Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 October 27

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From today's featured article

The Mascarene parrot (Mascarinus mascarin), now extinct, was endemic to the Mascarene island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. It has historically been grouped taxonomically with the Psittaculini parrots or the vasa parrots, with the latest genetic study favouring the former group. It was 35 cm (14 in) in length with a large red bill and long, rounded tail feathers. Its legs were red, and it had naked red skin around the eyes and nostrils. It had a black facial mask and partially white tail feathers. Very little is known about the bird in life. The Mascarene parrot was first mentioned in 1674, and live specimens were later brought to Europe, where they lived in captivity. The species was scientifically described in 1771. Only two stuffed specimens exist today, in Paris and Vienna. The date and cause of extinction for the Mascarene parrot are unclear; it is probable that the species became extinct prior to 1800, and may have become extinct in the wild even earlier. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Sagrada Família

... that the designs for the Doctor Who serial The Sensorites were inspired by Antoni Gaudí's design of the Sagrada Família (pictured) in Barcelona, which has no right angles?
... that SS-Untersturmführer Karl Friedrich Titho was dubbed the "Executioner of Fossoli" by the Italian media for his role in the execution of 67 prisoners at Fossoli di Carpi?
... that "The Witch's Promise" is the only Jethro Tull single to feature a Mellotron?
... that Jos Canale won the CHL Coach of the Year Award and led Team Canada to a gold medal at the World Juniors?
... that a section of U.S. Route 97 Alternate in central Washington state was rebuilt on higher ground in the 1950s to prevent inundation from a new hydroelectric dam?
... that the Soviet-German Syphilis Expedition of 1928 sought to explain the endemic syphilis among the "primitive" Buryat people?
... that Israeli songwriter Rachel Shapira's first hit song was set to music without her knowledge?
... that Neatsville, Kentucky, has been relocated twice?

In the news

Sahle-Work Zewde

Sahle-Work Zewde (pictured) becomes the first female President of Ethiopia.
A passenger train derails in Yilan County, Taiwan, killing at least 18 people and injuring more than 170 others.
Nine sugarcane farmers are shot and killed in Sagay, Philippines.
The European and Japanese space agencies launch BepiColombo, two probes intended to study the planet Mercury.

On this day

October 27

Ayub Khan

1838 – Governor Lilburn Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44, ordering all Mormons to leave the state or be killed.
1914 – World War I: The Royal Navy dreadnought HMS Audacious was sunk by a mine, but its loss was kept secret for four years.
1946 – Inter-religious riots, in which Hindu mobs targeted Muslim families, began in the Indian state of Bihar, resulting in anywhere between 2,000 and 30,000 deaths.
1958 – General Ayub Khan (pictured) deposed Iskander Mirza to become the second President of Pakistan.
2004 – The Boston Red Sox completed a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series, breaking the so-called "Curse of the Bambino".

Mary Sidney (b. 1561) · Robert Hubert (d. 1666) · Judy LaMarsh (d. 1980)

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Today's featured picture

The black-headed lapwing (Vanellus tectus tectus). It is a resident breeder across sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia.

Photograph: Charles J. Sharp

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