Nyctibatrachus major, the Malabar night frog, is a species in the robust
frog family. First described in 1882 by George Albert Boulenger, it is a
large Nyctibatrachus frog, with an adult snout–vent length of
31.5–52.0 mm (1.24–2.05 in) for males and 43.7–54.2 mm
(1.72–2.13 in) for females. It is mainly brownish to greyish in
colour, with a greyish-white underside, light grey sides, and grey or
brown markings. Sexes can be told apart by the bulbous glands near the
inner thigh in males. The species is endemic to the Western Ghats
mountain range of India, in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Adults
are nocturnal and inhabit fast-moving forest streams at elevations of up
to 900 m (3,000 ft). The diet mainly consists of other frogs and
insect larvae. On hatching, tadpoles drop from leaves or rocks into a
water source. The species is vulnerable: threats include habitat loss,
increased human presence, and possibly nitrate pollution caused by
fertiliser overuse.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyctibatrachus_major>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
Bishop John Carroll purchased a plot of land that would become
the home of the future Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic
university in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University>
1902:
In the most fatal recorded mountaineering accident, 199 of the
210 members of an Imperial Japanese Army unit perished in a blizzard on
the Hakkōda Mountains.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakk%C5%8Dda_Mountains>
1957:
American inventor Fred Morrison sold the rights to his "flying
disc" to the Wham-O toy company, who later renamed it the "Frisbee"
(example pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisbee>
2001:
Five people attempted to set themselves on fire in Tiananmen
Square, Beijing, an act that many later claimed to have been staged by
the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their
persecution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_self-immolation_incident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
coincident:
1. Of two or more objects: being in the same location.
2. Of two or more events: occurring at the same time; contemporaneous.
3. Of two or more things: having the same qualities; being in
accordance; consonant, matching.
4. (obsolete) Chiefly followed by to: accompanying, concomitant,
incident.
5. (obsolete) One of multiple incidents or things which coincide with
each other; a concomitant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coincident>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Despise the glare of wealth. That people who pay greater respect
to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost
deserve to be enslaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be
acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue.
--John Hancock
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Hancock>
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