29 Incredible Facts About Our Planet
![29 Incredible Facts About Our Planet](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/2/8/819728_320x180.jpg)
Unless and until Elon Musk builds his utopian, union-free colony on Mars or whatever, you only have one planet to stomp around on. And it’s kind of messed-up how little you probably know about it! Sure, you might know that wombats produce cubes of waste, but riddle me this: What’s the only lizard on Earth that hangs out in the ocean? You may have a pitcher plant hanging in your bathroom, but did you know about the species of pitcher plant so big, it subsists on shrews? You may have heard a thing or two about the Suez Canal, but have you ever thought about the native Mediterranean fish who suddenly had to fend off a whole host of new Red Sea competition?
You haven’t? Seems a little irresponsible, no? I think you owe it to this planet and the creatures you share it with to read on, and learn a couple of things about the exploding population of urban foxes in the United Kingdom, the vegetable sheep of New Zealand, and if you dare, the emerging problem of armored bedbugs.
![Mount Rushmore is apparently REALLY tiny. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/0/819760.jpg)
![Urban expansion is changing the weather! Research has shown that larger cities can alter the clouds and rain formation, making it rain more in urban areas than other areas. CRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/9/819759.jpg)
![The marine iguana is the only ocean-going lizard on the planet. It can hold its breath under water for up to 60 minutes. These unique creatures can only be found in the Galapagos Islands. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/7/819757.jpg)
![CRACKED COM BMW World, located in Munich Germany, offers guided tours of their museum and manufacturing facility. Around 800,000 people visit every year.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/8/819758.jpg)
![Nebulae are invisible up close. Due to conservation of surface brightness, the closer you get to a nebula, the dimmer it appears. It's a better strategy to hide in an asteroid field. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/6/819756.jpg)
![Humans having persisting effects on the environment is nothing new. Researchers recently found that the imprint of farming from our earliest agricultural period (The Bronze Age) fundamentally changed the makeup of the earth's soil for thousands of years. GRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/1/819751.jpg)
![This is Nepenthes attenboroughii, a plant that eats rodents. They only live on the top of a single mountain in the Philippines (luckily), and their appetite for small critters like shrews is probably what lets them survive in that rocky terrain. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/3/819753.jpg)
![With temperature that can reach 120°F (49°C) and an average rainfall ofjust under 2in, Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest places on earth. This makes it a great place for a Golf course. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/2/819752.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM The Suez Canal has opened the way for invasive fish from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea. D Hebron Gaza Se Gaza Strip 1950 Port Said Amision Beersheba Line Arish Alexandria ISRAEL El-Qantarah Tanta Ismailia Suez Canal CAIRO Suez Sinai Hulwan Peninsula The competition for food, along with the temperature rise from the warmer water flooding in, has displaced the local fish, disrupting the local ecosystem.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/4/819754.jpg)
![Thorny Devil Lizard The Thorny Devil Lizard has the ability to absorb water from its scales on any part of its body. It presents a false head on the back of its neck to potential predators and can only be found in the Australian Outback. CRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/9/819749.jpg)
![Is this Denver, CO? Vancouver, BC? Nope! This is Tehran, Iran Nestled at the foot of the Alborz Mountain Range, Tehran can be the recipient of strong wintry weather, including a snowstorm in Feburary 2014 that saw 7 feet of snow fall in 4 days. The mountains are also home to several ski resorts that are popular winter destinations for Iranians. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/5/819755.jpg)
![Thanks to humans, the Milky Way is invisible from much of the Earth's surface. Because of artificial lighting, the Milky Way is invisible to 80% of North Americans, 60% of Europeans, and over 33% of the global population. Until night-time lighting became common in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Milky Way was as clear as the moon. Because urbanization is rising, most people born in the future will never get to see it. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/8/819748.jpg)
