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From today's featured article Gray slender loris Strepsirrhini is a suborder of primates that includes lemurs from Madagascar, bushbabies and pottos from Africa, and lorises from India and southeast Asia. Also included are the extinct adapiform primates, a diverse and widespread group that thrived during the Eocene in Europe, North America, and Asia, but disappeared from most of the Northern Hemisphere as the climate cooled. Characterized by their wet nose or rhinarium, strepsirrhines have diversified to fill many ecological niches. They have a smaller brain than comparably sized simians, large olfactory lobes for smell, and a vomeronasal organ to detect pheromones. Their eyes contain a reflective layer to improve their night vision. Lemurs have a toothcomb, a specialized set of teeth in the lower front part of the mouth, mostly used for combing fur during grooming. Strepsirrhines are primarily tree-dwelling, feeding on fruit, leaves, and insects. Many are endangered by habitat destruction, poaching for bushmeat, and live capture for the exotic pet trade. (Full article...) Recently featured: Mulholland Drive (film) John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan Final Fantasy XIII Did you know... Organ of the Berlin Cathedral ... that Martin Schmeding recorded the complete organ works by Max Reger on thirteen different organs from the composer's period, including the Sauer organ at Berlin Cathedral (pictured)? ... that seeds of the fossil fruit Suciacarpa have fossil fungi inside them? ... that lawyer and activist Shehla Zia was once arrested for protesting a law which reduced the weight given to evidence provided by female witnesses in a trial? ... that you can fly model airplanes or ride model trains behind a flood control dam in Phoenix, Arizona's Deer Valley urban village? ... that the €11 million reported to have been spent by AS Monaco FC in 2012 to sign Lucas Ocampos, was the most ever for a Ligue 2 player? ... that according to a hadith by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, sadaqa removes seventy gates of evil? ... that independent candidate Anadi Das defeated the incumbent assembly speaker in the 1962 West Bengal election? ... that White House sentries were abolished by Gerald Ford but reinstated by Ronald Reagan?

In the news Berlin Christmas market At least 12 people are killed and 48 injured when a stolen truck rams into a Christmas market (pictured) in Berlin, Germany. The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, is assassinated in Ankara. Muhammad V of Kelantan becomes Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. Bill English becomes Prime Minister of New Zealand. A bombing at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Cairo, Egypt, kills at least 25 people and injures 49 others. Ongoing: Aleppo offensive Battle of Mosul Recent deaths: Zsa Zsa Gabor Henry Heimlich Craig Sager Shirley Dysart On this day... December 20 Experimental Breeder Reactor I 1860 – South Carolina became the first of eleven slave states to secede from the United States, leading to the eventual creation of the Confederate States of America and later the American Civil War. 1951 – Experimental Breeder Reactor I (pictured) near Arco, Idaho, United States, became the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plant when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs. 1971 – Two groups of French doctors involved in humanitarian aid merged to form Médecins Sans Frontières. 1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances governing international cooperation against the illegal drug trade was signed in Vienna. 1999 – Portugal transferred sovereignty of Macau, which it had administered since the mid-16th century, to China. More anniversaries: December 19 December 20 December 21

Today's featured picture The Theodor Heuss Bridge is an arch bridge over the Rhine, connecting Wiesbaden and Mainz. Spanning 102.94 meters (337.7 ft), it is named after German statesman Theodor Heuss and was built in the late 1940s. Photograph: Arcalino Recently featured: Madonna with the Blue Diadem Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection St Paul's Cathedral

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