and walked on its two hind feet. – WTF Fun Facts