Did you know?

• Mahatma literally translates to ‘great soul’ in Sanskrit. When he was 13 years old, he got married to Kasturbai Makanji and was blessed with two children. • Mandela’s original name is Rolihlahla Mandela. His teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the English name “Nelson”. The father of Nelson had four wives, with whom he fathered 13 children – 4 boys and 9 girls. • Ancient Egyptians revered their dogs. When a pet dog would die, the owners shaved off their eyebrows, smeared mud in their hair, and mourned aloud for days. • Dogs have sweat glands in between their paws. Dogs have three eyelids. The third lid, called a nictitating membrane or “haw,” keeps the eye lubricated and protected. • In 2003, Dr. Roger Mugford invented the “wagometer” a device that claims to interpret a dog’s exact mood by measuring the wag of its tail. • Every fingerprint is different. Every eyeball is different. Every ear is different. No two leopards have the same spots. • Monkeys are most easily distinguished from apes by their tails. Apes have no tails. • The eyes of a horse are larger than most other animals’, and they can move independently, giving the horse a shallow panoramic vision. Because its lenses are inflexible, a horse will focus on an image by moving its head to direct light rays to the central part of the retina. Horses can also see in color. • A horse has an acute sense of smell that allows it to detect nervousness in a handler, and old-time horsemen would smear aromatic fluid on their hands when dealing with a difficult horse. Horses also become nervous around the smell of blood. Horses can also differentiate between emotions in the human voice. • Though the word “hippopotamus” means “river horse,” a hippo is actually more closely related to the pig than the horse. • Venus is the brightest planet in our sky and can sometimes be seen with the naked eye if you know where to look. It is the solar system’s brightest planet -- yellow clouds of sulfuric acid reflect the sun’s light brightly. • Mars is the home of “Olympus Mons”, the largest volcano found in the solar system. It stands about 27 kilometers high with a crater 81 kilometers wide. • Saturn is the second biggest planet, but it’s also the lightest planet. If there was a bathtub big enough to hold Saturn, it would float in the water! The ring that surrounds Saturn could be the remnants of a moon that was shattered by Saturn’s gravity. • The sun appears 2 and a half times larger in Mercury’s sky compared to the Earth’s. • The word “checkmate” comes from the Persian phrase “shah mat,” which means “the king is defeated.” Chess was invented in Iran. • Scotland invented golf but then banned the game in 1647. It was rumored to stand for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden. Quote “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”