Think you know the Great Lakes? Here are some little-known facts

The Great Lakes. We know there are five of them, and that they're the largest freshwater system in the world. But there are things you don't know about them. For example, the Great Lakes hold more than 20% of the world's surface freshwater, and 84% of North America's surface freshwater. The Great Lakes are dotted with more than 35,000 islands. Most of those islands are small and uninhabitable, but the largest is Lake Huron's Manitoulin Island at 2,766 square kilometres. It's also the largest island in any inland body of water on the planet. If you were to drink half a gallon of water a day, it would take you 16.4 trillion years to drink all of the water in Lake Superior. In other words, Lake Superior is big. All of the water from the four other Great Lakes plus three more the size of Lake Erie would fit inside of it. Its three quadrillion gallons could submerge all of North and South America in 30 centimetres of water. There are more than 6,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, with an estimated loss of 30,000 mariners' lives. The province of Ontario was named after the lake and not vice versa. And a lake on Saturn's moon, Titan, is named after Lake Ontario. On September 5th, 1914, Babe Ruth hit its first professional home run at Hanlon's Point Stadium in Toronto. Legend has it it landed in Lake Ontario and is believed to still be there. The shoreline of all the Great Lakes combined equals nearly 44% of the circumference of the world. Lake Michigan's 1,448 kilometre circle tour alone would take approximately 14 and a half hours without any stops. Ontario has proclaimed June 7th as Great Lakes Day, the perfect time to get outside and enjoy the natural wonders in our backyard.