Interesting Facts - Page 47

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231

Toxoplasma gondii is a peculiar parasite. It can only reproduce inside a cat. However, it can also infect rodents. When a rodent is infected, its behavior changes. It becomes less averse to the smell of cat urine and therefore more likely to be eaten by a cat.

232

The Mekong river catfish can reach weights of up to 350 kilograms.

233

The last time a supernova was visible with the naked eye was in 1604. Known as "Kepler's Supernova", it was so bright it could be seen during the day for a period of three weeks.

234

In Australia, the sheep population and kangaroo population are all higher than the human population.

235

Until 2016, the song "Happy Birthday to You" was owned by Warner/Chappell Music. They earned over $2 million dollars a year in royalties, and reportedly sued restaurant chains or other businesses that sang the song in public. Thankfully, the copyright was invalidated and the song is now in the public domain.

16 Comments

Level 83

Jun 7, 2019

grammatical error: in 235, "sung" should be "sang"

Level ∞

Jun 7, 2019

Level 70

Nov 2, 2019

Error in 233:. ......... SN 1987A supernova was visible here in Australia in 1987 with the naked eye in the Large Magellan Cloud galaxy........ I observed it myself.

Level 67

Nov 15, 2019

Perhaps the fact should mean the last one visible during the day?

Level 44

Feb 3, 2021

It was visible in the day, as I saw it with my naked eye

Level 34

Feb 27, 2021

So I couldn't have a happy birthday inside restaurants until 2016! And I wonder how they survived that supernova. Maybe they were far enough that the explosion never affected them.

Level 47

May 5, 2021

interesting, i definitely remember the staff at mels and black bear diner singing happy birthday to me before 2016

Level 48

Sep 6, 2021

Before 2016, my torturer, who I had to call Master Kepler, used to sing happy birthday for rhythm as she lashed me with her kangaroo whip. She really went supernova on me: I was seeing bright lights even in the day! Then she served me catfish and lamb, always catfish and lamb, boiled in cat urine, and let her rats bite my toes.

I'd hate to think that she was breaking copyright laws...

Level 34

Mar 29, 2022

#234

You forgot about flies, ants, ticks, mosquitoes

Level 77

Jul 6, 2022

#231 is extremely interesting. Thank you for this fact :)

Level 69

Oct 13, 2022

#234 is now incorrect as there are no longer more cows than people in Australia.

Level 68

Oct 13, 2022

Fixed

Level 69

Oct 13, 2022

Thanks, but now it should be both instead of all (sorry for the nitpicking) 😬

Level 67

May 22, 2024

233 is incorrect - SN_1987A was visible with the naked eye in 1987.

Level 69

Jun 18, 2025

The cattle population in Australia also ranges from 25.5 million to 28.6 million, depending on the source. This compares to a human population of 27.2 million. The state with the most cattle is Queensland which has about 10.5 million cattle compared to a human population of 5.6 million. In the Northern Territory, one of the least densely populated regions on Earth there are about 2.2 million cattle compared to 255k people. There are also an estimated 100,000 crocodiles in the Northern Territory; that's 2 crocs for every 5 people.

Level 18

Feb 2, 2026

God had a lot of spare animals and just put them all in Australia