› added 4 years ago

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TIL that in 2019, Brazilian pоlіce seized a parrot who had been taught to alert criminals to pоlіce operations by shouting: "Mum, the pоlіce!" After being seized, the parrot didn't cooperate with the pоlіce, staying completely silent and not saying anything

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p8xle TIL 18th century sailors and pirates were adept at astronomy and maths, e.g. trigonometry and logarithms. They even took classes and sat exams on these topics. The skills gained by studying such technical fields helped them navigate the open seas, escape authorities, chase down pirates, etc.
gM86A TIL Buddy Holly & The Crickets were the first white band to play at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, being mistaken for the R&B group The Crickets. Booked for six nights, the crowd began at first to boo, but by the third night the band had won the them over.
Bg4jy TIL there are approximately only 6,674 cheetahs in the wild today and only 5% of cheetah cubs make it to adulthood. The key factors of their decline are habitat loss, exotic pet industry, poaching for their skin, and conflicts with farmers. Currently, they exist only 10% of their historic range.
yVraw Today I learned that patriarchal surnames were uncommon in England before the Norman Invasion of 1066-1071.
p8Bp4 TIL that when Shaka Zulu's mother died, he ordered that any woman who became pregnant in the year of mourning was to be executed, anyone not sufficiently sad was to be executed, and calves would have their mothers slaughtered so that they would know his pain.