WEIRD FACTS ABOUT
CHAMOIS

curly underline

CHAMOIS

Most chamois leather does not come from the chamois, a type of mountain antelope. True chamois skin was used in the 18th century by the French glove-making industry. Workers found that, by tanning the skin in cod oil from Biarritz, they produced the ideal qualities of water absorption for the soft white gloves. The word 'chamois' (pronounced 'shammy') then came to be used for the process of tanning in cod oil. Nowadays most chamois leather comes from sheep.


| Share |

Related links:

YODELLING
On 4 October 1988, the Bavarian Minister for the Environment requested people not to yodel... MORE

You may also be interested in:

CICADA
The American cicada lives 17 years, mates only once and dies immediately afterwards.... MORE

COPERNICUS
After he died in 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus - the man who put the Sun at... MORE

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
In September 2011, a coroner in Ireland investigating a case in which pensioner Murdo Macleod... MORE

SIGN LANGUAGE
According to research in Tennessee published in 2001, people who use sign language are five... MORE

MARIJUANA
The first Madrid Marijuana Cup competition for cannabis growers was held in the Spanish capital... MORE

ANDORRA
Andorra has no unemployment, no airports, no US ambassador, and the world's highest life expectancy... MORE

PETER PAN
J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, was only 5ft 2in tall (he stopped growing... MORE

VEGETABLE
The estimated number of injuries in the UK in 2005 caused by vegetables that necessitate... MORE

WATER
To survive indefinitely in a hot, exposed desert, an average human requires 1.5 gallons of... MORE

TOURISM
Tourism began on 5 July 1841, when Thomas Cook organised his first trip for fellow... MORE

TITS
According to research published in 2009, great tits have different accents according to the part... MORE

DRAGON
The earliest known depictions of dragons date from China around the 16th century BC. While Chinese... MORE

FIRE FIGHTING
According to official figures, there were 1,148,000 fire-fighters in the USA in 2007 of which... MORE

CLICK
In the !Xoo language of Botswana and Namibia, which is spoken by about 4,000 people,... MORE

RAPE
In English law, only boys over 14 can rape; there is no such limitation in... MORE