Facts for Ages 8–10
3502 facts perfect for this age group
Loggerhead sea turtles can live for more than 70 years, and scientists believe some may live close to a century. They use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate and can travel tens of thousands of kilometres in their lifetime.
The sundew plant is a carnivorous plant that catches insects on sticky gland-tipped hairs; once trapped, the leaf slowly curls around its prey to digest it.
Theatre was invented in ancient Greece around 500 BC. Greek theatres were built outdoors on hillsides and were acoustically designed so perfectly that audiences of 14,000 people could hear every word.
Tsunamis can travel across the open ocean at speeds of up to 900 kilometres per hour — as fast as a jet aeroplane. In the open ocean they may only be a few centimetres tall, but near the shore they can grow to enormous heights.
Fossilised dinosaur dung, called coprolites, can reveal exactly what a dinosaur ate. A T. rex coprolite found in Canada was enormous — about 44 centimetres long — and contained crushed bone fragments proving it swallowed huge chunks of its prey whole.
A single kiwifruit contains more vitamin C than an orange of the same size. Vitamin C helps your body fight off colds and repair tissues.
The colour of lava tells you its temperature. Bright yellow lava is the hottest (around 1,200 degrees Celsius), while dark red lava has cooled to about 700 degrees.
Red light has the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum, which is why red is used for stop lights and warning signals — it can be seen from further away through fog and rain than any other colour.
For many years, dinosaurs were thought to be slow, cold-blooded creatures similar to modern lizards, but this idea has been completely overturned. Evidence now shows that many dinosaurs were quick, active, and warm-blooded, with complex social behaviours.
The axolotl can regrow entire lost limbs, including parts of its heart and brain, making it one of the most regenerative animals on Earth.
Wild Venus flytraps only grow naturally within a 75-mile radius around Wilmington, North Carolina.
Onions make your eyes water because cutting them releases a sulphur compound that reacts with the moisture in your eyes to form a weak sulphuric acid, which irritates them.
South Africa has 11 official languages — more than almost any other country.
Babies are born without proper kneecaps — instead they have cartilage in that area which gradually hardens into bone between the ages of two and six.
Queen Elizabeth I of England owned about 80 wigs and used thick white makeup made from lead.
The United States has no official national language at the federal level, despite English being by far the most widely spoken language there. Over 350 languages are spoken in American homes.
Russian doesn't have words for "the" or "a" — you just figure it out from context.
Flamingos stand on one leg to conserve body heat. When one leg is tucked against the warm body, the bird loses less heat through the water.
The human body has around 600 named skeletal muscles, ranging from the tiny stapedius in your ear to the large gluteus maximus in your bottom.
Muttaburrasaurus was a large plant-eating dinosaur discovered in Queensland, Australia, in 1963. It had an unusual hollow bump on its snout that may have helped it produce distinctive sounds or enhance its sense of smell.