title: RMS Queen Mary

text: In May 2019, Urban Commons formed Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Trust with the goal of generating up to $566 million for the Queen Mary along with its portfolio of 12 other hotel properties that it owns or manages. In December it was announced that the city was reviewing the finances of Urban Commons to determine whether the City of Long Beach had "received all revenues owed."


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: In 2017, a report on the ship's condition was issued. The report observed that not only the hull but also the supports for a raised exhibition area within the ship were corroding and that the ship's deteriorating condition left areas such as the engine room vulnerable to flooding. Repair costs were estimated at close to $300 million. In November 2016 the City of Long Beach had put $23 million toward addressing "Queen Mary"s most vital repairs. John Keisler, economic and property development director for Long Beach, said: "We have a timeline in which the engineers believe they can complete those immediate projects. These are major challenges we can only address over time; it can't all be done at once." Political leaders in Scotland, birthplace of "Queen Mary", called for the then UK Prime Minister Theresa May to pressure the American government to fund a full repair of the liner in 2017.


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: In August 2019, Edward Pribonic, the engineer responsible for inspecting "Queen Mary" on behalf of the City of Long Beach, issued a report stating that the ship was in the worst condition he had seen in his 25 years on the job. Pribonic stated that the neglect of "Queen Mary" had grown worse under the management of Urban Commons, and concluded that "without an immediate and very significant infusion of manpower and money, the condition of the ship will likely soon be unsalvageable.” Incidents of recent neglect include the flooding of the Grand Ballroom with sewage after a pipe which was flimsily patched with duct tape burst, significant amounts of standing water in the ship's bilge, and recently applied paint on the ship's funnels already peeling because of the poor way in which it was applied. The pessimistic conclusion of Pribonic was disputed by city officials, who called the warnings "hyperbolic" and pointed to the "significant" work that has already been undertaken towards repairing "Queen Mary".


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: The $23 million apportioned for repairs ran out in 2018, with 19 out of the 27 urgent projects identified by a 2015 marine survey completed as of September 2019. There were significant cost overruns overall, with the cost of fire safety repairs increasing from the original estimate of $200,000 to $5.29 million. Two of the remaining eight issues identified in 2015 are considered "critical" — this includes the removal of the ship's lifeboats, which have rotted and are in danger of collapsing.


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: In October 2019, the City of Long Beach warned Urban Commons that the company was failing to uphold its commitment to maintain and repair "Queen Mary" and that it was accordingly in danger of defaulting on its 66-year lease agreement. Urban Commons responded with an updated plan for repairs, including the removal of the lifeboats at a cost of between $5 and $7 million, and new paint work.


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: The "Queen Mary" ceased operations in May 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As overseer for several corporations that operated the "Queen Mary", Eagle Hospitality Trust filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court on 9 March 2021 to auction off its lease. Court filings by the city claimed that Urban Commons’ repair work was incomplete or not performed correctly and would likely have to be redone. Also, the current condition of the vessel was such that significant safety repairs needed to be performed before it could reopen to the public. In court filings, Eagle Hospitality Trust stated that the lease was their most valuable asset. There were no bidders on the lease after all of Eagle's other hotel properties were sold at a bankruptcy court auction. Eagle Hospitality Trust agreed to surrender its lease agreement back to the city, and Long Beach took back control in June 2021. To keep the ship running, the city approved a $2 million, six-month contract with Evolution Hospitality to cover monthly utility fees, security, landscaping and other costs.


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: An architecture and marine engineering firm hired by the city found that $23 million was needed for urgent safety repairs to keep the ship viable over the next two years. The report by Elliott Bay Design Group reported that the vessel was vulnerable to flooding or possibly even capsizing. On 21 September 2021, the Long Beach City Council voted to turn the "Queen Mary" and surrounding property over to the Harbor Department. Transfer of the ship and the surrounding land from city control to the port would include Pier H. An urgent removal of the deteriorated lifeboats was completed as they were putting stress on the side shell of the ship which has created cracks in the support system. In June 2022, the city established a new agreement with Evolution Hospitality. By November, the city had spent $2.8 million for plumbing repairs, a new Wi-Fi connection, handrail restoration and energy-efficient lightbulbs. This also included beginning work on the ship’s boilers and heat exchangers. The city approved $1 million to continue repairs to the ship’s linoleum flooring and carpet, refrigerators, elevators, kitchen exhaust hoods, and guest room locks. The ship reopened for limited tours on 15 December 2022.


