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TIL of the Haast Eagle which went extinct in the 1400’s, it was a bird that weighed 20-30 lbs, had a 10 ft wing span, and was one of the only birds capable of lifting a full grown human and was able to lift up to 500 lbs

Read more nzbirdsonline.org.nz

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yVJRv TIL that the largest rainforest in Southern Africa was unknown to the outside world until it was discovered via Google Earth satellite images in 2011. It sits on top of a “410-foot sheer rock protuberance”, making it virtually untouched by humans until recent research trips.
8DaP TIL in 1958, Mao Zedong ordered the Chinese people to kill all the sparrows in the country to protect the rice crops. The effort backfired as, without the sparrows to eat insects, the locust population exploded and wiped out food crops, contributing to the starvation of tens of millions of people.
9w77m TIL: Rufus Choate was one of the greatest American lawyer of the 1800s, arguing over a thousand cases and pioneered the method of arousing jury sympathy. One of his famous cases is when he convinced a jury that the accused cut the throat of his lover while sleepwalking and was therefore not guilty.
OZoY TIL the Temple liberties in the City of London, founded by the Knights Templar, are exempt from the jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City; when the LM tried to enter with his ceremonial swordbearer in 1668, students imprisoned the LM overnight and took his sword away.
8aoX4 TIL Daniel Day-Lewis, who has won more “Best Actor” Oscars than anyone else, retired from acting in 2017.