What Makes Flamingos Pink? Read online

  What

  Makes

  Flamingos

  Pink?

  A Colorful

  Collection of

  Q & A’s for the

  Unquenchably Curious

  Bill McLain

  To Snar, with love

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  ANIMAL KINGDOM

  Do all bears hibernate?

  Is it true that a dinosaur larger than Tyrannosaurus rex was recently found?

  Do spiders and other insects ever sleep?

  What is the fastest snake in the world?

  Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?

  Why don’t squirrels fall when they run across a telephone wire?

  What makes flamingos pink?

  CRIME

  How many innocent people have been executed by law in the United States since 1900?

  What was the largest bank robbery in U.S. history?

  What are the differences among first-degree, second-degree, and third-degree murder?

  Is it true that there was a man who loved his girlfriend so much that when she died he dug up her grave and kept her corpse in his home?

  Who was the famous bandit who wore a metal bucket on his head?

  Who was Dr. H. H. Holmes?

  CUSTOMS

  How did the custom of kissing originate?

  Why is a wedding ring worn on the third finger of the left hand?

  How long has the running of the bulls been held and how many people have died?

  Why is there a crescent moon on outhouse doors?

  Why are barns always painted red?

  Why is the shamrock associated with Saint Patrick?

  DISASTERS

  Which ship disaster resulted in the greatest loss of life?

  What does SOS stand for?

  What volcanic eruption killed the most people in the twentieth century?

  What is the largest earthquake ever recorded in the continental United States?

  What was the deadliest fire in U.S. history?

  How many aircraft crashes have occurred in scheduled airline flights in the past fifty years?

  FAR OUT

  What was the world’s largest typewriter?

  Who was the model for the Gerber baby?

  Who was Prester John?

  Who was the first Ronald McDonald?

  Have scientists actually been able to teleport an object from one location to another location?

  Is it true that fleas have been trained to perform circus acts?

  FOOD

  Why is salt a good food preservative?

  Where was sourdough bread invented?

  How are the hulls removed from sunflower seeds?

  What is the difference between Cajun and Creole?

  What are the different types of caviar and why is caviar so expensive?

  Why is coffee often referred to as “Joe”?

  THE HUMAN BODY

  It true that we use only 10 percent of our brain at any given time?

  Is it true that a full moon makes people act strangely?

  What makes your fingers and toes become pruney after you have been in the bathtub for a while?

  Why do your palms sweat when you are nervous?

  Why do we have eyebrows?

  Why does it feel good when you stretch?

  INVENTIONS

  Who invented the zipper?

  Why are soda cans cylindrical?

  Who invented the bumper sticker?

  Who invented Gatorade?

  Who invented chewing gum?

  Who invented plastic?

  LANGUAGE

  Where did the term “You’ve been 86’ed” come from?

  How many geese are in a gaggle?

  What is the origin of the word “quack,” meaning a fake or unethical doctor?

  What is the origin of the word “cocktail” for a mixed drink?

  What is the origin of the word “shrink” when used as a name for a psychologist?

  Where did the term “chickenpox” come from?

  ENTERTAINMENT

  What is the origin of the term “Oscar” for the Academy Awards?

  Why don’t television sets have a Channel 1?

  What are the job definitions for all the credits you see at the end of a movie?

  Who said, “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”

  Where can you find the original words for Taps?

  What is the name of the dog in the Maytag commercials?

  SCIENCE

  Why are there C and D batteries, but no A and B batteries?

  If you could hollow out a sphere in the exact center of the earth large enough to hold a person, would that person feel gravity?

  Has a tenth planet been discovered recently in our solar system?

  How are seedless watermelons produced?

  Is it true that glass is a liquid?

  In movies, why does a wheel appear to be rotating backward when the wagon or car is moving forward?

  SPORTS and GAMES

  How did they pick the name Yahtzee for the dice game?

  Why do golf balls have dimples?

  Why do they pitch baseball overhand and Softball underhand?

  What are the meanings behind the rings on the Olympic flag … both number and colors?

  Who invented Frisbee?

  What does “seeded” mean in tennis?

  TRANSPORTATION AND TRAVEL

  Why do diesel truck drivers leave their truck engines running when parked?

  If all the trains in the country were put end to end, how long would the line be?

  What is the fastest propeller-driven plane in the world?

  What was the China Clipper?

  makes sled dogs run?

  Who holds the record for walking the farthest?

  UNITED STATES

  How many people died during the flu epidemic of 1918?

  Is it true that President Zachary Taylor was poisoned?

  Which state has the most shoreline?

  Why does the Great Seal of the United States have seven white stripes and six red stripes, when it’s the opposite on the flag?

  Is it true that a man built a castle with stones weighing up to 25 tons with no mechanical equipment or help from anyone?

  How long was the Pony Express in operation?

  WEATHER

  What are the differences among sleet, freezing rain, and hail?

