TIL that in 2021 the rights to the character Bozo the Clown were bought by actor David Arquette, who has plans to revive the character.
TIL the Maned Wolf of eastern South America is one of the only remaining canines in the Americas left that is not closely related to Wolves or Foxes, and who evolved in South America before the ancient wolves and foxes came across the Bering Land Bridge along with humans.
TIL Przewalski's Horses ( also known as the Mongolian Wild Horse) native to the steppes of central Asia, was for hundreds of years thought to be the only truly "wild" horse left that predated domestication. In 2018 it was discovered through genetic testing that they are not technically wild and are actually descended from the some of the earliest domesticated horses in history who became feral thousands of years ago. They are now being researched as the key to learning how humans first domesticated animals.
Today I learned that using a card to unlock a door thing actually works. Fun, but also kind of terrifying!
TIL in her adult life Shirley Temple was a longtime diplomat and State Department official. She was US Ambassador for Ghana and Czechoslovakia.
I mean "share your random interesting wiki rabbithole finds" is pretty much what all TIL threads are lol.. That is the point.
TIL there are European Bison. My whole life I was led to believe this was a distinctly American animal. My world view is shattered.
TIL that the Racoon is a significant invasive species in Europe and Japan. In mainland Western Europe they were mostly brought over and released by US servicemen post-WW2. In Japan they were brought over as exotic pets because of a popular 1970's anime series called "Rascal the Racoon". In post-Soviet countries they were purposely introduced over the course of decades as part of an experiment. In Germany they call Raccoons "Waschbär", meaning " washing bear" because of their habit of dipping their food in water before they eat it.
Wasn’t technically today but was very much this year that I learned or at least consistently remember what TIL means lol