› added 6 years ago

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TIL it is illegal to own just one guinea pig in Switzerland. These animals need social interaction and can die of loneliness so an animal rights bill in 2008 required owners to have more than one. There are also rent-a-guinea-pig services for those who want to rent a friend for their pet.

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RyZ7 TIL that unlike any modern eyes, the lenses of trilobite eyes were actually constructed of calcite. This provided these ancient creatures with virtually unparalleled vision that was filled with streams of light and bursts of color, based on recent experiments conducted with calcite crystals.
GArGE TIL that in 1989, British Midland Flight 92 had its left engine fail. However, the captain proceeded to turn off the right engine despite repeated indications on instruments and flight attendant observations. It ended up killing 47 people due to the captain’s inexperience with the newer plane model
PBeV TIL that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, flour manufacturers saw women turning their flour sacks into clothing, diapers, dish cloths, and more, so they started packing their flour in pretty patterns.
9Y0dB TIL of a "pineberry", a white hybrid of the strawberry. It looks just like one, but has the taste of a pineapple. It had been "rescued" by Dutch farmers, and later on, commercially sold in the 2010's. At the moment, they're grown (only) in Japan. They're ~$10.00 per berry.
nWkXB TIL that the man who physically wrote the Constitution, Gouverneur Morris, died because of an infection of a wound that he sustained while using a piece of whale baleen as a catheter in an attempt to clear a blockage in his urinary tract.