› added 5 years ago

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TIL There are 150 million mammoths buried in frozen Siberian tundra. Trading in mammoth ivory is legal but elephant ivory is not, leading to poaching of mammoth tusk ivory. Hence, laws are being planned to include mammoth under protected species despite being extinct for 4000 years.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

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Bppk TIL that the qualifications to become an astronaut are: A degree in engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences or mathematics, 3 years field experience OR 1000 hrs as a jet pilot OR a doctorate, 20/20 correctible vision, good blood pressure, and a height of 62 to 75 inches.
PY1gZ TIL many of the Qur'an's verses begin with a handful of seemingly random letters and simply replicated for thousands of years no one has any idea of their significance
Qoo6 TIL the Polish National anthem promises coming back from Italy to Poland and the Italian National anthem speaks of spilling Italian and Polish Blood against a common enemy making them uniquely reference to each other.
Aedg TIL Forrest Gump beat ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and 'Pulp Fiction’ to win the Oscar for the Best Picture in 1995. Also, Tom Hanks beat Morgan Freeman and John Travolta to win the Best Actor in the same year.
mxMZP TIL that the Constitutional Apportionment Amendment, which was the first article of what would eventually become the Bill of Rights, had a matematical error in it that would have made it impossible to enforce. Despite the error, the amendment came a state away from passing on two separate occasions.