Volkswagen was sued by the Czechoslovakian car maker Tatra before WWII because the KdF-Wagen (the original Beetle) was so similar to the Tatra 97. Porsche was willing to settle but Hitler said he would "would settle the matter." After Germany invaded Czechoslovakia, T97 production was stopped. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatβ¦
Disney auditioned cars for the role of Herbie in the 1968 Love Bug film. Disney set up a casting call for cars, including Toyotas, a TVR, Volvos, an MG and a pearl white Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle was chosen as it was the only one that elicited the crew to reach out and pet it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theβ¦
Experimental jet-engined trains were actually a thing back in the 1960s. The Black Beetle reached a speed of 183.68 mph, an American rail speed record that still stands today. youtube.com/watch?v=1m1p1β¦
There is a beetle that lives in Europe called the "cockchafer", and it was once used for food in Europe, and even has had a warship named for it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocβ¦
During one of her Oprah's Favorite Things specials Oprah Winfrey promised every audience member a car. However, as the cars were the yet-unreleased 2012 VW Beetles, the members had to wait until the model reached the market to get their cars. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volβ¦
The dung beetle is the first known species to navigate using the Milky Way. They orient themselves to the bright stripe of light generated by our galaxy, and move in a line relative to it. They also use the symmetrical pattern of polarized light that appears around the sun. nationalgeographic.com/neβ¦
The movie Beetlejuice as well as the titular character are actually called "Beetle Juice" according to the opening credits. In the end credits as well as in the rest of the film itself, the character is actually called Betelgeuse, but all home releases and marketing are spelled "Beetlejuice." indiewire.com/2013/03/5-tβ¦
An African dung beetle, S. zambesianus, uses the polarization of a moonlit sky to orientate itself so that it can move along a straight line. Many creatures use the Sun's light-polarization pattern, but this is the first animal known to use the million-times dimmer polarization of moonlight. nationalgeographic.com/anβ¦
Entomologists and English speakers outside of North America call them Ladybirds not ladybugs. The ladybird beetle is not classified as a true bug. en.wikipedia.org/w/index.β¦
Australia wanted to control its populations of grey-backed cane and French beetles, so it brought cane toads from the Americas to eat them. But in Australia the cane toad has no predators, so now they have a cane toad problem. Since then, the cane toad has become a problem in over 15 countries. environment.gov.au/biodivβ¦
There is a Beetle that double crosses its predators (frogs) by luring them into attacking him, dodging, cutting their leg muscles and then eating them. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoβ¦
Charles Darwin once found two ground beetles and grabbed one in each hand before seeing a "sacred" crucifix beetle (Panagaeus cruxmajor). Afraid to lose it, he put one of the beetles he had between his teeth to grab the crucifix but the beetle spit acid down his throat and he lost them all. mentalfloss.com/article/5β¦
Charles Darwin was an avid beetle collector. One day he found 2 rare beetles and seized one in each hand. He then saw a third one, and thus put one of the beetles he already had into his mouth. It ejected some acid and burnt his tongue, forcing him to spit it out. He lost 2 of the beetles. darwin-online.org.uk/Editβ¦
There's a kind of beetle named after Stephen Colbert. Colbert had previously asked scientists to name something "cooler than a spider" after him. The scientist that discovered the beetle then named it after Colbert, because "beetles are way cooler than a spider any day". expertsure.com/2009/05/07β¦
Hercules Beetles, also known as a rhinoceros beetle, the Hercules beetle is the longest beetle and is the strongest creature on Earth for its size β it can carry 850 times its weight! Thatβs like a person carrying seven elephants! entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatuβ¦
Today I learned of the gΓΆmbΓΆc, a convex three-dimensional homogeneous shape that when resting on a flat surface has just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium. The balancing properties of the gΓΆmbΓΆc are associated with the "righting response" β β of shelled animals such as tortoises and beetles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%Cβ¦
