3. TIL that "Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned in zoo moats trying to save...

TIL that "Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned in zoo moats trying to save others." And "Given the chance to get food by pulling a chain that would also deliver an electric shock to a companion, Rhesus monkeys will starve themselves for several days."

A lot of you seem to be thinking in black and white. "Monkey shows empathy towards fellow monkey. Monkey is placed in a state of uncomfortability for some days because of said empathy. Therefore, this is completely a crime and should be stopped." That right there is what I call "undergraduate level thinking", where you're introduced to a bunch of new topics that are relevant to modern dilemmas, but you lack the in depth know-how that a PhD student studying a specific topic has. Before I continue, I'd like to point out that I am a strong advocate for innovation in regards to more humane ways of experimental testing. The issue stems from, "Well, where do we draw the line?(in reference to progression of modern science through testing on animals) and the answer is, Humans vs. The Wild. We either uphold maximum ethical treatment and significantly slow down progression or we sacrifice maximum ethical treatment for an increased productivity in the progression of science, which brings me back to my disclaimer. We shouldn't necessarily cease this type of experimental testing, but we should be looking for ways to make each stage as humane as possible with our limited knowledge in our present day. The truth is that sacrifices have to be made in order to progress, but if you look way back in time, animals that were being tested, suffered way more severely than this. Compared to the type of testing we did years ago, this looks like childs play(relatively, of course). That's my point - over those many years, we have consistently made progression in more ethical ways of testing and ideally we will reach the point where no one has to suffer at all. We're not there yet. Change can't just occur whenever we want it to, just like evolution doesn't just happen. A lot of you seem to be asking what kind of information we could possibly learn from doing this and once again that's just first year college level thinking. I'm not an expert in this particular field, so I can't possibly make a list, but I can assure you that this does provide beneficial information in regards to animal psychology ("animal" being a really loose term) vs. Human psychology. Anyways, my point is that we can't just paint this in black and white, because there's no simple way to just make everything perfectly ethical given our natural progression towards being a space-faring civilization.

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TIL Thomas(ine) Hall was declared both a man and a woman in a Virginia court in 1629 and ordered to wear men's clothing with a woman's apron and bonnet. He/She would present as either gender carnally and when working as soldier, lacemaker, field laborer, or maid. Thomasine was physically intersex. TIL that the low cost wine brand "Two Buck Chuck" was created by Fred Franzia, who bought the Charles Shaw name from a bankrupt winery for $27k. Once when asked why his wine was cheaper than water, he replied "They're overcharging for the water. Don't you get it?" TIL that butterflies have 4 wings not 2 (found out on an episode of Benidorm during a pub quiz) TIL Don Quixote, considered one of the first modern novels, is also one of the first stories that uses meta-fiction, as the author plays pretend that his story comes from historical sources and had to search for lost documents and translations to complete it. TIL "Rudy", of Notre Dame football fame, was involved in a pump-and-dump scheme and had a settlement with the SEC for >$380,000. TIL Brazil found incarcerated populations read 9x as much as the general population. They made a new program for prisoners so each written book review took 4 days off a prison sentence. TIL most English speaking countries around the world pronounce “Z” as “zed” but the United States is the only one that does not. Unlike other English speak countries the US pronounces it “zee.” TIL Snoop Dogg was excommunicated by the Rastafari Council after his attempt to rebrand as Rastafarian "Snoop Lion" TIL Some of the reasons people drive aggressively include a sense of anonymity while driving, feeling more empowered driving than in the rest of their lives, and a feeling that other drivers have previously driven aggressively around them. TIL about Nasubi from Japan's (perhaps the entire world's) most controversial TV show ever recorded. Nasubi lived alone in a tiny room for 15 months completely naked and only able to survive based on items he won from sweepstakes. More info in comments. TIL by passing a law requiring pharmacies to be owned by a licensed pharmacist, North Dakota has essentially done away with corporate chain pharmacies. Corporations that own pharmacies must be majority owned by licensed pharmacists. TIL that the Fahrenheit scale was standardized 18 years before Celsius. The world switch due to the British Empire. The United States is actually using the earlier standard. TIL that the famous James Bond theme (first heard in 1962 in Dr. No) was source of a long running dispute between John Barry and Monty Norman. Norman had originally written a song for a musical adaptation of V. S. Naipaul's novel A House for Mr Biswas which was the inspiration. TIL that the parasite H. zschokkei is the only multicellular organism that does not rely on Oxygen for respiration. It relies on a currently undiscovered energy metabolism to sustain itself. TIL, cold or rainy weather cannot make you sick

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