THE BIGGEST FLOWER IN THE WORLD

The world's biggest single flower comes from a plant that spends most of its life unseen.This is because the plant called rafflesia, is a parasite.It lives in the jungles of Malaysia ,inside the roots of tropical vines, and is visible only when it blooms once a year.The first sign of a rafflesia flower comes in the form of a fleshy cabbage-like bud ,which slowly erupts out of the ground.This gradually opens to form an immense reddish brown bowl,ringed by rubbery white and purple petals .The flower can be upto 1m across and weigh 7 kg.It has a powerful ordor of rotting flesh, which attracts flies in their thousands.
Once pollinated, the rafflesia flower forms a large squashy fruit filled with seeds.This must then await the heavy tread of a large animal, such as a rhinoceros or elephant.When the fruit is trodden on ,it bursts, and the seeds stick to the animal's feet.
As the animal moves through the jungle,the rafflesia seeds get pushed into the soil .In this way they stand a good chance of being planted near the roots of another host vine, so that the process of parasitic life can start again.

ARCHER FISH'S WATER GUN

The archer fish sets its sights above the water when in search of dinner.Found in rivers in India, Asia, and northern America, it has large eyes that face forward.through the water's surface it can spot insects perched on branches overhead.The fish shoots at these insects by using a groove in the roof of its mouth, and its tongue, which is long and thin at the front but thick and muscular at the back.Once it is within the spitting distance,the fish presses its tongue against the roof of its mouth ,turning the groove into a narrow tube,with the front of the tongue forming a valve.It jerks its gills covers shut and flick the tip of the tongue, sending up a jet of water.The jet knocks the insect off balance into the water.An adult fish can score a hit from 1.5m ,but young fish must learn to compensate for the distortion caused as light enters the water before they can strike with such accuracy.

MANTIS:NATURES MASTER PIECE

MASTER OF DISGUISE

It can be difficult to spot a mantis because it is skilled in the art of masquerade ,mimicking the exact shape of a leaf or hue of a petal. The mantis camouflages itself both to hide from predators, such as birds and lizards, and to catch insects that unwittingly land on it thinking it is a flower or a leaf.
There are 1800 types of mantis, mainly living in tropical climates. There disguises are quite diverse-differing in colour , shape and texture-but all are impressively detailed. For example, the orchid mantis has flanges along its legs and body that take on the exact color and texture of an orchid flower. The mantis sits among the blooms, waiting for its insect pray to approach. To complete its disguise the mantis may even rock gently from side to side, imitating the way a petal might flutter in a slight breeze. Once an insect approaches, the 'flower' bursts in to life and the mantis snatches the creature with its hook lined forelegs.

NOTE:the species of mantis shown above is Choeradodis rhombicollis.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANIMALS

The chameleon has a tongue that is 1.5 times the length of its body!

Squirrels can't remember where they hide half of their nuts.

Only male crickets can chirp.

A rabbit's teeth never stop growing.

Alligators cannot move backwards.

Texas horned toads can shoot blood out of the corners of their eyes.

The faster kangaroos hop, the less energy they use.

An okapi's tongue can grow to be 17 inches long.
An owl's eyes are bigger than its brain.

Salamanders breath through their skin.

The guanaco of South America, a cousin of the camel, has pads on its feet to keep its feet from burning on desert sand or freezing in mountain snow.

Foxes sometimes nip at the heals of cattle so the stomping of the cattle makes mice and other rodents come out of the ground, for the fox to eat.

Salamanders are known to come out of wood when it was burning inside a fireplace, this is because Salamanders hibernate in wood.

Whether an alligator is a male or female is determined by the temperature of the nest where the egg is hatched – 90 to 93 degrees will make it a male; 82 to 86 degrees will turn it into a female.

Some animals produce their own lights, called bioluminescence. The Brazilian railroad worm has a red light on its head and green lights down its side. All it needs to drive on the street is a turn signal.

You may have heard someone say, "It’s raining cats and dogs." There have been actual documented cases from all over the world of fish, frogs, dead birds, snakes, snails, beetles, worms and jellyfish raining down from the sky in great numbers, but no reports of showers of cats or dogs.

Skunks can shoot their bad-smelling spray only about two yards, but you can smell it up to two and a half miles away.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT SNAKES

The black-necked cobra, which lives mostly in Africa, spits its venom into the eyes of its victim, to cause it blindness.

There are no snakes in New Zealand.

The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that one bite can kill twenty people or one elephant.

The fastest moving land snake is the Black Mamba, which can move up to 7 miles per hour.

The King Cobra has enough venom in its bite that it can kill up to 13 adults.

The Australian Brown Snake's venom is so powerful that only 1/14,000th of on ounce is needed to kill a human being.

Taipan snakes have 50 times more toxic than a cobra snake.

Snake venom is ninety percent protein.

Snake is a delicacy in China.

Most snakes have six rows of teeth.

A snake charmer in Bangladesh once found 3,500 poisonous cobras and their eggs hidden underneath the floors of two suburban homes.

Sea snakes are the most poisonous snakes in the world.

AMAZING DINOSAURS FACTS

Most dinosaurs walked on their toes.

The stegosaurus had a brain the size of a walnut!

Dinosaurs probably lived to be between 75 to 300 years of age. Scientists figured this out from looking at the structure of their bones.

FACTS ABOUT RATS

Most hamsters blink one eye at a time.

A rat can last longer without water than a camel can.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT MONKEYS

The mandrill baboon has a red nose, blue cheeks, and an orange beard!

Chimpanzees use tools more than any other animal except man.

A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't.

Squirrel Monkeys are the most common monkey in South-America.

Squirrel Monkeys tails are only partly prehensile.

Squirrel Monkeys move through trees by leaping.

Colobus monkey’s bushy tails, which often exceeds the length of their bodies.

Colobus monkeys have a long, black fur coat with a white stripe running down the sides of their backs to their tails.

Zanzibar is the only place where you will find the Kirk's Red Colobus monkey.

The male howler monkey of Central and South America is the noisiest land animal, which can be heard clearly from a distance of ten miles away.

The Spider Monkey offspring are dependent on their mothers for the first 2 to 3 years, with the females giving birth every 3 to 4 years.

Spider Monkeys will use all five appendages; arms, legs and tail, to scramble through trees.

Spider Monkeys have hook-like fingers, but no thumb, and the tip of their tail can support the weight of their entire body.

Spider Monkeys are very good climbers and are usually found in groups of around 30, often broken up into smaller sub-groups of around 3 or 4.

