› added 8 years ago

171

TIL the knobcone pine, (Pinus attenuata), requires fire to complete its reproduction cycle. Cones remain closed for many years until a fire opens them and allows reseeding. As a result, knobcone cones may even become embedded in the growing wood as the tree matures.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

QNJ0p TIL Voltaire met a married mother of 3, Émilie du Châtelet, 12 years his junior with whom he had an affair with for 16 years. Later, on a visit to Paris, Voltaire took a new lover - his niece, Marie Louise Mignot.
GA5W4 TIL The first Presidential Car to pass Secret Service demands was the Sunshine Special - a V12 1939 Lincoln Model K limousine that was used as the official state car by United States presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman which cost only $108,426 in 2023 dollars.
98PD TIL the Netherlands is the third-largest direct foreign investor in the United States.
oNL8 TIL during whaling times, a pod of orcas in Southern Australia would notify whalers of the presence of baleen whales, and assist in the kill in return for the lips and tongue.
b6Z69 TIL On average, captive animals (especially mammals) live longer than wild animals, and animals with shorter lifespans/faster growth rates benefit more from zoos than animals with higher longevities/slow growth rates.