  Did a rainmaker ever actually cause a flood in San Diego?

  What is ball lightning?

  What is the heat index?

  What was the “year without a summer”?

  Why is a rainbow curved?

  WORLD

  Is it true that the only man-made object on earth that you can see from outer space is the Great Wall of China?

  What are the seven seas?

  Who was Hannibal and why was he crossing the Alps with elephants?

  What is the story of Rome, Romulus, and Remus?

  What language is spoken the most in the world?

  Where are the Spice Islands?

  EXPLORING THE INTERNET

  INDEX

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bill McLain

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  1

  Animal Kingdom

  Do all bears hibernate? (Bear with me on this one.)

  To be perfectly accurate, no bear hibernates. When an animal hibernates, it is near death and may appear to be dead. Its body temperature drops to near 32°F, it breathes just a few times a minute, and its heartbeat is so slow as to be almost imperceptible
. If the animal is exposed to warmth, a few hours may pass before it awakens and is alert. Animals that hibernate include bats, hedgehogs, ground squirrels, and marmots.

  Although most people say that bears hibernate, hibernation is not the proper term in the case of bears, because during their sleep there is little change in their body temperature, respiration, or metabolic rate. A better term would be “deep winter sleep” (the scientific term is “dormancy”). If left alone they can sleep in the same position for months, yet they awaken quite easily if disturbed.

  The reason for hibernation and deep winter sleep is the same. During winter, food is scarce, and it’s often difficult for some animals to maintain their normal body temperature. To protect themselves, many animals pass the time away by hibernating or sleeping. They store body fat when food is plentiful, then live off the stored fat when hibernating or sleeping. By sleeping for long periods of time, they keep activity to a minimum and also control their temperature and metabolism so that no growth occurs.

  A bear may decide to sleep in a hollow tree, a cave, a pile of brush, or a den that it has dug. Sometimes the bear adds dried leaves and grass to its bed for additional insulation against the harsh cold of winter.

  Not all bears sleep all winter. If bears live in an environment with a good year-round food supply, they don’t need to go into a deep winter sleep. Tropical bears such as sun bears, sloth bears, and spectacled bears never go into a winter sleep.

  The male polar bear never goes into dormancy, but the female does only if she is pregnant.

  If a bear is accustomed to dormancy but is kept in a zoo where food is always available, it will not go into dormancy regardless of how cold it may get.

  FACTOIDS

  The Australian koala bear is not a bear at all but a marsupial related to the kangaroo. The bearcat, a nickname for the Southeast Asian binturongs, is not a bear either. They are related to a little-known group of animals that includes civets, genets, and linsangs.

  People seem to love bears in spite of their size and ferocity, especially the fictional bears Baloo, Fozzie Bear, Paddington Bear, Yogi Bear, and Winnie the Pooh. The most famous live bear was Smokey.

  Polar bears have white fur but black skin. Each hair is actually a clear hollow tube designed to funnel the sun’s rays to the bear’s skin, thereby keeping it warm. Because the rays bounce off the fur, the polar bear appears to be white.

  The sloth bear lives on a diet of termites. However, like humans, bears have a sweet tooth. They often break open beehives and will continue eating honey even though their nose has been stung many times.

  When a bear is dormant, it does not eliminate its waste but recycles it by turning the toxic compounds into protein. Researchers are trying to discover how bears do this because the bears’ method could lead to methods of treating kidney failure in humans.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Although bears are meat eaters and often ferocious, they have their gentle side too. In 1995 four unwanted kittens were dumped near a wildlife rehabilitation center in Grant’s Pass, Oregon. Although employees trapped three of the kittens and took care of them, they could not catch the fourth.

  By late summer the kitten was starving. Seeing a 560-pound grizzly bear devouring food in the compound, the kitten squeezed through a hole in the fence and approached the grizzly.

  Everyone was terrified that the poor stray kitten was going to be the grizzly’s next meal. The bear looked at the kitten, pulled a piece of chicken from its dinner, and tossed it aside for the kitten.

  The bear, named Griz, never harmed the kitten. In fact they became close friends and ate, slept, and played together. The employees named the kitten “Cat.”

  At last report, Griz and Cat were still the best of friends. They probably still are today.

  Is it true that a dinosaur larger than Tyrannosaurus rex was recently found?

  (A head-to-head match.)

  In 1995 scientists in Argentina discovered a meat-eating dinosaur they named Giganotosaurus. They claimed that it was as big as or bigger than the North American Tyrannosaurus. However, their claim is still being disputed. Although Giganotosaurus had a larger skull, it had a smaller brain, making it less intelligent. It has a longer upper leg bone but a shorter lower leg bone, so both dinosaurs were about the same height.

  However, the non-meat-eating dinosaurs were considerably larger. In fact, of all the known dinosaurs, which one is the biggest depends on how you measure a dinosaur’s size.

