50 Geography Facts So Crazy They’ll Change How You See the World

This video presents 50 incredible geography facts that challenge common perceptions about our planet (0:32).

Some of the highlights include:

• The River of Death (1:00): Located in Peru's Amazon rainforest, the Shennai Tempishka is a thermal river so hot (120°F to 200°F) it can cook animals alive, despite being 400 meters from the nearest volcano.
• Earth's Lost Continent — Zealandia (1:35): A continent twice the size of India, Zealandia is 94% submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean, with only New Zealand and New Caledonia visible. It was officially recognized as a continent in 2017.
• The Impossible Island (3:19): The Philippines hosts a unique geographical Russian nesting doll: Vulcan Point, an island within a lake (Crater Lake) on an island (Taal Volcano Island) within a lake (Tal Lake) on another island (Luzon Island).
• The Entire Town Under One Roof (3:55): In Whittier, Alaska, almost all 200 residents live in a single 14-story building that contains a post office, grocery store, school, and medical clinic.
• Russia Versus an Entire Planet (4:26): Russia is so vast it covers 17 million square kilometers, making it larger than Pluto's entire surface area (16.6 million square kilometers).
• The Dead Sea That Isn't (5:01): The Dead Sea is not a sea but a hypersaline lake, 10 times saltier than the ocean, allowing people to float effortlessly due to its extreme density.
• The Flattest Country on Earth (5:36): The Maldives has a highest natural point of just 2.44 meters above sea level, making it extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels.
• The Secret Underwater River (6:09): Beneath the Black Sea flows an underwater river with waterfalls and rapids, which, if on land, would be the world's sixth-largest river by volume.
• The Growing Mountain (6:37): Mount Everest grows approximately 4 mm taller each year due to the continuous collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
• The Lake That Holds One-Fifth of Earth's Water (7:53): Lake Baikal in Russia contains nearly 20% of the world's total freshwater supply and is the deepest (1,642 meters) and oldest (25 million years) lake on Earth.
• The Pyramid Champion (11:43): Sudan boasts over 200 ancient pyramids, exceeding Egypt's 118 structures.
• The World's Largest Living Thing (12:25): The Great Barrier Reef stretches over 2,300 kilometers and is the largest living structure on Earth, visible from space.
• The Non-Rectangular Flag (13:11): Nepal is the only country with a non-rectangular national flag, featuring a unique double-triangle design.
• The Disappearing Country (14:40): The Maldives could be the first country to completely disappear due to climate change and rising sea levels within 50 to 100 years.
• The Door to Hell (18:03): Turkmenistan's Darvaza gas crater has been burning continuously since 1971 after Soviet engineers accidentally ignited the leaking gas.

Wildlife in the city - How animals adapt to humans | DW Documentary

This documentary explores how wildlife adapts to urban environments as cities expand globally (0:07). It highlights how animals transform cities into their own habitats for living, hunting, and breeding (0:34).

Key points covered in the video include:

• Urban Ecology (3:53): A new field of study dedicated to understanding how animals adapt to urban ecosystems.
• Animal Adaptability (4:02): Animals exhibit remarkable adaptability, with some species even undergoing genetic changes to thrive in city life (27:31).
• Challenges of Coexistence (10:33): The video discusses the difficulties in managing urban animal populations, particularly regarding food sources like trash, and the negative perception of some species (11:04).
• Human Impact (5:52): Human actions, such as waste disposal and construction, significantly influence urban wildlife behavior and survival.
• Noise Pollution (24:14): Research in the Netherlands shows how urban noise, especially underwater, negatively impacts aquatic life by interfering with their ability to find food, avoid predators, and communicate (26:38).
• Successful Urban Adaptations (31:56): Examples include peregrine falcons nesting on tall buildings and gray squirrels thriving in urban parks due to their social tolerance (33:00).
• The Future of Urban Wildlife (34:05): The documentary suggests that some animal populations may become so specialized in urban life that they can no longer survive in rural environments.
• Human Responsibility (37:18): The film emphasizes the importance of designing cities with wildlife in mind and recognizing animals' right to coexist with humans. The reintroduction of beavers in London (38:00) is presented as an example of efforts to bring nature back into cities.

• The video states that human waste, particularly trash and leftovers, significantly impacts urban animals by becoming a readily available food source (11:04-11:13).

  Specific examples include:

  • Crows in Paris learn to associate fast-food packaging with reliable food, often consuming processed, fried, and salty human leftovers, which is not good for their health but is abundant (9:27-10:04).
  • Gulls are drawn in thousands to landfill sites, becoming heavily reliant on the vast amount of waste (11:16-11:25, 13:40-13:44). The video notes that it's ecologically problematic for a wild species to depend entirely on human waste (11:59-12:04).
  • Red foxes in urban England also rely heavily on human food (17:07-17:10), adapting to find food sources like stealing bread from cafes (19:42-19:52).

  The video also mentions that animals making nests from discarded items like glass bottles and cans demonstrates how human waste becomes "homes for the creatures around us" (5:58-6:04).