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For every human on Earth, there are 1.6 million ants!

Did you know that for every human on Earth, there are 1.6 million ants?  In fact, ants are found on every continent except Antarctica!  There are over 12,500 identified ant species in black, red, green, and metallic colors. Ant colonies can contain less than 100 ants up to millions.  They are social insects that work together to support the group while solving problems.  They have lived on Earth for over 100 million years and make up to 25% of the total biomass weight of land animals. Out of all the ants, the Queen ant can live up to 30 years. Worker ants can live up to 3 years, while the drones only live a couple of weeks.  Both the Queen and male drones have wings and mate with each other; the Queen is in charge of each ant colony and can lay thousands of eggs. Non-reproducing female ants build the nest, find food, guard the ant nest from enemies, and care for the Queen and the offspring. Some ants can swim and most can survive underwater for 24 hours.  In large ant colonies,
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There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos!

Did you know that there are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos?  The reason is that the casinos want the gamblers to lose track of time.  The casino windows are heavily tinted and the bright lights, noise, plus alcohol all add to the excitement and confusion. All the numbers in roulette add up to 666, which is associated with sin and the devil; hence the popular Las Vegas nickname, Sin City! Las Vegas' first casino on the famous strip was El Rancho Vegas in 1941; one of Las Vegas' most iconic casinos, The Flamingo, was opened by mobster Bugsy Siegel and his associates, on December 26, 1946, at a cost of 6 million dollars.  It was rumored that the casino was named after Siegel's girlfriend, Virginia Hill, because of her long legs! At one of Las Vegas, largest casinos, Caesar's Palace, 2.8 million eggs are eaten at the breakfast buffet each year; 427 pounds of coffee are consumed daily!  By the way, Las Vegas is Spanish for The Meadows. Las Vegas Casinos decked out
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Mickey Mouse is known as Topolino in Italy!

Did you know that Mickey Mouse is known as Topolino in Italy? He also goes by Mikki Hirri in Finland, Mikki Mausu in Japan, and Michel Souris in France! Mickey Mouse was originally going to be called Mortimer Mouse, but Walt Disney's wife, Lillian, had insisted on the name, Mickey.  The official switch from Mortimer to Mickey took place on November 18, 1928. Mickey Rooney, famous American actor who starred in more than 300 films, felt that Walt Disney had named Mickey Mouse after him, since he had met Disney in the 1920's as a boy. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon was Plane Crazy and the first with synchronized sound was Steamboat Willie, both produced in 1928.  Steamboat Willie was a short black and white film produced by Walt Disney Studios and directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Mickey Mouse's ears are perfect circles and he was the first cartoon character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mickey's first recorded words were Hot Dogs in the car
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Ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz were once silver!

Did you know the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz were once silver? However, the boss from MGM studios, Louis B. Meyer, had made the suggestion to change the color to ruby red! The vivid red color had produced a glittery effect for Dorothy to model on screen; silver would have been lackluster to the eyes. According to Wizard of Oz producer, Mervyn LeRoy, there were 5-10 pairs of Ruby red slippers produced, but only 4 pairs were accounted for.  One of these pairs were the ones that Judy Garland wore in the 1939 film, and have been proudly displayed in Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian Museum over the years.  However, the shoes have deteriorated over time and would have to undergo a major restoration, with a cost of over $300,000!  As of October 2016, a Kickstarter campaign was started, with close to 6,500 people contributing towards the shoes' restoration project.  At the end of February in 2017, more than $373,000 was collected! In 1989, in remembrance of the 1939 iconic
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A hummingbird's heart can beat up to 1,260 times a minute!

Did you know that a hummingbird's heart can beat up to 1,260 times a minute?  This is to sustain its rapid and prolonged activity level. Hummingbirds can hear and see better than humans and have little to no sense of smell. They only weigh as little as a penny or as much as 10 pennies, considering that a penny weighs only 2.5 grams. Hummingbirds on average are 8.5 centimeters in length, making them the tiniest birds in the world. Their hearts weigh 2.5% of their total body weight; the brain represents 4.2%.  They are very smart birds- they can recognize all the flowers they have travelled to and how long each flower refills with nectar! Hummingbirds have to constantly lap up flower nectar; if not, they can die from starvation, due to its high metabolic requirements (Their core body temperature is properly maintained from 105-109 degrees Fahrenheit!). They can live on average for 5 years but can exceed 10 years on few occasions. The oldest recorded history of the hummingbird
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Angel Falls is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls!

Did you know that Angel Falls is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls?  This super high waterfall is located in the Canaima National Park within the dense isolated jungles of Venezuela in South America. Angel Falls were named after the American aviator, Jimmy Angel, who crashed his small airplane into the falls, 2 years after being discovered. Angel Falls is the highest waterfall in the world at 979 meters or 3,212 feet!  Water flows over the edge of Devil's Mountain and because the water has to fall a long distance towards the base, most of it either becomes a fine mist or evaporates! Tourists have the exciting opportunity of visiting Angel Falls up close, but they have to fly into the capital city of Caracas, take several flights to various towns, and trek the long distance through the thick, dense jungle.  It is no wonder that many people opt to take a helicopter ride to view the magnificent waterfall from their window! The highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls,
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The diameter of the Sun is 856,658 miles!

Did you know that the sun's diameter is almost 856,658 miles or 1.4 million kilometers? The sun is the star in the center of our solar system and is 4.6 billion years old!  Also, 1.3 million Earths can fit inside the Sun! Our sun has a surface temperature of 5,500 degrees Celsius, while the core is a hot 15,000 degrees Celsius! Three fourths of the Sun is made up of hydrogen while the remainder is helium.  The light from the sun takes approximately eight minutes to reach the Earth's surface. The sun will continue to burn for another 5 billion years; after this time, the sun will get larger and larger until it becomes a Red Giant, where it would consume the planets of Mercury, Venus, and the Earth. The sun will finally turn into a White Dwarf, or core remnant, after trillions of years. One teaspoon of White Dwarf matter can weigh almost 6 tons! The sun has a very strong magnetic field and a solar wind of charged particles known as the solar wind rapidly shoot away from the
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