48 Unbelievable Facts No One Asked For

Fun Facts That Nobody Asked For

Not all knowledge is made equal. Some you get from books and university days, some of it you learn from practice. The main chunk of information we digest arrives from the internet, and an equally big part of it we don’t need at all.

On the other hand, the internet is notoriously good at cherrypicking the most entertaining parts and separating them from boring things. Hence, all the lost hours we lose while procrastinating on a daily basis! And this thread is living proof of it.

“What's a 'fun fact' that nobody asked for?” asked Redditor SoggyCereal12 and received an overwhelming amount of responses. People rolled up their sleeves and took out their best cards in what turned out to be the most random amusement dressed up as real-life facts.

Here are some of the most interesting and bizarre facts that have surfaced:

1. Corporal Wojtek, the Polish Artillery Bear

On 8 April, 1942, a detachment of Polish soldiers, deployed to Iran by the Allies, bought a bear cub from an Iranian boy. In August the bear was given to the 22nd Artillery Supply company and named Wojtek by the soldiers. They fed him condensed milk, honey, fruit, and beer, which ended up being his favorite drink. He also picked up smoking, and enjoyed wrestling with his human friends, and bunking in on cold nights. When the Polish II Corps was redeployed to Italy to fight alongside the British, the Brits wouldn’t transport mere mascots on a troop ship, so Wojtek was formally enrolled in the Polish army as a private. During the brutal Battle of Monte Cassino Private Wojtek helped keep the guns firing by hauling boxes of ammo, each containing four 25 pound shells. These crates normally took four men to haul. For his bravery and service in battle Wojtek was promoted to Corporal, and his visage became the emblem of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company. After the war the 22nd was sent to Scotland, before being demobilized, at which point Wojtek was given to the Edinburgh Zoo, where he was often visited by Polish soldiers until his death in 1963. That is the story of Corporal Wojtek, the Polish artillery bear.

2. “Unsinkable Sam,” the Cat That Survived Multiple Shipwrecks

On 1939, February 14th a German battleship was launched and was sank with only 118 of the 2,200 crew members surviving. Among them was a black and white cat named Oscar which was found floating on a board and was picked up from the water by a British ship. On October 27th, 1941, the ship sank to the west of Gibraltar and Oscar was found clinging to a piece of plank and was later brought to the shore establishment in Gibraltar. When British officers learned what happened they named him “Unsinkable Sam”. After that he was adopted by the crew of the HMS Ark Royal and in 1941, November 14th, a torpedo hit the ship. Sam was AGAIN found clinging to a piece of plank and was described as “angry but unharmed”. By this time it was enough for the por cat and remained it’s days on land hunting mice in Gibraltar and then being transferred to the UK where he lived his final days. And this was the story of “Unsinkable Sam”.

3. How to Care for Orphaned Kittens and Puppies

Baby kittens and puppies can’t urinate and defecate on their own. Their mothers lick their [private parts] and anuses to prompt them to do so and then also cleans it up. Most people don’t know this if they happen to be taking care of an orphaned young kitten or puppy so this it ends up being a cause of death for a lot of them. If you ever take care of an orphaned kitten/puppy or know someone who is you must use a damp paper towel or wash rag to wipe their bottoms until they urinate or defecate. 🌈 The More You Know ⭐️

4. Elephants Can Purrr Like Cats

Elephants can purr, like cats.

5. Alligators Don’t Age Biologically

Alligators don’t age biologically, they don’t die from old age, they die from starvation or a disease. Blew my mind.

6. A Forest of One Tree

There is a forest that is 107 acres, but made up of only one tree. Thousands of aspens that share a single root system.

7. Your [Private Parts] Are Your Perfect Natural Lipstick Shade

Your [private parts] are your perfect "natural lipstick shade". Do not recommend colour matching in stores though.

8. Lego: The World’s Largest Tire Producer

The world's largest tire producer by total number of tires made is Lego.

9. Ground Cinnamon Is Technically Sawdust

Ground cinnamon is technically sawdust.

10. Roosters Partially Pinch Shut Their Ear Canals

When a rooster crows it partially pinches shut its ear canals so it won't deafen itself...

11. iPhones in Movies Are Always for the Good Guys

If you ever see someone using an iPhone in a movie, they are not one of the bad guys. Apple requires as a condition of licensing their products for use in film/TV, that only protagonists are allowed to operate them on camera. So, if a character is using an iPad in a horror movie, they will not end up secretly being the killer.

12. A Tragic Sitcom Idea

Between 1913 and 1914, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Emperor Franz Joseph, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Leon Trotsky lived in Vienna within 4km of each other. Talk about sitcom idea!