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: "Queen Mary"s original professionally-manned wireless radio room was removed when the ship was moored in Long Beach. In its place, an amateur radio room proposed by Long Beach resident and radio amateur Nate Brightman, K6OSC, was created one deck above the original radio reception room, with some of the discarded original radio equipment used for display purposes. The new Wireless Room was opened for operation on April 22, 1979. The amateur radio station, with the call sign W6RO ("Whiskey Six Romeo Oscar"), relies on volunteers from a local amateur radio club. They staff the radio room during most public hours. The radios can also be used by other licensed amateur radio operators.


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: In honour of his over forty years of dedication to W6RO and "Queen Mary", in November 2007 the Queen Mary Wireless Room was renamed as the Nate Brightman Radio Room. This was announced on 28 October 2007, at Brightman's 90th birthday party by Joseph Prevratil, former President and CEO of "Queen Mary".


title: RMS Queen Mary

text: Following "Queen Mary"s permanent docking in California, claims were made that the ship was haunted. In 2008, "Time" magazine included the "Queen Mary" among its "Top 10 Haunted Places". One of the staterooms is alleged to be haunted by the spirit of a person supposedly murdered there. The Queen Mary Hotel promotes suite room B-340, a former third class cabin, as "notoriously haunted". "Queen Mary" also operates a number of commercial tours that include haunted attraction experiences, such as "Dark Harbor", which operates during the Halloween season, the "Haunted Encounters Tour" and "Ghosts and Legends" tour, promoted as featuring "terrifying original stories and characters based on the ship's well-known paranormal tales". "Skeptical Inquirer" writer John Champion has criticised the haunted tours, calling them a "cynical exploitation of the space" and noting that much effort is put into promoting the ship as a "haunted attraction", while efforts to explain or preserve the factual history of the ship are "somehow pushed to the wayside". Center for Inquiry fellow Joe Nickell attributes the "Queen Mary"s haunting legends to pareidolia, illusory mental images triggered by subjective feelings, and daydreaming states commonly experienced by workers, such as hotel staff, doing repetitive chores.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: The House That Jack Built is a 2018 psychological horror slasher film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It stars Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, Riley Keough, and Jeremy Davies. Its plot follows Jack (Dillon), a serial killer who, over a 12-year period from the late 1970s into 1980s, commits numerous murders in the U.S. state of Washington. Utilizing Dante's "Inferno" as a metatext, the film is structured as a series of flashback vignettes relayed by Jack to the Roman poet Virgil, during which Jack attempts to make an argument for his crimes.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: Originally conceived as a television project by von Trier, "The House That Jack Built" began production in Sweden in 2016. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, marking von Trier's return to the festival after more than six years. "The House That Jack Built" received polarized feedback from critics, with criticism aimed for its graphic violence but praise for Dillon's performance and Von Trier's direction. The film's protagonist was compared to a real life serial killer Ted Bundy.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: Jack, a failed architect in 1980s Washington State, recounts how he became a serial killer to Virgil—whom he refers to as Verge—as Verge leads Jack through the nine circles of Hell. Each of Jack's crimes, depicted through flashback, feature social commentary from both Jack and Verge.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In the first incident, Jack encounters an abrasive woman on a rural road who needs to fix her broken jack to repair a flat tire. He agrees to take her to a local blacksmith to repair it. On the way, she says he looks like a serial killer and insults him. When they return, the jack breaks again. The woman requests that Jack return her to the blacksmith. On the second trip, she recants her comments stating he is too much of a wimp to kill anyone. Offended by her manner, Jack bludgeons her with the tire jack. He stores her body in an industrial freezer inside a factory building, which he purchased from a pizzeria.