› added 5 years ago

282

TIL that tumbleweeds are not actually native to North America, but Russia. While they are a quintessential image of the American West, tumbleweeds arrived from Russia in 1870, and are known to be invasive, often "driving ranchers out of their homes through sheer abundance."

lokBK TIL The cockroach can live without food for one month and 45 minutes without air; if we tear off cockroach head, it can live another 7 days because most of the nerve cells are located in cockroach abdomen. They are about five times more resistant to radiation than humans.
9YyXM TIL that back in the day, people used to apply just soap on themselves without washing it off. But since it had a bad smell, the idea of washing it off surfaced.
nWVVP TIL about Unsinkable Sam, a ship's cat who purportedly served during World War II with both the Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy and survived the sinking of three ships. The Sinking of the Bismark, the Sinking of the HMS Cossack, and the sinking of the HMS Ark Royal.
gM54A TIL of Gus the Central Park Zoo Polar Bear (1985-2013). Reporters dubbed him "neurotic", "depressed", "flaky", and "bipolar" turning him into a "symbol of the stress of living in New York City". As part of his therapy and treatment, Gus was the first zoo animal in history to be treated with Prozac.
VMB4m TIL Mount Everest was named by Andrew Waugh, George Everest sucessor. George Everest protested that the natives couldn't pronounce it and that it couldn't be written in Hindi, but the Royal Geographical Society named it Everest anyway despite his objections