Groups of Snow Monkeys are primarily formed by adult females, there are roughly three time the number of adult females than there are adult males and young.

Human birth control pills work on gorillas.

Gorillas can catch human colds and other illnesses.

Gorillas are considered apes, not monkeys. The way to distinguish between an ape and a monkey is that apes do not have tails.

Gorilla's have unique nose prints just as humans have unique fingerprints.

Snow Monkeys live in areas where the temperature is an average of -10ºC.

The Old World monkeys include some terrestrial species such as the baboons, while New World monkeys are exclusively arboreal. Some New World monkeys have a prehensile, or grasping, tail. The tail can be used like a hand.

Monkeys are divided into two geographically separate groups - the New World monkeys of South America and the Old World monkeys, found in Africa and Asia.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT FROGS

Some frogs can be frozen solid, then thawed, and continue living.

Some frogs can pull their eyes into their throat and help push food down!

Frogs live on all continents except Antarctica.

Wood frogs can be frozen solid and then thawed, and continue living. They use the glucose in their body to protect their vital organs while they are in a frozen state.

When threatened, the horned toad shoots blood from it's eyes.

Unlike a frog a toad cannot jump.

There is a substance in the skin of the African clawed frog that helps in fighting infection.

The sound made by the toadfish when mating underwater is so loud that it can be heard by humans on the shore.

The smallest frog is the "Brazilian baby frog", which is smaller than a dime.

The mating call of a male toadfish, who are underwater, is so loud that it can be heard by humans above water.

The fire-bellied toad has a bright red belly that it displays to predators as a defense mechanism. It is also a warning that the toad's skin is poisonous.

The Spring peeper (a frog) can survive the winter season with 65% of its body water as ice.

In 1864, A Quebec farmer found a frog inside a hailstone.

Frogs do not need to drink water as they absorb the water through their skin.

Found in Argentina, the ornate horned frog can eat an entire mouse with one swallow.

An adult "Gold Frog" measures to be 9.8 millimeters in body length.

The bee frog of Africa is no bigger than a bee.

Frogs start their lives as 'eggs' often laid in or near fresh water.

The smallest frog is less than 3/8 of an inch in length.

The largest frog in the world is called Goliath frog.

Frogs belong to a group of animals called amphibians.

INTERESTING REINDEER FACTS

When the reindeer make their yearly journey across the icy Arctic region, the chemical keeps them from freezing—much as antifreeze keeps a car from freezing up in winter.

The moss contains a special chemical that helps reindeer keep their body fluids warm.

Most animals don’t eat moss. It’s hard to digest, and it has little nutritional value. But reindeer fill up with lots of moss.

INTERESTING KANGAROOS FACTS

A kangaroo can jump 45 feet!

The faster kangaroos hop, the less energy they use.

When the are in danger, kangaroos will beat the ground loudly with their hind feet.

Unlike other four legged mammals, kangaroos cannot walk backwards.

There is a certain species of kangaroo that is only 2.5 centimeters long when it is born.

A newborn kangaroo weighs approximately 0.03 ounces and is small enough to fit in a teaspoon.

Young kangaroos are called joeys.

A group of kangaroos is called a mob.

Kangaroos are native of Australia.

There are more than 50 different kinds of kangaroos.

INTERESTING COW FACTS

In the U.S., the milk production per dairy cow is approximately 12,000 pounds.

In Colorado, there are about 83,000 dairy cows.

Humans and cows have the same gestation period, which is about nine months.

Dexter is the smallest type of cow. This cow was bred to be a small size for household living.

Dairy cows can produce 20 to 35 gallons of saliva a day.

Cows drink anywhere from 25-50 gallons of water each day.

Cows do not have any upper front teeth. Instead they have a thick pad on the top jaw.

Cows can detect odors up to five miles away.

Cows are able to hear lower and higher frequencies better than human beings.

You would have to milk 260 cows for an entire year to fill a space shuttle's external fuel tank with 529,000 gallons of milk.

There are over 9 million beef and dairy cattle in New Zealand.

There are an equivalent number of cows and people in Friesland, Netherlands.

The temperature of milk when it leaves the body of a cow is 101 degrees Fahrenheit. The milk is then quickly chilled and stored at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The temperature of milk when it is coming out of a cow is about 36 degrees Celsius.

Studies have shown that classical music helps cows produce more milk.

On average, a typical dairy cow lies down and stands up about 14 times a day.

On average, 350 squirts are needed from milking a cow to make a gallon of milk.

A group of crows is called a murder.

A cow releases about 125 gallons of gas per day.

A cow averages 40,000 jaw movements a day.

You can lead a cow up a stairwell but not down a stairwell.

Cows have four-chambered stomachs.

Cows can sleep standing up.

A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

INTERESTING DONKEY FACTS

Mules have one horse and one donkey for a parent.

Baby donkeys or baby mules are also known as "Foals."

More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.

A female donkey's milk is closest to human milk.

AMAZING HORSE FACTS

A female seahorse lets her husband store her babies inside his stomach!

Sea horses pull themselves around with their chins leading them.

Male zebras are called stallions. Zebras usually travel in herds.

No two zebras have stripes that are exactly alike.

Zebras enemies include hyenas, wild dogs, and lions.

A horse will respond to your emotions/feelings mainly because they are very sensitive animals. Example: if you are angry / frustrated the horse will be frustrated also. But if you are happy and smiling the horse should be good in your lesson or ride.

There are no two zebras who have stripes that are exactly the same.

There are approximately 75,000,000 horses in the world.

It's not only zebra's fur that is striped, their skin is also striped.

All racehorses in the U.S. celebrate their birthday on January 1st.

A full grown horse's intestines are approximately 89 feet long.

If a horse rests it head on your shoulder it means the horse trusts you.

When you hold your hand out to a horse and the horse comes over and blows out warm air onto the palm of your hand it normally means that the horse wants to be friends with you.

Horses have stomachs also and they need to eat. Horses should be fed two times a day.

AMAZING LION FACTS

Only 5 to 10 percent of cheetah cubs make it to adulthood.

Cheetahs are the fastest land animal and can reach speeds up to 72mph.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Lions cannot roar until they reach the age of two.

An adult lion's roar is so loud, it can be heard up to five miles away.

A lion feeds once every three to four days.

Between 1902 and 1907, the same tiger killed 434 people in India.

A white tiger can only be born when both parents carry the gene for white colouring.

