Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 August 19

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From today's featured article

Cyclura nubila, also known as the Cuban iguana, is a species of lizard of the iguana family. It is the largest of the West Indian rock iguanas, one of the most endangered groups of lizards. This herbivorous species with red eyes, a thick tail, and spiked jowls is one of the largest lizards in the Caribbean. The Cuban iguana is distributed throughout the rocky southern coastal areas of mainland Cuba and its surrounding islets with a feral population thriving on Isla Magueyes, Puerto Rico. It is also found on the Cayman Islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where a separate subspecies occurs. Females guard their nest sites and often nest in sites excavated by Cuban crocodiles. As a defense measure, the Cuban iguana often makes its home within or near prickly-pear cacti. Although the wild population is in decline because of predation by feral animals and habitat loss caused by human agricultural development, its numbers have been bolstered as a result of captive-breeding and other conservation programs. Cyclura nubila has been used to study evolution and animal communication, and its captive-breeding program has been a model for other endangered lizards in the Caribbean. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that the director of the film Pacific Rim drew inspiration from the painting The Colossus (pictured), as well as George Bellows's boxing paintings?
... that Joe Fitzgerald was the first player in NFL history to return an interception for a touchdown?
... that the BBC Singers and Endymion performed Steve Reich's The Desert Music at the 2014 Proms?
... that Gerald "Charley" Westbury was one of the first cancer surgeons to develop procedures that would preserve function as well as give good survival rates?
... that the 10th Battalion was the first South Australian infantry unit to leave Australia during World War I, heading for the Middle East in October 1914?
... that Harrington-Birchett House was a federally protected bird sanctuary from 1940 to 1970?
... that the excavations for fossils of Pleistocene fauna in Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming, in 2014 included an experiment in taphonomy?

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In the news

Maryam Mirzakhani

The 41st Chess Olympiad concludes with China winning the open section and Russia winning the women's section of the tournament.
Mathematicians Artur Avila, Manjul Bhargava, Martin Hairer, and Maryam Mirzakhani are awarded the Fields Medal; Mirzakhani (pictured) is its first female recipient.
Actor and comedian Robin Williams dies at the age of 63.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wins Turkey's first direct presidential election.
Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 crashes near Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 39 people.
Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are found guilty of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed tribunal

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Gaza conflict – Libyan conflict – Ukrainian unrest
Recent deaths: Lauren Bacall

On this day...

August 19: Feast of the Transfiguration (Julian calendar); Independence Day in Afghanistan (1919); 2000th anniversary of the death of Roman emperor Augustus

1745 – Bonnie Prince Charlie raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands to begin the Second Jacobite Rising.
1895 – American outlaw and folk hero John Wesley Hardin was shot dead by an off-duty lawman in El Paso, Texas.
1953 – The intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States orchestrated a coup d'état of Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh (pictured) and restored the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1960 – Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka began to orbit the Earth aboard the Korabl-Sputnik 2 spacecraft.
2005 – Thunderstorms in southern Ontario, Canada, spawned at least three tornadoes that caused over C$500 million in damage.

More anniversaries: August 18 – August 19 – August 20

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Today's featured picture

Charles Bolden (b. 1946) is the current Administrator of NASA. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1968, Bolden became a pilot for the Marine Corps, seeing combat during the Vietnam War. He spent time as a test pilot during the 1970s before being selected in 1980 for the astronaut program. During his time as an astronaut he spent more than 28 days in space, taking part in four missions. After leaving NASA, he returned to the military and reached the rank of Major General before retiring in 2004. He was selected by American president Barack Obama to head NASA in 2009, becoming the first African American to head the agency on a permanent basis.

Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

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