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

* 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.

* 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, beetles, worms and jellyfish raining down from the sky in great numbers, but no reports of showers of cats or dogs.

* The fastest bird is the peregrine falcon. It can fly at a speed of 168 to 217 miles per hour.

* The largest egg laid by a living bird is that of the North African ostrich. It is 6 to 8 inches in length and 4 to 6 inches in diameter. The smallest is that of the hummingbird. It is less than 0.39 inches in diameter.

* 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.