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Vanilla is the only orchid that can produce edible fruits. The process of converting vanilla into a spice is very long and complicated; hence, vanilla is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Pollination is only possible through manual manipulation. The pods must be blanched before drying and fermenting -- all tricky processes to bring out the bean's best flavor.

Mercury has a iron core that is about the size of our moon.

Not just one of the most expensive, it's the second most expensive spice in the world. The most expensive is true saffron, which are the bright yellow-orange stigmas os a type of crocus flower grown mainly in the Middle East. The stigmas are extrmely delicate, and must be harvested by skilled hands. True saffron can easily sell for US$30-$60 an ounce. Fortunately it is very potent and only two or three stigmas (less than a half gram) soaked in some water is enough to flavor and color a whole dish.

Mexican saffron is not true saffron, and sells for much, much less. It is not nearly as potent, and so more is needed to get the the same effect. Its flavor is not quite the same as true saffron is.

Vanilla, by the way, also comes originally from Mexico, and Mexico is still the world's largest supplier of vanilla. This is why you can get imported Mexican vanilla that is the same quality as other domestic brands, yet for much less (a tip for you cooks out there).

Horses and ponies are technically the same species, Equus caballus.

Ponies differ from horses mainly in size, but mainly older breeds of ponies also are distinct from horses by their stocky frame, shortened head, shortened necks, coarse and thick mane and tail hairs, and barrel-like torso. More modern pony breeds lack some of these distinctions and look more like small horse.

Horses' heights are measured in hands. A hand is a unit of 4 inchs. Ponies traditionally are under 14.5 hands. The average height of a horse is 15-16 hands. Horses over 16 hands are considered tall.

Regardless of size, ponies and horse (including miniture horse) all roughly have the same size gentilia. (I know you all wanted to know that!)

Horse breeds are classfied traditionally as hotbloods, warmbloods and coldbloods.

Coldbloods are mostly very old breeds originating from the Middle East and North Africa, such as Arabians, Barbs and other Slavic and Eastern Eurpoean descendants of ancient Persian and Turkish breeds. They have very light frames, short backs and legs and tend to be nervous and high-strung.

Warmblods are the largest group. These have medium frames and long backs and legs. Most warmbloods are energetic, lively and highly athletic yet calmer than hotbloods. Most European and North American breeds are warmbloods.

Coldblood are mainly light draft adn heavy draft horse. They has very heavy frames and a lot of muscles mass. Due to thier mass, they tend to be very mellow in temperment.

The Thoroughbred is considered a hotblooded breed. Although it has a warmblooded Eurpoean ancestry, the breed was infused through highly selective breeding with Arabians and Barbs to produce a horse that was large and athletic like the warmbloods, but had the ligth frame and high energy of the hotbloods. This unique ancestry made the Thoroughbred the fastest breed among horses. The name "Thoroughbred" refers to its long and highly selective lineage.

The Arabian has one less lumbar vertebrea than other horses. This gives the breed a very short and rigid back, which was advantagous on the sands adn rocky terrain of teh Arabian pennisula. The more rigid back allowed the horse to travel more steadily over unsure footing with less risk of falling or slipping.

The Arabian is one of the oldest known breeds of horses, along with the African Barb and Turkish Akhel Teke. It is also the most widely used in crossbreeding in order to inhancee other breeds ro to create new breeds.

Barbs were a popular breed in Spain, having been brough there by Moors and other North Africans. The Spanish brought Barbs with them to the New World, and today many feral horses in the North and South America, including the American Mustang, are descendants to these Barbs.

Laughing when you drink is really bad.

Tulips came from the middle east.

So is breathing.

There are various hybrid berries created from crossing diffrent strains of blackberries, raspberries and dewberries, or crossing these hybrids with other berries, including:

Marionberries
Loganberries
Tayberries
Nessberries
Boysenberry
Youngberry
Olallieberry

Blackberries and raspberries both beling to the genus Rubus, or the "Brambles" as popularly known.

Salmon berry is a type of raspberry that grows indigenously along the western coast for North American, from Nothern Mexico up through Alaska. It's salmon in colored, more mild in flavor and coarser in texture than other more popular raspberries.

Crabapple trees can turn into apple trees.

If you go 58 hours without food or sleep, you get funny little halucinations

Wilderness training tips concerning eating wild berries states that most non-poisonous berries grow on bushes. One should avoid unfamiliar berries growing on vines, creepers or low laying plants.

One culivated berry that is produced on a low laying, creeper type plant is the strawberry. Although its berries are edible, its leaves are often toxic. Strawberries were named such because when humans began cultivating them, they would tuck straw underneath the developing fruit so it would not touch the moist soil directly and start to rot before it was harvested.

Wild berries are a critical part of a bear's diet. When berries are in season, bears may eat nothing else.

Many birds are very fond of berries, and will remember where humans grow berries, returning yearly to steal the harvest. Birds find human-grown berries to be tastier and prefer them to wild growing berries. For this, special bird nets were designed to prop up over berries bushes to keep the avian thieves at bay.

Berries are very high in antioxidants and vitamins and low in glucose for their size.

In a day, if you just start with 1 bacteria, then as 24 hours progress, you get 4.72236648286965 x (10 to the power of 21) = 2 to the power of 72 = 4,722,366,482,869,650,000,000 bacterium!

A tomato-strawberry hybrid occured accidentally in Britain a while back, it bore sterile 'tomberry' fruit.

A man in the north of England took froze a fish whole, and when he removed it the next day, it was still alive.

Mushrooms breathe in Oxygen and breathe out Carbon Monoxide

There are 23 living species of crocodilians. Almost 1/3 of them are endangered or critically endangered.

They are divided into three families under the order Crocodylia:

-Alligatoridiea, which include one genus of Alligators and 3 genera of Caimans
-Crocodylidae, which includes two genera, the crocodiles and the tomistoma
-Gavialidae, which includes one genus and one species, the Indian Gharial

Extinct species of crocodilians are named following the same family classification, except they are named with the suffix "-oidea" instead of "-idea."

There are only two species of alligators: the American and the Chinese. The Amercian Alligators, due to conversation, has an abundant population. The Chinese Alligator is critically endangered, with its wild popuation under 200.

Other endangerd or critically endangered species are the Philippine Crocodile, the Columbian Crocodile, the Siamese Crocodile, the Cuban crocodile, the Indian Gharial and the tomastami (False Gharial). Several other species are considered vulnerable.

The Philippine Crocodile may be the rarest and most endangered crocodilian. Its wild population is estimated generously under 200 and pessimistically under 80. Researchers are having trouble gathering data for conversation due to being unable to locate enough adults. But due to regular fingings of young hatchlings, researchers are confident there is still an establishing breeding adult population, even if very small. Researcher consider the Philippine Crocodile the most likely species to becomes extinct int eh next 20 years, due to a lack of conservation and habit loss that appears to be dividing the extant population into increasingly smaller and more isolated pockets of marshes.

Several other endangered species are being helped through successful conservation, captive breeding and re-introduction programs, including the Chinese Alligator and the Indian Gharial.