Wikipedia:Main Page history/2020 January 14b

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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 ...

Woman inspecting photographs
by William Goldman

... that William Goldman secretly assembled a collection of photographs (example shown) of prostitutes in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the 1890s?
... that redbanded thrips are a significant pest of mango and cacao in the West Indies?
... that Japanese manga artist Machiko Satonaka has written and illustrated nearly 500 manga titles since her professional debut in 1964?
... that the Hazeltine 2000 is possibly the first general-purpose computer terminal?
... that Nesta Wells, the first British female police surgeon, published a survey in the British Medical Journal of the 1,959 suspected sexual offence cases which had been referred to her?
... that the 1938 hymn "Dein Lob, Herr, ruft der Himmel aus" ('The sky shouts your praise, Lord') is based on a text by a 17th-century Jesuit astronomer paraphrasing Psalm 19?
... that American jockey Mack Garner was posthumously inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1969?
... that all the residents of Wallacepur, a village in the Indian state of Gujarat, are Christian?

In the news

Taal Volcano erupting

Robert Abela becomes Prime Minister of Malta following the resignation of Joseph Muscat.
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.

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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