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TIL the remains of a species of whale that was unidentified for 30yrs was found to be a narwhal-beluga whale hybrid with features of both. While a narwhal is toothless except males who have a spiraled tusk and belugas have 40 teeth the hybrid has 18 and some look similar to a narwhals spiraled tusk

Read more the-scientist.com

via reddit.com

4kLWb TIL that all the ants in the world have a greater mass than all the birds and mammals.
OLm6 TIL the memory technique that Sherlock Holmes uses, known as a “Mind Palace”, is a real technique and that most of the people who have mastered this practice are of average intelligence.
7r5xO TIL about a Mexican plane that made an emergency landing on a race course in Mallow, Ireland, in 1983. In order for the plane to successfully take off again, a runway had to be specially built so the captain and crew spent 39 day in the town and became minor celebrities among the locals
5YJXr TIL A giant virus has been discovered with its own immune system. French scientists found these giant virus defence mechanisms work in a similar way to the CRISPR-Cas system, whereby the virus learns to recognise invaders, capture their genetic material and use this information to destroy them.
P1b4V TIL: DC Comics enraged “Fables” creator Bill Willingham so much that in 2023 he made the comic public domain and encouraged its use by creators, which effectively undermined the publisher's efforts to control the property. DC had published "Fables" for 20 years but Willingham retained copyright.