  A dinosaur named Argentinosaurus was recently discovered in Argentina (hence the name). It was 70 feet high, 120 feet long, and weighed around 220,000 pounds. In other words, it was as tall as a seven-story building, almost the width of a football field, and weighed around 110 tons.

  In 1994 scientists in southeastern Oklahoma found the bones of another huge dinosaur. They named it Sauroposeidon, which means “earthquake god lizard.” It was 60 feet high, weighed 60 tons, and was 150 feet long, partly because it had the longest neck of any known dinosaur.

  One standard measurement used to define a dinosaur’s size is length, which is measured from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. Because Sauroposeidon was 30 feet longer than Argentinosaurus, some scientists claim it is the largest animal ever found.

  However, other experts claim that Argentinosaurus was the largest dinosaur ever found because it was 10 feet taller and weighed almost twice as much.

  We don’t want to be unpatriotic, nor do we have anything against the state of Oklahoma, but our vote for the largest dinosaur on record goes to the monster from Argentina.

  That’s not the end of the story. A fossil hunter in Colorado unearthed one of the largest dinosaur legs ever discovered. Based on the leg, he estimated that the dinosaur was probably 98 feet long and weighed 130 tons. Unfortunately, that’s only a guess until someone finds the rest of the dinosaur. But the fossil hunter has already given it a name: Ultrasaurus, or the “ultimate” dinosaur.

  FACTOIDS

  The longest dinosaur was 150 feet long, while the shortest was only 20 inches long, about the size of a modern chicken.

  The word dinosaur was coined by Sir Richard Owen. It means “fearfully great lizard,” from the Greek deinos, meaning “fearfully great,” and sauros, meaning “lizard.”

  Some dinosaurs are named for their features (head, tail, claw, teeth, or feet), some are named for a person, some are named for the place where they were found, and some for their behavior. For instance, the Albertosaurus was discovered in Alberta, Canada; the Lambeosaurus was named after Lawrence Lambe; and the term “velociraptor” means “speedy robber.”

  Dinosaurs could neither swim nor fly but were all land animals. The flying pterosaurs and swimming ichthyosaurs were closely related but were not true dinosaurs.

  Most experts today, following a theory first formulated in the late 1800s by the biologist Thomas Huxley, believe that birds are technically dinosaurs.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Many people think that dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago. That’s not quite true. Prior to that time, dinosaur families were already dwindling, and a number of species had already become extinct.

  However, 65 million years ago some catastrophe occurred that not only destroyed all land animals weighing more than about 55 pounds but also killed many smaller life forms. All of the dinosaurs were obliterated, as well as some marsupials, fish, snails, sea urchins, bird families, and over half the plankton groups.

  The theory as to what caused this catastrophe most widely accepted today is that an asteroid 5 to 10 miles in diameter hit the earth, penetrated its crust, scattered dust and debris into the atmosphere, and caused severe storms and volcanic eruptions. The dust and debris thrown into the atmosphere blocked out all sunlight for months. The atmosphere itself was changed and had higher concentrations of sulfuric and nitric acid.

  Because of acid rain and lack of sun, plants died out with two effects: a depletion of oxygen levels suffocated many smaller organism
s, and plant-eating creatures soon starved. The larger meat-eating animals no longer had any prey once the plant-eating animals died, so they began eating each other and eventually died out.

  We often use the word “dinosaur” to mean something unwieldy and inefficient. However, dinosaurs were highly efficient for their size. They became extinct because something from another world crashed into earth and changed the environment.

  We pride ourselves on being the most efficient of all creatures. Yet we too could become extinct if another deadly visitor from space crashed into our planet.

  Do spiders and other insects ever sleep? (Are they dream spinners?)

  A spider is not an insect, or a “bug.” Bugs have six legs and three body parts while a spider has eight legs and only two body parts. A spider is an arachnid, a family of air-breathing invertebrates that includes scorpions and ticks.

  Scientists are still arguing whether true insects can sleep. Some argue that because insects don’t have eyelids, they can’t shut their eyes to sleep. They claim that only mammals sleep and that it’s silly to talk about sleeping insects or fish. They hope that by defining sleep as something only mammals do, they won’t have to worry about how something without eyelids can sleep.

  However, other scientists who study bugs and arachnids have noted that these creatures display daily periods of inactivity that must be called sleep.

  A moth will become very inactive in the daytime and will even tuck its antennae under its wings. You can gently poke it and it won’t move. It’s a very sound sleeper. Honey bees rest at night in a manner much like a deep sleep. Other insects display similar behavior.

  Most scientists now agree that insects and spiders do actually sleep. It’s a good thing that having eyelids isn’t necessary for sleep because a typical spider has eight eyes.

  FACTOIDS

  The innocent daddy longlegs spider is more venomous than a black widow spider, but it can’t open its jaws wide enough to bite a human.