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In the second incident, Jack cons his way into the home of a widow, Claire, then strangles and stabs her. After cleaning up, he puts her body in the back of his car. Instead of leaving, his obsessive-compulsive disorder compels him to return to re-clean the crime scene multiple times, nearly resulting in him being caught when a suspicious police officer stops by. Jack manages to outwit the officer by pretending to be an acquaintance of Claire. He then ties Claire's body to the back of the van in a panic and drives off, dragging her body behind and creating a blood trail. It starts raining, washing away the trail, and Jack takes this as divine intervention, believing God is on his side. Jack puts her corpse in the industrial freezer. He declares himself "Mr. Sophistication," and begins signing anonymous letters to the media with this moniker. He also develops a fetish for photographing his victims' corpses and begins taking greater risks as his OCD diminishes, such as impulsively hitting an old woman with his van.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In the third incident, Jack brings his girlfriend and her two sons, Grumpy and George, on a hunting trip. He kills both sons with a rifle before forcing the woman to have a picnic with their corpses. Jack then allows the mother to run away as he gives her a head start in his hunting tower. She does not comply and purposefully allows herself to be shot by Jack. Jack then waits for rigor mortis to set in on Grumpy's corpse, and proceeds to fashion it into a waving sculpture with a grisly smile.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In the fourth incident, Jack is in a dysfunctional relationship with Jacqueline, whom he psychologically and verbally abuses and derisively nicknames "Simple". When he drunkenly confesses to her that he has killed 60 people, she does not believe him. After he marks red circles around her breasts with a marker, she becomes frightened and approaches a policeman, but he dismisses her as drunk. In her apartment, Jack binds her before cutting off her breasts with a knife. He pins one of the breasts to the policeman's car and fashions the other into a wallet.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In the fifth incident, Jack has detained six men in his freezer, intending to kill all of them with a single bullet. Upon realizing his ammunition has been mislabeled, he leaves and chastises the gun shop owner before visiting a friend, SP. SP phones a police officer and Jack stabs SP through the throat. He waits for the police, then kills the officer. He returns to his freezer, and needing more space to focus the scope of his rifle, unseals a closed door inside, revealing a second chamber. Inside, he meets Verge, who reveals he has been observing Jack throughout his life and reminds him that he has never built the home he intended to, as Jack had made several attempts to build his perfect house between his murders. In the freezer, Jack arranges the frozen corpses he has collected over the years into the shape of a house. As police break in, Jack enters his "house" and follows Verge into a hole in the floor, entering Hell.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: The two reach a pit leading to the ninth circle and centre of Hell. In the process of descending into hell, footage is shown about the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in which, according to legend, human cries from the underworld, which Verge mentions, were heard. A broken bridge spans the pit. Jack notices a stairway on the other side of the bridge, which Verge says leads the way out of Hell. Jack attempts to scale a rock wall to access the staircase, against Verge's advice, and falls into the flaming abyss below.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: Von Trier originally developed the idea as a television series, but in February 2016, he announced that it would be a film. After extensively researching serial killers, von Trier had a completed script by May 2016. International sales rights for the film belong to TrustNordisk with von Trier's Zentropa producing. Film i Väst partly financed the film, and the Copenhagen Film Fund provided €1.08 million in production subsidies. The film is a co-production between France, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: The film's epilogue, in which Jack goes to Hell, was suggested by Von Trier's co-writer, Jenle Hallund, and which Von Trier felt appropriate: "I thought that's a good idea because it's a long time since we've really visited Hell in films. Particularly the journey to Hell. We put it together from different conceptions, or whatever the word is, of Hell. The Elysian Fields is something from the Roman mythology. I'm quite sure that Hell doesn't look like what we have made for this film." Von Trier also stated he was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock to give the film a "classical ending" in which Jack is punished: "Somehow I felt a little Hitchcock-like at the end of the film, with Jack hanging there above the abject depths. Never let the bad guy hang on his nails, as the audience won't care... Psychopaths act out of an irrational certainty that they won't be caught. That's why the ending is like it is. It would be typical for me to let him live. But then I thought about good old Hitchcock and decided that this calls for a classical ending."


