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Reconstructed skull, with holotype elements in white

Duriavenator is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now England about 168 million years ago. Fossil jaw bones of a dinosaur (illustration pictured) collected near Sherborne, Dorset, in 1882 were considered by Richard Owen to belong to Megalosaurus bucklandii. It was recognised as a different species by 1964, moved to M. hesperis in 1974, and moved again to its own genus, Duriavenator 'Dorset hunter', in 2008. It was about 5 to 7 m (16 to 23 ft) long and weighed about 1 tonne (2,000 lb). The upper jaw's main bone is distinctive; its upper surface has a deep groove with numerous air-filled openings, and its lower has smaller foramina that connected with the upper jaw's front bone. It had about 4 teeth in the premaxilla, 14 to 16 in the rest of the upper jaw, and 14 to 15 in the lower jaw. The long lower front teeth may have been used for plucking and grasping food. Phylogenetic analyses have shown it to be among the oldest tetanuran theropods, and to belong in the family Megalosauridae. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Homosexual prisoners at Buchenwald

... that the persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany (pictured) is considered to be the most severe persecution of LGBT people in history?
... that freestyle skier Kirsty Muir was the youngest Team GB competitor at the 2022 Winter Olympics?
... that of the more than 1,000 workers who participated in the 18-month long 1985–1987 Watsonville Cannery strike, none of them crossed the picket line?
... that The Battle at Lake Changjin II uses frostbite makeup and fake snow made from white sand?
... that after turning the San Diego Chargers into a Super Bowl contender, Johnny Sanders sought to bring an Arena Football League team into the city?
... that Iceland's time zone might have a negative health effect on citizens?
... that the Metro Orange Line and 80 percent of express buses in downtown Minneapolis use the Marq2 transit corridor?
... that the 2013 novel Body Offering was described by a critic as "more erratic than erotic"?

In the news

Mudslide in Petrópolis, Brazil

In an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, Russia officially recognises the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics in eastern Ukraine, and deploys troops to the region.
The Winter Olympics conclude in Beijing, China.
At least 176 people are killed due to mudslides and floods (aftermath pictured) in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In American football, the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.

On this day

February 23: The Emperor's Birthday in Japan (1960)

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

1739 – The identity of English highwayman Dick Turpin was uncovered by his former schoolmate, who recognised his handwriting, leading to Turpin's trial.
1847 – Mexican–American War: The United States Army used artillery to repulse the much larger Mexican army at the Battle of Buena Vista near Saltillo.
1941 – Plutonium was first chemically identified by chemist Glenn T. Seaborg and his team at the University of California, Berkeley.
1945 – American photographer Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (pictured) during the Battle of Iwo Jima, an image that was later reproduced on the Marine Corps War Memorial.
2017 – Syrian civil war: Allied troops led by the Turkish Armed Forces captured the city of al-Bab from the Islamic State.

Pope Paul II (b. 1417)
George Taylor (d. 1781)
James Herriot (d. 1995)

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Today's featured picture

The horse is a domesticated hoofed animal belonging to the subspecies Equus ferus caballus, part of the odd-toed ungulate order of mammals. Having been domesticated since at least 4000 to 3500 BC, horses now interact with humans in a wide variety of sporting competitions and non-competitive recreational pursuits, as well as in working activities such as police work, agriculture, entertainment, and therapy. Horses were historically used in warfare.

This picture shows a diagram of the skeletal system of the horse, which has an average of 205 bones. A significant difference between the horse skeleton and that of a human is the lack of a collarbone – the horse's forelimbs are attached to the spinal column by a powerful set of muscles, tendons, and ligaments that attach the shoulder blade to the torso. The horse's leg bones are also proportioned differently from those of a human. The lower leg bones of a horse correspond to the bones of the human hand or foot. A horse has no muscles in its legs below the knees and hocks, only skin, hair, bone, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and the assorted specialized tissues that make up the hoof.

Diagram credit: Wilfredo Rodríguez

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