› added 12 years ago

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TIL that the United States is only one of nine countries that guarantees the right to bear arms. The others are Armenia, Columbia, Guatemala, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Switzerland, and Yemen.

lorkN TIL when pursued, kangaroos will lure the chaser to bodies of water. So they can hold their pursuer under and drown them.
xV5Ow TIL Soft-shell crab is not a species of crab, just a normal crab that has recently molted. It is caught and cooked before its new shell can completely harden.
jN6KR You probably know that your visual perception of the world is a bit different than your pets’. Dogs see things with less color than humans, snakes can see infrared, and if you have a pet bull, it lives in a world where red and green are the same color. This brings up a good question. Why do you have a pet bull? You should get a cat instead, and when you do, it is important to know that your new friend can’t focus on objects farther than 20 feet away. The point is, animals have evolved to see in a variety of ways. But how can we see things through their eyes? Marine biologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer David Gruber collaborated with a research team to develop lights and camera filters that allowed him to do just that, underwater. Through their work, the team discovered biofluorescence in an abundance of aquatic species. This “glowing” trait has to do with how an organism absorbs and emits light. Research has indicated that this radiance is possibly used for communication and camouflage. One caveat: You need a certain species of eyes (or David’s camera) to see it. Swell sharks (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) have fluorescent proteins inside their skin, which are triggered by the ocean’s blue light, becoming visible to other swell sharks. David’s camera has special yellow filters that allow the simulation of a swell shark’s vision. It turns out there is a massive rave going on 500 meters below the ocean’s surface, and one of the glowing guests is a type of cat shark!
epj6n TIL: The 1891 New Orleans lynching of 11 Italian Americans, in New Orleans, was the largest single mass lynching in American history
XEWl6 TIL - Not only do Chimpanzees eat a lot more meat than originally thought, but they hunt in organized groups with strategy to eat monkeys half their size. Spears are used. They eat so much meat that they threaten to wipe out entire populations. Smashing open a tortoise for meat is also on the menu.