Facts About Alligators - strangefacts

• Lorne Green had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while host of Lorne Green's Wild Kingdom

• There are only two countries on earth that have alligators: the United States and China

• Although alligators have heavy bodies and slow metabolisms, they are capable of short bursts of speed that can exceed 30 miles per hour, though this could more properly be classified as a short fast lunge rather than a dash

• Alligators are opportunistic feeders, eating almost anything they can catch

• While alligators are often confused with crocodiles, they belong to two quite separate taxonomic families, and are as distinct from one another as humans are from gorillas

• One generally reliable rule to distinguish between alligators and crocodiles is that alligators have U-shaped heads, while crocodiles are V-shaped

• The East Alligator River in Australia's Northern Territory contains crocodiles, not alligators

• In Arkansas, alligators may not be kept in bathtubs

• Alligators in the wild are believed to live 35 - 50 years. In captivity their lifespan may be significantly longer, perhaps 60-80 years. Currently, there are no scientific methods of analyzing an alligators age while it is alive

• The longest recorded length for an alligator is 19' 2'. This animal was trapped in the early 1900's in the State of Louisiana. Most wild alligators do not get above 13 feet in length, and may weigh 600 pounds or more
  

Facts About Crocodiles - strangefacts

• One generally reliable rule to distinguish between alligators and crocodiles is that alligators have U-shaped heads, while crocodiles are V-shaped

• Steve Irwin's body was fed to crocodiles at his request

• The first-known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 BC

• To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly

• Research has shown that crocodiles really do shed tears during a meal

• Crocodile and kangaroo tail, as well as the webbed toes of a hippopotamus are all on the menu at the Beijing zoo's restaurant

• While alligators are often confused with crocodiles, they belong to two quite separate taxonomic families, and are as distinct from one another as humans are from gorillas

• The East Alligator River in Australia's Northern Territory contains crocodiles, not alligators

• An adult crocodile can go two years without eating

• The crocodiles have a four-chambered heart like in birds (their closest relatives) and mammals, for an active life. Still, when diving, the heart behaves like a three-chambered reptilian heart, enabling them to stay more underwater

Facts About Komodo Dragon - strangefacts

• Unlike the other different types of lizards, Komodo dragons maintain a single mate throughout their lifetime

• Komodo can run at about 11 miles an hour

• It is the only lizard that hunts and kills prey larger than its body and bigger than what it can swallow whole

• To avoid being eaten by larger Komodo dragons, youngsters often roll in their own feces so that they give out a foul smell that the adult Komodos avoid

• Komodo dragons can live to be 50 years old

• The Komodo dragon is the world's heaviest lizard, weighing 150 pounds or more

• Although, babies can be born only through mating of a male and a female, there are instances when babies were born from a single Komodo without mating between individuals of different gender

• Though named as dragons, Komodo dragons are lizards. They are the heaviest lizards on Earth that can weigh upto 150 pounds and can grow as long as 3 meters

• These are natives of the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. Komodo dragon habitat is characteristically hot and dry. The environment in which they thrive is acknowledged to be one of the toughest in the world

• Komodo dragons have a large, flat head, a rounded snout and a long, muscular tail. They move on four strong but bowed legs
  

Facts About Tobacco - strangefacts

• 5% of the $40,700,000,000 received by states from the lawsuit against the tobacco companies has actually been spent on fighting smoking

• One out of every 11 workers in North Carolina depends on tobacco for their livelihood

• The first American advertisement for tobacco was published in 1789. It showed a picture of an Indian smoking a long clay pipe

• A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers. Many of the extra sick days among the marijuana smokers in the study were for respiratory illnesses

• Mother Bernardina Matthews established a Carmelite convent near Port Tobacco, Maryland, the first community of Roman Catholic nuns in the Thirteen Colonies

• Tobacco kills one person every ten seconds

• Approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased a minute

• About 15 billion cigarettes are sold each day

• About 5 trillion cigarettes are produced and used on an annual basis