Interesting Facts

The Cavendish variety of banana accounts for 95 per cent of bananas shipped to export markets around the world. (That's interesting in itself, but the biggest nightmare of a monoculture has arisen, and the world’s banana crop is under threat from a fungus; Foc-TR4. According to Nature, a strain of Foc wiped out the Gros Michel cultivar, which was the main exported banana variety until the 1950s. Gros Michel plants were then replaced with the Cavendish variety, which is resistant to that Foc strain, but susceptible to the new Foc Tropical Race 4 (Foc-TR4) strain. The disappearance of bananas from supermarket shelves in the UK is one thing, but bananas form a crucial part of the diet of more than 400 million people.)

Paignton Zoo in Devon has banned its monkeys from eating bananas. (Seemingly, the natural sugar content of the kinds of bananas grown for human consumption is bad for the monkeys' health and can rot their teeth. Over the years the banana has been bred to be sweeter and sweeter, and now there can be up to 12g of sugar per 100g of banana, and the sugar counts for 53 percent of a bananas 105 calories. Monkeys without bananas! Whatever next: squirrels with nut allergies or    +Aladdin Pasha    at the movies with no popcorn?) Source: The Wright Stuff - Channel 5

Banana skins can take two years to biodegrade. (I'm not sure if this is good or bad news for clowns.

Bananas don't grow on trees, as is commonly believed. (They grow on compacted, water-filled leaf stalks that grow up to 25 feet high. They are considered the world's largest herb!)