13. Lucille Ball Helped Bankroll Star Trek

Lucille Ball helped bankroll the first script and episode of Star Trek.

14. The Little Piggie That Went to Market Wasn’t Shopping

The "little piggie" that went to market... Wasn't shopping.

15. Famous Leaders Who Feared Cats

Alexander the great, Mussolini, Napoleon, Julius Caesar and Hitler allegedly suffered from ailurophobia, the fear of cats.

16. The Real Story Behind Beauty and the Beast

The story of "Beauty and the Beast" was probably based on the tragic life of Petrus Gonsalvus. According to Refinery 29, in 1537 there was a young boy named Petrus Gonsalvus who was regularly called a beast. Reportedly, this was most likely because he had a case of hypertrichosis, a condition that causes a person to grow hair all over their body, often referred to as "werewolf syndrome." Gonsalvus was just 10 years old when he was taken from his native country, Spain, and sent to the King of France to operate as a type of court jester. "King Henry decided to take on Gonsalvus as his little pet project," Refinery 29 wrote, "the king groomed Gonsalvus to be a nobleman." Eventually, King Henry's wife, Catherine de'Medici (who took over after the king died), found Gonsalvus a wife — coincidentally another woman named Catherine. Though it took some getting used to, the beauty fell in love with "the beast." They were married for 40 years and had seven kids together, four of which also had hypertrichosis.

17. Your Immune System Doesn’t Know Your Eyes Exist

Your immune system doesn’t know your eyes exist. They have their own immune system. If your body’s immune system ever learned about your eyes it would view them as a foreign invader, and your white blood cells would melt them straight out of your sockets.

18. A Finnish Soldier’s Drug Binge

There was a Finnish soldier named Aimo Koivunen who got separated from his unit. He had no food or weapons, and to avoid dying, took enough methamphetamine for 30 men. During his insane drug binge, he skied about 250 miles, passed over a landmine and survived, and caught and ate a bird raw. That's just a few details, I recommend actually reading about this absolute legend yourself.

19. The Christmas Truce of 1914

I really like the Christmas Truce of 1914 where almost every German and British soldier decided to just stop the war for that special day. I think there are some stories of them playing some good old football (soccer if you will), exchanging hats, Christmas presents they got from their families. It is one of my favorite wholesome facts about WWI.

20. Dragonflies Shoot Water Out of Their Butts

Dragonflies [be bad] water up their butts and shoot it out like jets when they get tired.

21. Dr. Seuss Invented the Word “Nerd”

Dr. Seuss invented the word nerd.

22. The U-215 Submarine

German submarine U-215. Sank during WW2. Didn’t decompress though. It’s still sealed on the bottom of the ocean with 49 people inside. I’ve always wondered what went down in there…

23. A Baby Could Swim in a Blue Whale’s Veins

A baby could swim in a blue whale's veins. That's how huge it is.

24. Humans Share DNA with Other Species

Humans share 99.9% of their DNA with any other human on the planet. Humans share 99% of their DNA with their closest relative, the chimpanzee. Humans also share 60% of their DNA with bananas.

25. Airport Security and B**tplugs

I used to work as a checkpoint manager in airport security. I would get called over for strange or unusual items, to make a determination if said item was a "threat to aviation safety". It was quite common to be called by screening officers to verify that the oddly shaped organic mass, was in fact, a btplug. Everyone knows what a [toy] or [toy] looks like, but fn' kids these days, they wouldn't know a btplug if it jumped up, started dancing and sang Hello My Ragtime Gal.

26. The Half-Life of Facts

There is a thing known as the Half-life of Facts, where there is an amount of time that will pass before 50% of the facts you know in a subject will be either proven false or superseded with more detailed knowledge. This duration differs based on the field of knowledge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-life_of_knowledge This means it's almost certain that a large percent of the fun facts in this thread will be wrong or outdated, which is likely a leading cause of arguments online.

27. The Potato’s Unpopular Past

The potato was once so undesirable that even the poor of Europe wanted nothing to do with it. They believed it caused leprosy, sterilization, and an over active [intimacy] drive.

28. Lake Superior’s Preserved Dead

Lake Superior does not give up her dead. The waters of Lake Superior are so cold that the bodies and the majority of stuff from shipwrecks is preserved. The Great Lakes (all of them) are basically just giant ship graveyards.

29. Hearing Your Eyes Move

2% of people can hear their eyes move and blink. Edit: I hate to be that person but, MOM IM FAMOUS.

30. Queen Victoria’s Will

Queen Victoria gave the rights of her will to her physician who she trusted more than her family. The royal family is still trying and failing to get the will from the doctor’s family.

31. Cleopatra Was Greek

Cleopatra was Greek, not Egyptian or African.

