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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ 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
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