Surprising facts on Mandela

woodpecker
From Cape Town to California, streets named after Mandela abound. But he's also been the subject of some rather unusual tributes. Last year, scientists named a prehistoric woodpecker after him: Australopicus nelsonmandelai. In 1973, the physics institute at Leeds University named a nuclear particle the 'Mandela particle.'
BOxing
Mandela's other passion was boxing. "I did not like the violence of boxing. I was more interested in the science of it - how you move your body to protect yourself, how you use a plan to attack and retreat, and how you pace yourself through a fight," he says in his biography.
Terrorist?
Mandela wasn't removed from the US terror watch list until 2008 -- at age 89. He and other members of the African National Congress were placed on it because of their militant fight against apartheid.
Invictus
While locked up at Robben Island for decades, Mandela would read William Ernest Henley's "Invictus" to fellow prisoners. The poem, about never giving up, resonated with Mandela for its lines "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." You may know it from the movie, Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela.

Source: BBC