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TIL during the Civil War there was a Union version of the song Dixie that started, "Away down South in the land of traitors, rattlesnakes and alligators."

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jNlRE TIL A 2005 study from Rutgers University theorized that the pre-1492 native populations of the Americas are the descendants of only 70 individuals who crossed the land bridge between Asia and North America.
ZbMR TIL of Pope Celestine V, who did not wish to be elected pope. His only act was to pronounce that popes could abdicate, after which he abdicated.
W7Vd TIL that for part of the year Herring breed so voraciously that the shorelines of Alaska become coated in a thick scum of sperm.
wjG6 TIL that because Koalas get so little energy from their diet of eucalyptus leaves, they limit their energy use and sleep 20 hours a day, with only 4 minutes a day being active. They spend most of their waking hours eating and sleeping from a single tree.
GYe6Q TIL that actor Tony Burton (Duke Evers in the Rocky films, Assault on Precinct 13, The Shining) was originally a professional boxer. He studied acting while in prison for three years for robbery, and turned it in to a successful career after his release