Jump to content

英文维基 | 中文维基 | 日文维基 | 草榴社区

Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 February 22

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome to Wikipedia,
3,565,272 articles in English

Today's featured article

A Mouse lemur, the smallest primate in the world

The evolutionary history of lemurs occurred in isolation from other primates on the island of Madagascar for at least 40 million years. Lemurs are prosimian primates belonging to the suborder Strepsirrhini, which branched off from other primates less than 63 mya (million years ago). They share some traits with the most basal primates, and thus are often confused as being ancestral to modern monkeys, apes, and humans. Instead, they merely resemble ancestral primates. Lemurs are thought to have evolved during the Eocene or earlier, sharing a closest common ancestor with lorises, pottos, and galagos (lorisiforms). Fossils from Africa and tests of nuclear DNA suggest that lemurs made their way to Madagascar between 40 and 52 mya. Having undergone their own independent evolution on Madagascar, lemurs have diversified to fill many niches normally filled by other types of mammals. They include the smallest primates in the world, and once included some of the largest. Since the arrival of humans approximately 2,000 years ago, they are now restricted to 10% of the island, or approximately 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi), and many are facing extinction. (more...)

Recently featured: Joseph JohnsonIs This ItBattle of Musa Qala

Did you know...

From Wikipedia's newest articles:

Thomas Jepson Gascoyne, in a publicity pose used for his 1901 racing activities in the US

  • ... that English professional cyclist Thomas Gascoyne (pictured) set world records for both 25 miles and the 'flying start quarter mile'?
  • ... that Ann Preston was the first female dean of any medical school?
  • ... that the Iranian legend of Haftvad has parallels in dragon slayer stories in the folklore of many other countries?
  • ... that sections of state highway M-37 in Michigan have been named for a Civil War general, a governor, and the road's "divine scenic and recreational delights"?
  • ... that the Japanese pop music female duo ClariS have not released photos of themselves to the public, and instead have employed illustrators to draw their likenesses?
  • ... that German-born U.S. soldier Christian Steiner was one of 32 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for battling against Cochise and the Apache Indians in the Chiricahua Mountains in 1869?
  • ... that a humorous solution for the Buridan's bridge sophism is that Plato should let Socrates cross the bridge and then throw him into the river on the other side?
  • In the news

  • A 6.3 MW earthquake hits Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury region in New Zealand, causing major damage and at least 65 deaths (destroyed building pictured).
  • Protests in Libya spread to Tripoli, as hundreds of protesters are reported dead.
  • In stock car racing, Trevor Bayne becomes the youngest person to win the Daytona 500.
  • The Iranian film Nader and Simin, A Separation, directed by Asghar Farhadi, wins the Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.
  • Authorities open fire on demonstrators in Bahrain amid continuing protests across the Middle East and North Africa.
  • On this day...

    February 22: Clean Monday/Start of Great Lent (Julian calendar, 2011); Independence Day in Saint Lucia (1979); Feast of Cathedra Petri (Catholicism)

    The battleship Connecticut running trials; the photographer's boat is moments away from being swamped by the bow wave emanating from the speeding battleship

  • 1744War of the Austrian Succession: British ships began attacking the Spanish rear of a Franco-Spanish combined fleet in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast near Toulon, France.
  • 1909 – The sixteen United States Navy battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by Connecticut (pictured), completed a circumnavigation of the globe.
  • 1980 – At the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States ice hockey team defeated the Soviet Union in an unlikely victory that became known as the Miracle on Ice.
  • 1997 – Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the birth of a cloned sheep named Dolly, the first mammal to have been successfully cloned from an adult cell, seven months after the fact.
  • 2002Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Angolan anti-Communist rebel and political party UNITA, was killed in a battle with Angolan government troops.
  • More anniversaries: February 21February 22February 23

    Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302)

    NGC 6302 is a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. Its central star, a white dwarf that was only recently discovered, is one of the hottest objects in the galaxy, with a surface temperature in excess of 200,000 K, implying that the star from which it formed must have been very large. The central star had escaped detection because of a combination of its high temperature, a dense gaseous and dusty equatorial ring that surrounds it, and the bright background from the star itself. It was not until the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope came into operation that astronomers were able to observe it.

    Photo: NASA, ESA and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team

    Other areas of Wikipedia

    • Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
    • Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
    • Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.
    • Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
    • Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
    • Local embassy – For Wikipedia-related communication in languages other than English.

    Wikipedia's sister projects

    Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:

    Wikipedia languages