› added 4 years ago

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TIL the Virginia oppossum is effectively immune to the venom of pit vipers. The responsible protein, Lethal Toxin Neutralizing Factor (LTNF), is being used to develop the first universal viper venom antidote.

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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LPbQ TIL An idiot is a person perceived to be lacking intelligence. A dunce is an idiot who is specifically incapable of learning. An idiot is different from a fool (who is unwise) and an ignoramus (who is uneducated/an ignorant), since neither refers to someone with low intelligence.
Ar6l TIL that North Korea once attempted to solve its food shortage problems with ostriches. Most of which end up on the plates of the rich and powerful in Pyongyang.
ykdM TIL: A fox shot his hunter in Belorussia(now Belarus). The man tried to finish off the fox with the butt of his rifle, but the fox pulled the trigger with its paws, wounding the man in the process.
OGkNY TIL that the biomass of domesticated poultry (mostly chickens) is about three times higher than all wild birds combined. About 65.8 billion chickens were consumed as meat in 2016.
OG8PX TIL in the 19th century there were professional "knocker uppers" who would hit your window with a stick until you got out of bed.