Oryzomys gorgasi, also known as Gorgas's rice rat, is a rodent in the
genus Oryzomys of the family Cricetidae. First collected as a living
animal in 1967, it is known from only a few localities, including a
freshwater swamp in the lowlands of northwestern Colombia and a mangrove
islet in northwestern Venezuela. An extinct form from the island of
Curaçao off Venezuela has been described as a separate species,
O. curasoae, but does not differ morphologically from mainland
populations. It is a medium-sized, brownish species with large,
semiaquatically specialized feet. It differs from other Oryzomys species
in several features of its skull. Its diet includes crustaceans,
insects, and plant material, and parasitic nematodes infect it. The
species is listed as "Endangered" by the IUCN due to destruction of its
habitat and competition with the introduced black rat. (This article is
part of a featured topic: Oryzomys.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Oryzomys>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
Napoleon escaped from the Italian island of Elba (depicted), to
which he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau a year earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon>
1995:
Barings Bank, the oldest merchant bank in London, was declared
insolvent after its head derivatives trader in Singapore, Nick Leeson,
lost £827 million while making unauthorised trades on futures
contracts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Leeson>
2013:
A hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people
in the deadliest ballooning disaster in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Luxor_hot_air_balloon_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
haul:
1. (transitive) To transport by drawing or pulling, as with horses or
oxen, or a motor vehicle.
2. (transitive) To draw or pull something heavy.
3. (transitive) To carry or transport something, with a connotation that
the item is heavy or otherwise difficult to move.
4. (transitive, figuratively) To drag, to pull, to tug.
5. (transitive, figuratively) Followed by up: to summon to be
disciplined or held answerable for something.
6. (intransitive) To pull apart, as oxen sometimes do when yoked.
7. (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To steer (a vessel) closer to
the wind.
8. (intransitive, nautical) Of the wind: to shift fore (more towards the
bow).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haul>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Civil war? What does this mean? Is there any foreign war? Is not
every war between men, war between brothers? War is modified only by its
aim. There is neither foreign war, nor civil war; there is only unjust
war and just war.
--Les Misérables
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables>