Today's featured article
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Primates are a mammalian order which includes modern humans. Most non-human primates live in tropical or subtropical regions of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Primates range in size from the Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, which weighs only 30 grams (1.1 oz) to the mountain gorilla weighing 200 kilograms (440 lb). According to fossil evidence, the primitive ancestors of primates may have existed in the late Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago, and the oldest known primate is the Late Paleocene Plesiadapis, c. 55–58 million years ago. Primates are characterized by their large brains, and increased reliance on stereoscopic vision at the expense of smell. These features are most marked in monkeys and apes, and noticeably less so in lorises and lemurs. Three-color vision has developed in some primates. Most also have opposable thumbs and some have prehensile tails. (more...)
Recently featured: Battle of Osan – U.S. Route 491 – Transformers
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Did you know...
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In the news
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- Otto von Habsburg (pictured), former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, dies at the age of 98.
- In the Thai general election, the Pheu Thai Party, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, wins a landslide majority against the Democrat Party, led by Abhisit Vejjajiva.
- In tennis, Petra Kvitova wins the women's singles and Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles at the Wimbledon Championships.
- Treasure worth at least 25 billion rupees (€385 million) is found at the Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala, India.
- The wedding of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlene Wittstock takes place at the Prince's Palace in Monaco.
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On this day...
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July 6: Independence Day in Malawi (1964) and in Comoros (1975); Statehood Day in Lithuania (1253); the festival of San Fermín begins in Pamplona, Spain
- 1253 – Mindaugas, the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned as King of Lithuania, the only person to ever hold that title.
- 1535 – Thomas More (pictured), an opponent of the Protestant Reformation, was executed for treason for refusing to accept Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
- 1892 – During a steelworkers' strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania, US, a day-long battle between strikers and Pinkerton agents resulted in ten deaths and dozens of people wounded.
- 1988 – An explosion and resulting fire destroyed Occidental Petroleum's oil platform Piper Alpha in the North Sea, killing 168 people.
- 2006 – Nathu La, a mountain pass in the Himalayas connecting India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opened for trade after more than 40 years.
More anniversaries: July 5 – July 6 – July 7
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