The Emu is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant
member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest
flightless
bird in the world, after its ratite relative, the Ostrich. The
soft-feathered, brown birds reach up to 2 m in height and weigh up to
45 kg. The Emu is common over most of mainland Australia, although
it
avoids heavily-populated areas, dense forest and very arid areas.
Emus
can travel great distances at a fast, economical trot and, if
necessary, can sprint at 50 km/hour for some distance at a time.
They
are opportunistically nomadic, and may travel long distances to find
food; they feed on a variety of plants and insects. The Emu
subspecies
that inhabited Tasmania became extinct following the European
settlement of Australia in 1788; the distribution of the mainland
subspecies has also been affected by human activities. The Emu was
once common on the east coast, but is now uncommon there; by
contrast,
the development of agriculture and the provision of water for stock
in
the interior of the continent has increased the range of the Emu in
arid regions. Emus are farmed for their meat, oil and leather.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu
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Today's selected anniversaries:
476:
Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was
deposed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_Augustus)
1260:
Florence and Siena fought in the Battle of Montaperti, as part of the
conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montaperti)
1886:
After years of fighting against the U.S. Army and the armed forces of
Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered in Arizona.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo)
1956:
The IBM RAMAC 305, the first commercial computer that used magnetic
disk storage, was introduced.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_305)
1972:
Mark Spitz won his seventh swimming gold medal at the 1972 Summer
Olympics in Munich, West Germany, becoming the first Olympian to win
seven gold medals at the same Olympic games.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Spitz)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his
work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body;
his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.
He
simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing,
and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To
himself, he always appears to be doing both." -- François-René de
Chateaubriand
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%
A9_de_Chateaubriand)
The Corinthian War was an ancient Greek military conflict between
Sparta and four allied states, Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos,
which were initially backed by Persia. The immediate cause of the
war
was a local conflict in northwest Greece in which both Thebes and
Sparta intervened. The deeper cause, however, was hostility towards
Sparta provoked by that city's unilateral domination of Greek
politics
in the nine years after the end of the Peloponnesian War. The war
was
fought on two fronts, on land near Corinth and Thebes and at sea in
the Aegean. On land, the Spartans achieved several early successes
in
major battles, but were unable to capitalize on their advantage, and
the fighting soon became stalemated. At sea, the Spartan fleet was
decisively defeated by a Persian fleet early in the war, an event
which effectively ended Sparta's attempts to become a naval power.
Taking advantage of this fact, Athens launched several naval
campaigns
in the later years of the war, recapturing a number of islands that
had been part of the original Athenian Empire during the 5th
century.
Alarmed by these Athenian successes, the Persians stopped backing the
allies and began supporting Sparta. This defection forced the allies
to seek peace. The Peace of Antalcidas, commonly known as the King's
Peace, was signed in 387 BC, ending the war.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_War
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Today's selected anniversaries:
301:
San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's
oldest republic still in existence, was founded by Saint Marinus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino)
1260:
Mamluk forces defeated a Mongol army in Palestine in the Battle of Ain
Jalut, marking the point of maximum westward expansion of the Mongol
Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ain_Jalut)
1783:
The signing of the Treaty of Paris formally ended the American
Revolutionary War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1783))
1901:
The National Flag of Australia, a Blue Ensign defaced with the
Commonwealth Star and the Southern Cross, flew for the first time in
Melbourne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Australia)
1976:
The Viking 2 spacecraft landed on Mars and took the first close-up,
color photos of the planet's surface.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_2)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that
would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk.
It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the
liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it."
--
Oliver Cromwell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell)