Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 304
November 29, 2018
How Tall Was Napoleon Bonaparte Actually?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Or Not
In today’s world many misconceptions have been perpetuated—becoming modern day “facts”—when, in reality, myths and hearsay have taken over. Sorry to burst your bubble, but in this weekly column, Ripley’s puts those delusions to the test, turning your world upside down, because you can’t always…Believe It!
Today
: Napoleon Bonaparte wasn’t particularly short.
We’ve all heard of the Napoleon complex, and as a result, most people truly believe the French military leader who inspired this term was an angry, little man who took out his height-related frustrations by aggressively conquering other nations. But the truth is Napoleon was actually of a rather average height for his time.
Why Do People Think Napoleon Was So Short?
The rumors started for a number of reasons. His nickname, “le petit caporal,” was really just a term of endearment rather than a jab at his height, but his enemies used it against him. In fact, propaganda was created in other countries both before and after his death to perpetuate the rumor that he was extremely short. In addition, he reportedly liked to surround himself with very tall soldiers as a military tactic.
Another factor also may have affected our understanding of Napoleon’s height. At the time of his death, his height might have been recorded in French inches, which were a little longer than English inches. He was put at five-foot-two, but this was probably more like five 5 and 6.5 inches, a perfectly normal height for a man of his time.
Of course, we also have the term Napoleon complex, or short man syndrome, which is the idea that shorter men become more aggressive in order to compensate for their petite statures. Though the idea seems perfectly sound, it is not as common in humans as it is in the animal kingdom. A smaller animal might become more aggressive toward bigger animals in order to fight for limited resources like food or sex. The animal may only have a half chance of winning, but it would often rather risk dying than not getting anything at all. Naturally, this says a lot more about animals than it does about humans, but it is common for us to look for comparisons between ourselves and our furry friends.
So How Tall Was Napoleon?
If you’re not really a measurements kind of person and comparisons are more of your thing, it can help to think that Napoleon was about as tall as a regular-sized refrigerator, though, obviously, not as wide.
Modern Celebrities Who Are Shorter than Napoleon:
Kevin Hart: 5’2”
Paul Simon: 5’3”
Seth Green: 5’4”
Bruno Mars: 5’5”
Daniel Radcliffe: 5’5”
Nicolas Sarkozy: 5’5”
Dustin Hoffman: 5’6”
Aziz Ansari: 5’6”
Jack Black: 5’6”
Jon Stewart: 5’6”
Lil Wayne: 5’6”
Elijah Wood: 5’6”
So next time someone makes a Napoleon reference, remember that the guy wasn’t really all that short to begin with, especially when you compare him to other men of his time or even those of ours.
By Julia Tilford, contributor for Ripleys.com
November 28, 2018
The Great Lobster War Between France And Brazil
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Once considered cockroaches of the sea and a reviled food item, lobster are now averaging around 12 dollars per pound. Believe it or not, the access of these desirable shellfish has become an issue of national security on several occasions, but only once have two nations’ militaries been deployed to fight for the right to catch lobster.
The Lobster War Of 1961
After enjoying a rather successful fishing voyage off the coast of Africa, a group of French fisherman decided to push West in search of lobster. The area they finally found was teeming with the spiny sea creatures. Setting up their nets, they pulled in lobster by the boat full. This activity did not go unnoticed by local Brazilian fishermen, however. Fearing they would be ousted from their territory, the Brazilians issued a government complaint, a complaint that eventually riled the Navy into action. Two corvettes descended on the French vessels, demanding they move to deeper waters.
Both sides took different arguments as to why they should be able to catch the lobster. Brazil reasoned that the lobster crawled along the sea floor, which is part of South America’s continental shelf, and was therefore Brazilian soil–giving them the exclusive right to catch them. The French said that the lobster swam, and just like any other fish, they could be fished internationally.
Indignant with the Brazilian’s request, the French boats called their own government for protection. In response, Brazil’s minister of foreign affairs mobilized the entirety of Brazil’s fleet, and action not taken lightly by France. Charles de Gaulle was president of France at the time. The one-time resistance leader was incensed with the whole situation, feeling greatly disrespected. He dispatched the Tartu destroyer to guard the fishermen along with air support. Both, however, were repelled by Brazil.
Brazilian cruiser armada.
Brazil’s president, João Goulart, gave French forces 48 hours to withdraw, a deadline the French ignored. Hostilities peaked when the French vessel, Cassiopée, was captured. After three years of conflict, both parties decided it was best to solve things diplomatically before things got any farther out of hand. Settling the dispute in international court, the Lobster War ended in December 1964. Brazil was given a 200-mile fishing zone off its coast which included the contested territory. France, however, was granted fishing privileges in the area for 26 of its ships for the next five years.
Despite solving the political conflict, the court failed to render a judgment about the nature of lobster in international waters for other countries. Scientists worked for another two years arguing whether lobster walked or swam. Eventually, the walking side won, though it was admitted that lobster could leap short distances underwater. They compared the French thesis of a lobster being a fish because it could “leap” to being the same as a kangaroo being a bird when it hopped.
