Here is a bit of hypothetical statistical nonsense for you to ponder on. My number is 4,194,304 which I believe is 2 to the power 22. In mid 16th century at the time of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I There was an estimated population in England and Wales of around 4 million people. In studying my own genealogy and assuming that a generation is 20 years and that for each generation back we double our ancestors, then, and this is the big assumption..... 22 generations back and I have 4,194,304 ancestors, about the same as the population of England and Wales; which means I could be related to everyone alive in England and Wales in mid 16th century INCLUDING Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Go ponder ..... Whoops, I obviously had a memory lapse and have already posted something similar although my 2 to the power 22 seems to have changed. Never mind, you get the point. Damned creeping senility must be setting in.
2270000000000000000000000000000000000000 This is the amount that the electric force is stronger than gravity. That is 39 orders of magnitude. I would propose that the scientists are all on drugs when they say that gravity rules the universe. I suggest that gravity is electrostatic in nature.
25 A mature pair of Common Kestrel can catch 25 field voles in a day. Field voles are a stapel food for many predators. Most kestrels got big on these little rodents. Young chicks require some 60 grams of meat per day....and for the typical family, that comes to 25 mice per day.
25,000 It is reported that a Cygnus olor has 25,000 feathers. I can't picture someone sitting down with a corpse and plucking the feathers out, one by one. 6,000 An eel can travel 6,000 km without eating ! A human can go a couple of days without eating because of love...but a randy eel stops eating for 10 months. He only begins his trip once he has built up enough fat---and that can take tens of years. They head for the Saragasso Sea to pair. They swim very, very deep most of the trip where there isn't much to eat anyway. Finally the intestines eventually disappear. 6000 A hedgehog has 6,000 quills. They protect them well against cats, foxes and the like but not against fleas and ticks. They are often full of them 10 A Cyanistes caeruleus can live up to 11 years....however, the most do not make it through the first year.
37 The Populus canescens , or Grey Popular Can grow to a height of 37 meters. It is a cross between the Common Aspen and the White Popular. It has the attributes of both trees but it is twice as tall. 14 The Porcellio scaber Rough Woodlouse (roly-poly) has 14 legs. 14 is not 6 which means it is not an insect obviously. Woodlice we call here "the lobster-like family" and while lobsters and shrimp have 10 legs they are all still similar beings. The most of this family live in sweet or sea water; however, the woodlouse is a landlubber but does not like dryness or sunlight. 50 The bite (compression) force of the Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) is 50 kilo! This little bird can even crack-open cherry pips.
1,010,449 and 946, 491 In last year's National Garden Bird Counting... 946,491 birds were counted. This year 1,010,449 birds were counted in the gardens throughout the country. Last year and this year the most counted sort of bird was the common house sparrow.
20 On the very coldest of winter nights up to 20 wrens can pile-up in a birdhouse to sleep through the night--safe and warm. If you know a bit about wrens you know how unbelievable this sounds. You know: the smaller the animal, the greater the loss of warmth. Back around 2009 or so a chap called Johnny Kingdom over in Britain made a few docs for the television. I really like this fellow. He is so down-to-earth but shows some excellent nature, Here is a vid of one of his shows: If you just move the time bar over to ~19:16 and begin watching. I really liked his enthusiasm, it was so real. He didn't get 20, but came very close. Hope you like it. If you want some interesting, you ought to look up Johnny Kingdom on Wikipedia or other sources on the internet.
1/3 The alpine marmot (Marmota marmota) can lose 1/3 of its body weight during the winter! These mammals creep into their burrows well before the winter for a long sleep, so you will not see them on your skiing vacation there. A half year later; long after the piste-bullys have departed, will they emerge a slimmer animal (lighter weight by 1/3)---and that without going to a gym !
1,500 Song birds have at least 1,500 feathers. Larger birds have more feathers than smaller birds. A swan, for example, can have 25,000. Many of the feathers are actually on its neck. If you think about it--- birds loose and re-grow their feathers 1 or 2 times per year...it is no wonder that you see feathers lying about here and there whilst you walk about.
~2400 There are about 2400 Campanula sorts world-wide. Here in the Netherlands we have 15 different ones. 2 A poppy has 2 sepuls. When the bud is still closed it looks sort of like a hairy egg. Whjen it finally pops open and the petals expand, the sepuls fall off. 4 A stork gathers 4 kilo's of food each day. ---Frogs, worms, moles and insects among others.
7 The Tetrao urogallus can weigh more than 7 kilo's. This bird is called "capercaillie" in Britain and "auerhaan" in Dutch. Towards the end of the winter these magnificent birds search for eachother and can demonstrate some interesting behaviour. 10 The Clangula hyemalis can dive to 10 meters deep. It is called the ijseend here and elsewhere, "long-tailed duck"...and was once known as "oldsquaw". This bird is present only in the winter here, but I have seen it in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in the month of july. This bird is not to be confused with the Northern Pintail (Anas acuta).
6,000 The miracle of the Swallows of Capistrano takes place each year at Mission San Juan Capistrano, on March 19th, which is St. Joseph's Day. Swallows migrate 6,000 miles from Goya, Argentina to San Juan Capistrano.
10,000 Sheep have been present in Holland for 10,000 years. Sheep are one of the very first animals that were domesticated. At least 7,500 years before the era of calendar use there were shepherds wandering about with their flocks in the Middle East. Here in my land we had them from ~5000 years before Christ. 2 In one beechnut seed pod there are two "nuts".
30 Opiliones, or what we call "hooiwagens"...in English, "daddy longlegs". There have been thirty different sorts of this beast found in The Netherlands...worldwide there have been ~6,000 described. These beasts are not spiders, as they have only one body (no segments),the spider has two segments--the cephalothorax and the abdomen. 3 Badger hairs have three colours. 2 If you were walking out in a park on 1 April and saw a pussy willow in bloom it would probably be silver-white in colour; however, if someone told you that there are black pussy willows...you might think that he was having a laugh. It is true though...the male trees of Salix gracilistyla 'melanastachys' are indeed....black. 1 Puffins have only one young per brood. 80 80% of sewage water worldwide is discharged without being purified. 75 There have been 75 ant sorts found in The Netherlands. Worldwide there have been 14,000 recorded and there will undoubtedly more be found as time goes on. 917 There was a bloke that grew a sunflower to a height of 917 cm !
