Page 186 - Animal Facts

The Moon is moving an inch away from Earth EVERY YEAR. Some day, we won't have solar eclipses anymore.

The Moon is moving an inch away from Earth EVERY YEAR. Some day, we won't have solar eclipses anymore.

Who's to blame? The ocean. The Earth and the Moon constantly interact through gravitational forces. This push-and-pull through space creates tidal forces on Earth, which, in turn, pulls back on the Moon, making bulges on the Moon's surface.

The result: Tidal forces are slowly warping the moon's shape, from a sphere to an egg shape, the Moon's orbit is speeding up, and the gravitational pull between the Earth and the moon are weakening. Johannes Kepler observed in the 1600s that as the Moon's orbit speeds up, the Moon will slowly move away from Earth. These gravitational forces are also slowing down the Earth, making our days longer.

Millions of years in the future, the Moon will be so far away from the Earth that we won't be able to have solar eclipses!

There are two golf balls sitting on the moon!

There are two golf balls sitting on the Moon.

On the first moon landing, US astronaut Alan Shepard swung a six iron four times. His first swing moved the ball less than a meter; his second swing missed and kicked up some dust. The third swing hit that same first ball about 200 yards - a slice. Then he dropped a second ball, and his fourth swing hit the ball about 400 yards.
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A British school is planning exotic school lunches such as frog legs and wildebeest.

The tiger's stripes are a lot like our fingerprints

The tiger's stripes are a lot like our fingerprints. No two tigers have exactly the same pattern. Despite this, all tigers have the same mark on their forehead. It actually resembles the Chinese character for "king". Since tigers are the largest cats in the wild, with adults getting as large as 220 pounds, one could argue that the tiger, not the lion is the king of the jungle. Of course, since lions live in Africa and tigers live in Asia, it really doesn't matter.

The Fort Worth Zoo has more fun facts about tigers.

Alligator and crocodile teeth are hollow.