The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest of the five extant rhinoceroses.
Members of the species once inhabited rainforests, swamps, and cloud
forests in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, and China. They are now critically endangered, with only six
substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and
one in the Malay Peninsula. Their numbers are difficult to determine
because they are solitary animals that are widely scattered across their
range, but they are estimated to number fewer than 275, and possibly as
low as 200. The decline in numbers is attributed primarily to poaching
for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese
medicine. The Sumatran rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for
courtship and offspring-rearing. Like the African species, it has two
horns; the larger is the nasal horn, typically 15–25 centimetres
(5.9–9.8 in), while the other horn is typically a stub. A coat of
reddish-brown hair covers most of its body. It is the most vocal rhino
species and also communicates through marking soil with its feet,
twisting saplings into patterns, and leaving excrement.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_rhinoceros>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
769:
The Lateran Council concluded proceedings intended to rectify
abuses in the papal electoral process that had led to the elevation of
the Antipopes Constantine II and Philip.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Council_(769)>
1071:
Norman forces, under the command of Robert Guiscard, conquered
the city of Bari, the capital of the Catepanate of Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bari>
1638:
A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over
increased taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in
greater enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion>
1755:
A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson was
first published, becoming one of the most influential dictionaries in
the history of English.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language>
1947:
Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the
baseball color line, played his first game in Major League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson>
1989:
A human crush during an FA Cup semi-final match between
Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield,
England, caused 96 deaths, the most of any stadium-related disaster in
British history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
eschatology:
1. (countable) System of doctrines concerning final matters, such as death.
2. (uncountable) The study of the end times — the end of the world,
notably in Christian theology the second coming of Christ, the
Apocalypse or the Last Judgment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eschatology>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the
intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the
good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.
--Leonardo da Vinci
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci>