An extinct variety of zebra only had stripes on its head and neck.

The last Quagga died in a zoo in 1883. At the time no one realized that this actually meant the animal was extinct. Their wild population dwindled in their native South African grasslands with the introduction of non-native sheep and goats. Because they competed with the Quagga for grass to graze on, settlers hunted them to extinction.

On March 19th, the Moon will be the closest it has been to Earth in 18 years.



The moon - stalking the Earth since 4.4 billion BC. Picture courtesy NASA

In fact, the Moon will only be 221,556 miles away! This event, called a lunar perigee, is a source of contention between scientists and astrological theorists. Some believe that having the Moon so close can cause all sorts of natural disasters, such as the 1938 New England hurricane, Cyclone Tracy in 1974, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 - all events which fell on or near the appearance of a “SuperMoon.”

The world’s most typical person is a 28-year-old Chinese man.

National Geographic recently sought to determine the characteristics of the most typical human being. Because the world’s largest ethnic group is Han Chinese, males outnumber females, and the world’s average age is 28, this person would have to fulfill all these qualifications. The magazine even took it a step further! Its researchers averaged the faces of 190,000 of the world’s 9-million-plus 28-year-old Han Chinese men.

In addition to age, gender, and ethnicity, this individual would also have a few more typical attributes. He would have to be right-handed and earn less than $12,000 a year. To be totally average, this man would also be required to own a cell phone, but not a bank account, because less than a quarter of the world has one!

More typical facts can be seen in National Geographic’s atypical YouTube video below!

Mr. Monopoly (of the famous board game) was modeled after the famous American banker and financier J.P. Morgan.

This is according to Under the Boardwalk: The Monopoly Story, a new documentary on Monopoly. Filmmaker Kevin Tostado, who has also worked on the TV show Heroes, is a huge Monopoly fan. He’s competed in Monopoly tournaments himself, and has even dressed as Mr. Monopoly in the past.

His new film will highlight the world of competitive Monopoly. It will feature all sorts of Monopoly fanatics, including people with Mr. Monopoly tattooed on their arm, or the entire board tattooed on their backs! The film will also feature insider tips from the pros. For instance, you could keep your opponents from building hotels if you buy up all of the houses!

Source: AOL News

Also See: Under The Boardwalk

The first man to survive going over Niagara Falls later died from slipping on an orange peel.

Bobby Leach, a circus stuntman from Cornwell, England, wanted to be the first to accomplish the Niagara Falls “triple challenge.” The challenge entailed three tasks: a barrel trip through its rapids into a whirlpool, parachuting off the Upper Suspension Bridge into the river above the rapids, and going over the Falls themselves in a barrel.

Leach accomplished the first two legs of the challenge in 1908 and 1910. On the afternoon of July 25, 1911, Bobby Leach entered his 8-foot long steel barrel and took the plunge! It took 22 minutes for the barrel to be retrieved, and though Bobby had survived, he had broken his jaw and both kneecaps!

Apple’s original logo featured Sir Isaac Newton.

This first logo was designed by Ron Wayne, one of Apple’s three co-founders, and was only used for the Apple I computer. More of a picture than a logo, it portrayed the famous scene in which Isaac Newton is pondering gravity beneath an apple tree. Less than a year later, Steve Jobs, another co-founder, requested a redesign because he felt it was too intellectual and far too intricate to be stamped on computers.

The newer logo, created by art designer Rob Janoff, was far more simplistic - it featured a partially bitten apple striped with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. This served as Apple’s primary logo for 20 years until 1997 when Jobs decided to ditch the rainbow stripes for a solid-colored fruit.

Source: The Apple Museum

McDonald's has unique menu items in every country. In Portugal, you can order soup!

More examples: in India (where much of the population does not eat beef) the restaurant offers such fare as the Chicken Maharaja Mac and the potato-patty McAloo Tikki Burger. This does not mean that McDonald’s has replaced its traditional offerings in these locations - they merely supplement their menu with a bit of localized flair in many places.

Apple used to sell a featureless iPhone app for $999.99.

The application, called “I Am Rich,” was developed to serve the purpose its name suggests - simply as a distinction that the user who purchased it is wealthy enough to do so! When activated, the app just shows a glowing red gem onscreen - that’s it. $999.99 is apparently the highest amount a web developer can sell their applications for through the iPhone’s App Store, otherwise we’re sure the program’s creator, Armin Heinrich, would have charged more!

 

Albert Einstein’s brain was stolen after he died.

Tiny metal electrodes are attached to Albert Einstein's
head to pick up impulses from his brain and to
magnify and record them for study in 1950 in
Princeton, N.J. Dr. Alejandro Arellano kneels
beside him.

The man who performed the autopsy on Einstein’s body shortly after he died was a Princeton pathologist by the name of Thomas Harvey. Harvey removed the brain for examination, as is customary during autopsies, but he never replaced it. At the cost of his job and reputation, Harvey instead placed it in a jar of formaldehyde and took it home!

Elephants are afraid of mice. (Watch the video!)

...or at least they are very careful to avoid them. The guys on Mythbusters proved this myth to be plausible - check it out in the video below!