Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 August 12

The quagga is an extinct subspecies of the plains zebra that lived in South Africa. Its name is derived from its call, which sounded like "kwa-ha-ha". The quagga is believed to have been around 257 cm (8 ft 5 in) long and 125–135 cm (4 ft 1 in–4 ft 5 in) tall at the shoulder. It could be distinguished from other zebras by its limited patterning of primarily brown and white stripes, mainly on the front part of the body. Little is known about its behaviour but it may have gathered in herds of 30–50 individuals. They were once found in great numbers in the Karoo of Cape Province and the southern part of the Orange Free State in South Africa. After Dutch settlement of South Africa began, the quagga was heavily hunted, and it competed with domesticated animals for forage. Some specimens were taken to European zoos (one pictured in London Zoo, 1870), but breeding programmes were not successful. It was extinct in the wild by 1878, and the last quagga died in Amsterdam on 12 August 1883. The quagga was the first extinct animal to have its DNA analysed, and the Quagga Project is trying to recreate its pelage characteristics by selectively breeding Burchell's zebras. (Full article...)

Recently featured: Hurricane John (1994) – Uruguayan War – Profumo affair

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

• ... that Jamaican Bobsledder Winston Watts (pictured competing) came out of retirement and raised over US$25,000 in Dogecoin to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics?
• ... that BL Boötis (or BL Boo) in Boötes is not a binary but a BL Boötis variable?
• ... that British MP Terry Patchett, suffering from cancer, voted on the Scott Report after journeying 400 miles by ambulance to Parliament?
• ... that the papal decretal Libellus responsionum (601 AD) dealt with questions such as marriage between relatives and whether priests might celebrate mass after having sexual dreams?
• ... that composer and entertainer Gitz Rice, serving with the Canadian Armed Forces on the World War I front lines, rescued a piano from shellfire?
• ... that Walt Disney Animation Studios has released 53 animated features to date, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Frozen (2013)?
• ... that Bevan Sharpless' observations of the orbital decay of Phobos led to speculation it was a hollow sphere created by Martians?

• Actor and comedian Robin Williams (pictured) dies at the age of 63.
• Sepahan Airlines Flight 5915 crashes near Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing at least 38 people.
• Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan are found guilty of crimes against humanity by a UN-backed tribunal.
• The ESA spacecraft Rosetta reaches the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
• Official commemorations are held in Europe to mark the outbreak of the First World War 100 years ago.
• A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in Yunnan, China, kills at least 589 people and injures more than 2,400 others.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Gaza conflict – Libyan conflict – Ukrainian unrest

August 12

• 1121 – Georgian-Seljuk wars: Forces led by David the Builder decisively won the Battle of Didgori, driving Ilghazi and the Seljuk Turks out of Georgia.
• 1323 – Sweden and the Novgorod Republic signed the Treaty of Nöteborg to temporarily end the Swedish–Novgorodian Wars.
• 1877 – American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars.
• 1944 – After a week of indiscriminate killing of civilians in Wola, Warsaw, Poland, SS General Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski ordered that any remaining Poles be sent to labour or concentration camps.
• 1981 – The IBM Personal Computer (pictured), the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform, was introduced.

More anniversaries: August 11 – August 12 – August 13