Out of all the fish caught in the world, about three quarters are eaten as food. The other quarter is used to make such things as glue, soap, margarine, pet food and fertilizer.

Elephants eat up to half a ton of plant food a day. They have 24 teeth for grinding it. The teeth do not grow all at once, but in fours. As the first set wears down, a second set grows. At the age of 45, an elephant grows its last teeth, each weighting 4kg (9 lb).
The amount of protein produced from a field of soya beans is 13 times greater than the same field used to graze cattle for meat.
Almost half the world's bird species are found in the tropical forests of South America. They are either breeding there or have traveled to escape the North American winter. But an area of rain forests about the size of six soccer pitches is being destroyed every minute. At this rate, most of the forests and their bird life will be gone in ten years' time.
The longest name for any star is ""Shurnarkabtishutu"", the Arabic for ""under the southern horn of the bull"".
Without the weather to spread the Sun's heat around the world, the Tropics would get hotter and hotter and the Poles colder and colder. Nothing would be able to live on the Earth.
The Asian elephant has the longest tail of any land mammal. Excluding the tuft of hair on the end, the tail can be up to 1.5 m (5 ft) long.
The smallest bird in the world is the bee hummingbird of Cuba. It is 5.7 cm (2.25 in) long, of which nearly half comprises its beak. It is smaller than many of the butterflies in the rain forest where it lives.
Just one part oil per million parts water will make drinking water smell and taste funny. One gallon of petrol can contaminate 750,000 gallons of water.
Many parent birds use other birds without young ones to help feed their chicks. The helper may be unrelated, but is often a brother or sister of the parent, or older offspring of the pair. Red-throated bee-eaters often use helpers, which gives the young 80 per cent more chance of being reared. If helpers nest the next year, they may in turn be helped by the young they looked after.
Ninety seven per cent of all the water on Earth is salty. Only 3 per cent is fresh water. Of that 3 per cent, over 2 per cent is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers. And that means that less than 1 per cent of that 3 per cent fresh water is found in lakes, rivers and underground.
Sound can travel through water at 1,507 m (4,945 ft) a second. That is about three times faster than sound traveling through air - 331 m (1,087 ft) a second.
The deeper under the sea you go, the greater the pressure, that is the weight of the water above you. At a depth of 9,100 m (30,000 ft), the pressure is equivalent to a one ton weight balanced on a postage stamp.
(Source: pitara.com)