Some wild tigers can eat up to 40 pounds of meat at a time, and not eat again for several days.

The female lion does more than 90% of the hunting while the male simply prefers to rest.

A cheetah does not roar like a lion - it purrs like a cat (meow).

A cheetah can run 76 kilometers per hour (46 miles per hour) - that's really fast! The fastest human beings runs only about 30 kilometers per hour (18 miles per hour).

AMAZING ELEPHANT FACTS

Elephants have a slower pulse of 27 and for a canary it is 1000!

Only one mammal can't jump -- the elephant.

The trunk of an elephant can hold up to two gallons of water.

The elephant is the national animal of Thailand.

In a day, an elephant can drink 80 gallons of water.

In 1916, an elephant was tried and hung for murder in Erwin, Tennessee.

Elephants have been known to learn up to 60 commands.

During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

An elephant's trunk can hold 2.5 gallons of water.

An elephant's tooth can weight as much as three kilograms.

An elephant in the wild can eat anywhere from 100 - 1000 pounds of vegetation in a 16 hour period.

An elephant can live up to the age of seventy, or in some cases even more.

Elephants purr like cats do, as a means of communication.

An African adult elephant eats about six hundred pounds of food a day; that’s four percent of the elephant’s body weight!

FISH FACTS

The stonefish, which lives off the coast of Australia, is the most poisonous fish in the world.

A slug has four noses.

Octopuses have 3 hearts.

A goldfish can live up to 40 years.

A starfish doesn't have a brain.

Killer Whales are the only sea animal that outranks the Tiger Shark as top predator of the sea.

The lung fish can live out of water for as long as four years!

Scallops swim with jet-propelled speed by clapping its shell open and shut.

Starfish have eight eyes - one at the end of each leg.

The snapping shrimp, only 1 1/2 inches long, makes a noise with its one big claw, which sounds exactly like a firecracker.

The leatherback is the biggest sea turtle, and it can weigh as much as 1,500 pounds.

The emperor penguin is playful, and often times lies on its chest and side to slide along the ice and snow.

A Giant squid's eye can be as big as a basketball.

A jellyfish is 95 percent water!
Some fish have eyes that are the same size as their stomach!

The hippopotamus gives birth under water and nurses its young in the river as well, though the young hippos do come up periodically for air.

Animals with some of the longest lives are the Marion’s tortoise (152 years), the fin whale (116 years) and the deep-sea clam (100 years).

The largest member of the dolphin family is called an orca or killer whale.

There are about 40 species or kinds of porpoises and dolphins.

Porpoises and dolphins communicate with each other by squeaking, growling, moaning, and whistling.

Flying fish actually glide on wind currents above the surface of the water, sometimes up to 20 feet above the surface.

Starfish can have up to 16 arms!

The 14-foot-long narwhal is a whale whose tooth can reach up to eight feet long!

Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

The blue whale, the largest animal to have ever existed, is 96 feet long and weights 125 tons. This is as much as 4 large dinosaurs (Brontosauri), 23 elephants, 230 cows or 1800 men.

When an octopus gets angry, it shoots a stream of black "ink".

Minnows have teeth located on a bone in their throat.

The smallest fish in the world are the pygmy goby and the Luzon goby, from the Philippines, which are only one-half-inch long when they are full grown.

The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds.

A newly hatched fish is called a "fry."

At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal.

Fish have gel-slime on their bodies that protects them from parasites.

Fish swimming at depths of 15,000 feet (almost 3 miles down!) can withstand a pressure of 7,000 pounds per square inch. They are able to live in these crushing depths by pumping gas into their swim bladder.

One way to tell the age of a fish is by looking at its scales. They have growth rings just like trees. These are called circuli. Clusters of them are called annuli. Each annuli show one year.

The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons.

GIRAFFES FACTS

A giraffe's heart weighs an incredible 24 pounds.

A giraffe can go longer without water than a camel.

A full grown giraffe's neck can weigh as much as 500 pounds.

The tallest mammal in the world is the giraffe.

Giraffes have black tongues.

In one minute, the heart of a giraffe can pump 160 gallons of blood.

An adult giraffe's kick is so powerful that it can decapitate a lion.

Adult male giraffes bang their long necks together in a form of ritual fighting, during which no harm is done to either giraffe.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

BEAR FACTS

Alaskan brown bears, world's largest meat-eating animals that live on land, can weigh as much as 1,700 pounds (771 kilograms)

The grizzly bear can run as fast as the average horse!!

Bears are native to the continents of North America, Asia, Europe, and South America.

At birth, a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.

The wild panda's diet consist 99% of bamboo.

The only predator that polar bears have are humans.

The Kodiak, which is native to Alaska, is the largest bear and can measure up to eight feet and weigh as much as 1,700 pounds.

Polar bears have been known to swim more than 60 miles without resting.

Polar bears can smell seals who are 20 miles away.

Polar bears can eat as much as ten percent of their body weight in less than one hour.

Polar bears are excellent swimmers. They have been known to swim more than 60 miles without a rest.

Polar bear livers contain so much Vitamin A that it can be fatal if eaten by a human.

Not all polar bears hibernate; only pregnant females polar bears do.

In the last 30 years, only seven people have been killed by a polar bear in Canada.

If you spray an antiseptic spray on a polar bear, its fur will turn purple.

98% of brown bears in the United States are in Alaska.

Female and male black bears cannot tolerate being around each other except when they breed.

All polar bears are left handed.

Male bears are called boars.

The smallest species of bears is called sun or Malayan bears.

Bears whose brown fur is tipped with lighter-colored hairs are called grizzly bears .

DOG FACTS

It costs an average of $5,000 to raise a dog to ten years old.

There are almost 60 million dogs in the United States.

Irish Wolfhound dogs have a short lifespan and live about 7-8 years.

In the United States, every year about 15 people die from dog bites.

In 2002, dogs have killed more people in the U.S. than the Great White shark has killed in the past 100 years.

If you were to remove the scent receptors from a dog's nose and lay them out flat, they would cover an area greater than the dog itself.

Dogs can be trained to detect an upcoming epileptic seizure.

Dalmatian puppies do not have any spots on them when they are born. They actually develop them as they get older.

Border collies are the most intelligent breed of dog.

Bloodhounds have been used since the 1600's for tracking criminals.

Approximately 87% of dog owners say that when they watch T.V. their dog curls up beside them or at their feet.

An average city dog lives approximately three years longer than an average country dog.

There is a doggy disco held in Italy every year where owners can dance with their dogs.

