Acacias, a tree whose leaves giraffes feed on, release an airborne chemical called ethylene when eaten. Ethylene alerts nearby acacia trees to produce tannin, a toxin that makes the leaves poisonous. Giraffes avoid this by first eating trees downwind from others. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.tanzania-experience.com/blog/acacias-clever-species-of-trees/
The White House Correspondent’s Dinner was for men only until 1962, when JFK refused to attend unless women did. – WTF Fun Facts
Queen Elizabeth II never travels abroad without a monogrammed kettle used to make her Earl Grey tea which is specially created for her by Twinings to ensure the highest quality. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Queen Elizabeth never travels without a monogrammed kettle | Travel News | Travel | Express.co.uk
As part of a study, Facebook users, randomized to deactivate their accounts for 4 weeks in exchange for $102, freed up an average of 60 minutes a day, spent more time socializing offline, became less politically polarized, and reported improved subjective well-being relative to the control group. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Connected, but at what cost? | Science (sciencemag.org)
The evolution of eyebrows performed an important function in expressing friendliness for early humans. This helped our ancestors survive by enabling them to collaborate with other groups of humans. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: The evolutionary advantage of having eyebrows (theconversation.com)
After 3+ decades since reunification, the former border between East and West Berlin is still visible from space at night due to differences between the streetlamps. The Eastern part has sodium vapor lamps while the Western part uses fluorescent.–WTF Fun Facts
Source: You can see Berlin’s east-west divide from space | CityMetric (archive.org)
Maine’s “Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium” created lobster ice cream to prove they make their own ice cream. Their creation is made of butter-flavored ice cream with actual cooked lobster pieces.–WTF Fun Facts
Over 10% of shark species (57 out of 540) known are thought to be capable of producing bioluminescence (and essentially glow in the dark). – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/glow-in-the-dark-shark-2650898314.html
In 2018, 8-yr-old Saga Vanecek found a 1,500-yr-old sword when wading in lake Vidöstern in Tånnö in Southern Sweden. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: I pulled a 1,500-year-old sword out of a lake | Life and style | The Guardian