Ferdinand Porsche (The founder of the Porsche luxury car brand) gave up his Czechoslovakian citizenship in order to become an active Nazi Party member in the late 1930s. He then pushed for the utilization of Jewish slaves to mass-produce the then-new Volkswagen Beetle, aka "The People's Car" warhistoryonline.com/war-β¦
That in the 1980s a group of scientist found that male Jewel beetles in Australia were mating with discarded beer bottles as they looked like very sexually attractive females; glossy, dimpled and brown. Afterwards, the beer company changed their bottle design. australiangeographic.com.β¦
There is a blind cave beetle named after Adolf Hitler, Anophthalmus hitleri. Nazi memorabilia collectors willing to pay up to Β£1200 for a specimen are putting it at risk of extinction. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoβ¦
Dung beetles are so useful from their diet, Australia imported 43 different species of them to combat a rise in intestinal worms, bush flies, and grazing land being ruined because of non-native cows. smithsonianmag.com/sciencβ¦
Most of us have eaten a lot of insects. Carmine also known as Red no. 4 is one of the most common food dyes and is made from the crushed up shell of the cochineal beetle. businessinsider.com/yoplaβ¦
Today I learned about the Bombadier Beetle. The beetle stores two chemicals (hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide) in its abdomen and, when threatened, mixes them and ejects them from their abdomen in a chemical spray (with a popping sound!) that can reach boiling temperatures. nwf.org/Educational-Resouβ¦
Dung beetles, when placed in a planetarium behave with a sense of direction only under specific constellations. This would indicate that they celestially navigate. time.com/4104980/animal-nβ¦
In tropical rainforest ecosystems, dung is a very valuable and limited resource, so instead randomly searching for it on the forest floor, dung beetles actually wait by the anus of the monkey. They grab it as it falls out and actually fall to earth with it. earthtouchnews.com/naturaβ¦
Chicago's Field Museum has 10 colonies of flesh-eating beetles, who live and work at the museum cleaning animal bones for display. mentalfloss.com/article/6β¦
A Kansas animal hospital helped a dog who had 30 to 40 Asian beetles living on the roof of its mouth. Asian beetles secrete a sticky substance which allows them to latch onto a surface, like the roof of a dog's mouth. They cause ulcers on the tongue and mouth and have a very painful bite. people.com/pets/kansas-veβ¦
The blue-capped ifrit (Ifrita kowaldi), native to New Guinea, is among a small group of bird species that are poisonous. They excrete batrachotoxin into their feathers and skin in order to defend themselves against predators.The poison is derived from the bird's diet of certain types of beetles. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluβ¦
Today I learned of Jose Mujica, the president of Uruguay from 2010-2015, he was known as the "the world's humblest head of state" as he gave away around 90% of his $12,000 monthly salary to charity. He also led an austere lifestyle; he lived on a farm than in the presidential palace and drove a 1987 VW beetle. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josβ¦
Shellac is a shiny resin gathered from the secretions of the female lac beetle so if shellac is an ingredient it shouldn't be considered vegan. It's used on candies like jelly beans, Milk Duds, Junior Mints, Raisinette's, and others, as well as sprayed on apples to make them shiny. vrg.org/blog/2010/11/30/qβ¦
There is a species of blind cave beetles named in dedication to Adolph Hitler-- due to taxonomical tradition the name cannot be changed. The Anophthalmus hitleri has become popular among Hitler memorabilia collectors. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoβ¦
Beatles producer George Martin was granted his own coat of arms in 2004, which includes three beetles and the motto "Amore Solum Opus Est" - "All you need is love" college-of-arms.gov.uk/neβ¦
When Australian beer companies learned that their bottles were having an observable impact on the jewel beetle populationβbecause male beetles were confusing the "stubbies" for females, and ended up dying in the hot Australian sun, leaving no heirsβthe companies changed their beer bottles. npr.org/sections/krulwichβ¦
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