Jenn
Fuzz Fact Friday returns for the fourteenth week, bringing you weird and fun facts you can go away and impress your friends with.
1. At birth, dalmatian puppies are completely white
That’s not to say they are not born without their infamous spots, they are just not visible at the time of birth. Instead, dalmatians are born with skin pigmentation spots hidden by the white fur they are born with, but slowly within two weeks their coats begin to develop, causing these spots to show. From that point on, any fur growing where the pigmented skin is will be dark in colour.
2. There’s science behind why men have deeper voices than women
The larynx (also known as the voice box) has an effect on the frequency of a person’s voice, influencing whether their natural speaking voice is deep or high in tone. While size of the larynx and facial bone can play a part, it is mainly the length of the vocal folds in the larynx that have the greatest influence. Vocal folds grow during puberty, leading to lower voice frequencies but for boys the hormone testosterone is released causing the vocal folds to grow longer and thicker which deepens the voice.
3. Elizabeth II is the longest reigning British monarch
On 9th September 2015, Queen Elizabeth II surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria by becoming the longest-reigning royal. Victoria had reigned 63 years and 216 days while Elizabeth became the first British monarch to celebrate a sapphire jubilee on 6th February 2017, marking 65 years on the throne.
4. A flock of crows is called a “murder”.
You read that right, the collective noun for a group of crows is “murder”. Why this is the case is unknown but mainly folk tales and superstitions suggest it’s because crows are an omen of death.
5. The Earth’s tides are mainly caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon
Gravitational pulls between the Earth, Moon and Sun dictate the tides but it is largely the Moon that has a significant effect. This is due to the fact that as the Moon circles the Earth, the Earth moves in slightly in a circle too, and this movement causes a centrifugal force on oceans, pulling a bulge of water towards the Moon. As a result, this bulge becomes a high tide. At the same time, on the opposite side of the Earth, the one not facing the Moon, you will also get a high tide because the Earth itself is being pulled towards the Moon while the oceans there is not as there’s less gravitational pull applied to them. There’s more to tides but this alone is enough to hurt my brain and now I have Atomic Kitten’s song in my head, so I need a lie down.
Do you have a fun fact to share? Get in touch by tweeting us @Fuzzable using the hashtag #FuzzFacts and maybe YOUR fact could be featured in next week’s article.
