› added 7 years ago

227

TIL Protecting the Giant Panda's habitat has the unintended benefit of aiding 70% of the forest bird species, 70% of forest mammals, and 31% of forest amphibians that are endemic to mainland China.

Read more onlinelibrary.wiley.com

via reddit.com

vPxmx TIL that the vast majority of passenger trains (85%) and most freight trains (55%) worldwide are electric, however, electric trains account for less than 1% of all US rail traffic.
loMZN TIL about Ilha da Queimada Grande, one of the deadliest islands in the world. Located off the coast of Brazil, it's so densely populated by snakes that someone estimates there's one snake per square meter.
DQ9lv TIL in 524 BC took place one of the biggest gold heists in recorded history. Sifnos was one of the wealthiest islands in ancient Greece thanks to gold and silver mines when Samian political fugitives stole 100 talents of gold from Sifnos. In today's terms, that would be worth close to $100 million!
BgbPe TIL During the bombing of Cologne in WWII Allied bombers were told not to target the Ford factory, despite the factory aiding the Axis Powers
d8bgd TIL in the 1970's after the popularity of Bruce Lee films, nunchucks were made illegal in many countries including the U.S. They were (incorrectly) believed to be extraordinarily dangerous and still remain illegal to possess in CA and MA. NY's nunchuck ban was ruled unconstitutional in 2018.