› added 9 years ago

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TIL the small fish that swim next to sharks are ‘pilot fish’. They swim next to sharks to avoid being preyed on and in return sharks do not harm them as they kill their parasites - thus having a “mutualist relationship”.

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womR1 TIL In a single battle in a single day, one-quarter of the entire United States Army had been destroyed. It was the most decisive defeat in American history with 69% of soldiers killed and 97% casualties. It's known as St Clair's defeat and Major General St Clair resigned his commission afterwards.
4kR0o TIL: Some American chocolate brands (like hershey’s) add butyric acid to longer shelf life of the chocolate, here why some chocolates smells like vomit
nedYr TIL that manatees rely on their farting abilities to keep them afloat. When they have gas stored up, they’re more buoyant and float to the surface. When they fart out that gas, they sink. When constipated and can’t pass gas, they can't swim properly and float around with their tail above their head.
ZQDY TIL of “Ubasute” a Japanese word which translates to “abandoning the old woman”. As the name implies, families would carry the elderly members of their family into the forest to be left to die of dehydration/starvation. It was done during periods of hardship to take the burden off of the family.
Wko18 TIL that for years a man deliberately infected himself with tape worms to help treat his ulcerative colitis, a common bowel disease. Doctors found that after infection areas of his colon started producing mucos again which is key to healing and IL-22 a molecule that promotes epithelial growth.