The largest dog in the world is the Irish Wolfhound.

The dumbest dog in the world is the Afghan Hounds.

The dog with the largest ears in the world is a Basset Hound named Mr. Jeffries. The dog's ears are 11.5 inches longs, and are insured for $47,800.

The Basenji dog is the only dog that is not able to bark.

Pixie, a Siberian Husky, gave birth to 7 puppies, one of which was bright green.

Nose prints are used to identify dogs, much like humans use fingerprints.

All dogs are the descendant of the wolf. These wolves lived in eastern Asia about 15,000 years ago.

About 30% of American admit to talking to their dogs or leaving messages on their answering machines for their dogs while they are away.

A dog by the name of Laika was launched into space aboard the Russian spacecraft.

Dogs can't see colors. They're color blind.

Dogs sweat only through their tongues.

Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed... or is that paws?!

The fastest dog, the greyhound, can reach speeds of upto 41.7 miles per hour.

CAT FACTS

A domestic cat sleeps for upto 14 hours a day.

The snow leopard protects itself from extreme cold when it sleeps by wrapping its 3-foot-long tail around its nose.

The puma and the leopard are the highest jumping mammals. They are able to reach a height of 16.5 feet.

A cat will clean itself with paw and tongue after a dangerous experience or when it has fought with another cat. This is an attempt by the animal to soothe its nerves by doing something natural and instinctive.

The smallest cat is the Singapore and weighs only 4 pounds.

Cats can make over 100 vocal sounds, while dogs can only make 10.

A cat uses whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through. The whiskers act as antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage.

The majority of cats do not have any eyelashes.

Pound for pound, leopards are said to be seven times stronger than humans.

Panthers are known as black leopards, as they are the same species of leopard. If looked at closely, black spots can be seen on a panther.

One out of four American households own a cat.

Just like fingerprints, every cats nose pad is different.

In the 1800's cats were used to deliver mail. In 1879, in Belgium 37 cats were used to deliver mail to villages, however they found that the cats were not disciplined enough to do this.

In a lifetime, the average house cat spends approximately 10,950 hours purring.

In 1888, an Egyptian peasant discovered an estimated three hundred thousand mummified cats in Beni Hassan, Egypt. Of the cats that were not stolen once, the find was made public, the remaining mummified cats were shipped to Great Britain to be used as agricultural fertilizer.

A house cat spends 70% of its time sleeping.

A fall of 30 feet can be survived my most cats.

25% of cat owners blow dry the cat's hair after giving it a bath.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A cat sees about six times better than a human at night because of the tapetum lucidum , a layer of extra reflecting cells which absorb light.

A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.

A cat can run about 20 kilometers per hour (12 miles per hour) when it grows up. This one is going nowhere today - it is too lazy !.

INTERESTING HUMAN BODY FACTS

The smile is the most frequently used facial expression. A smile can use anywhere from a pair of 5 to 53 facial muscles.

The slowest growing finger nail is on the thumb nail and the fastest growing is the finger nail on the middle finger.

The sensitivity of a woman's middle finger is reduced during menstruation.

The same amount of calories are burned by doing 6 sessions that are 5 minutes each of an activity and doing 1 session of that activity for 30 minutes.

The pectin that is found in apples aids in lowering cholesterol levels.

The most frequent season for most suicides to occur is in the spring. The winter months have the lowest number of suicides.

The majority of American models are skinnier than 98% of American women.

The longest hiccups on record was by an American pig farmer whose hiccups persisted from 1922 to 1987.

The longer white infants from low-income families are breast-fed, the less likely they will be overweight as young children, researchers said on Monday.

The length of a human esophagus is 25 centimeters.

The human liver performs over 500 functions.

The feet have approximately 250,000 sweat glands.

The eight most popular foods to cause food allergies are: milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

The early occurrence of a fetus yawning is at eleven weeks after conception.

The average ear grows 0.01 inches in length every year.

The Gastric Flu can cause projectile vomiting.

The Dutch people are known to be the tallest people in Europe.

Studies have shown that the scent of Rosemary can help in better mental performance and make individuals feel more alert.

Some brands of toothpaste contain glycerin or glycerol, which is also an ingredient in antifreeze.

Soaking beans for twelve hours in water before they are cooked can reduce flatulence caused by beans.

Scientists say that babies that are breastfed are more likely to be slimmer as adults than those that are not breastfed.

Scientists have determined that having guilty feelings may actually damage your immune system

Research has indicated that approximately eleven minutes are cut off the life of an average male smoker from each cigarette smoked.

People have the tendency to chew the food on the side that they most often use their hand.

Over 600,000 people died as a result of the Spanish influenza epidemic.

Only one out of every three people wash their hands when leaving a public bathroom.

One ragweed plant can release as many as a million grains of pollen in one day.

One out of 20 people have an extra rib.

One average, men spend 60 hours a year shaving.

On average, falling asleep while driving results in 550 accidents per day in the United States.

AMAZING PREGNANCY FACTS

The world's first test tube twins are Stephen and Amanda Mays born June 5, 1981.

Some people drink the urine of pregnant women to build up their immune system.

The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.

Every day, over 1,300 babies are born prematurely in the USA.

During pregnancy, the average woman's uterus expands up to five hundred times its normal size.

Changing a cat's litter box can be dangerous to pregnant women, as cat feces sometimes carry a parasite that can cause harm to the developing baby.

A pregnant woman's dental health can affect her unborn child.

May babies are on avearge 200 grams heavier than babies born in other months.

When a women is pregnant, her senses are all heightened.

Studies show that couples that smoke during the time of conception have a higher chance of having a girl compared to couples that do not smoke.

AMAZING DISEASE FACTS

People that use mobile phones are 2.5 time more likely to develop cancer in areas of the brain that are adjacent to the ear they use to talk on the mobile phone.

Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress.

Over 436,000 U.S. Troops were exposed to depleted uranium during the first Gulf war.

On average, 90% of the people that have the disease Lupus are female.

Many cancer patients that are treated with chemotherapy lose their hair. For some when the hair grows back, it can grow back a different colour, or be curly or straight.

Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for about 180,000 deaths per year.

Chances of a women getting breast cancer are increased by excessive use of alcohol.

A popular superstition is that if you put a piece of bread in a baby's crib, it will keep away diseases.

A person that is struck by lightning has a greater chance of developing motor neurons disease.

Every year in the U.S., there are 178,000 new cases of lung cancer.

Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Asthma affects one in fifteen children under the age of eighteen.

Every eleven minutes in the U.S., a woman dies of breast cancer.

Due to eating habits in the USA, one in three children born in the year 2000 have a chance of getting type II diabetes.

The oldest known disease in the world is leprosy.

The number one cause of rabies in the United States are bats.

Coughing can cause air to move through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound — over a thousand feet per second!

A headache and inflammatory pain can be reduced by eating 20 tart cherries.

The incidents of immune system diseases has increased over 200% in the last five years.

The flu pandemic of 1918 killed over 20 million people.

Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity.

Every three days a human stomach gets a new lining.

The first owner of the Marlboro Company, Wayne McLaren, died of lung cancer.

Soldiers disease is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a disease caused by ticks.

A person afflicted with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands and feet.

A study indicates that smokers are likely to die on average six and a half years earlier than non-smokers.

A person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day will on average lose two teeth every ten years.

Lady Peseshet is known to be the world's first known female physician. She practiced during the time of the pyramids, which was the fourth dynasty.

The DNA of humans is closer to a rat than a cat.

Teenage suicide is the second cause of death in the state of Wisconsin.

Teenage cosmetic surgeries nearly doubled in the USA between 1996 and 1998.

Studies indicate that weightlifters working out in blue gyms can handle heavier weights.

Studies indicate that listening to music is good for digestion.

Studies indicate that epileptic patients that listen to Mozart's Piano Sonata can dramatically decrease their chance of a seizure.

Lack of sleep can affect your immune system and reduce your ability to fight infections.

It takes about three hours for food to be broken down in the human stomach.

Over 40 million Americans have chronic bad breath.

Carbon monoxide can kill a person in less than 15 minutes.

Fourteen people die each day from asthma in the United States.

Every day the human stomach produces about 2 liters of hydrochloric acid.

Nearly half of all Americans suffer from symptoms of burnout.In humans, the epidermal layer of skin, which consists of many layers of skin regenerates every 27 days.

Native Americans used to use pumpkin seeds for medicine.

In ancient Egypt, doctors used jolts from the electric catfish to reduce the pain of arthritis.

The lining of the a person's stomach is replaced every 36 hours.

The purpose of tonsils is to destroy foreign substances that are swallowed or breathed in.

In the United States, poisoning is the fourth leading cause of death among children.

The risk of cardiovascular disease is twice as high in women that snore regularly compared to women who do not snore.

The stomach of an adult can hold 1.5 liters of material.

The stomach can break down goat's milk faster than the milk of a cow.

The smoke that is produced by a fire kills more people than a burn does because of carbon monoxide and other dangerous gases.

It has been medically been proven that laughter is an effective pain killer.

Influenza caused over twenty-one million deaths in 1918.

In a year, there are 60,000 trampoline injuries that occur in the U.S.

Even if you eat food standing on your head, the food will still end up in your stomach.

A person infected with the SARS virus, has a 95-98% chance of recovery.

3000 children die every day in Africa because of malaria.

AMAZING HEART FACTS

Women hearts beat faster than men.

Three years after a person quits smoking, there chance of having a heart attack is the same as someone who has never smoked before.

The human heart weighs less than a pound.

The human heart can create enough pressure that it could squirt blood at a distance of thirty feet.

The first open heart surgery was performed by Dr. Daniel Hall Williams in 1893.

Scientists have discovered that the longer the ring finger is in boys the less chance they have of having a heart attack.

The right lung of a human is larger than the left one. This is because of the space and placement of the heart.

The human heart beat roughly 35 million times a year.

Olive oil can help in lowering cholesterol levels and decreasing the risk of heart complications.

In a lifetime, the heart pumps about one million barrels of blood.

In 1967, the first successful heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa.

People that suffer from gum disease are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack.

Most heart attacks occur between the hours of 8 and 9 AM.

The human heart beast roughly 35 million times a year.

At one time it was thought that the heart controlled a person's emotions.

Every day 2,700 people die of heart disease.

During a typical human life span, the human heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times.

In one day your heart beats 100,000 times.

For humans the normal pulse is 70 heartbeats per minute.

AMAZING BLOOD FACTS

Two million red blood cells die every second.

There are approximately 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.

Seven percent of a humans body weight is made up of blood.

In the early nineteenth century some advertisements claimed that riding the carousel was good for the circulation of blood.

Each day 400 gallons of recycled blood are pumped through the kidneys.

By donating just one pint of blood, four lives can be saved.

Blood is such a good stain that Native Americans used it for paint.

The kidneys filter over 400 gallons of blood each day.

The average life span of a single red blood cell is 120 days.

Blood accounts for about 8% of a human's body weight.

A woman has approximately 4.5 liters of blood in her body, while men have 5.6 liters.

Your blood takes a very long trip through your body. If you could stretch out all of a human's blood vessels, they would be about 60,000 miles long. That's enough to go around the world twice.

Half your body’s red blood cells are replaced every seven days.

If all the blood vessels in your body were laid end to end, they would reach about 60,000 miles.

AMAZING BONE FACTS

The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes bone which is located in the ear.

There are 54 bones in your hands including the wrists.

The only bone fully grown at birth is located in the ear.

The human face is made up of 14 bones.

The chances of getting a cavity is higher if candy is eaten slowly throughout the day compared to eating it all at once and then brushing your teeth.

If an identical twin grows up without having a certain tooth, the other twin will most likely also grow up with that tooth missing.

Humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.

Gardening is said to be one of the best exercises for maintaining healthy bones.

Enamel is hardest substance in the human body.

Although the outsides of a bone are hard, they are generally light and soft inside. They are about 75% water.

Adult human bones account for 14% of the body's total weight.

In 2000 babies are born with a tooth that is already visible.

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

Your thigh bone is stronger than concrete.

The strongest bone in your body is the femur (thighbone), and it's hollow!

AMAZING TONGUE FACTS

Close to fifty percent of the bacteria in the mouth lives on the surface of our tongue.

There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.

Your tongue has 3,000 taste buds.

85% of the population can curl their tongue into a tube.

AMAZING BRAIN FACTS

Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men in the United States.

The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons.

From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain.

People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.

Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced.

It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation.

A women from Berlin Germany has had 3,110 gallstones taken out of her gall bladder.

In America, the most common mental illness is Anxiety Disorders.

Your brain is 80% water.

Your brain is move active and thinks more at night than during the day.

AMAZING HAIR FACTS

On average, a man spends about five months of his life shaving.

