Pinnipeds, including true seals, walruses, and sea lions and fur seals,
are a widely distributed and diverse clade of semiaquatic marine
mammals. There are 33 living species, and more than 50 extinct species
have been described from fossils. They have streamlined bodies and four
limbs that have evolved into flippers. Males typically mate with more
than one female, and the females raise the pups, often born in the
spring and summer months. Pinnipeds generally prefer colder waters and
spend most of their time in the water, but come ashore to mate, give
birth, molt or escape from predators such as sharks and killer whales.
Humans have hunted seals since at least the Stone Age, and commercial
sealing had a devastating effect on some species from the introduction
of firearms through the 1960s. Populations have also been reduced or
displaced by accidental trapping and marine pollution. All pinniped
species are now afforded some protections under international law.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1608:
French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City>
1767:
Midshipman Robert Pitcairn sighted Pitcairn Island,
subsequently named after him, during an expeditionary voyage led by
Philip Carteret.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands>
1844:
The last known pair of great auks, the only modern species in
the genus Pinguinus, were killed in Eldey, off the coast of Iceland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_auk>
1988:
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air
Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655>
2013:
Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a
coalition to remove the President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, from power
and suspended the Egyptian constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Egyptian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Panglossian:
1. (pejorative) Naively or unreasonably optimistic.
2. (pejorative) Of or relating to the view that this is the best of all
possible worlds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panglossian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This is what makes time travel possible: the flux capacitor!
--Back to the Future
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future>