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TIL European colonisation of the Americas killed 10% of world population

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grrPy TIL Parrots eat clay to increase their sodium levels, especially when food is scarce. This is most common during the breeding season when parrots need extra minerals to feed their young. Clay helps eliminate toxins from the body, allowing parrots to eat toxic foods without becoming ill.
1am44 TIL that Pygmies raised in a thick forest were unable to interpret distant objects. One thought that buffalo grazing in the distance were insects.
pLMA TIL of Camp Century, a top-secret US military base built under the ice sheets of Greenland in 1960 to house missiles. Built under the cover of climate research, it housed 200 people and was powered by the world’s first portable nuclear reactor. Denmark didn’t uncover the base’s existence until 1995.
4Xg1R TIL that President Gerald Ford stood up for civil rights in 1934 by threatening to quit his college football team, unless they let Willis Ward (African American) play against the south’s Georgia Tech. He agreed to play only after Ward asked him to, because they couldn’t afford to lose that game.
awnYy TIL a Chinese man was almost cremated alive after being beaten by police and left for dead… the cremation process was stopped when a medical woker noticed he was still breathing. He was then taken to a hospital where he was beaten again by the police and arrested.