While dinosaurs roamed the Earth, they lived on every continent, including Antarctica.
100 Mind-Blowing Continent Facts
Antarctica is the only continent that turtles don’t live on.
Africa is the only continent in all four hemispheres.
The largest continent in the world is Asia.
There are parts of Africa in all four hemispheres. For people whose education was largely focused on the Western world, it may be surprising to find out exactly how huge the continent of Africa is. For instance, it spans all four hemispheres and covers nearly 12 million square miles.
The continent of Africa is in all four hemispheres.
Antarctica is the only continent without any reptiles or snakes. Not only does the elusive continent of Antarctica lack McDonald’s joints – but it also doesn’t have any of our lizard friends. Why? Well – we all know that reptiles are cold-blooded – so they can’t produce their heat. Meaning, they’d get turned into popsicles in the frosty Arctic.
There is McDonald’s on all continents except Antarctica. Fast food giant McDonald’s serves 120 countries with about 37,855 restaurants worldwide – but you wouldn’t find a single McDonald’s joint in Antarctica. Not only does it have a McDonald ’s-shaped void, but Antarctica is the only demilitarised continent worldwide. Instead, the entire continent is relegated for educational and scientific purposes.
Tinder made its first match in Antarctica in 2014. Tinder made its first match on the continent of Antarctica in 2014. The match in question was between two research scientists. You could pretty much find a match for you anywhere with these new dating apps.
Australia is the only continent without an active volcano. The nearest active volcanoes are located off the continent of Australia but are still within its territory. One is located on Head Island and the other on McDonald Islands. The reason why Australia does not have any active volcanoes located on the continent is that it isn’t on a plate boundary.
Dogs are banned from Antarctica. In 1994, Antarctica banned all non-native species (except humans) from the continent. This was to prevent diseases from spreading to seals.
Antarctica is the largest desert in the world. If you think desert, you’d probably think of the Sahara. By definition, a desert is any dry land with little vegetation and rain. However, the biggest desert is Antarctica. The Antarctic Polar Desert is a cold desert that covers the entire continent and covers roughly 5.5 million square miles.
A 70-year-old woman once completed one marathon for each continent in a week. For Chau Smith’s 70th birthday, she celebrated by completing one marathon for each continent in just a week.
There is a McDonald’s on every continent except Antarctica.
Africa is present in sections in all four hemispheres. The size of the African continent may come as a surprise to those whose education has been mostly centred on the West. For instance, it encompasses almost 12 million square miles and is spread throughout all four hemispheres. Yes, that’s how huge the African continent is.
Parts of Africa are in all four hemispheres. Africa is such a large continent, covering nearly 12 million miles, that there are parts of the continent-spanning all four hemispheres.
Antarctica is the only continent with no permanent human residents.
Asia is the largest continent on Earth. This also means it has the largest population with over 4.46 billion people!
Antarctica is home to the largest ice sheet on Earth. More than six times as large as Greenland, Antarctica is the southernmost continent and is the coldest and windiest place on Earth – with temperatures that can drop as low as -89.2°C and winds that can exceed 320 km per hour. Antarctica is home to the largest ice sheet on Earth, containing a staggering 30 million cubic kilometres of ice. This represents an incredible 70% of Earth’s freshwater and 90% of its ice. As a result, changes to the Antarctic ice sheet can have significant implications for global sea levels and ocean currents. Monitoring the Antarctic ice sheet is therefore of paramount importance and satellite data plays a crucial role in this effort. Data from satellites such as CryoSat, ESA’s ice mission, allow scientists to track changes in the thickness and movement of the ice sheet over time, providing insights into how it is responding to a changing climate. ESA has recently teamed up with NASA and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to carry out an ambitious campaign in Antarctica which involved taking simultaneous measurements of sea ice from ESA’s CryoSat and NASA’s ICESat-2 satellites. This research is essential for informing policy decisions on issues such as climate change and sea level rise, and for developing strategies to mitigate their impact on coastal communities around the world.
Europe is the second smallest continent in size but the third largest in population. Europe is known for its diverse cultures, rich history and stunning landmarks. Despite being the second smallest continent in size (after Australia), Europe is home to a staggering population of over 746 million people, making it the third largest continent in terms of population (after Asia and Africa). Europe has one of the highest levels of urbanisation in the world, with over 75% of its population living in urban areas. With the world’s population expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, we must increase efforts to understand and mitigate the challenges brought by rapid and unplanned urbanisation, air pollution, as well as issues related to the management of water and energy. ESA and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), in collaboration with the Google Earth Engine team, have developed the World Settlement Footprint – the world’s most comprehensive dataset on human settlement. Featuring data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions, this unprecedented collection of data on human settlement will advance our understanding of urbanisation on a global scale.
Antarctica isn’t owned by any single nation. Instead, the continent is governed by many of the world’s countries through the Antarctic Treaty. The first signatories of the treaty were the seven nations that had some form of territorial claim to Antarctica: The UK, Norway, New Zealand, France, Chile, Argentina, and Australia.
There is a McDonald’s in every continent except Antarctica. Overall, there are more than 36,000 McDonald’s restaurants spread out across the globe. While this number is incredibly high, it makes perfect sense considering that this favourite fast-food ranks as the second-largest fast-food restaurant chain in the world! The first McDonald’s to open outside of the USA commenced operations on June 3, 1967, in Richmond, Canada.
Towering Structure: London’s The Shard is the tallest object on the European continent, standing at 1,107 feet (350 meters).
Underwater Link: The Channel Tunnel connects the European continent with the U.K. It links Calais with Dover. This 21-mile route is the second-longest underground tunnel.
There’s an ATM on Every Continent on Earth: One interesting money fact involves how we access it. There are more than 3 million cash machines around the world today. You can get or deposit cash at ATMs in the most remote of places including Easter Island, central Australia, and two at McMurdo Station in Antarctica!
Only one of the top 10 Internet companies in 2022 is from Europe – and that’s Booking.com. Still, this is better than the previous years when none of the top 10 came from this continent. The 10 biggest are (in order of size): Amazon, Alphabet Inc., Meta (formerly Facebook), Tencent Holdings, Alibaba, Netflix, Salesforce.com, JD.com, Booking.com, and Baidu.