![The long-tailed slug (Ibycus rachelae), also known as the ninja slug, can only be found in Borneo. How is it a ninja, you ask? Because to reproduce, it shoots love darts - a cocktail of calcium carbonate and hormone-at potential mates. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/7/819747.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM The moon is dark gray, rather than white. It has a low albedo, reflecting about 12% of the light it receives, as much as asphalt pavement does. It appears to be white because when we see it it's in direct sunlight, against a black backdrop, while we're in the dark. color chart](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/7/819737.jpg)
![WHILE FOX POPULATION IN THE UK IS STEADILY DECLINING, THE TREND IS REVERSED FOR URBAN FOXES. - - - BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL B QTY COUNCIL - B - TEL: 922 3838 They don't have to deal with problems like scarcity of prey or hunters, and being adaptable animals they thrive in urban areas. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/6/819746.jpg)
![These fluffy looking shrubs are aptly named Vegetable Sheep, since they could be easily be mistaken for a flock of sheep from a distance. They are only found in the rocky areas of New Zealand. The wooly nature of the leaves prevent the loss of water from heavy winds and harsh weather. They also make an excellent and appropriate seat, according to noted Kiwi botanist Leonard Cockayne. CRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/5/819735.jpg)
![Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Little bit harder to see from the floor. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/1/819731.jpg)
![Bedbugs that feed on humans have CRACKED.COM armored up. Scientists found that bedbugs that feed on humans have developed thicker exoskeletons. It is believed to be an evolutionary response to being swatted by humans.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/4/819744.jpg)
![Fingerite is one of the rarest of all minerals. A vanadium/copper compound, it's only been found on the slopes of a single mountain: Izalco Volcano, in El Salvador. If you want to add it to your mineral CRACKED GOM collection, be sure to visit on a sunny day, as it is water soluble and will dissolve if it gets rained on](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/4/819734.jpg)
![The widespread use of plastic has led to a new type of stone: Plastiglomerate. Plastiglomerates are created when melted plastic is bound with natural elements like sand and pebbles. Researchers reported that this type of stone will survive as future fossils. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/2/819742.jpg)
![Aptly named the happiest animal on Earth, quokkas live mostly in Rottnest Island, Australia. Around 10,000-12,000 of these cute mammals live on the paradisiac island but they're still considered a vulnerable species. CRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/1/819741.jpg)
![CRACKED COM Tree lobsters are considered the rarest insects in the world, and can only be found in Lord Howe Island, Australia. Thought to be extinct in 1983, a small population of this species was rediscovered recently.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/2/819732.jpg)
![Hazenite is one of the rarest minerals, found only at a specific place under certain conditions. These ultra rare crystals form in Mono Lake, California, when the lake dries up and the extreme phosphorus levels poison the microbes on the lakebed. Hazenite dissolves in water, so the world's entire stash of this rare mineral disappears when the lake level rises. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/0/819740.jpg)
![Macquarie Island is the only place where rocks from the Earth's mantle (between the outer core and crust) actually emerge above sea level. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/3/819743.jpg)
![The largest freshwater invertebrate can only be found in the north-west of Tasmania. The Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish can grow up to 31 inches and weigh up to 11 pounds. CRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/8/819738.jpg)
![GRACKED.COM The Inaccessible Island Rail is the world's smallest flightless bird, and you'd have to go on an odyssey to find one. The Inaccessible Island is pretty much just a big slab of rock with steep cliffs in the middle of the unforgiving South Atlantic Ocean. The ancestors of these birds landed on the island and lost the ability to fly due to the lack of predators.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/9/819739.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM The Texas Blind Salamander is only found in a small area of Texas. And your nightmares.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/5/819745.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM This is the world's smallest chameleon, Brookesia micra. It lives only on Nosy Hara, an uninhabited island off Madagascar with an area of 1.23 square miles.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/6/819736.jpg)
![China's Stone Forest is a maze of jagged limestone pillars. It's 186 square miles of stones carved over millions of years by a unique combination of wind, rainfall, and earthquakes. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/3/3/819733.jpg)