Bunnie's Fun Fact Round-Up - April

I adore learning, and sharing what I learn. My friends often get messages from me going "Did you know..?"

So I figured, why not share that here as well.

So once a month I will round up the fun facts from the previous month, and share them. I do try to make sure I am only listening/reading to people who have the experience and degrees in their fields, and avoid pseudo-science and ai slop.

With that super quick to-do, April's fun facts, presented by my original character Bunnie, the trans space crab.

🦀🦀🦀

Snakes and Acetaminophen

Acetaminophen, or Tylenol (and it should be noted they had nothing to do with the snake problem in Guam that scientists attempted to combat with this method), when given to snakes (specifically brown tree snakes, in this case) , does not react in them as it does in other animals.

Instead, the acetaminophen, when ingested by a snake, stops the red blood cells from taking in oxygen.

You know... their biggest job.

This results in the snakes feeling drowsy and going to sleep... and never waking up (much like how mammals react to carbon monoxide poisoning).

Sources:

Brookshire, Bethany. Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. Bethany Brookshire. CELA, 2022.

Than, K. (2010, September 26). Drug-filled mice airdropped over Guam to kill snakes. Animals. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/100924-science-animals-guam-brown-tree-snakes-mouse-tylenol

🦀🦀🦀

The Key Largo Woodrat

In my opinion, one of the coolest occurrences on our planet is the isolation of islands and how that impacted the evolution of the animals on them.

Such as animal which I learned about this last month is the Key Largo Woodrat (Neotoma floridana smalli). Native to what today is the U.S. Endangered, Saved, and Endangered again.

Eating on fruits, nuts, leaves, and plant buds, these fascinating little guys are quite the architects.

The Key Largo Woodrat is known for the nests they build. Not dug in the ground, built above ground using a foundation of roots and made from rocks and sticks (some of these nests have been measured to be the same height as the shoulder of an average human male).

These nests are thought to be passed down generation to generation.

Currently they face an uncertain future due to the spread of invasive Burmese Pythons in Florida.

Sources:

Brookshire, Bethany. Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. Bethany Brookshire. CELA, 2022.

Key Largo Woodrat. (n.d.). Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/land/key-largo-woodrat/

Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal - Google News Archive Search. (n.d.). https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HQEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5NEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2738,3199387&dq=key-largo-woodrat&hl=en

🦀🦀🦀

Speaking of Burmese pythons!!!

An invasive species in the Florida Everglades, decimating local wildlife populations for decades now (~ 1970's, released by people who procured them as pets and then abandoned them when the people realized just what it takes to keep an exotic reptilian as a pet), they don't really have any predators to keep their numbers down. And given that they can swim, well.

It was quite easy for there to be a population boom.

For decades the accepted tactic to attempt to curb their numbers is hunting. No restrictions, you see one, you kill one.

The problem, it appears, aside from their size and excellent camouflage, is they possess the ability to REGROW their organs!

(This means there are very few ways to effectively kill them, and most of them involve the brain.)

Sources:

Brookshire, Bethany. Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. Bethany Brookshire. CELA, 2022.

Burmese Python. (n.d.). Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/snakes/burmese-python/

Andrew AL, Perry BW, Card DC, Schield DR, Ruggiero RP, McGaugh SE, Choudhary A, Secor SM, Castoe TA. Growth and stress response mechanisms underlying post-feeding regenerative organ growth in the Burmese python. BMC Genomics. 2017 May 2;18(1):338. doi: 10.1186/s12864-017-3743-1. PMID: 28464824; PMCID: PMC5412052.

🦀🦀🦀

So this one is something I stumbled across while looking up something entirely unrelated about one of the K-Pop idols I follow.

Apparently S. Korea awards certificates to prominent citizens who are exemplary tax payers.

I have to say, as someone who has spent the last five or so years following Chinese and Korean actors and singers; this is a nice change of pace from the usual "X celebrity has been arrested for tax fraud".

🦀🦀🦀

Skara Brae.

Such an amazing place, Skara Brae.

Found on the west coast of Mainland Orkney, Skara Brae is an incredibly preserved and astoundingly old village dating back to the Neolithic era!!!

A small village where the buildings were partially dug into the ground with roofs over the top, the passages between the houses were even underground. Which given the harsh weather of that area, even way back when, is a brilliant move.

Artifacts found suggest the people who lived here were hunters, fishermen, and farmers. And no weapons have thus far been located.

With a limited number of houses, one building which some archeologists think could have been some sort of community area, and one building with an isolated door that could only be locked from the outside (?!), it is thought the population of Skara Brae at any given time would have been around 50-100 individuals.

It has not yet been determined why Skara Brae was abandoned.

Sources:

History with Kayleigh. (2026, April 28). The Scottish Pompeii: Hidden for 4,300 years! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weWWjZAGSKo

History and research. (n.d.). https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/skara-brae/history/

🦀🦀🦀

Speaking of Neolithic villages!

Occupation of the riverbanks of the Hangang River where modern day Seoul is has been happening since roughly 6000 years ago!

Which makes sense when you really think about it, but I feel that is one of those things we never really consider, never really ponder, and never just sit in amazement over.

Amsa-dong Prehistoric site had been buried for ages, only being rediscovered after flooding caused the collapse of the sand dunes which had covered the village in 1925. Nine dugouts have been excavated so far, and at the site they have built a copy dugout, sized up 1.5 times of what they had been built at. Much like Skara Brae, these dugouts were dug partially into the earth and covered by a roof.

Also at the site is a museum in which you can see various artifacts uncovered, including bows, and pottery with what looks to be artistic patterns.

Sources:

예세이 Yessay, SuperJunior Yesung. (2026, April 29). #아육대 구경만 하던 정장 예성, 사슴 잡는 신석기 사냥꾼(?) 도전|예세이 EP.71 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJumbF3WuhY

국가유산채널(K-Heritage Channel). (2026, April 22). 선사 시대 유적지부터 K-드라마 성지까지. . . 서울의 수천 년을 함께 해온 한강 | 슈퍼주니어 예성 | 한강 | 예술가의 성대 ASMR | EP.24 (SUB) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re5QUNy2DuM

Kto, K. T. O. (n.d.). Amsa-dong Prehistoric Site Museum (암사동선사유적박물관)- VISITKOREA. Amsa-dong Prehistoric Site Museum (암사동선사유적박물관). https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/svc/contents/contentsView.do?vcontsId=186562

🦀🦀🦀

A Mayan city not built from the stone one would expect to see of Mayan architecture. Instead, the only Mayan city built of brick.

Yeah, brick.

Incredible.

Comalcalco was a port city on the bank of the Mezcalapa river in the Tabasco alluvial plateau. Occupied by Joy’Chan Mayans, the only inscription found is written in the Mayan language ch’olano and says “Joy’Chan”. (Typically translated as “rolling sky.”)

With a lagoon nearby, Comalcalco was also well situated for agriculture, growing a variety of crops, but especially the cocoa bean.

And of course, the clay.

They had access to and basically controlled access to the clay deposits; from which they harvested clay not just for their buildings, but for figures, urns, bricks, etc.

Overtaken by the jungle, as nature ang the jungle are wont to do, the city appears to have been looked over by colonizers invading the various landmasses of the Western Hemisphere. Until rediscovered 1880.

Sources:

World of Antiquity. (2026, April 27). The Maya City made of brick [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYPIpwncp6M

De Antropología E Historia, I. N. (n.d.). Comalcalco. Lugares INAH. https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/en/node/4390