National Geographic Museum Blog

In our “Weird but True” exhibit you can find a lot of cool facts like this… how to change peanut butter into diamonds.

Peanut butter is a favorite breakfast and snack for many Americans, and not only for them. The food paste, made primarily from ground roasted peanuts, with or without added oil, was first used by the Pre-Columbian peoples of Mexico, who used it as a base for various “moles”, meaning sauces.

Now, a team of scientists presented the most recent and spectacular use of peanut butter ever. They have proven it’s possible

to turn the common peanut butter into the most expensive gems in the world, diamonds.

The formation of a natural diamond requires very specific conditions, like exposure of carbon-bearing materials to high pressure, ranging approximately between 45 and 60 kilobars, but a comparatively low temperature range between approximately 1600-2370F (900-1300C). These conditions are known to be met in two places on Earth: the litospheric mantle below relatively stable continental plates, and at the site of a meteorite impact.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-To-Turn-Peanut-Butter-into-Diamonds-58748.shtml

These celebrities are joining with the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative to cause an uproar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJWlprZ7-Bo. Are you going to join in on the action?

Did you know….

• The Amur leopard is one of the most endangered animals in the world.
• In one stride, a cheetah can cover 23 to 26 feet (7 to 8 meters).
• The name “jaguar” comes from a Native American word meaning “he who kills with one leap.”
• In the wild, lions live for an average of 12 years and up to 16 years. They live up to 25 years in captivity.
• The mountain lion and the cheetah share an ancestor.

Source: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/big-cats/facts/

Slime is a very important ingredient for many animals and provides many important functions, from facilitating motion to digestion to defense. For the opossum when it gets scared it pretends to be dead!

The scared-stiff opossum hangs its tongue out of its mouth, doesn’t move a muscle, poos on itself, and releases a gross-smelling green slime from its anus (its butt,) that smells like rotting flesh. Most predators won’t eat animals that are already dead so they leave the opossum alone.

Cows have four stomachs to help with digestion. However, there is one “true” stomach and three compartment stomachs. The compartments are called the Rumen, the Reticulum and the Omasum. In the Animal Grossology exhibit you can see how all the stomach compartments work together.

Ruminants eat rapidly and do not chew much of their food completely before they swallow it. The liquid part of their food enters the reticulum first, while the solid part of their food enters the rumen where it softens. Bacteria in the rumen initially break it down as a first step in digestion. Ruminants later regurgitate it into the mouth where they chew their cud. Cows chew their cud about six to eight times per day, spending a total of five to seven hours in rumination. The chewed cud goes directly into the other chambers of the stomach, where various microorganisms assist in further digestion.

Owls are a pretty interesting species of animal. They cannot consume hair or bones. That means that they must ball those up in their stomachs. Then when food is digested they hurl them out of their mouths in owl pellets.

If you follow us on Twitter (@Natgeoexhibit) get excited! We are having three new voices join the account and they’ll be sharing interesting quips, tips and ideas from the floor of the Museum. Here’s what they had to say about themselves!

DaMarah

Hey everyone, my name is DaMarah and I’m a Visitor Service Representative for NG Museum. I’m currently a college student studying Business Administration. I’m a very active person who loves sports, mainly Track and Basketball. Learning weird fun facts are cool. Reading or finding out about good books are my weakness. I used to hand model jewelry for a nonprofit I once volunteered for. I’m a friendly and nice person, so if you see me around the museum, don’t hesitate to say hello.

Kelsey

I’m Kelsey, a native Iowan (Go Hawkeyes!) and a National Geographic newbie. I love trivia both about myself, (I have 60+ first cousins) and about National Geographic (the first magazine was published in October 1888).

I’m always up for learning new things and can’t wait to put all this exhibit trivia to good use.

Eric

Eric recently moved from Phoenix, AZ to Washington, D.C., and joined the Museum staff in May of 2011. He holds a B.A. in History from Arizona State University, where his studies focused on modern American history and foreign relations. With a background in public relations, Eric loves being a representative of the National Geographic Society to the Museum’s visitors, leading educational programs, and providing additional background information and details about the exhibits. Eric is particularly excited to explore new ways of connecting the public to the Museum and its programs through the use of social media.

• The cheetah is the world’s fastest land mammal. It can run at speeds of up to 70 miles an hour (113 kilometers an hour).
• An adult lion’s roar can be heard up to five miles (eight kilometers) away.
• Long, muscular hind legs enable snow leopards to leap seven times their own body length in a single bound.
• A tiger’s stripes are like fingerprints—no two animals have the same pattern.
• The strongest climber among the big cats, a leopard can carry prey twice its weight up a tree.

Source: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/big-cats/facts/

Male Darwin Frogs hold their frog eggs in their vocal saks and then give birth to the frogs by vomiting them out of their mouths. In fact, this is one of the most interesting ways that frogs give birth but there are many others!