Despite the stereotype we’ve seen perpetuated in cartoons, the idea that mice go wild for cheese isn’t quite accurate. While mice may nibble on cheese if it’s the only available food source, they strongly prefer sugary and carbohydrate-rich options such as seeds, grains, fruits, chocolate, and especially peanut butter. In fact, a mouse’s strong sense of smell actually causes them to be repelled by some stinky cheeses. Soft cheeses also pose a choking hazard for mice due to the critter’s lack of a natural gag reflex.

The reason behind this myth is hard to pinpoint, but one theory relates to how cheese was stored prior to refrigeration. Cheese was usually kept out of the sun in a cool, dark, well-ventilated place (such as a cave or pantry) and generally wasn’t tightly sealed. In an interview with Scientific American, psychologist David Holmes suggested mice may have nibbled on the exposed cheese while searching for other food, leading to their reputation as cheese-fiends.

Cheez Whiz debuted in the United States.

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While Cheez Whiz is associated with American cuisine, it actually debuted in Britain in 1952. Kraft unveiled canned Cheez Whiz as a shortcut for preparing the English dish of Welsh rarebit. The product proved so successful that it was introduced to the U.S. market in July 1953.

The belief that mice prefer cheese isn’t a recent stereotype, but rather one that dates back millennia. The Roman philosopher Seneca, who lived in the first century CE, once wrote, “‘Mouse’ is a syllable. Now a mouse eats its cheese; therefore, a syllable eats cheese,” suggesting mice were associated with cheese as far back as ancient Rome. Shakespeare later connected mice with cheese in plays such as King Lear and Troilus and Cressida, long before Hanna-Barbera drilled it home with Tom and Jerry in the 20th century.

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Not unlike human fingerprints, the pattern of every tiger’s stripes is one of a kind. And though those markings are invariably beautiful, they aren’t just for decoration. Biologists refer to tiger stripes as an example of disruptive coloration, as their vertical slashes help them hide in plain sight by breaking up their shape and size so they blend in with tall grass, trees, and other camouflage-friendly environments. Tigers are solitary hunters who ambush their prey, so the ability to remain undetected while on the hunt is key to their survival.

Tigers are the largest cat species in the world.

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Lions may be the king of the jungle, but they aren’t the biggest cat. That title belongs to Panthera tigris, which can reach a length of 10 feet and weigh as much as 660 pounds — 100 pounds more than lions and several times as many as the average jaguar.

They’re also helped by the fact that their prey don’t see colors the way we do. Deer, for instance, can process short and mid-wavelength colors such as green and blue but not long wavelength hues such as red and orange. That means a tiger lurking in the grass won’t look bright orange — it will actually appear green to its prey, making it difficult to differentiate from its surroundings. Markings also differ among subspecies, with Sumatran tigers having the narrowest stripes and Siberian tigers having fewer than the rest of their big cat brethren.

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Humans are often thought of as the smartest animals, and one of the perks of our top-notch brains (with a little help from our opposable thumbs) is supposedly that we’re the only species that can use tools. That’s what we used to think, anyway. More recently, research has shown that our tool-use ability is not as unique as we once believed. Take, for instance, the capuchin monkey. Research published in 2019 showed that these pint-sized creatures, native to Central and South America — and sometimes known as “organ grinder” monkeys — have been using stone tools to process food for more than 3,000 years. 

Cappuccinos and capuchin monkeys were both named for the same thing.

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The words “cappuccino” and “capuchin” both come from Capuchin friars, a Christian order established in 1528. The friars were known for their hoods, or “cappucio” in Latin, and brown robes — whose color was similar to the monkeys and the coffee beverage.

Archaeologists analyzing a site in Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park discovered that the monkeys had used rounded quartzite stones to smash open cashew husks against tree roots or stone “anvils.” After digging through layers of sediment in four phases of excavation, the scientists found stone tools that had been used by the capuchins dating back around 3,000 years. The researchers also found signs that the monkeys’ tool use had changed over time — the creatures first used smaller stone tools, and then around 560 years ago, switched to larger ones, which may have meant they were eating harder foods, according to National Geographic. This evolution could have occurred due to different groups of capuchins moving into the area, or a change in the local plants. Either way, the study marked the first time such an evolution in tool use had been seen in a nonhuman species. Scientists suspect that further exploration of this site, and others like it, could give an unprecedented look at humanity’s own tool-use evolution, which began millions of years ago. Furthermore, primates — the taxonomic order to which humans also belong — aren’t the only ones gifted with brains capable of using tools. Elephants, dolphins, and a variety of birds are only a few of the other species that use tools — whether sticks, rocks, or tree limbs — to survive and thrive on planet Earth.

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