TIL For millennia, Europeans did not know where birds went in Winter time. The mystery was partly solved in 1822, when a German hunter shot down a stork. The stork had a 80cm long Central African spear impaled in its neck. This provided the first evidence that they migrated to Africa.

6 Comments

1. That has to be the unluckiest stork in history

   Log in to Reply

2. All the way from Africa.. Kenya believe it ?

   Log in to Reply

3. They knew that a spear was of Central African origin, but didn’t know anyone who, for example, had travelled from Africa to Europe and seen the same kind of birds?

   Log in to Reply

4. I mean, they all fly south. Did this have something to do with the average European not knowing what was south of the mediterranean? It doesn’t take a genius to watch all the birds flying in one direction and think, well they’re going down there. What’s down there? Oh yeah, the second largest continent.

   Log in to Reply

5. They taxidermied the stork with the spear, here is a pic

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoological_Collection_Rostock#/media/File:Rostocker_Pfeilstorch.jpg

   Log in to Reply

6. Same folks who believe the pyramids were built by aliens cos they can’t fathom anyone non-white with advanced tech.

   Log in to Reply