Horseshoe bats are a family of more than 100 bat species. They are found
throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. While many are brown, some
species have black, reddish, or orange fur. They are small, weighing
less than 30 g (1.1 oz), and are named after the horseshoe-shaped flap
of skin on their noses, which helps them echolocate. They use
echolocation to navigate and to forage for their prey of insects and
spiders, maneuvering more slowly in flight than most bats. In colder
regions, they hibernate during the winter months. Mating may occur in
the spring or fall depending on the species, with gestation lasting
about seven weeks before a single offspring is born. Typical lifespans
are around six or seven years, though they can be as long as thirty
years for some individuals. Dozens of SARS-related coronaviruses have
been documented in horseshoe bats, which are hunted for food in parts of
sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_bat>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1904:
The Marconi International Marine Communication Company
specified CQD as the distress signal to be used by its operators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CQD>
1939:
The French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the
last element first discovered in nature, rather than by synthesis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francium>
1978:
An article entitled "Iran and Red and Black Colonization" was
published in the newspaper Ettela'at attacking Ruhollah Khomeini, then
in exile in Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_and_Red_and_Black_Colonization>
1993:
The Fourth Republic of Ghana was inaugurated with Jerry
Rawlings, the country's former military ruler, as president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Rawlings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
to say nothing of:
(idiomatic) An apophasis used to mention another important, usually
related, point: not taking into account, not to mention, without
considering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_say_nothing_of>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We're debating a step that has never been taken in American
history. Whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a
Presidential election. … President Trump claims the election was
stolen. The assertions range from specific local allegations to
Constitutional arguments to sweeping conspiracy theories. I supported
the President's right to use the legal system, dozens of lawsuits
received hearings in courtrooms all across our country, but over and
over, the courts rejected these claims, including all-star judges whom
the President himself has nominated. … The voters, the courts, and the
states have all spoken. They've all spoken. If we overrule them, it
would damage our republic forever. … If this election were overturned
by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a
death spiral. Self-government, my colleagues, requires a shared
commitment to the truth and a shared respect for the ground rules of our
system. We cannot keep drifting apart into two separate tribes with a
separate set of facts and separate realities, with nothing in common
except our hostility towards each other and mistrust for the few
national institutions that we all still share. Congress will either
override the voters, overrule them, the voters, the states, and the
courts for the first time ever, or honor the people's decision. I will
not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest gesture while
relying on others to do the right thing. I will vote to respect the
people’s decision and defend our system of government as we know it.
--Mitch McConnell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell>