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The Japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster) consists of four distinct varieties, formally recognized together as a single species. Its upper body is dark and its lower regions bright red; coloration varies with age, genetics, and region. Adults are 8 to 15 cm (3 to 6 in) long. They are found on many Japanese islands. Their habitats include bodies of water, forests, and grasslands. They breed from spring to the beginning of summer. Eggs are laid separately, hatching after about three weeks. They grow from larval to juvenile form in five to six months. Juveniles eat soil-dwelling prey; adults eat insects, tadpoles, and the eggs of their own species. They have multiple adaptations to avoid predators, including containing tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin. Several aspects of their biology have been studied, including their ability to regrow lost body parts. Currently, their population is declining, and they face threats from disease and the pet trade. They can be successfully kept in captivity. (Full article...)

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In the news

Landslide in Ubatuba, Brazil

Floods and landslides (pictured) leave at least 48 people dead in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
A bus crash in Gualaca, Panama, kills at least 39 people.
Cyclone Gabrielle causes widespread damage and flooding across New Zealand.
Nikos Christodoulides is elected President of Cyprus.
In American football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
A megadrought and heatwave cause forest fires and a state of emergency in Chile.

On this day

February 26

Napoleon leaving Elba

1606 – Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon made the first recorded European landing in Australia, although he believed that he was on New Guinea.
1815 – Napoleon escaped from the Italian island of Elba (depicted), to which he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau.
1917 – The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded "Livery Stable Blues", the first jazz single ever released.
2008 – In the first significant cultural visit from the United States to North Korea since the Korean War, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed in East Pyongyang Grand Theatre.

Reginald St John Battersby (b. 1900)
Raosaheb Gogte (d. 2000)
Joseph Wapner (d. 2017)

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Today's featured picture

The Inquisition Tribunal is a 46-by-73-centimetre (18 by 29 in) oil-on-panel painting produced by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya between 1812 and 1819. It depicts an auto-da-fé by a tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition taking place inside a church. The officials in the scene are predominantly monks, with only a single secular judge present, while the four accused are wearing tall, pointed corozas or capirotes (white pointed hats) on their heads and clad in sanbenitos describing their offences. The painting is now in the collection of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid.

Painting credit: Francisco Goya

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