Fascinating Trivia: Armadillo shells

Armadillo shells are bulletproof.

Talk about a hard shell to crack! In fact, one Texas man was hospitalized when a bullet he shot at an armadillo ricocheted off the animal and hit him in the jaw.

Firefighters use wetting agents to make water wetter.

The chemicals reduce the surface tension of plain water so it is easier to spread and better soaks into objects, which is why it’s known as “wet water.” Who knew?

The longest English word is 189,819 letters long.

We won’t spell it out here, but the full name for the protein nicknamed titin would take three and a half hours to say out loud. While this is, by far, the longest word in English, the longest word in most standard English dictionaries has 45 letters: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a type of lung disease. You’ve probably heard of the longest made-up word, which has 34: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Cap’n Crunch’s full name is Horatio Magellan Crunch.

According to PepsiCo, which owns Quaker Oats Company, the maker of Cap’n Crunch cereal, the beloved cap’n has a full name! Also, after being called out for having only the three bars of a Navy commander on his sleeves, Horatio held his ground on X (then Twitter, and yes, he has an official account), arguing that captaining the S.S. Guppy with his crew “makes an official Cap’n in any book!” In May 2024, his uniform was finally corrected, and he now appears on cereal boxes with the proper four bars of a Navy captain.

There are more than 1,000 poisonous marine animals.

When we think of poisonous animals, we usually think of snakes or spiders. But although all spiders are venomous, fewer than 30 are actually dangerous to humans, and although there are about 600 venomous snakes, the biggest group of poisonous animals is found in the ocean. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, you find out there are 1,200 poisonous marine creatures. Some of the most dangerous are puffer fish, lionfish, stonefish and the Australian box jellyfish.

Glitter was discovered by accident.

A man by the name of Henry Ruschmann from Bernardsville, New Jersey, invented glitter by accident in 1934. Ruschmann, a machinist, invented a machine designed to cut plastic film at high speeds. The machine sometimes malfunctioned, producing tiny pieces of shiny material that sparkled when they reflected light. Ruschmann called these glittery bits “schnibbles.”

He then went on to start a company called Meadowbrook Glitter, which is still in the business of making glitter today.