TIL that the United States deployed foxes painted in glowing radium-based paint during WW2 to exploit Japanese fears of 'Kitsune', mythical trickster foxes, to help them win the war. Only during testing in Chesapeake Bay did they realise that paint washes off in water.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unsuccessful-wwii-plot-fight-japanese-radioactive-foxes-180975…
#til #todayilearned
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1fzo8ge/til_that_the_united_states_deployed_foxes_painted/