10 Horrifying Things You Don't Want To Know About Your Belly Button

Your belly button is formed from scar tissue left over from the umbilical cord that

connected you to your mother’s placenta. Once the umbilical cord was cut, the nub that

was left behind fell off, leaving you with what is now your strange, but beautiful, belly

button.

In a 2012 research paper actually titled “A Jungle in There”, scientists investigated the

biological diversity found in 60 belly buttons and identified a total of 2,368 different

species living within those strange, ominous holes.

The average person had about 67 species of bacteria crawling around in there.

Researcher Stacy Hackner explains that all placental mammals start with a belly button.

However, most of these mammals (and certain humans) have their navels hidden by fur,

fade over time, or have a thin scar or tiny bump instead.

In a study by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki for ABC Science, Kruszelnicki tested lint samples from

participants and asked them to shave their belly hair to see if this prevented lint from

collecting inside. Results found that lint is formed from a mix of clothing fibers, hair,

and skin cells, and that lint formation is linked to hairiness, since belly hair essentially

pulls fibers into the navel.

In November of 2000, Graham Barker was officially recognized for possessing the

largest collection of belly button lint, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World

Records. Barker has collected navel lint since 1984, filling three large bottles. (Yuck!)

Greek Christian monks of Mount Athos used a particular method of “navel

contemplation” called Hesychasm, which was believed to give them a broader insight

into divine glory. (And a sore neck)

Is the technical term for navel-gazing. How long can you stare at a belly button for?

A study by Gert Heilbrunn published in a 1975 issue of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

looked at a 27-year-old man’s fascination with belly buttons, specifically the kind that

stuck out. The man was so obsessed with “outies” that he tried (on two occasions) to

fashion his very own “outie”, once with a razor blade (from which he almost bled to

death) and again with a threaded needle. According to the report, the man felt no pain

during the latter procedure “until his ecstasy had waned through the ensuing

masturbatory orgasm." What a beautiful story.

As part of a collaborative project named “Selfmade”, biologist Christina Agapakis and

artist Sissel Tolaas teamed up to make 11 cheeses from the bacteria found in armpits,

mouths, belly buttons, and toes. (If this isn't making you hungry; we're not sure what

will!)

According to Smithsonian, in the heart of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National

Monument lives a giant pothole appropriately named the “Cosmic Navel”. The wondrous

landform is almost 200 feet wide and geologists believe it may be up to 216,000 years