Wikipedia:Main Page history/2023 March 4
From today's featured article
The hooded pitohui, found in New Guinea, is a medium-sized songbird with rich chestnut and black plumage. It is one of the few known poisonous birds, containing a range of batrachotoxin compounds in its skin, feathers and other tissues. These toxins are thought to be derived from their diet, and may function both to deter predators and to protect the bird from parasites. The toxic nature of this bird is well known to local hunters, who avoid it. The hooded pitohui is found in forests from sea level up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft), but is most common in hills and low mountains. A social bird, it lives in family groups and frequently joins and even leads mixed-species foraging flocks. The diet is made up of fruits, seeds and invertebrates. This species is apparently a cooperative breeder, with family groups helping to protect the nest and feed the young. The hooded pitohui is common and not currently at risk of extinction, with its numbers being stable. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that during the first tour to the Soviet Union by any American ballet company, Lupe Serrano (pictured) danced the first encore in the American Ballet Theatre's history?
- ... that the Crimean Mountain karst nature reserve in Ukraine has more than 1,000 natural karst cavities?
- ... that Gloria Orwoba raised awareness about period poverty by appearing in the Senate of Kenya in apparently blood-stained trousers?
- ... that at the battle of the Great Plains in 203 BC most of the Carthaginian army fled, except for 4,000 Iberians who fought to the death?
- ... that former Union brigadier general J. H. Hobart Ward was struck and killed by a train while on vacation?
- ... that the Backrooms is associated with an Internet aesthetic which includes images of eerie and uninhabited spaces?
- ... that the New York City Board of Education said Rose Freistater weighed too much to be a teacher?
- ... that artwork at Shenton Way MRT station depicts everyday people running after an old banknote?
In the news
- A train crash in Thessaly, Greece, kills at least 57 people.
- At least 67 migrants are killed in a shipwreck off the coast of Calabria, Italy.
- On the Adamant (director Nicolas Philibert pictured) wins the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
- Floods and landslides leave at least 64 people dead in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
- At the British Academy Film Awards, All Quiet on the Western Front wins Best Film and six other awards.
On this day
March 4: Feast day of Saint Casimir (Catholicism)
- 1675 – John Flamsteed (pictured) was appointed the first Astronomer Royal by King Charles II of England.
- 1804 – Irish convicts formerly involved at the Battle of Vinegar Hill during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 began an uprising against British colonial authorities in New South Wales, Australia.
- 1837 – Chicago was incorporated as a city.
- 1943 – The Holocaust: Almost all Jews in Bulgarian-occupied Western Thrace were deported to Treblinka extermination camp to be killed.
- 2012 – A series of blasts occurred at an arms dump in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, killing at least 300 people and injuring 2,500 others.
- Stephen III of Hungary (d. 1172)
- Miriam Makeba (b. 1932)
- Bobbi Kristina Brown (b. 1993)
Today's featured picture
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859) was an English civil and mechanical engineer. The son of French engineer Marc Isambard Brunel, he worked under his father as an assistant engineer on the Thames Tunnel project for several years until he was seriously injured in a flooding incident. During his recuperation he began a design for a bridge in Bristol, which would later be completed as the Clifton Suspension Bridge. In 1833, Brunel was appointed chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, overseeing development of the main line from London to Bristol which was completed in 1841. Brunel's other achievements included the design of the first transatlantic steamship and dockyards. This 1857 photograph, titled Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, was taken by Robert Howlett. It depicts Brunel standing before a drum of chain used during the launching of SS Great Eastern at Millwall in London; he carries a cigar case, and his boots and trousers are muddy. Photograph credit: Robert Howlett; restored by Bammesk
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