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From today's featured article

Skull and limb bones

The Rodrigues parrot (Necropsittacus rodricanus) is an extinct species of parrot that was endemic to Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. Its relationships are unclear but it is classified with other Mascarene parrots in the tribe Psittaculini and may have been related to the broad-billed parrot of Mauritius. The Rodrigues parrot was green, and had a proportionally large head and beak along with a long tail. It was the largest parrot on Rodrigues, and had the largest head of any Mascarene parrot; it may have looked similar to the great-billed parrot. By the time it was discovered, it frequented and nested on islets off southern Rodrigues, where introduced rats were absent, and fed on the seeds of the Fernelia buxifolia shrub. The species is known from subfossil bones and from mentions in contemporary accounts. It was last mentioned in 1761, and probably became extinct soon after, perhaps due to a combination of predation by rats, deforestation, and hunting by humans. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Laura Aikin as Marie in Die Soldaten

... that American coloratura soprano Laura Aikin (pictured), who began her opera career in Berlin, appeared as Marie in Zimmermann's Die Soldaten at the 2012 Salzburg Festival?
... that the Lac La Croix Indian Pony was recreated from a breeding population of four mares by crossing them with a Spanish Mustang?
... that Sir Alexander Gillies was instrumental in establishing orthopaedics as a surgical speciality in New Zealand?
... that according to a 2001 documentary, Ron Jeremy became a pornographic actor after his girlfriend sent a nude photo of him to Playgirl magazine?
... that the cotton mealybug, originally discovered in an underground ants' nest in New Mexico, is now a major cotton pest in India?
... that American businessman David Rabhan was imprisoned in Iran for more than a decade, from 1979 to 1990?
... that political cognition shows that the effects of voter persuasion are relatively small and fade rapidly?
... that people have randomly interjected the phrase "Epstein didn't kill himself" as a non sequitur at the end of statements?

In the news

UIA Flight 752 aircraft

Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (aircraft pictured) crashes shortly after takeoff from Tehran, Iran, killing all 176 people on board.
After a U.S. airstrike kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, at least 56 people die in a stampede during his burial procession in Kerman, and Iranian forces attack two military bases in Iraq.
Seventeen inmates are killed in two prison riots at a rehabilitation center in Cieneguillas, Mexico.

On this day

January 10

Sinclair C5

976 – After the death of his guardian John I Tzimiskes, Basil II became the effective ruler and senior emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1430 – Philip the Good established the Order of the Golden Fleece, referred to as the most prestigious, exclusive, and expensive order of chivalry in the world.
1812 – New Orleans, the first steamship on the Mississippi River, arrived in its namesake city to complete its maiden voyage.
1929 – The Adventures of Tintin, a series of popular comic albums created by Belgian artist Hergé, first appeared in Le Petit Vingtième, the youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle.
1985 – Sir Clive Sinclair launched the Sinclair C5 personal electric vehicle (pictured), "one of the great marketing bombs of postwar British industry", which later became a cult collectable despite its commercial failure.

Hugh I of Cyprus (d. 1218) · Katharine Burr Blodgett (b. 1898) · Hrithik Roshan (b. 1974)

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From today's featured list

Shane Warne

Retired cricketer Shane Warne has taken 37 five-wicket hauls during his international career playing for the Australia national cricket team. In cricket, a five-wicket haul – also known as a five-for or fifer – refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. Warne has the second most five-wicket hauls in Test cricket, behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. Warne made his Test debut against the Indian team at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 1992, and took his first five-wicket haul later that year, against the West Indies team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He has taken 10 or more wickets in a match ten times in his career, and is second in the all-time list behind Muralitharan, with 22. Warne's career-best bowling figures in an innings is 8 wickets for 71 runs, which he accomplished in 1994 against the English team at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, while his best match figures are 12 wickets for 128 runs, achieved in 1994 against the South African team in Sydney. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The Malayan banded pitta (Hydrornis irena) is a small woodland bird in the family Pittidae from tropical south-eastern Asia, seen here in Si Phang Nga National Park, Thailand. Although common in parts of its range, its forest habitat is threatened by logging and conversion to agricultural land, and populations are also declining because of illegal collection for the cage-bird trade. Pittas are a popular group of birds among birdwatchers, due to their bright-coloured plumage and the relative difficulty of seeing these retiring birds in dark forest habitats.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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