britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Explore snapshots of history with images from Encyclopaedia Britannica's 200+ years of archives. The official Instagram for Encyclopaedia Britannica. www.britannica.com

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In the #aftermath of #pearlharbor, casualties numbered in the thousands. 2,404 US #military personnel and civilians were killed; over half of those casualties were aboard the USS Arizona. 64 members of the Japanese military were killed, and one captured.
In the wake of the attack, 15 people received the US Naval Medal of Honor, and 51 received the Navy Cross. Later, every military veteran of the attack was awarded the Pearl Harbor Commemorative Medal.
The Pearl Harbor naval base on Oahu currently houses the USS Arizona National Memorial. The white concrete and steel structure of the memorial spans the hull of the sunken ship, and was dedicated on May 30, 1962.

To learn more about Pearl Harbor itself, read #britannica's article: http://www.britannica.com/topic/Pearl-Harbor

#pearlharbor75 #pearlharbor75thanniversary #nationalmonument #shrine #harbor #navalbase #history #military

The attack on #pearlharbor dealt a heavy blow to the US #naval forces in the Pacific. Three battleships, including the USS Arizona, which sank with a loss of more than 1,100 men on board, were completely destroyed. Several other ships were damaged or sunk. The attack failed in one respect: The US #pacific #fleet had 3 #aircraft carriers at sea at the time of the attack, thus escaping harm. Pearl Harbor's average depth of 45 feet meant several ships that had been "sunk" were resting with their decks above the waterline; the #shipbuilding and #drydock facilities were also largely unscathed.
To learn more about Pearl Harbor, watch #britannica's animated #video providing more #facts and #figures about the attack: https://youtu.be/1aEVRaPxOcg

#pearlharbor75thanniversary #pearlharbor75 #history #military #navy #hawaii #oahu #pacificwar

The #attack on #pearlharbor took place over the span of several hours on the morning of #december7, 1941. The first wave of Japanese aircraft reached #oahu at 7:40am. By the time the planes headed back to Japanese #naval carriers at 10:00am, 8 US #battleships had been damaged or destroyed, and thousands of US #military personnel either killed or injured. 353 Japanese planes were involved in the attack; 29 were lost. Of the 67 ships in the Japanese fleet that participated in the attack, only one survived through the end of #wwii.
To learn more about the attack on Pearl Harbor, read #britannica's #history #article: http://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack

#pearlharbor75 #pearlharbor75thanniversary #navalhistory #warinthepacific

#otd on December 7, 1941, the surprise attack on the US #naval base at #pearlharbor propelled the #unitedstates into #wwii. More than 2,300 US military personnel were killed, more than 1,100 wounded, and 8 #battleships were either damaged or destroyed. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to the attack as the "date which will live in infamy." To learn more, read #britannica's #spotlight on #pearlharbor75thanniversary: http://www.britannica.com/story/75th-anniversary-of-pearl-harbor

#pearlharbor75 #military #history #december7 #infamy #navy

#bats (order #chiroptera), are members of the only group of #mammals capable of #flight. This ability, coupled with the ability to navigate at night by using a system of acoustic orientation (#echolocation), has made the bats a highly diverse and populous order. More than 1,200 species are currently recognized, and many are enormously abundant. Bats are particularly abundant in the tropics. Most bats are insectivorous, and they are important to humans primarily for their predation on insects, for pollination, and for seed dispersal.

All bats have a generally similar appearance in flight, dominated by the expanse of the wings, but they vary considerably in size. Facial appearance, dominated by the muzzle and ears, varies strikingly between families and often between genera.
Although the infamous #vampirebat does bite animals, it’s considered more of a pest than a lethal threat - the small wounds from vampire bat bites can provide egg-laying sites for parasites and the bites may also transmit rabies and related viruses.

#illustration #animals #creepy #vampire #nocturnal #batappreciationmonth

Read more about bats in Britannica’s article: https://www.britannica.com/animal/bat-mammal

Image credit: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

#otd September 26, 1960, the first-ever televised #debate between US presidential candidates took place. The first in a series of debates between #democratic candidate Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts and #republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon pulled in an estimated 85 to 120 million viewers. Sen. Kennedy’s supporters wore #political #buttons like the one pictured here. The debate is considered a #watershedmoment in the dramatic development of #tv and #radio programming.
Sen. Kennedy went on to win the 1960 election with 303 electoral votes to Vice President Nixon's 219, although Nixon later won the 1968 presidential election.
#PresidentialDebate #USHistory #USPresident #USelection #vote #buttons #60s #onthisday #politics
Read more about President Kennedy in Britannica's bio: https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-F-Kennedy
Read more about President Nixon in Britannica's bio: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Nixon

Image credit: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Western lowlands #gorillas are one of the two subspecies of #westerngorillas, and inhabit the lowland #rainforests from #cameroon to the #congoriver. The western lowland gorilla was once classified by the #IUCN as critically endangered, although the population estimate doubled in 2008 with the discovery of a previously unknown population, numbering more than 100,000, inhabiting the swamps of the Lac Télé Community Reserve in the Republic of the Congo. All gorilla species are only found in the #tropical #forests of equatorial #Africa.

