Interesting and Unbelievable Facts

Latvia is a country in northeastern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic States, located in the middle of the other two (Estonia and Lithuania). Alongside the two Baltic States, Latvia shares land borders with Russia and Belarus and a maritime border with Sweden. Latvian is the sole official language of Latvia. It is one of the two surviving Baltic languages (a group of Indo-European languages) alongside the Lithuanian language. Russian is the most learned foreign language in Latvia due to its Soviet past. It is the mother tongue of nearly 38% of Latvians. However, the country banned teaching Russian in schools in 2023 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. From 2026, children can adopt one of the languages of the EU (European Union) or EEA (European Economic Area) as a foreign language in place of the Russian language. ( Source ) Humans started to inhabit Latvia in 9,000 B.C. Finns settled here around 3,000 B.C., and the pre-Baltic tribes arrived nearly a thousand years lat...

Gazelles are hoofed mammals related to antelopes . They inhabit arid (desert, semi-desert, and waterless steppe) regions of Asia and Africa. Gazelles are now present only in Asia and Africa, but were  once also present in Europe . Gazella borbonica was the last gazelle species in Europe , which became extinct nearly 1.8 million years ago. The maximum speed of gazelles is 50 mph (80 km/h), but can escape from the world’s fastest animal cheetah, with a top speed of 68 mph (110 km/h). Cheetahs can maintain their full speed for only 400 yards, while gazelles have this ability for 5 km (5,468 yards). Additionally, gazelles cheat their predators by changing directions quickly. ( Source ) Gazelles are highly social animals . They live in large herds in areas with abundant food and relatively smaller ones in dry regions. They establish bachelor, female, and mixed herds according to their habitat and species. These groups are usually without any leader. Gazelles generally mark their territ...

Grenada is an island country in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It is the southernmost island of the Lesser Antilles. Its nearest countries are Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenada consists of the main island of Grenada and some smaller islands. Carriacou and Petite Martinique are the other notable islands. It is the  second-smallest country in the Caribbean  after Saint Kitts and Nevis. The initial settlers of Grenada were Arawaks who arrived here from South America. Later, Caribs from South America captured these islands and drove away the peaceful Arawaks. The people present here at the time of the arrival of Europeans were Caribs. Christopher Columbus was the first European to land on this island in 1498, and he named it Concepcion. Later, it became Grenada when other Spanish sailors named it after the Spanish city Granada. English merchants were the first Europeans who tried to settle in Grenada. However, the Caribs ...

Porcupines are large herbivorous rodents present in many parts of the world. Their most prominent feature is quills (spines) on most parts of their body. The meaning of its name is “quill pig” due to its spines and resemblance to a pig . Porcupines have two families according to their location: Old World and New World porcupines. Old World Porcupines are present in Asia , Africa, and southern Europe , while the locality of New World Porcupines is the Americas. Old World porcupines are further divided into 11 species in three genera, while there are 16 species in five genera of New World porcupines. These include hairy dwarf porcupines (9 species), prehensile-tailed porcupines (four species), stump-tailed porcupines (one species), bristle-spined porcupines (one species), and North American porcupines (one species). The three Old World porcupines are short-tailed porcupines (8 species), long-tailed porcupines (one species), and brush-tailed porcupines (two species). Both porcupine fami...

Oman is a country on the southeastern Arabian Peninsula at the junction of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Yemen and maritime borders with Iran and Pakistan. Paleontologists have discovered several Arabian Nubian Complex sites in Oman since 2011. The oldest, discovered in 2011 in southern Oman, shows that humans initially arrived here 106,000 years ago. Since the 1960s, scientists have identified the Nubian complex in North Africa, East Africa , and southern Arabia. ( Source ) There are three main physical features of Oman. A central desert plane ( Rub al-Khali  or Empty Quarter) bisects two rugged mountains in the north and south of the country. Mount Shams (2,980 meters) in the northern Hajar Mountains is the  highest point  in the country. The climate is primarily hot and dry, while the south receives summer monsoon rainfall. Apart from Oman proper, the country includes  two exclaves , Musadam peninsula and ...

Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods currently present in Asia and North America. Their name is a misnomer because they are not related to crabs . The closest relatives of horseshoe crabs are scorpions , spiders , and mites. Horseshoe crabs are at least 450 million years old. They survived three extinction events during this period, particularly the Great Dying that exterminated nearly 96% of all marine species 250 million years ago. Reasons behind their survival include their tolerance of various habitats, feeding any available organic matter, unique blood that fights bacteria and heals wounds, and their ability to live in areas with low oxygen levels. Trilobites, their close relatives, had 20,000 species, but all vanished during the Great Dying. ( Source ) Scientists found the oldest fossil of horseshoe crab in 2008 from Canada . It is 445 million years old, nearly 100 million years older than any previous fossil. This discovery proves the status of horseshoe crabs as “living foss...

Dominica is an island country in the Lesser Antilles , an arc of tiny islands on the Caribbean Sea. Its nearest islands are two French overseas departments (Guadeloupe and Martinique). Dominica is known as the  “Nature Island of the Caribbean”  due to its variety of  plants ,  animals , and other natural features. Nearly 60% of Dominica’s land is forested, making it the most heavily forested country in Lesser Antilles. Dominica contains some less-known endemic and endangered  birds  and other animals. Some  unique animals  on this island are two parrot species (sisserou and red-necked parrots), blue-headed  hummingbirds , Lesser Antillean iguanas, and a frog (mountain chicken). The mountain chicken, one of the largest frogs in the world, tastes like a  chicken  and was once considered the  national dish of Dominica . It is present only in Dominica and Montserrat (a British overseas territory to its north). Due to an infectious ...