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From today's featured article

The American white ibis is a species of bird in the ibis family, found from the mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the United States south through most of the New World tropics. It is a medium-sized bird with an overall white plumage, bright red-orange down-curved bill and long legs, and black wing tips that are usually only visible in flight. Males are larger and have longer bills than females. Crayfish are its preferred food in most regions. During the breeding season, the American white ibis gathers in huge colonies near water. Pairs are predominantly monogamous and both parents care for the young, although males tend to engage in extra-pair copulation with other females to increase their reproductive success. Males have also been found to pirate food from unmated females and juveniles during the breeding season. Human pollution has affected the behavior of the American white ibis through an increase in the concentrations of methylmercury, which is released into the environment from untreated waste. Exposure to methylmercury alters the hormone levels of American white ibis, affecting their mating and nesting behavior and leading to lower reproduction rates. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Nila (pictured), leader of the monkey army in a Hindu epic, is said to have urinated on the heads of the demon Ravana and disturbed his sacrifice?
... that Tip O'Neill won the triple crown and set at least eight Major League Baseball batting records?
... that the 2014 film Chef has been called both Jon Favreau's best and worst film by critics?
... that Akira Sasō's manga Kodomo no Kodomo focuses on an eleven-year-old girl who becomes pregnant?
... that in 2001 the French Institute of Health and Medical Research awarded its "Grand Prix" for medical research to neurologist Yves Agid?
... that the documentary film Tall: The American Skyscraper and Louis Sullivan begins with a horse standing alone in an empty Chicago street?
... that Enter the Dominatrix was first announced as Saints Row: The Third downloadable content as an April Fool's joke, but was later incorporated into the sequel and its own downloadable content?

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In the news

The ESA spacecraft Rosetta reaches the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in Yunnan, China, kills at least 589 people and injures more than 2,400 others.
At least 15 soldiers die in clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Gas explosions (aftermath pictured) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, kill at least 30 people and injure more than 300 others.
Heavy rains trigger a landslide in the Pune district of India, killing more than 130 people.

Ongoing: Libyan conflict – Gaza conflict – Ebola outbreak – Ukrainian unrest
Recent deaths: Dick Smith

On this day...

August 7: Assyrian Martyrs Day (1933); Independence Day in Ivory Coast (1960)

1461 – Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
1782 – The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue of Peter the Great that serves as one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg, Russia, was unveiled.
1944 – IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator to Harvard University, after which it became known as the Mark I (pictured).
1970 – Jonathan Jackson kidnapped California Superior Court judge Harold Haley in an attempt to free Jackson's brother George from prison.
2008 – Georgia launched a large-scale military offensive against the separatist region of South Ossetia, opening the six-day Russo-Georgian War.

More anniversaries: August 6 – August 7 – August 8

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Today's featured picture

The Canary Island spurge (Euphorbia canariensis) is a succulent member of the genus Euphorbia endemic to the Canary Islands. It is a small tree which grows to between 3 and 4 metres (10 and 13 ft) in height and is made up of fleshy quadrangular or pentagonal trunks that look like cacti. This specimen was photographed close to the Mirador de Archipenque at Los Gigantes.

Photograph: Claude Meisch

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