› added 9 years ago

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TIL that vampire bats will die if they can’t find blood for two nights in a row. Luckily, generous well-fed bats will often regurgitate blood to share with others, in exchange for grooming. This has been noted by many naturalists as an example of reciprocal altruism in nature.

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rNGEM TIL Adélie penguins use stones for building their nests. Based on a 1998 study, media reports stated that a shortage of stones led female Adélie penguins to trade sex for stones. Some pair-bonded female penguins copulate with males who are not their mates and then take pebbles for their own nests.
9Yn7Q TIL as homage and in-joke, Quentin Tarantino named Mike Myers character from Inglourious Basterds "General Ed Feneche" to honor 1970s era Italian scream queen and sex symbol Edwige Fenech.
9YXo6 TIL that in 1973, the USSR missed out on the 1974World Cup for refusing to play in a Chilean stadium that had been used to detain, torture, and execute political dissidents.
RGl8 TIL Nixon’s minions planned to murder a reporter critical of his administration
Z8lmv TIL it is said that René Descartes René constructed an automaton in his daughter's likeness after she died of scarlet fever; only to have the robot Francine smashed and thrown overboard as a work of Satan during a voyage at sea.