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Fact
Elephants cannot jump
There is no moment when all four feet leave the ground, ever.
Fact
About seven per cent of all humans who ever lived are alive now
Not the majority, as the popular claim goes - but a startling share.
Fact
The Sun holds 99.86 per cent of the solar system
Every planet, moon, asteroid and comet combined is a rounding error.
Fact
There was a period when fallen trees may not have rotted
It could be why we have coal at all.
Fact
Sea otters have a favourite rock and a pocket for it
A loose flap of skin under each foreleg, used as a tool bag.
Fact
The Great Wall of China is not visible from space
It is long, but it is only a few metres wide and the same colour as the ground.
Fact
Olympus Mons is roughly the size of France
Stand on it and the slope is so gentle you might not know you were on a mountain.
Fact
Honey found in Egyptian tombs was still edible
Thousands of years old, and chemically it had barely moved.
Fact
A sperm whale click is louder than a jet engine
Loud enough that it has been suggested it could stun prey.
Fact
The Sun should not be able to burn, and quantum mechanics lets it
The core is too cold for fusion. It happens anyway, by cheating.