The original story from "Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights" begins, "Aladdin was a little Chinese boy."
I got these a long time ago from wu riddles forum...
1. Which animal has the largest brain to body ratio?
It turns out to be the ant: 6% of its body is brain.
Again - it comes down to what you include in the word "animal". Are insects animals? It seems to me that the word is more commonly used for vertebrates.
2. Why wouldn't pigeons enjoy the movies?
It is necessary for film to run at 25 frames per second for humans to believe they are seeing motion. It has been calculated (and I have no idea how), that pigeons would require the film to run at 250 fps; at 25 fps, it would appear as a slide show to them. As a result they would watch a movie, like the Matrix, and wonder when something exciting was about to happen. I don't know if this explains why pigeons, sitting in the road, seem to react so late when we drive towards them in a car?
Because the air flows around a car make it easier for birds to get into the air. They wait intentionally for the car to approach, then take off and ride the rushing air to gain added speed and height with less effort. I would also say that if a pigeon had a brain to understand it, they could follow the plot of the movie and it would be just as exciting to them, except that the jerky images would give them headaches. They do not experience time any faster than we do. Their eyes just respond quicker to illumination changes.
3. What did the people of ancient India use soldier ants for?
They used to pinch the broken skin together and place the ant next to it. When the ant bites through the skin, they pull the ants body away from its body, leaving a 'stitch' in place.
And I thought stapling a wound shut sounded badly.
4. What do the people of Thailand still use red ants for?
Apparently, they place a number of red ants in an open wound and they begin to secrete an acid, which acts as a powerful alternative to antiseptic.
Maggots have been used for this as well. They will eat the dead tissue away, preventing necrosis.
5. What grows if a Golden delicious apple falls to the ground and takes root?
An apple tree grows. However, they are among the most genetically diverse organisms, and as such, any tree grown from a seed will never be the same as the parent. To continue a variety it is necessary to use grafting methods.
That sounds to me like an overstatement of the case. You may get significant variations in a few generations, but if you control the fertilization, true-breeding strands can be grown from seeds.
6. What is the largest living thing on the planet?
It is actually the Honey Mushroom. Biologists have discovered that this particular mushroom is a single organism connected underground. It is found in Malheur National Forest, Oregon, and it extends for over 2000 acres.
I believe that information is way out of date. 2000 acres is fairly small compared to the size I recall hearing about several years ago. That fungus (I don't remember if it was a mushroom or not - just that it was some type of fungus) was many miles across.
7. Who was the first man to suggest that the earth revolves around the sun?
It was Aristarchus of Samos, circa 310 BCE.
Again, he may be the first we have record of, but I sincerely doubt he was the first to come up with the idea.
8. Which mammal is responsible for killing most humans in Africa each year?
It is the Hippopotamus. The greatest irony is that despite their aggressive nature, they are herbivores. Once they've killed their victims they just leave them.
Now that is just plain wrong! Hippos kill a pittance compared to we humans ourselves. In fact, more humans are killed anywhere by other humans than by all other animals put together. Last time I checked, humans are still mammals.
9. Who invented the telephone?
It was Antonio Meucci, in 1871. Apparently, Alexander Graham Bell was a young engineer working in the patent office at the time, and the conspiracy theory suggests that he stole the plans and patented it for himself. Boo to him, if it's true!
Meucci may have been first to come up with a telephone (and in 1849, not 1871), but this bit about Bell is completely bogus! I don't believe he ever worked in the patent office. His invention of the telephone came from his work with the deaf. He invented a device in 1871 that converted sound into mechanical motion, in hopes that deaf people could see what they could not hear. Thoughts about this device and its output were what gave him the idea.
If Bell had stolen plans from Meucci and used them, then his patent would have been considerably different. For instance, Meucci used inductance to boost his signal. This idea was not rediscovered until the 1890s, and was patented (not by Bell) in 1900.
Lastly, Meucci did not file for a patent in 1871. Apparently he could not afford the patent fee of $250. Instead he filed a "Caveat", an announcement that he was working on the device. Such caveats were used to claim rights to an invention before it was perfected. He renewed the Caveat in 1872 and 1873, but let lapse after that. Such a caveat almost certainly did not contain the sort of details that Bell would have needed if he stole the idea.