Did you know? facts!

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80% of the world’s forests have already vanished from the planet

According to National Geographic, only about 30% of the world’s landmass are forests. Each year, the Earth continues to lose about 18.7 million acres of forest. This is equivalent to about 27 soccer fields per minute.

Before trees existed, Earth was covered with giant white mushrooms

Though not actually mushrooms, there’s fossil evidence that there actually were giant fungi. This was before trees and shrubs predominated on the Earth. These very large fungi were in the genus Prototaxites and could be up to 8 metres (26 feet) tall with ‘trunks’ or stems 1 metre (3 feet) in diameter.

Dawsonia is the tallest moss

The Dawsonia Superba is a large moss, growing to 23.6” in height. It is the tallest moss in the world. They are commonly known to grow taller and have thicker leaves than other common mosses. It is commonly found in New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea.

The smallest dinosaur

The smallest dinosaur ever discovered is only 16 inches long.

Discovered in China, the Microraptor is one of the most recent dinosaur discoveries and is the smallest ever found.

Most of the specimens that have been found have also been fully grown, so the baby Microraptors would have been even smaller!

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 14th, 2022

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