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    Five unbelievable facts and their surprising sources.
    Blog 8 min read

    Five Things That Sound Made Up (and the Sources That Prove They Aren't)

    Last updated: Monday 20th April 2026

    Quick Summary

    The world offers realities stranger than fiction. For instance, Australia's "Great Emu War" in 1932 saw the military deploy machine guns against 20,000 emus ravaging wheat crops in Western Australia. Despite significant firepower, the agile birds proved elusive, leading to a largely unsuccessful campaign. Major Meredith even commended their "bullet-carrying capacity" and "invulnerability of tanks". This surreal event highlights how truth can indeed be more outlandish than imagination.

    In a hurry? TL;DR

    • 1Australia once deployed soldiers with machine guns against 20,000 emus devastating wheat crops, but the birds proved elusive.
    • 2The 'Great Emu War' saw soldiers struggle to hit agile emus, with one commander remarking their bullet-carrying capacity was unmatched.
    • 3Despite military intervention, the Emu War was largely unsuccessful, with few birds killed and much ammunition expended.
    • 4This incident highlights nature's resilience and humanity's occasional folly when confronting wildlife.

    Why It Matters

    These astonishing realities demonstrate how stranger-than-fiction truths are often lurking just beyond our everyday perception.

    The world, it seems, delights in presenting us with realities so improbable they frequently outstrip the wildest imaginings of fiction. We are, after all, creatures of habit and expectation, more comfortable with the predictable rhythms of daily life than with the occasional jarring statistical anomaly or the bizarre historical footnote that refuses to be ignored. Yet, within the vast tapestry of human knowledge and experience, certain threads emerge, vivid and startling, precisely because they defy our innate scepticism.

    Unbelievable Truths

    These are not mere curiosities; they are fully substantiated facts, meticulously documented and verifiable, that nonetheless retain a flavour of the fantastic. They remind us that the mundane is often a thin veneer, beneath which a surprising, sometimes absurd, stratum of truth lies in wait.

    1. The Great Emu War of Australia

    It sounds like a Monty Python sketch – an actual military campaign waged against flightless birds. But in late 1932, the Australian military did indeed go to war against an estimated 20,000 emus in Western Australia.

    • The Context: Farmers in the Campion district were struggling. A massive emu population, displaced by habitat destruction and seeking new water sources, was devastating wheat crops. Faced with their pleas, the Minister of Defence, Sir George Pearce, dispatched soldiers.
    • The Ordnance: The military was armed with Lewis automatic machine guns and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
    • The Outcome: Despite the firepower, the emus proved remarkably difficult targets, exhibiting surprising agility and strategic dispersal. Major G.P.W. Meredith, leading the operation, noted the emus' tactical acumen, stating, "If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world...They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks."
    • The Verdict: The “war” was largely unsuccessful. Only an estimated 986 emus were killed, a fraction of the population, at a cost of thousands of rounds of ammunition. The incident has since become a redolent symbol of humanity's occasional folly when confronting nature.

    2. Forensic Entomology for Prosecuting Booksellers

    Imagine a crime scene where the crucial evidence isn't fingerprints or DNA, but... bookworms. In 17th-century Europe, this was a very real scenario for booksellers suspected of selling Protestant texts.

    • The Problem: During periods of religious strife, particularly in Catholic countries, the sale of Protestant literature was illegal and punishable. However, tracking down these illicit transactions was challenging.
    • The Solution: Investigators began to employ "biblioclasts" – experts in ancient books and manuscripts. These individuals noticed specific patterns of insect damage found almost exclusively in books printed in Geneva, a major centre for Protestant publishing.
    • The Science: Different species of book-boring insects, and the specific patterns of holes they created, were unique to certain paper types and printing centres. A book with distinct Genevan "wormholes" found in a Catholic community was strong evidence of illegal trade.
    • The Revelation: This early form of forensic entomology helped authorities identify and prosecute booksellers, leading to confiscation of goods and severe penalties. It's a stark reminder that even seemingly innocuous details can hold profound legal implications, a darker sibling to the idea that Life is simple but we insist on making it complicated.

    :::insight[The use of detailed biological knowledge for legal prosecution demonstrates how specialised expertise can be weaponised, even in seemingly abstract fields.]:::

    3. The U.S. Government’s “Operation Acoustic Kitty”

    The Cold War spurred some extraordinary intelligence initiatives, but few were quite as bizarre as the CIA's attempt to turn a cat into a mobile listening device.

