› added 9 years ago

67

TIL that during Mao’s China in 1958, thousands of sparrows were killed to try and alleviate a ‘pest’ problem they posed. In 1960 a huge amount of locusts appeared in China and ate all the crops due to the fact that their natural predator had been destroyed. 20 million Chinese people died after

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

8ev4K TIL The four of the five largest U.S. lake islands are on the Great Lakes. The other of the top five largest is antelope island on the Great Salt Lake. The sixth is largest lake island is the Grande Isle on Lake Champlain.
9X9M TIL Inspired by The Empire Strikes Back, Richard Dailey killed his horse and crawled inside the carcass to survive an Idaho storm. He found it wonderful and warm at first but later claustrophobic and grotesque. Dailey said The Revenant was pretty accurate but wondered why DiCaprio got naked.
0wVDL TIL that the tail of a stegosaurus is called the "thagomizer". The term was coined in 1982 in a cartoon made by Gary Larson. This bone did not have a scientific name yet, and thagomizer was eventually adopted as the scientific name.
mjQv TIL: After batman and robin rescued it from a slaughterhouse, DC comics included a bat-cow
bjNZ TIL Certain Psychopaths (“short of full blown”) Can Make Effective CEOs Due To Traits Such as “superficial charm,” ability to manipulate, “coolness under pressure,” “lack of empathy. ”