These Things May Seem The Same, But They Have Some Pretty Important Differences

One Goes Up, One Goes Down, No One Can Remember The Rest

Photo credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

Even though their names are so unusual, no one ever remembers which one is a stalagmite and which is the stalactite. Both are found in caves, but a stalagmite grows upward from the bottom of a cave, and a stalactite hangs down from the ceiling. A stalagmite is made up of mineral deposits that drip down and form a mound on the cave’s floor. A stalactite is a giant icicle that hangs down from the ceiling.

There’s really one handy trick to remembering it. A stalac-tite has to hold on “tight” to the ceiling.

Continue reading to see how two birds you thought were the same as so different, they’re not even closely related.