Cyclura nubila, also known as the Cuban iguana, is a species of lizard of the iguana family. It is the largest of the West Indian rock iguanas, one of the most endangered groups of lizards. This herbivorous species with red eyes, a thick tail, and spiked jowls is one of the largest lizards in the Caribbean. The Cuban iguana is distributed throughout the rocky southern coastal areas of mainland Cuba and its surrounding islets with a feral population thriving on Isla Magueyes, Puerto Rico. It is also found on the Cayman Islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where a separate subspecies occurs. Females guard their nest sites and often nest in sites excavated by Cuban crocodiles. As a defense measure, the Cuban iguana often makes its home within or near prickly-pear cacti. Although the wild population is in decline because of predation by feral animals and habitat loss caused by human agricultural development, its numbers have been bolstered as a result of captive-breeding and other conservation programs. Cyclura nubila has been used to study evolution and animal communication, and its captive-breeding program has been a model for other endangered lizards in the Caribbean.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclura_nubila
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1745:
Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands to begin the Second Jacobite Rising. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobite_rising_of_1745
1895:
American outlaw and folk hero John Wesley Hardin was shot dead by an off-duty lawman in El Paso, Texas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley_Hardin
1953:
The intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States orchestrated a coup d'état of Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
1960:
Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka began to orbit the Earth aboard the Korabl-Sputnik-2 spacecraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_space_dogs
2005:
Thunderstorms in southern Ontario, Canada, spawned at least three tornadoes that caused over C$500 million in damage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ontario_Tornado_Outbreak_of_2005
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
clemency: 1. The gentle or kind exercise of power; leniency, mercy; compassion in judging or punishing. 2. (now rare) Mildness of weather. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clemency
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Peace is never long preserved by weight of metal or by an armament race. Peace can be made tranquil and secure only by understanding and agreement fortified by sanctions. We must embrace international cooperation or international disintegration. Science has taught us how to put the atom to work. But to make it work for good instead of for evil lies in the domain dealing with the principles of human dignity. We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics. --Bernard Baruch https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Baruch