› added 4 years ago

5548

TIL that in 2019, a saxophonist was hired to compose a song for the critically endangered New Zealand bird, the Kakapo, in order to put them in a romantic mood for mating. It seems to have worked as 249 eggs were laid and 76 hatched during the breeding season.

Read more nzherald.co.nz

via reddit.com

yVQD8 TIL the Spanish-built fort of Castillo de San Marcos in Florida was built of coquina - sedimentary rock formed from compressed shells of dead marine organisms - and would "swallow" cannonballs.
1JOV TIL that there was a German spy sent into Canada during WW2, but he decided to use his funds to move to Ottawa and then surrendered to Canadian authorities - who let him go because he didn’t do any damage or even spying
4Xdd6 TIL a study of prayer for cardiac bypass patients found that prayer had no effect on recovery and that patients who knew they were being prayed for actually had more complications
OGbbR TIL that South Africa has a "Witchcraft Suppression Act" that is still in force
98Ar TIL Lieutenant “Mad” Jack Churchill was the only soldier of WWII to kill a man with a longbow, and the first to go into battle with one in hundreds of years. He did this while also armed with a broadsword and bagpipes, which he played while killing enemies.