32. “Louie Louie” and the FBI

"Louie Louie" was a #2 hit in 1963 for The Kingsmen. The vocals were so garbled and slurred, rumors spread that the lyrics were dirty. The FBI investigated the song on suspicion of violating obscenity laws. After two years, they decided the lyrics were "unintelligible at any speed." Somehow, they missed the drummer yelling "f***!" at 0:54

33. Rotationoplasty Surgery

There's a surgery called a rotationoplasty where they remove the middle of your leg, then re-attach the foot (backwards) to your thigh so that your ankle can be your new knee for a prosthetic leg. Seems gross but it really improves the quality of life over the other option, which is no knee at all.

34. Abraham Lincoln’s Wrestling Career

Before he became president, Abraham Lincoln was an elite wrestling champion. In 300 matches, he only lost one. Bonus fun fact: He was also a licensed bartender.

35. The Largest and Smallest Cells

The largest cell in the human body is the female egg. The smallest is the male sperm. The largest and smallest cells create life.

36. Deja Vu and Jamais Vu

The word deja vu gets its name from what its thought to be. Deja vu happens when your brain identifies something that is normally unfamiliar as familiar. However, it has a little known counterpart. Jamais vu is the opposite, when something familiar suddenly seems unfamiliar for some reason. Jamais vu is actually much easier to activate than deja vu because you can do this by simply saying a word 100 times in a row. By the end of it, the word no longer sounds like the word anymore and just sounds like strange noises. Jamais vu! Edit: it was bothering me so I fixed the spelling.

37. Michael Jackson’s Mid-Life Crisis

The day that Michael Jackson's hair famously caught on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial was on January 27, 1984, the 9,282nd day of his life. Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, and died on June 25, 2009, living to be 18,563 days old. The day of his accident was the exact median day of his life. He had a literal mid-life crisis!

38. Winnie the Pooh’s Origin

A trapper caught a mama bear in Winnipeg, Canada, and the baby was there. He got the baby and sold it to a Canadian soldier. The soldier took it to his base, and everyone loved the bear. They trained the bear, and was great for morale. But they had to go to World War 1, so they gave the bear to the London zoo. The zoo saw that the bear was good with everyone, including kids. Kids could play with, and even ride the bear. The kids made many memories with the increasingly popular bear. One of those kids Christopher Robin. His father saw Christopher Robin playing with his bear, named after the bear at the zoo. Since the soldier found the bear in Winnipeg, he shortened the name to "Winnie". That's right. You know this bear as the classic children's story, "Winnie the pooh." Christopher Robin was Christopher Robin Milne, son of author A A Milne, who wrote the "Winnie the Pooh" books. Edit 2: where did pooh come from? When Christopher Robin would get goose down feathers on him, he would excitedly blow them away with a "pooh! Pooh!" His father thought it was adorable, and so added "the Pooh" after Winnie. Edit: correction: The bear cub was from White River Ontario, not Winnipeg. Harry Colbourn purchased the bear cub for $20 and named it “Winnipeg”, (“Winnie” for short) after his hometown in Canada (Colbourn was originally from Birmingham England). On Dec 9 1914, Colbourn donated Winnie to the London Zoo. thanks u/Loverboy_Talis

39. The First Motion Picture Camera

A man named Louie le prince is technically the first person to invent a motion picture camera ( movies) however he went missing during a train ride and was not able to show his invention before Edison.

40. Netflix’s Recommendation Problem

Netflix has trouble recommending you titles after viewing Napoleon Dynamite

41. Chainsaws for Childbirth

Chainsaws were originally made for assisting in difficult childbirth (breech, etc).

42. Michael Jackson’s Scissorhands

Michael Jackson owned the original pair of scissorhands from the movie Edward Scissorhands .

43. Smelling Your Own Lungs

You can smell your own lungs. Your brain just filters it out.

44. Octopus Reproduction

Octopus detaches and throws a modified arm [private part] covered with sperm at their mate.

45. Near-Death Experiences

A majority of near-death experiences(being clinically dead but brought back) are positive. Do with that as you will.

46. Toddler Teeth Location

In toddlers, their adult teeth are right underneath their eyes.

47. Cockroach Speed and Aerodynamics

The speed at which an insect can run is limited by its leg length. Cockroaches have hind legs which are longer than the front four legs. In some cockroach species, when running at full speed over flat ground, the front four legs leave the ground. The cockroach’s body acts like an aeroplane wing, flying just above the ground, kicking along with its back legs.

48. Queen Elizabeth’s First Transatlantic Call

Queen Elizabeth made the first transatlantic phone call as a teenager to her parents while traveling abroad.