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The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a large Old World monkey native to west-central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males have a larger body, longer canine teeth and brighter coloring. Mandrills mainly live in tropical rainforests but will also travel across savannas. They live in large, stable groups known as "hordes" which can contain hundreds of individuals. Females form the core of these groups, while adult males are solitary and only reunite with the larger groups during the breeding season. Dominant males have the most vibrant colors and fattest flanks and rumps. The mandrill is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Its biggest threats are habitat destruction and hunting for bushmeat. Gabon is considered the stronghold for the species. Its habitat has declined in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, while its range in the Republic of the Congo is limited. (Full article...)

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María Elva Pinckert

... that María Elva Pinckert (pictured), motivated by the murder of her brother, started her political career in local politics in 1999?
... that the operator of the Commodore Hotel once hosted a circus, featuring an elephant in the ballroom, to impress visiting hoteliers?
... that Frances Campbell-Preston, who served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for nearly 40 years, was reportedly not hesitant to ask her difficult questions when others were reluctant?
... that Tom Harkin ended his 1992 presidential campaign just one month after he won a landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses, where he received over three-quarters of the total vote?
... that while hemmed in at Ekowe during the Anglo-Zulu War, W. R. C. Wynne attempted to respond to heliograph signals by means of a signalling screen and a balloon?
... that in the 1980s, floor stands were offered to computer users to turn their horizontal desktops into towers?
... that after building Turkey's first airplane, its builder was sentenced to jail for flying it without a permit?
... that New York City would not allow a forest in the Edgar J. Kaufmann Conference Center?

In the news

Preamplifier at the National Ignition Facility

The US National Ignition Facility (pictured) announces that it has achieved fusion ignition.
Four people are charged in connection with the Qatar corruption scandal at the European Parliament.
In video games, Elden Ring wins Game of the Year at The Game Awards.
American basketball player Brittney Griner and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout are freed via a prisoner exchange.

On this day

December 14: Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh (1971); Monkey Day

Emperor Wenzong of Tang

835 – In the Sweet Dew incident, Emperor Wenzong (pictured) of the Tang dynasty conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot was foiled.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bean's Station, the final battle of the Knoxville campaign, was fought in Grainger County, Tennessee.
1981 – The Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights, effectively annexing the territory internationally recognized as part of Syria.
1998 – Kosovo War: Yugoslav forces ambushed a group of Kosovo Liberation Army militants attempting to smuggle weapons into Yugoslavia from Albania.
2012 – A 20-year-old gunman shot twenty children and six adult staff members in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Niccolò Perotti (d. 1480)
DeFord Bailey (b. 1899)
Kim Beazley (b. 1948)

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Pittsburgh is a city in the southwest of the US state of Pennsylvania, located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which combine to form the Ohio River. It had a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 census, and is the anchor of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, the second-largest in the state with a population of 2.37 million. Pittsburgh is known as the "Steel City", as a result of its more than 300 steel-related businesses and also the "City of Bridges", for its 446 bridges. Named in 1758 in honor of British statesman William Pitt, the city developed as a vital link of the Atlantic coast and Midwest, as the mineral-rich Allegheny Mountains led to the region being contested by the French and British empires, Virginians, Whiskey Rebels, and Civil War raiders. This picture shows a skyline panorama of Pittsburgh at night, taken from Mount Washington.

Photograph credit: Dllu

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