› added 6 years ago

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TIL Marauder ants have a special class of "supermajors" which they will ride like a bus to work, or into battle like elephant Calvary. These large class of ants in the colony serve as living heavy duty tools for the much smaller workers.

JYMDV TIL that over 25% of irrigated land in the US uses groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer. Since large-scale agricultural extraction began in 1950, its size has been reduced by nearly 10%. Once depleted, it will take 6,000 years for the aquifer to replenish.
WOj4 TIL that when the Apollo 11 astronauts returned from first walking on the moon, in accordance with the recently passed Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law, the astronauts were placed in quarantine for fear that the Moon might contain undiscovered pathogens.
PBZn TIL Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in 1862 which created a system of land-grant colleges and universities that revolutionized higher education in the United States and helped the country become the scientific and engineering powerhouse it is today
EGwW TIL In 1974 sociologist Phillip Kunz sent 600 Christmas cards randomly to people he didn’t know. He got more then 200 replies, including people sending pics of their families, diplomas and new homes.
ep5nL TIL the last time a British monarch died in battle was in 1513, when James IV of Scotland staged a disastrous invasion of England that ended in a rout at Flodden Field. Thomas Howard, the general who defeated him, subsequently added a Scottish lion with an arrow through its head to his coat of arms.