Did you know that...

[Griffin NoName]

Did you know that the combined weight of all the ants in the world is 9 billion tons, more than 40 times the total wieght of all humans?

[Swatopluk]

Not specifically but I knew that insects combined outweigh all other multicellular lifefoms combined.
No competition for single cell organisms though.

[Griffin NoName]

Actually, I doubt whether this is a totally accurate figure

[Swatopluk]

I doubt that anyone actually went out to count the ants (and returned to tell the story)

[Griffin NoName]

No, those Fire Ants can be tricky. And we know nothing about the metabolic rate of ants.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

But what about uncles?

[Griffin NoName]

[Sibling DavidH]

You contact those by ēam-mail.

[pieces o nine]

 

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

 

Nice.   And you made me learn something I didn't already know, too.   

[Roland Deschain]

Did you know animals live in the zoo? True story.

There's a picture of a 10 year old me stroking a sheep in a petting zoo somewhere in the family photos. The wallaby wouldn't let me get near it though, so I didn't get a picture with that one.

[Swatopluk]

Well, there are animals that have adapted to life in the zoo despite not being zoo animals. I.e. they are not on any official list (except maybe of pests to get rid of). And the famous Hagenbeck Zoo (the first public in Euope iirc) had a certain species of lagomorphs running around freely (not sure whether they kept the tradition).

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

In some cases?  I suspect the actual zoo part is for the people to be seen and studied by the wiser and more intelligent animals...

[Sibling DavidH]

I always think of this bit from The Goon Show:

SEAGOON:
A big crowd of people here today.

ZOO KEEPER:
Yes, I know. We let 'em in for the animals to look at, you see. Trouble is, we have to lock the boa constrictors up so the kids don't get at them, you know. Lost four boa constrictors last year, kids taking them home all the time...

[Griffin NoName]

My son: Where do penguins live?
My Grandaughter: in the zoo

Lesson Number One on Antartica: Failed.

....True story