# Primary sources and accuracy notes

Verified October 14, 2026.

## Short 39

Pink is diet-derived carotenoid pigmentation, not a simple paint-like coating or sunlight effect. Chicks hatch white-gray; pigment accumulation and plumage development take time. The adult illustration is not a chick.

[Smithsonian's National Zoo](https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/why-are-flamingos-pink-and-other-flamingo-facts)

## Short 40

Kew describes a syncarp formed from 100–200 flowers. It is a multiple fruit, not hundreds of loose berries hidden inside. Each eye is a contributor unit; no literal one-to-one count is made from the stylized illustration.

[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:12322-2/general-information)

## Short 41

The aerial flower is followed by a downward-growing peg; the pod matures at its tip below ground. Do not attach pods to the root system. Peanuts eaten are seeds within the fruit pod. Additional primary-source support: https://publications.mgcafe.uky.edu/ccd-cp-112

[University of Florida IFAS Extension](https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/vegetables/peanuts/)

## Short 42

More than one million hairs per square inch is the aquarium's figure for the thickest two-layer fur, not a count per follicle or across every part of the coat. Fur and trapped air provide insulation; do not claim grooming alone or fur alone replaces all metabolic heat generation.

[Monterey Bay Aquarium](https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-the-ocean/animals-a-to-z/sea-otter)

## Short 43

The 3.8 cm/year measurement refers to mean orbital distance, not monotonic movement every second. Tidal angular-momentum and energy exchange drive recession. Space art is a conceptual illustration, not mission photography and not to scale. Additional primary support: https://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/tides.html

[NASA Goddard Space Flight Center](https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/secular.html)

## Short 44

Up to 3 percent, variable, predominantly spinal-column changes, typically reverses on return. Avoid implying gravity is absent in orbit, limb growth, a health recommendation, or a permanent benefit. Anatomy/space imagery is conceptual illustration. Mechanism and reversal: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/whatisyourspaceheight.pdf

[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/spinal-ultrasound-investigation/)