A Dutch start-up company has been able to start training wild crows so that they pick up cigarette butts and put them in bins for a peanut as a reward.
100 Mind-Blowing Pick Facts
Boars wash their food. National Geographic reported that at Basel Zoo in Switzerland, zookeepers watched adult and juvenile wild boars pick up sandy apples and bring them to a nearby creek in their environment to wash before eating. Though some items like sugar beets were eaten without human-like behaviour, the boars brought a whole dead chicken to the creek to wash before chowing down. One ecologist called this a “luxury behaviour.”
People used to answer the phone with “ahoy”. Back during the 1800s phone greetings were inspired by the Simpsons when Mr. Burns would pick up the phone with “Ahoy-hoy”. Thomas Eddison, however, wanted users to use ‘Hello’ instead. We know who won that argument.
NASA had to rename the sizes of male astronaut peeing apparatus. Everyone knows you can’t just pee in a toilet in space, so imagine the headache when NASA had to issue peeing apparatuses. They had to change the sizing names from small-medium-large to large-gigantic-humongous because no one wanted to pick their true size.
In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, “Well, are you there?”. It wasn’t until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase “Number please?”
Tornadoes can appear nearly transparent until they pick up dust and debris.
Supermarket apples can be a year old. Are those apples you just bought a year old? Maybe! Farmers often pick apples in the fall, cover them in wax, hot-air dry them, and then put them in cold storage. This keeps them edible and ready to sell for 6 to 12 months!
Young goats pick up accents from each other, joining humans, bats, and whales as mammals known to adjust their vocal sounds to fit into a new social group.
Axolotls have a surprisingly varied diet. They’re happy to munch their way through everything from worms and molluscs to small fish and insects, which they pick off the surface of the water.
Costco’s hot dog and soda combo has remained at the same price since 1985. If you make your way to a Costco food court, you can pick up this great deal for just $1.50! Over time the cost price of the deal increased, but Costco countered this by opening a factory to make their sausages. This never seemed to affect its popularity, as 151 million hot dog combos were sold in 2020.
Visitors to one of Hawaii’s islands can take a shelter dog out on adventures for a day. That’s right; if you head on over to Kauai in Hawaii, you can pick up a shelter dog and take it for walks on the beach, hikes, or just wander around the island! Each dog is geared up with a cute vest that advertises that the dog is for adoption. The dogs also get some much-needed exercise, which, combined with their vest, helps locals adopt them!
Government vehicles in Cuba are legally required to pick up hitchhikers. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba went through a period of severe economic hardship called the “Special Period,” and the majority of the country’s vehicles came to a standstill. Unable to take public transport because there wasn’t enough oil or parts to maintain the buses, citizens resorted to hitchhiking. Times got so difficult that the government forced all of their vehicles with free space to pick up any hitchhikers, typically found at designated pick-up points.
A “griggle” is an apple left on the tree because it’s too small to pick.