› added 9 years ago

174

TIL in 1996 a female gorilla rescued a 3 year-old boy after he fell 18 feet into a primate enclosure at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois which housed 6 other gorillas. The gorilla, who was carrying her own infant on her back, cradled the boy and took him to a door where paramedics could retrieve him.

Read more independent.co.uk

via reddit.com

Eg0EW TIL that the Roman Empire did not end with the fall of Rome in 476, the eastern half of the empire remained and lasted throughout the medieval period.
rRyv0 TIL that a year is a leap year not only if it's divisible by 4 -- it also has to be divisible by 400 if it's a century year.
J17M1 TIL the US, didn't switch to the Gregorian calendar until 1752. By that time, the difference between their calendar and Gregorian had accumulated to 11 days. To adjust for this difference, September 2, 1752, was followed by September 14, 1752, effectively omitting 11 days.
n7YW TIL American psychologist Harry Harlow put rhesus monkeys into a “Pit of Despair” for up to a year to study depression.
xV7v1 TIL: Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell wrote a secret memo detailing the duty of judges to protect American business executives. "One does not exaggerate to say that, in terms of political influence that the American business executive is truly the “forgotten man.”