Fast facts


Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, March 4, 2005

If you have had a bellyful, you have had about two quarts. That is the average adult's stomach capacity.

Seals have been known to swim for as long as eight months and as far as 6,000 miles without touching land.

Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

Droplets of moisture from a sneeze can travel as far as 12 feet and as fast as 100 mph.

A kangaroo can hop along at a clip of 40 mph.

Surveys show that the majority of American men would rather shower than bathe, but it is a 50-50 proposition among women.

George Washington was scared that he'd be buried alive. Just before he died, he demanded his body be kept above ground for a few days in the event he might come to.

The banister of a staircase is not the handrail. A banister is one of the upright wooden poles that support the handrail. The entire structure that you might slide down is called the balustrade.

A flea can jump more than a foot - comparable to a human leaping over the Washington Monument with room to spare.

Parrots have a particularly keen sense of hearing. During World War I, a group of them were kept on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris to hear the sounds of planes and warn of the approaching aircraft.

The term "senator" comes from the Latin "senex" which means "old man."

The average American will eat 350 cows, 310 hogs and 225 lambs in a lifetime.

A giraffe can kill a lion with one swift kick.

Baboons cannot throw overhand.

The Statue of Liberty's pedestal was more expensive than Lady Liberty herself.