Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 January 14

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From today's featured article

Skull of a T. talamancae male

Transandinomys talamancae is a widespread and common rodent in the genus Transandinomys that occurs from Costa Rica to southwestern Ecuador and northern Venezuela. Its habitat is lowland forests up to an altitude of 1,500 m (5,000 ft). It is a medium-sized rice rat with soft fur, reddish to brownish on the overparts and whitish on the underparts. The ears and feet are long, and the tail is dark brown above and lighter below. The whiskers are very long. The species was first described in 1891 by Joel Asaph Allen. It was considered to be conspecific with what is now Hylaeamys megacephalus from the 1960s until the 1980s and was then placed in the genus Oryzomys until 2006, when it was moved to its current genus. This is a terrestrial nocturnal rat that eats plants and insects. It breeds throughout the year, but few individuals survive for more than a year. After a gestation of about 28 days, two to five young are born, which reach sexual maturity within two months. Part of the Transandinomys featured topic. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Interior of Mariä Krönung

... that the Mariä Krönung pilgrimage church in Lautenbach (interior pictured) retains original Gothic features, such as the high altar and fused stained-glass windows?
... that Megan Fisher is the first woman with a lower-leg amputation to complete an XTERRA off-road triathlon?
... that Hugh Orde, the head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, has been criticized for using the phrase "acceptable level of violence"?
... that the Cowthorpe Oak was mentioned in Shakespeare's As You Like It?
... that separate locker rooms and a divider in the gymnasium help segregate middle-school and high-school students at Cypress Creek Middle High School in Wesley Chapel, Florida?
... that Walsh McDermott won a Lasker Award for his research on isoniazid, an antibiotic that he had taken to treat his own case of tuberculosis?
... that the export of used cars from China was legalized in 2019 to increase domestic sales and trade in the Chinese automotive industry?
... that Albert Flynn, the director of the British Army's accounts, wrote stories about aliens invading the Earth?

In the news

Taal Volcano erupting

Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupts (pictured), leading to the suspension of all flights at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
In Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen is re-elected.
In Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said is named the country's new ruler after his cousin, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, dies at the age of 79.
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down by Iranian armed forces shortly after takeoff from Tehran Airport, killing all 176 people on board.

On this day

January 14: National Forest Conservation Day in Thailand; Ratification Day in the United States (1784)

Kingston, Jamaica, after the 1907 earthquake

1301 – The Árpád dynasty, which had ruled Hungary since the late 9th century, ended with the death of King Andrew III.
1900 – Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca, based on the play La Tosca by French dramatist Victorien Sardou, premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
1907 – An earthquake registering 6.5 M_w struck Kingston, the capital of Jamaica (damage pictured), resulting in approximately 1,000 deaths.
1960 – The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank and banknote-issuing authority, was established.
1970 – The self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria surrendered to the federal government less than three years after declaring independence, ending the Nigerian Civil War.

Michael Arne (d. 1786) · Carrie Derick (b. 1862) · Rambhadracharya (b. 1950)

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Today's featured picture

Rhinogobius flumineus, also known as the lizard goby, is a species of goby in the Oxudercidae family endemic to Japan, seen here in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. A small freshwater fish found in fast-flowing streams, it maintains its position against the current by gripping a rock with a sucker formed from two of its fins. The fish's mouth is slightly asymmetric; dextral (right-sided) fish tend to curve their bodies to the right as they rest, while sinistral (left-sided) fish tend to adopt a left-curving posture. The fish are omnivorous, picking edible items off the stream bed with the side of the mouth, but dextral and sinistral fish show no preference for which side of the mouth they use for this purpose.

Photograph credit: Seotaro

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