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TIL A Japanese farmer discovered a gold seal while repairing an irrigation ditch in 1784. The seal turned out to be 95% pure gold and was a gift from the Chinese Emperor to a Japanese envoy from 54 CE, the earliest recorded date of contact between the two countries

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X0Oy8 TIL about Pablo Escobar's four pet (cocaine) hippos that were left to fend for themselves after Escobar's death in 1993. Well over 40 hippos now exist wild in the region (Colombia) with the population expected to double in the next decade
4kpmN TIL of the Bolvano Train Disaster which claimed the lives of more than 500 people in 1944. After the train became stalled in a tunnel, the passengers and crew succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning when the locomotives attempted to continue and filled the tunnel with smoke.
W79nY TIL that San Marino used to be the only communist republic west of the Iron Curtain until a "coup d'état" from the Christian Democratic Party ousted the communists and socialists from ruling the country. The new government was immediately recognised by France, United States and Italy.
b90Np TIL since 2018, the Circus Roncalli in Germany has entirely eliminated the use of live animals. Using 11 projectors, holographic acts replicate traditional circus fare, like a performing elephant, an ethereal ring of horses galloping around, even a huge goldfish hovering in the middle of the arena.
d9XB TIL that people of the British Virgin Islands are British and EU citizens but the offical currency is USD, and they drive on the left side of the road but the cars are left hand drive.