Wednesday, March 22, 2006

A Totally Useless Fact

Every morning the local AM news show has a little trivia question, wedged in during the weather. For the most part I can get the right answer everytime. (I have a noggin crammed full of stupid useless facts-folks hate to play Trivial Pursuit with me. Unless it's the Sports Edition, then they have the upper hand. In which case, I suggest Scrabble instead.)
Anywho, the question yesterday morning had me stumped:
"Name the only poisonous bird on the planet."

Huh! Frogs, snakes, certain fish I knew carried toxins as a defense...but birds?!
I couldn't wait to learn the answer.
After the commercial break we did.
Answer: The Hooded Pitohui
( The last part of the name would sound very similar to the noise one makes spitting out watermelon seeds.)
Naturally, I had to look this up. A pretty bird, from New Guinea. It's diet consists of toxic beetles, and therefore the toxins are exuded through the skin and feathers of the bird! Thus rendering it poisonous to anything that might attempt to eat it or in the case of humans, capture or handle it.
Huh, again!
Now regardless of your stance on creation vs. evolution-either way- ya gotta admit, that's a purty neat trick!

(Oh, and the trivia question today? "What is a group of kangaroos called?"
Answer: A Mob...duh!)

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