Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 April 9

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From today's featured article

Possible depiction,
published 1765

The Lesser Antillean macaw (Ara guadeloupensis) was a parrot of the Guadeloupe islands. There are no conserved specimens, but this macaw is known from several contemporary accounts, and the bird is the subject of some illustrations. Austin Hobart Clark made a species description based on these accounts in 1905. A phalanx bone from the island of Marie-Galante confirmed the existence of a similar-sized macaw predating the arrival of humans, and was correlated with the Lesser Antillean macaw in 2015. According to contemporary descriptions, the body was red, the wings were red, blue and yellow, and the solid red tail feathers were between 38 and 51 cm (15 and 20 in) long; apart from the tail feathers and its smaller size, this description matches the scarlet macaw. These accounts also said that it ate fruit (including the poisonous manchineel), nested in trees and laid two eggs once or twice a year. Although it was said to be abundant in Guadeloupe, by 1760 it was becoming rare and was soon eradicated, probably by disease and hunting. (Full article...)

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Laura Kamhuber

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... that the Hennepin County Library has 41 branches in 24 cities and towns in Minnesota, and historically had locations in a sanatorium and a bookmobile?
... that footballer Alex Raisbeck joined Liverpool after Stoke manager Horace Austerberry failed to arrive at an arranged meeting?
... that the 2012 anthology No Straight Lines, edited by Justin Hall, collects queer comics covering a 40-year period?
... that MacArthur "Genius Grant" winner Joaquin Avila wrote the California Voting Rights Act?
... that the barbels on the chin of the red mullet are sensory organs and used in locating prey?
... that after Feng Yidai was denounced as a "rightist" during China's Anti-Rightist Campaign, he was recruited by the Communist Party to spy on other "rightists"?
... that Tsamma juice is named after "the Mother of all watermelon varieties"?

In the news

Commonwealth Games athletes' village

A crash involving a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team kills 15 people in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The Commonwealth Games open in the Gold Coast, Australia (athletes' village pictured).
Astronomers report the discovery of MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1, nicknamed Icarus, the farthest known star at 9 billion light-years away.
In American college basketball, the NCAA Division I Men's Championship concludes with Villanova defeating Michigan.

On this day...

April 9: Vimy Ridge Day in Canada; Day of National Unity in Georgia (1989)

"Au clair de la lune" by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville

1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville made the oldest known recording of an audible human voice, when he recorded himself singing "Au clair de la lune" (audio featured).
1866 – The Civil Rights Act of 1866, the United States' first federal law to affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law, was enacted.
1940 – During the German invasion of Norway, Vidkun Quisling seized control of the government in a Nazi-backed coup d'état.
1948 – Fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: Coalition forces captured Baghdad and the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square was toppled.

Samuel Fritz (b. 1654) · Isambard Kingdom Brunel (b. 1806) · Vilhelm Bjerknes (d. 1951)

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From today's featured list

Glastonbury Abbey

There are 210 Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip, a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of 285 square miles (738 km²) ranging from the Mendip Hills to the Somerset Levels. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural significance; Grade II* structures are those considered to be "particularly significant buildings of more than local interest". Mendip's Grade II* listed buildings include a large number of churches, some of which are Norman. Several buildings are associated with the church, particularly the Anglican Glastonbury Abbey and Wells Cathedral along with the Benedictine Downside Abbey. Many of the rest of the buildings are urban or rural houses ranging in date from the 12th to 19th centuries. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

Abraxas sylvata is a moth of the family Geometridae that was named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1763. It is found on deciduous trees in forests, thickets, and sometimes parks from Europe through Japan.

Photograph: Ivar Leidus

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