The hummingbird is the only bird in the world that can fly backwards. Hurricanes spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. These, among other "backward" motifs involving clocks and so on, tie in with the major thematic elements related to Benjamin Button living life in reverse.
Roy Cleveland Sullivan (1912-1983) was actually struck by lightning seven times, giving him the Guinness World Record. Mr. Daws recalls being struck while in his car, "Did I ever tell you I been struck by lightning seven times? Once when I was just sittin' in my truck just minding my own business," as happened to Sullivan in 1969.
Director Tarsem Singh was enlisted to shoot the brief handheld montage of Benjamin backpacking through India and Cambodia, after David Fincher learned that Tarsem and Brad Pitt were both already planning to be in Southeast Asia at the same time.
A man was housed in a monkey house in real life. Ota Benga was kidnapped from the Congo in 1904, and put on display in a monkey house at the Bronx Zoo. His teeth were chiseled to sharp points, and he used to shoot arrows at onlookers. The zoo released him 1906, realizing they had been "inhumane," and he was placed in an orphanage until 1910, when he was relocated to Virginia. He received a formal education before starting work at a tobacco factory, and began planning his return to the Congo. The outbreak of WWI made his plans seem impossible, and he killed himself in 1916.