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From today's featured article

Reconstructed Ambulocetus skeleton

Ambulocetus natans is a species of early amphibious archaeocete cetacean from the Kuldana Formation in Pakistan during the early Eocene, 48 or 47 million years ago. It is among the most completely known Eocene cetaceans, vital to the study of cetacean evolution and the transition from land to sea. Ambulocetus probably had a long, broad, and powerful snout, and eyes near the top of the head. It may have hunted like a crocodile, waiting near the water's surface and ambushing large mammals, using the jaws to clamp onto and drown or thrash prey. It may have swum like a river otter, alternating beats of the hind limbs while keeping the forelimbs tucked in for most of its propulsive power, simultaneously undulating the torso and tail. It had four functional limbs and may have walked much like a sea lion. It possibly had webbed feet and lacked a tail fluke. It lived in a hot, coastal swamp, probably in a river mouth. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Gabi with his mother Tamar

... that the 2005 birth of Gabi (pictured with mother), the first elephant in Israel conceived through artificial insemination, was viewed live by more than 350,000 people in 108 countries?
... that future cantor David Werdyger was saved from a Nazi firing squad when he sang the Jewish prayer for the dead?
... that Kanfei Nesharim Street is long and wide and straight like a runway, because it was originally built as one?
... that in 1975 Time named Schwester Selma, head nurse at the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, one of the world's "living saints", alongside Mother Teresa and Sister Annie?
... that the Diaspora Yeshiva Band infused rock and bluegrass with Jewish lyrics, creating a music style it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern"?
... that Topol, who won a Golden Globe for his performance as Tevye in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof, played the role in shows and revivals about 3,500 times?
... that a verse from Psalm 85 has inspired artworks depicting the kiss of Justice and Peace?
... that Bambi delivered more than 35,000 babies?

In the news

Jacob Zuma

Former South African president Jacob Zuma (pictured) is sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court.
An extreme heat wave kills more than 130 people in the Pacific Northwest of North America.
In Saskatchewan, Canada, 751 unmarked graves are discovered at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School.
In the United States, a condominium tower near Miami collapses, killing at least 22 people and leaving 126 others missing.

On this day

July 3: Independence Day in Belarus (1944)

French destroyer Mogador burning after British shellfire

324 – Roman emperor Constantine the Great defeated his former colleague Licinius at the Battle of Adrianople.
1863 – Pickett's Charge, a futile Confederate infantry assault against Union Army positions, occurred during the final and bloodiest day of fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the American Civil War.
1940 – Second World War: The Royal Navy attacked the French fleet at Mers El Kébir (ship pictured), fearing that the ships would fall into Axis hands after the French–German armistice.
1970 – Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashed into the slopes of the Montseny Massif in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.
2013 – General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a coalition to depose Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi in a coup d'état, suspending the constitution.

Dong Chang (d. 896)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (b. 1860)
Lew Hoad (d. 1994)

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Today's featured picture

The plumed whistling duck (Dendrocygna eytoni) is a species of whistling duck native to Australia and New Guinea. Weighing around one kilogram (2.2 lb), it is a long-necked duck with brown upperparts, paler underparts and a white rump. The breast is chestnut-coloured with thin black bars, while long black-margined plumes arise from its flanks. The sexes are similar in appearance and its call is a characteristic whistle. This plumed whistling duck was photographed at Macquarie University, in New South Wales, Australia.

Photograph credit: John Harrison

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