› added 1 year ago

50

TIL that the event that killed off the dinosaurs also killed off almost all reptiles, amphibians and mammals weighing more than 25 kg (55 lbs). Sea turtles and crocodilians were some of the few exceptions.

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KOlZJ TIL that a researcher in South Africa, J.J. Steyn convinced people to use spider colonies to control flies and it worked much better than chemical pesticides.
xZe5 TIL of the “Arlington Ladies”, volunteering to attend every military funeral since 1948 so that no soldier, sailor, airman or marine is buried alone at Arlington National Cemetery (avg. 30 funerals per day).
mKkE TIL that Emiratis only make up 13% of their own country’s population. Since it takes 20 years of residency to obtain UAE citizenship, 87% of the population remains expatriates.
a8rJL TIL that US zip codes as we know it only started in the 60s
Yp417 TIL the original word for a Bear was 'Arkto' but our proto-Germanic ancestors started referring to them as 'bear' which meant 'brown one.' This practice came from a superstitious fear that speaking the predators name would summon him. This is one of the earliest examples of a euphemism.