Gorillas are typically robust and powerful, with an extremely thick, strong chest and a protruding abdomen. Both skin and hair are black. The face has large nostrils, small ears, and prominent brow ridges. Gorillas lack hair on the face, hands, and feet, and the chest of old males is bare. Gorillas live in stable family groups numbering from 6 to 30, usually led by 1 or 2 (occasionally more) males.
Gorillas are active during the day (#diurnal) and primarily #terrestrial, usually walking about on all four limbs with part of their weight supported on the knuckles of their hands (a mode of locomotion that is also exhibited by chimpanzees). Their diets are #vegetarian, although western gorillas will each much more fruit than their eastern cousins.
Cognitively, gorillas lack the curiosity and adaptability of chimpanzees, but gorillas are calmer and more persistent, and have a capacity for problem-solving. Like chimpanzees and orangutans, gorillas have demonstrated a limited sense of self-awareness through the #mirrortest.
#primates #wildlife #conservation #rainforests #endangered #illustration #animals

To learn more about gorillas, read Britannica’s article: https://www.britannica.com/animal/western-gorilla

Illustration by Christine McCabe, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

#aleppo is a principal city of northern #syria, thought to be among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. It’s located 30 miles (50 km) south of the Turkish border, situated at the crossroads for several great commercial routes. In 1138, Aleppo was the site one of the deadliest #earthquakes ever recorded. The city suffered extensive damage, and it is estimated that 230,000 people were killed.

As the #syriancrisis evolved into a #civilwar that began in 2011, Aleppo and its residents have become enmeshed in the violent struggle between Syrian forces loyal to Pres. Bashar al-Assad and the armed opposition. The city is now a site of ongoing military confrontation, in which thousands of people have become casualties and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee, contributing to the Syrian refugee crisis. The Old City of Aleppo, considered a #worldheritage site by UNESCO, has been severely damaged.

To learn more about Aleppo’s history, the 1138 earthquake, and the Syrian civil war, read Britannica’s articles:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Aleppo

https://www.britannica.com/event/Aleppo-earthquake-of-1138

https://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War

Image credit: Encyclopaedia Britannica, INC.

#map #middleeast #civilunrest #civiluprising #politics #humanrights

Early in the morning on February 27, 2010, a magnitude 8.8 #earthquake struck #chile. The earthquake was followed by hundreds of #aftershocks as well as a #tsunami, ultimately leading to more than 500 deaths in the region.
The epicentre was about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, Chile, but the earthquake was felt as far away as Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
To learn more about this #naturaldisaster read Britannica’s article: https://www.britannica.com/event/Chile-earthquake-of-2010

Image credit: Kenny Chmielewski, Encyclopedia Britannica, INC.

#southamerica #map
#chileanearthquake #seismology #earthscience

Fewer than 500 #siberian #tigers are left in the #wild today, living primarily in eastern #russia They are one of six remaining tiger subspecies, all of which are endangered. Three subspecies of tiger went extinct in the 20th century.
Now the number of tigers in the wild is growing slowly, thanks to international efforts to stop #deforestation and #poaching The World Wide Fund for Nature has pioneered the mission of keeping tigers alive in the wild, mostly through a monetary effort. Similarly, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species has been effective at cracking-down on #illegal #animal trading.
Learn more about tigers and their relationship with humans: https://www.britannica.com/animal/tiger

Siberian tiger drawing by Christine McCabe, Encyclopedia Britannica, INC.

#endangeredanimals #endangeredspecies #conservation #wildlife #bigcats #wildcats #illustration #art #drawing

This #illustration of the #muscles of the #human #head is from the first edition of #encyclopediabritannica and was most likely drawn by #britannica cofounder and engraver #andrewbell. #anatomy images like this were common in the first edition, offering a series of detailed and labelled drawings, extremely accurate for that time.
Britannica continues to become more and more accurate with its #anatomical #drawings and now offers more detailed and developed illustrations of the human #muscle system online. #scientific innovations have allowed us to know more about the #humanbody and technological advances have allowed us to accurately illustrate what we know.
Check out our modern human anatomy drawings: https://www.britannica.com/science/human-muscle-system/images-videos

Image credit: Encyclopedia Britannica, INC.

#vintage #face #facialmuscles #humanhead

#diatoms are #unicellular #organisms which are often the base of #ocean #foodchains. #phytoplankton populations (which include diatoms) rise and fall in cycles, but overall phytoplankton populations in the oceans have dropped about 40% due to rising #sea surface temperatures.
This is problematic since #plankton are generally the keystone species. If the phytoplankton dies, so do the small #aquatic #animals which eat the phytoplankton. If the small aquatic animals die, so do the small #fish who prey on them, and so on. In this way, the rising sea temperatures pose a real threat to most #aquaticlife.

Dive into our article about food chains: https://www.britannica.com/science/food-chain

Image credit: The Illustrators of Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, INC.

#oceanlife #marinebiology #blueplanet #sealife #lifecycle

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