On average, a hair strand's life span is five and a half years.

On average redheads have 90,000 hairs. People with black hair have about 110,000 hairs.

Next to bone marrow, hair is the fastest growing tissue in the human body.

In a lifetime, an average man will shave 20,000 times.

Humans have about the same number of hair follicles as a chimpanzee has.

Hair will fall out faster on a person that is on a crash diet.

The average human head weighs about eight pounds.

The reason why some people get a cowlick is because the growth of their hair is in a spiral pattern, which causes the hair to either stand straight up, or goes to a certain angle.

The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing "melanin" which gives the hair colour.

The big toe is the foot reflexology pressure point for the head.

The loss of eyelashes is referred to as madarosis.

The longest human beard on record is 17.5 feet, held by Hans N. Langseth who was born in Norway in 1846.

The fastest growing tissue in the human body is hair.

The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs.

Hair and fingernails are made from the same substance, keratin.

Hair is made from the same substance as fingernails.

Eyebrow hair lasts between 3-5 months before it sheds.

The first hair dryer was a vacuum cleaner that was used for drying hair.

A Russian man who wore a beard during the time of Peter the Great had to pay a special tax.

Everyday approximately 35 meters of hair fiber is produced on the scalp of an adult.

Brylcreem, which was created in 1929, was the first man's hair product.

Ancient Egyptians used to think having facial hair was an indication of personal neglect.

A survey done by Clairol 10 years ago came up with 46% of men stating that it was okay to color their hair. Now 66% of men admit to coloring their hair.

A lifespan of an eyelash is approximately 150 days.

AMAZING BODY FACTS

In one day, a human sheds 10 billion skin flakes. This amounts to approximately two kilograms in a year.

Every square inch of the human body has about 19,000,000 skin cells.

Approximately 25% of all scald burns to children are from hot tap water and is associated with more deaths than with any other liquid.

Forty-one percent of women apply body and hand moisturizer at least three times a day.

Every hour one billion cells in the body must be replaced.

The world record for the number of body piercing on one individual is 702, which is held by Canadian Brent Moffat.

The small intestine in the human body is about 2 inches around, and 22 feet long.

The human body makes anywhere from 1 to 3 pints of saliva every 24 hours.

The human body has approximately 37,000 miles of capillaries.

The aorta, which is largest artery located in the body, is about the diameter of a garden hose.

The adult human body requires about 88 pounds of oxygen daily.

It is very common for babies in New Zealand to sleep on sheepskins. This is to help them gain weight faster, and retain their body heat.

An average women has 17 square feet of skin. When a women is in her ninth month of pregnancy she has 18.5 square feet of skin.

The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body.

41% of women apply body or hand moisturizer a minimum three times a day.

A human's small intestine is 6 meters long.

There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. You don't see all of them because most are too fine and light to be noticed.

Every hour one billion cells in the body must be replaced.

Dead cells in the body ultimately go to the kidneys for excretion.

By walking an extra 20 minutes every day, an average person will burn off seven pounds of body fat in an year.

The human body is 75% water.

AMAZING MOUTH FACTS

In a month, a fingernail grows an eighth of an inch.

People whose mouth has a narrow roof are more likely to snore. This is because they have less oxygen going through their nose.

While sleeping, one man in eight snores, and one in ten grinds his teeth.

It takes food seven seconds to go from the mouth to the stomach via the esophagus

AMAZING EYE FACTS

We should never put anything in or near our eyes, unless we have a reason to use eye drops. We would only do that if our doctor or parent told us to use them.

Blinking helps to wash tears over our eyeballs. That keeps them clean and moist. Also, if something is about to hit our eye, we will blink automatically.

Our body has some natural protection for our eyes. Our eyelashes help to keep dirt out of our eyes. Our eyebrows are made to keep sweat from running into our eyes.

Our eyes are very important to us, and we must protect them. We don't want dirt, sand, splinters or even fingers to get in our eyes. We don't want our eyes to get scratched or poked. That could damage our sight!

The study of the iris of the eye is called iridology.

The shark cornea has been used in eye surgery, since its cornea is similar to a human cornea.

The number one cause of blindness in adults in the United States is diabetes.

The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.

The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray.

The cornea is the only living tissue in the human body that does not contain any blood vessels.

The conjunctiva is a membrane that covers the human eye.

Sailors once thought that wearing a gold earring would improve their eyesight.

Research has indicated that a tie that is on too tight cam increase the risk of glaucoma in men.

People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.

Men are able to read fine print better than women can.

In the United States, approximately 25,000 eye injuries occur that result in the person becoming totally blind.

All babies are colour blind when they are born.

A human eyeball weighs an ounce.

If the lens in our eye doesn't work quite right, we can get glasses to help us see. Glasses have lenses in them that work with our eye's own lens to help us see better.

Babies' eyes do not produce tears until the baby is approximately six to eight weeks old.

The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.

The most common injury caused by cosmetics is to the eye by a mascara wand.

Some people start to sneeze if they are exposed to sunlight or have a light shined into their eye.

The highest recorded speed of a sneeze is 165 km per hour.

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

The space between your eyebrows is called the Glabella.

Inside our eye, at the back, is a part called the "retina." On the retina are cells called "rods" and "cones." These rods and cones help us to see colors and light.

Just behind the pupil is a lens. It is round and flat. It is thicker toward the middle.

Over the front of our eye is a clear covering called the "conjunctiva."

The white part of our eye is called the "sclera." At the front, the sclera becomes clear and is called the "cornea."

Around the pupil is a colored muscle called the "iris." Our eyes may be BLUE, BROWN, GREEN, GRAY OR BLACK, because that is the color of the iris.

Our eyes have many parts. The black part on the front of our eye is called the "pupil." It is really a little hole that opens into the back part of our eyes.

Your eyes blinks over 10,000,000 times a year!

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT SUN

Our sun has an expected lifetime of about 11 billion years.

Our sun and the surrounding planets orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy once every 250 million years.

Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.

On its trip around the sun, the earth travels over a million and a half miles per day.

No solar eclipse can last longer than 7 minutes 58 seconds because of the speed at which the sun moves.

Lightning bolts can sometimes be hotter than the sun. (about 50 000º F)

It takes only 8 minutes for sunlight to travel from the sun to the earth, which also means, if you see the sun go out, it actually went out 8 minutes ago.

In Spit Bergen, Norway at one time of the year the sun shines continuously for three and a half months.