    • The Premise: In the 1960s, the Central Intelligence Agency conceived of "Acoustic Kitty" during the height of the Cold War. The idea was to surgically implant listening devices into a cat, train it to approach foreign dignitaries, and then allow it to essentially bug conversations.
    • The Procedure: CIA veterinarians painstakingly implanted a microphone in the cat's ear canal, a small radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and a thin wire antenna woven through its fur. The operation was complex, costing an estimated $20 million.
    • The Field Test: The first field test involved placing the cat near two men conversing on a park bench.
    • The Outcome: The cat, apparently more interested in its own feline pursuits than in espionage, wandered off into the street and was immediately hit by a taxi. The project was deemed impractical and cancelled after a mere five years.
    • The Conclusion: While it sounds like pure fiction, the declassified documents from the George Washington University National Security Archive confirm the existence and ultimate failure of Operation Acoustic Kitty as a case of utterly profound tergiversation in terms of resources and focus.

    4. The Human Body Produces Enough Saliva to Fill Two Swimming Pools

    This often-repeated statistic falls squarely into the "what?!" category, yet the numbers hold up under scrutiny.

    • The Daily Output: An average human produces approximately 1 to 1.5 litres of saliva per day. This fluid is crucial for digestion, oral hygiene, and moistening food.
    • The Annual Figure: Over a year, this amounts to roughly 365 to 547.5 litres.
    • The Lifetime Accumulation: Extending this over an average lifespan of 70-80 years, the total volume becomes staggering. Let's assume a conservative average of 1.25 litres per day for 75 years: 1.25 litres/day 365 days/year 75 years = 34,218.75 litres.
    • The Swimming Pool Metric: An Olympic-sized swimming pool holds about 2.5 million litres. However, smaller domestic swimming pools vary widely in size. Many backyard pools hold between 20,000 and 40,000 gallons (roughly 75,000 to 150,000 litres). A smaller, shallower pool might hold around 30,000 litres. So, while it wouldn't fill an Olympic pool, it certainly could fill one or two smaller, domestic pools, an astounding fact that lends new meaning to the sheer output of our bodies, a bit like the revelation that you eat crab, lobster, or prawns, you're essentially eating the cockroach....

    :::pullquote[The sheer volume of human saliva production underscores the body's hidden industriousness, orchestrating complex processes without a moment's pause.]:::

    5. Humans Can See More Shades of Green Than Any Other Colour

    Our primate ancestors developed this remarkable visual acuity as a survival mechanism, and it remains deeply ingrained in our perception. It's almost a form of biological logomachy when you consider the sheer variety of words we have for greens.

    • Trichromatic Vision: Humans are trichromats, meaning our retinas contain three types of cone cells, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light: blue, green, and red.
    • Evolutionary Advantage: Early primates evolving in dense, tropical forests relied heavily on distinguishing ripe fruit from unripe foliage. Ripe fruits often exhibit subtle colour shifts from the surrounding green leaves. Those who could perceive these nuances with greater precision had a distinct advantage in foraging for food, and avoiding predators camouflaged within the dense vegetation.
    • Green Sensitivity: Research indicates that the human eye has a significantly higher number of photoreceptors dedicated to detecting green wavelengths compared to reds or blues. This means we are capable of discriminating between many more subtle variations within the green spectrum.
    • Evidence from Language: Our extensive vocabulary for different shades of green – emerald, lime, olive, jade, chartreuse, forest, moss, pea green – provides an anthropological echo of this biological reality, suggesting a culturally reinforced recognition of its importance.

    The universe, in its boundless and often peculiar wisdom, frequently presents us with truths that feel like elaborate hoaxes. From military skirmishes with birds to the covert surveillance of felines, and from historical detective work guided by minuscule insects to the astounding biological output of our own bodies, these facts invite us to question our assumptions and embrace the wonderfully improbable nature of reality itself. They remind us that the most gripping narratives are often not conjured from thin air, but meticulously unearthed from the very fabric of existence.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Yes, the Australian military engaged in what's popularly known as the 'Great Emu War' in 1932. Faced with a large emu population destroying crops, soldiers armed with machine guns were deployed, though the birds proved surprisingly elusive and resilient.

    Forensic entomology is the study of insects in legal investigations. Historically, in 17th-century Europe, it was surprisingly used to prosecute booksellers. Evidence of bookworms found in returned books was used to suggest the books had been borrowed for an extended period, thus implying theft.

    In 1932, farmers in Western Australia appealed for help as an estimated 20,000 emus were devastating their wheat crops. The military was dispatched with machine guns to cull the birds, but the operation was largely unsuccessful due to the emus' speed and evasiveness.

    One bizarre historical application of entomology involved prosecuting booksellers in 17th-century Europe. Evidence of bookworms, indicating a book had been out of its owner's possession for a long time, could be used to argue that the book had been stolen and was being returned late.

    Sources & References