From today's featured article
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Frigatebirds are a family—Fregatidae—of seabirds found across all tropical and subtropical oceans. The five living species are classified in a single genus, Fregata. All have predominantly black plumage, long, deeply forked tails and long hooked bills. Their pointed wings can span up to 2.3 metres (7.5 ft), with the largest wing area to body weight ratio of any bird. Females have white bellies and males have a distinctive red gular pouch, which they inflate during the breeding season. Able to soar for days on wind currents, frigatebirds spend most of the day in flight hunting for food. They mainly eat fish and squid that have been chased to the surface by large predators such as tuna. Frigatebirds are kleptoparasites as they occasionally rob other seabirds for food, and are known to snatch seabird chicks from the nest. Three of the five species are widespread, while two are endangered and restrict their breeding habitat to one small island each. The oldest fossils date to the early Eocene, around 50 million years ago; classified in the genus Limnofregata, those birds had shorter less-hooked bills and longer legs, and lived in a freshwater environment. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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 Organ in Störmthal church
- ... that Bach used the cantata Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest, BWV 194, written for the inauguration of the church and organ in Störmthal (pictured), several times for Trinity Sunday?
- ... that the Central Acropolis of the ancient Maya city of Tikal, built during the Late Preclassic period, served as a residence for Tikal's royal families?
- ... that the principal character Tux Dog in The Problem Solverz was developed while its creator Ben Jones was in grade school?
- ... that in 1930, at Effendi's request, Euphemia Eleanor Baker toured incognito, mostly dressed in a black chador, to photograph locations associated with the origins of the Babí and Bahá'í Faith?
- ... that the Asian rice gall midge causes a disease known as silver shoot or onion shoot in rice?
- ... that South Korean singer Yohan Hwang won the first season of I Love OPM in 2016?
- ... that S/2015 (136472) 1 is the only known moon of the dwarf planet Makemake?
- ... that RAAF Northern Command was going to be an area, then became a command, then became an area, and then became nothing at all?
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In the news
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 Cyclone Roanu
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On this day...
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May 22: Birth of Muhammad al-Mahdi (Shia Islam, 2016); Pesach Sheni (Judaism, 2016); World Biodiversity Day; Unity Day in Yemen (1990)
 Preston Brooks' attack on Charles Sumner
- 1629 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Danish King Christian IV signed the Treaty of Lübeck to end Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
- 1816 – A riot broke out in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, over high unemployment and rising grain costs, spreading to Ely the next day.
- 1856 – US Congressman Preston Brooks attacked (pictured) Senator Charles Sumner with a cane for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas.
- 1958 – Ethnic rioting broke out in Ceylon, targeted mostly at the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, resulting in up to 300 deaths over the next five days.
- 1980 – Pac-Man, an arcade game that became an icon of 1980s popular culture, made its debut in Japan.
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