Page 200 - Animal Facts

Bananas are radioactive.

Bananas contain high levels of potassium. Radioactive K-40 has an isotopic abundance of 0.01% and a half-life of 1.25 billion years. The average banana contains around 450 mg of potassium and will experience about 14 decays each second.

It's nothing to worry about though. Your body already contains potassium. It's actually necessary for digestion, and the human body can handle low levels of radioactivity.
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Lavender and peppermint are like catnip for lions.

Strangely enough, lavender and peppermint induce relaxation and calmness in humans. But for lions, it makes them excited and stimulated. Zookeepers at Paignton Zoo added peppermint and lavender to a sack of hay, and gave the sack of hay to a female lion named Indu. She started licking the sack of hay and resting her head on it, and getting really excited, like a cat wit catnip!
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An elephant's trunk contains over 40,000 muscles.

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The Slinky was invented by a naval engineer.

In 1943, Richard James "discovered" this toy while creating an anti-vibration device for ship instruments. He accidentally knocked over some springs and was transfixed by how they "slunk" down the shelves. His wife Betty was the one who actually came up with the toy's name though!

Some more fun Slinky facts - Slinkies were among the first toys to make the trip into outer space. During the Vietnam War, soldiers would sometimes throw a Slinky into a tree for use as a makeshift radio antenna! And, since 1945 about 250 million Slinkies have been sold - if these were all stretched end-to-end, they would wrap around the globe 126 times!!
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The smell that leather gives off isn't actually from the leather at all.

Leather comes from the skin of a dead animal (often from a cow). Naturally, if it weren't treated it would decompose and then it would really have a noticeable smell.

The chemicals and dyes used to treat the animal hide all have their own smells, and that is what causes that "leathery" smell. If your leather jacket actually does smell like a dead animal, it must not have been treated properly and you should send it back.
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