Viatkogorgon is a genus of gorgonopsian (a type of therapsid, a group
that includes modern mammals) that lived during the Permian Period in
what is now Russia. The first fossil was named as V. ivachnenkoi after
the paleontologist M. F. Ivakhnenko. It was found at the Kotelnich near
the river Vyatka in 1999. The holotype skeleton (pictured) is one of the
most complete gorgonopsian specimens known and includes some rarely
preserved elements, including gastralia and a sclerotic ring. A larger,
less well preserved specimen has also been assigned to this species. The
smaller specimen is about 80 cm (31 in) long, including the 14 cm
(5.5 in) skull, and may have been a young animal. It was robust with a
dog-like stance, high snout, and very large canine teeth. Gorgonopsians
would have been relatively fast predators, which killed their prey by
delivering slashing bites with their saber-teeth, and this genus may
have been adapted for swimming.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viatkogorgon>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1917:
First World War: The Canadian Corps began the first wave of
attacks at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in Vimy, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge>
1942:
World War II: Japanese forces defeated Allied troops at the
Battle of Bataan in the Philippines before beginning to forcibly
transfer more than 90,000 prisoners of war to prison camps in the Bataan
Death March.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataan_Death_March>
1980:
Iraqi philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Amina
were executed by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Baqir_al-Sadr>
1999:
President of Niger Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was shot dead by
soldiers in Niamey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Bar%C3%A9_Ma%C3%AFnassara>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
grandfather:
1. (transitive, chiefly US, law) To retain existing laws or rules for (a
person or organization previously affected by them).
2. (intransitive, chiefly US, law) To retain existing laws or rules only
for people or organizations previously affected by them, and to apply
new laws or rules to the unaffected people or organizations.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grandfather>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Russia is not full of terrible people. It’s just that their
leadership has gone so horribly wrong. ... A lot of the world is
reacting in the right way. They are angry and they are frustrated. You
can see and hear the frustration in the leaders of the other world’s
countries. We can see it in the voice of your president, President
Biden. He has let slip a couple of his feelings a couple of times over
there. Other world leaders have done the same. And I think there’s a
groundswell of opinion worldwide. This sort of thing shouldn’t be able
to happen. It shouldn’t be able to be allowed. But we are in a world
where still, here we are, a fifth of the way through the 21st century
and still this obscene situation can happen. The mind boggles.
--David Gilmour
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Gilmour>