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

_______________________________ 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

_____________________________ 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

___________________________ 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