In Newport, Rhode Island it is illegal to smoke from a pipe after sunset.

In Devon, Connecticut, it is unlawful to walk backwards after sunset.

If the sun stopped shining suddenly, it would take eight minutes for people on earth to be aware of the fact.

For 186 days you can not see the sun in the North Pole.

Every eleven years the magnetic poles of the sun switch. This cycle is called"Solarmax".

Because of the speed at which the sun moves, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.

Aztecs believed that the sun died every night and needed human blood to give it strength to rise the next day. So they sacrificed 15,000 men a year to appease their sun god, Huitzilopochtli. Most of the victims were prisoners taken in wars, which were sometimes started solely to round up sacrificial victims.

At the distance at which our sun is located from the center of the Milky Way galaxy, Earth and the rest of our solar system are moving at a speed of about 170 miles per second around the center.

At its center, the sun has a density of over a hundred times that of water, and a temperature of 10-20 million degrees Celsius.

All the coal, oil, gas, and wood on Earth would only keep the Sun burning for a few days.

An area of the Sun's surface the size of a postage stamp shines with the power of 1,500,000 candles.

Your fingernails can turn yellow from wearing nail polish and from the sun.

If the entire solar system were the size of a quarter, the sun would be visible only under a microscope, and the nearest star would be 300 feet away.

The Sun provides our planet with 126,000,000,000,000 horsepower of energy every day.

If the earth were the size of a quarter, the sun would be as large as a 9 foot ball and would be located a football field distance from the earth.

More than 1 million earths would fit inside the sun.

99% of our solar systems mass is concentrated in the sun.

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth!

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

The “greenhouse effect” often gets a bad rap because of its association with global warming, but the truth is we couldn’t live without it.

What Causes the Greenhouse Effect?
Life on earth depends on energy from the sun. About 30 percent of the sunlight that beams toward Earth is deflected by the outer atmosphere and scattered back into space. The rest reaches the planet’s surface and is reflected upward again as a type of slow-moving energy called infrared radiation.

As it rises, infrared radiation is absorbed by “greenhouse gases” such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane, which slows its escape from the atmosphere.

Although greenhouse gases make up only about 1 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, they regulate our climate by trapping heat and holding it in a kind of warm-air blanket that surrounds the planet.

This phenomenon is what scientists call the "greenhouse effect." Without it, scientists estimate that the average temperature on Earth would be colder by approximately 30 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit), far too cold to sustain our current ecosystem.

How Do Humans Contribute to the Greenhouse Effect?
While the greenhouse effect is an essential environmental prerequisite for life on Earth, there really can be too much of a good thing.

The problems begin when human activities distort and accelerate the natural process by creating more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere than are necessary to warm the planet to an ideal temperature.

• Burning natural gas, coal and oil —including gasoline for automobile engines—raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
• Some farming practices and land-use changes increase the levels of methane and nitrous oxide.
• Many factories produce long-lasting industrial gases that do not occur naturally, yet contribute significantly to the enhanced greenhouse effect and “global warming” that is currently under way.
• Deforestation also contributes to global warming. Trees use carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in its place, which helps to create the optimal balance of gases in the atmosphere. As more forests are logged for timber or cut down to make way for farming, however, there are fewer trees to perform this critical function.
• Population growth is another factor in global warming, because as more people use fossil fuels for heat, transportation and manufacturing the level of greenhouse gases continues to increase. As more farming occurs to feed millions of new people, more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere.

Ultimately, more greenhouse gases means more infrared radiation trapped and held, which gradually increases the temperature of the Earth’s surface and the air in the lower atmosphere.

The Average Global Temperature is Increasing Quickly
Today, the increase in the Earth’s temperature is increasing with unprecedented speed. To understand just how quickly global warming is accelerating, consider this:

During the entire 20th century, the average global temperature increased by about 0.6 degrees Celsius (slightly more than 1 degree Fahrenheit).

Using computer climate models, scientists estimate that by the year 2100 the average global temperature will increase by 1.4 degrees to 5.8 degrees Celsius (approximately 2.5 degrees to 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit).

Not All Scientists Agree
While the majority of mainstream scientists agree that global warming is a serious problem that is growing steadily worse, there are some who disagree. John Christy, a professor and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is a respected climatologist who argues that global warming isn’t worth worrying about.

Christy reached that opinion after analyzing millions of measurements from weather satellites in an effort to find a global temperature trend. He found no sign of global warming in the satellite data, and now believes that predictions of global warming by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st century are incorrect.

What are the effects of global warming and the greenhouse effect?

Scientists agree that even a small increase in the global temperature would lead to significant climate and weather changes, affecting cloud cover, precipitation, wind patterns, the frequency and severity of storms, and the duration of seasons.

• Rising temperatures would raise sea levels as well, reducing supplies of fresh water as flooding occurs along coastlines worldwide and salt water reaches inland.
• Many of the world’s endangered species would become extinct as rising temperatures changed their habitat.
• Millions of people also would be affected, especially poor people who live in precarious locations or depend on the land for a subsistence living.
• Certain vector-borne diseases carried by animals or insects, such as malaria, would become more widespread as warmer conditions expanded their range.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions are the Biggest Problem
Currently, carbon dioxide accounts for more than 60 percent of the enhanced greenhouse effect caused by the increase of greenhouse gases, and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing by more than 10 percent every 20 years.

If emissions of carbon dioxide continue to grow at current rates, then the level of the gas in the atmosphere will likely double, or possibly even triple, from pre-industrial levels during the 21st century.

Climate Changes are Inevitable
According to the United Nations, some climate change is already inevitable because of emissions that have occurred since the dawn of the Industrial Age.

While the Earth’s climate does not respond quickly to external changes, many scientists believe that global warming already has significant momentum due to 150 years of industrialization in many countries around the world. As a result, global warming will continue to affect life on Earth for hundreds of years, even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and the increase in atmospheric levels halted.

What is Being Done to Reduce Global Warming?
To lessen those long-term effects, many nations, communities and individuals are taking action now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming by reducing dependence on fossil fuels, increasing the use of renewable energy, expanding forests, and making lifestyle choices that help to sustain the environment.

Whether they will be able to recruit enough people to join them, and whether their combined efforts will be enough to head off the most serious effects of global warming, are open questions that can only be answered by future developments.