November 27, 2018
Dodo Birds Are Even Harder To Find Than You Think
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
There is perhaps no animal more emblematic for the perils of extinction at the hands of human interference than that of the dodo bird. Native only to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, these waddling birds lived for thousands of years unchecked by predators of any kind. They evolved into pudgy, bobbling birds but the particulars of their life remain shrouded in mystery because their species was extinguished so quickly when Europeans arrived in 1598.
Dutch sailors began to settle the island, destroying much of the natural habitat and unleashing a miasma of death upon the dodo in the form of dogs, cats, rats, and macaques. The birds had no fear of predators before and didn’t adjust to their new neighbors, nor did they have the ability to escape or fly away. Settlers burned the forests, and invasive species plundered their nests. Though it’s widely reported that people hunted the dodos to extinction, no more than 50 settlers were ever on the island with the ill-fated birds, and little evidence suggests people hunted them much.
The last dodo is believed to have been sighted in 1662, by a group of shipwrecked mariners. They ate the birds for food. In a span of just 64 years, an entire species was expunged from the planet, leaving little evidence behind about the curious creature. To this day, the ecology, behavior, and even the appearance of the dodo is in dispute. A few dodo birds were transported outside of the islands, but only one is believed to have survived the journey. The specimen, which arrived in Nagasaki, Japan. Written accounts are sparse, and many are believed to refer to stuffed dodos or paintings of them. The earliest known image of a dodo was painted in 1610 and depicts a dried dodo in the Prague royal menagerie. Though hundreds of dodo paintings and drawings now exist, none can be trusted since most—if not all were made using partial remains or other images as references.
Despite its fast disappearance, the dodo wasn’t declared extinct until the 19th century. Until that time, many scientists actually refused to believe species extinction was possible—a notion they held on religious grounds. In the interim years, some claimed the dodo had never existed at all and was simply a myth.
Real evidence of the dodo does exist, however rare. Despite how popular the bird’s remains were to pass around, no complete set exists. The cast skeleton in the Ripley’s collection was made using the most complete skeleton ever found—a specimen discovered in a cave in 2007. The skeleton confirms much of what has been previously assumed about the bird—including its pudgy shape, long legs, and flightlessness. Though many bones, beaks, and feet have been recovered from swamps on Mauritius, the only known preserved soft tissue of a dodo remains in a museum. Oxford University has a head and foot that once were part of a stuffed dodo. Since the advent of genetics research, scientists have been able to learn a bit more about these birds even 300 years after they went extinct. They’ve determined the dodo wasn’t related to ostriches or emus like early European explorers thought but were instead much more similar to a large, flightless ground pigeon.
Though dodos disappeared from their home many centuries ago, they appear in stories all around the world as a symbol for extinction and caricature of obsolescence.
November 26, 2018
November 25, 2018
November 24, 2018
Why Is Wombat Poop Cube-Shaped?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[November 18-24th, 2018] A rhinestone-clad pigeon, a busy speed camera, parrot alarm, and the secrets of wombat digestion.
Turkey Poop Fuel
We’re used to stuffing ourselves with turkey around Thanksgiving, but soon we may be stuffing our power plants with coal made from turkey excrement. A team of scientists at Ben-Gurion University has found that when cooked under the right pressure, turkey droppings can be burned as a fuel very close to coal. With an estimated 46 million turkeys consumed on Thanksgiving alone, all of the bird’s waste has to end up somewhere, and the researchers hope they’ve found a sustainable place.
Rhinestone Pigeon
A fabulous pigeon is missing its owner at the Fallen Feather Bird Rescue in Arizona. The bird was found trying to sneak into someone’s window. Caretakers quickly noticed there was something different about this pigeon. It was wearing a rhinestone vest. Naming their ward “Liberace,” the shelter is hoping to find out where the bird came from soon.
Speedy Speed Camera
The tiny town of Acquetico in Italy only has about 120 residents, but the village is beset by motorists speeding through. To combat this, they decided to install a speed camera. Believe it or not, in the first two weeks alone, it has captured 58,000 speeding incidents
Parrot Alarm
Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue got an alert of a fire alarm activation, but when they got to the house, no one was home and there was no sign of immediate danger. Outside, however, they kept hearing the alarm go off—or at least they thought they did. Inside, it was actually the resident’s gray parrot mimicking the alarm.
Cubed Wombat Poop
Believe it or not, wombat poop is cube-shaped, and scientists think they have finally unraveled the mystery as to why. Their special digestive tracts make it possible to shape their droppings uniformly, allowing them to be easily stacked. University of Tasmania ecologists believe wombats stack their feces into piles, using them to communicate with other wombats. They also are believed to use the piles as landmarks that can be easily sniffed out.
Source: Why Is Wombat Poop Cube-Shaped?
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