MARTIAL ARTS

Japanese Martial Arts started during the medieval period in Japan. It was mainly practiced by the Samurai class. It was a period of fighting, struggling and war. A samurai was gifted with this art, as it could save him from enemy attack. The word “Martial” means fighting. It was really a fighting skill rather than a recreational sport during that period. It helped people protect themselves in case of combative attack. It can’t be denied that, Japanese Martial Art was a powerful weapon for common people in medieval Japan.

Most of the martial arts were imported from China. They were gradually modified by the Japanese until more arts were developed. Archery and sword-fighting are the main two arts amongst them. Some of them became rituals in Zen Buddhism. Japanese Martial Arts differ from it’s Chinese counterpart in style. Japanese Martial Arts involves straight-line attacks, whereas Chinese techniques are more circular. The martial arts of Japan have a wide range starting from empty hand–to–hand techniques, to fighting with several weapons.

Japanese arts can be categorized generally in to 5 different arts of fighting. They are Karate, Aikido, Juijutsu, Judo, and Kendo. Karate is the most popular amongst all of these. Karate was originated in Okinawa. Karate means empty hand. This isn’t irony, because the people of Okinawa fought empty handed using this famous Japanese Martial Art.

Gichin Funakoshi invented Karate. He impressed the then Emperor of Japan by showing his skill and started teaching this Japanese martial art in Japan in 1921.Within five years, Karate became the most popular Japanese Martial Art. Funakoshi also opened a training hall (dojo) in Tokyo. Thus, Karate gained popularity inside and outside of Japan.

Aikido is another popular Japanese Martial Art. It is a purely traditional art and a very strict one at that! It is a self-defensive type of art. The name “Aikido” defines the characteristic of this art. “Ai” means harmony, “Ki” means source of energy, & “Do” means the way. These three words together mean that it is a way of keeping harmony in the body by using the spirit of energy. Aikido has a religious influence and practitioners believe that it’s the way to save mankind from danger or evil.

Juijutsu is an ancient art. The word “Juijutsu” means gentle art. Ironically, it is a martial art based on several joint locks & throwing techniques of the body to attack enemies. It is very effective method of defense against an armed opponent. Many Japanese martial arts advocate’s believe that Jujutsu is the ancestor of all martial arts in Japan.

Additional martial arts include Kendo and Judo. Kendo is a martial art which utilizes words. It’s a fencing martial art that requires a lot of discipline and skill. This art differs greatly from Judo, which is a unarmed combative sport. It’s rules are very complex and it is one of the most popular Japanese martial arts practiced globally.

Indian Martial Arts have existed ever since times of antiquity or what is commonly known as the pre-Gupta period. India refers to martial arts in Sanskrit as “dhanurveda,” which translates to the "science of archery." For the Indians, martial arts have traditionally been considered to be a branch of knowledge aside from fighting techniques.

The fighting styles in Indian martial arts vary according to the region they came from and the time period they were established in. These include Dravidian martial arts such as Kuttu Varisai, kalaripayat, Gatka, Varma Kalai and some other older forms. The systems of Indian Martial Arts consisted of both armed and unarmed fighting along with meditation and other forms of mental conditioning. Like most fighting systems, the Indian version is linked to religion which is Hinduism in this case.

Those who are familiar with yoga poses will find that some of the positions are used in Indian martial art fighting techniques and these poses can also be seen in Hindu temples that house statues and paintings of deities and warriors. The principles of yoga, ayurveda and tantra, such as life energy or prana, meridians or nadi, energy points or chakra, and pressure points or marmam, are all part of Indian Martial Arts.

The use of weapons has been an integral part of the art of fighting in India ever since the beginnings. Indians used the basic types of weapons including spears, swords, axes, short bows, and long bows that were either made of wood or tipped with metal. When India began to experience technological advancements, the weaponry improved as it was made with flexible wootz steel.

The martial arts of India have influenced other Asian combative sports, especially in Southeast Asia. After the British colonized India, the martial arts systems began to lose their prominence because more Europeanized methods of fighting were used to train the police force and other officials. However, some forms of Indian martial arts have prevailed and continue to be taught to students across the globe.

Chinese Martial Arts are the most traditional martial arts in the world as they existed prior to the 12th century. Chinese Martial Arts include hundreds of different styles and it is undoubtedly the most versatile martial art in the world.

Some of martial arts fighting styles that are still practiced today are types of Kung Fu including Bagua, Drunken Boxing, Eagle Claw, Five Animals, Hsing I, Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Monkey, Praying Mantis, White Crane, Wing Chun and Tai Chi Chuan. Some styles are copied from the movements of animals; while others are inspired by Chinese philosophical thoughts, myths, and legends.

Chinese Martial Arts always emphasize a basic skill, such as strength training, staff sparring, fencing, and eight methods of Shaolin. All of these methods are very effective for becoming an expert in Chinese Martial Arts. According to some Chinese experts, the martial arts of China are the ancestors of all types of martial arts practiced in Japan, Korea and Tibet. Many different techniques have derived from the arts of China, which have ultimately been very influential on Martial Arts practiced across the globe.

Chinese Martial Arts can be classified into two major categories and these are External, or softy style and Internal, or hard style. Sometimes, Chinese Martial Arts are divided according to location including the Northern category and the Southern category. There are more classifications of martial arts based on religion, styles, and so on. Each category has some distinction in style and technique. These are some of the most fundamental reasons that masters begin to create different forms of martial arts.

Apart from general classification, modern contests are divided in to six categories. They include empty-handed forms, weapon forms, choreographed forms, group practice, sparring competition, and power demonstration. Four general steps can describe all the various techniques of these arts. These are kicking, throwing, striking and controlling. Different techniques can be performed at different levels in Chinese Martial Arts. For instance, a beginner will not be given the same instructions as a veteran practitioner.

In a competition, all of these basic steps must be demonstrated by the competitor to earn full points. Eight qualities of a performer are attentively judged in a Chinese Martial Arts contest. These qualities are hands, eyes, body technique, steps, strength, spirit, breath, and ability. While these are not judged in Olympic martial arts competitions, they are judged in most tournaments.

Chinese Martial Arts have produced many eminent martial art practitioners. All of them have had important contributions to the martial art that is now popular throughout the world. Some of them are NG Mui, Wong Fei hung, Huo Yuanjia, and Ten tigers, all of whom have had a strong influence in the culture and society of China.

Chinese Martial Arts has influenced other parts of world as well. In the United States, the fighting systems from China have been very popular since the 1960's and their popularity continues to increase. Several Television shows have aired based on Chinese Martial Arts. There isn't a country in the world where a Chinese Martial Arts training center does not exist