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: On 2 November 2016, von Trier announced that Matt Dillon would play the film's lead role. Announcements soon followed in February 2017 that Riley Keough and Sofie Gråbøl would also be joining the production with Uma Thurman's participation being announced the following month. The same month, von Trier described the film as celebrating "the idea that life is evil and soulless".


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: Principal photography began in March 2017 outside Bengtsfors and Tösse in Dalsland, Sweden and was shot in Copenhagen, Gribskov, Trollhättan, Peak District and Montemerano. Dillon was initially influenced by American serial killer Ted Bundy, but his character soon became unique. Von Trier split the filming into two parts to allow editing in between, something he had done before. The film spent nearly a year in post-production, which included complicated special effects.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In March 2017, von Trier was reportedly negotiating to have the film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, despite his being previously banned from the festival. On 19 April 2018, the film was approved to premiere at the Festival out-of-competition. After the announcement, a teaser trailer was released.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: The film premiered at the Festival on 14 May 2018. It was reported that more than 100 audience members walked out during the premiere, though a 10-minute standing ovation followed the screening.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: In October 2018, it was reported that the director's cut, which is the uncensored version that played at Cannes, would play in U.S. theaters for one night in November, followed by an edited R-rated version release in selected theaters and on digital platforms beginning on 14 December. Immediately following the unrated director's cut screenings, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) issued a statement condemning the screening for not adhering to the board's guidelines. In the statement, it was noted that "the screening of an unrated version of the film in such close proximity to the release of the rated version—without obtaining a waiver—is in violation of the rating system's rules... Failure to comply with the rules can create confusion among parents and undermine the rating system — and may result in the imposition of sanctions against the film's submitter." By the 5 December, the MPAA had resolved the dispute with IFC Films by pushing the digital release of the director's cut back to 2019, as opposed to coinciding with the December 14 theatrical release of the R-rated cut. On 6 December 2018, the director's cut was released to purchase on YouTube for several hours.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: "The House That Jack Built" was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc (uncensored cut) in the United Kingdom on 4 March 2019 by Artificial Eye. Extra features include an introduction by director, an in-depth interview with director, a twenty-minute making-of featurette and theatrical Trailer. On 4 February 2020, Scream Factory released the film in the United States as a 2-disc Blu-ray with both cuts (theatrical and director's), as well as a 26-minute interview with von Trier by professor Peter Schepelern, filmed shortly after von Trier's winning of the Sonning Prize. Also included is the US theatrical trailer, the Cannes Film Festival teaser trailer, a short introduction from von Trier, and von Trier's 2016 announcement of the film's production.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: The film polarized critics, and was described as 2018's "most extreme and controversial" horror film. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 138 reviews, and an average rating of 6.20. The website's critical consensus reads, ""The House That Jack Built" presents writer-director Lars von Trier at his most proudly uncompromising: hard to ignore, and for many viewers, just as difficult to digest." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: "IndieWire" critic Eric Kohn gave the film an "A−" and called the film a "wild masterpiece." BBC.com's Nicolas Barber gave the film four stars out of five and said "Undoubtedly a bold and stimulating film which no one but Denmark's notorious provocateur-auteur could have made." Owen Gleiberman from "Variety" gave the film a positive review, and stated "It's halfway between a subversive good movie and a stunt. It's designed to get under your skin, and does." David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote ""The House That Jack Built" is definitely something to see. But what's most surprising is that it's just as often inane as unsettling." Armond White says the film satirizes "guilt-free violence" by "rubbing the audience's face in the ugliness it enjoys." "The Guardian"s Peter Bradshaw referred to the film as "an ordeal of gruesomeness and tiresomeness", though he did praise its closing scene.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: Mark Olsen of the "Los Angeles Times" criticized the film for reveling in "grisly, in-your-face violence and wan philosophical digressions," concluding, "Von Trier has managed to cobble together just enough of interest — odd moments, pieces of performance, stray ideas and the simple audacity of putting this mess out into the world, that it feels like there may be something there worth considering, a maddening possibility. And that may be his cruelest prank of all."


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: Despite audience backlash toward a scene involving the main character's mutilation of a duckling when he was a child, PETA has defended the film in a statement praising its accurate portrayal of the link between adolescent animal abuse and psychopathy and for the realistic special effects.


title: The House That Jack Built (2018 film)

text: The film was nominated for Art Cinema Award and Hamburg Producers Award at the 26th Hamburg Film Festival. It won Best European Film and was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival. It won two awards in Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival – Best Actor for Dillon and Best Screenplay for von Trier. At the Robert Awards, the film received 11 nominations: Best Danish Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Editing, Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects. It won two awards, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Dillon received a Best Actor nomination at the Bodil Awards, where the film won Best Production Design. The film is also nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Gopo Awards, and Dillon was a nominee in the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards' Best Actor category.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: Abbi Jacobson is an American comedian, writer, actress, illustrator and producer. She co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series "Broad City" (2014–2019) with Ilana Glazer, based on the web series of the same name. Her other roles include voicing Katie Mitchell in "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" (2021), Nya in "The Lego Ninjago Movie" (2017), and Princess Bean in the series "Disenchantment" (2018–present), in addition to appearing in the live-action films "Person to Person" (2017) and "6 Balloons" (2018). She is a writer and co-creator of the Amazon Prime series "A League of Their Own" (2022), in which she also stars as Carson Shaw, an aspiring baseball player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: Abbi Jacobson is the daughter of Susan Komm, an artist, and Alan Jacobson, a graphic designer. She is Jewish. She was raised in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where she attended Valley Forge Middle School and Conestoga High School.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: She studied fine arts and video production at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), graduating in 2006 with a B.F.A. in General Fine Arts. While at MICA, she studied stand-up comedy for one year with poet Jeremy Sigler, having transferred for a term to study acting at Emerson College.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: Jacobson moved to New York City after graduating from MICA. She began taking classes with the Atlantic Theater Company and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, where she met Ilana Glazer.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: From 2009 to 2011, Jacobson and Glazer wrote and performed in a web series titled "Broad City", which focused on their lives in New York. The series was nominated for an ECNY Award for Best Web Series. It was well received by critics and developed a cult following. At the Upright Citizens Brigade, Jacobson and Glazer adapted the series into a live show that they performed in, called "Broad City Live".


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In 2011, cable network FX, working with Amy Poehler as the producer, purchased a script commitment for the series from Glazer and Jacobson. However, the network did not approve the script and decided not to proceed with development. Glazer and Jacobson then approached Comedy Central, who agreed to purchase the script from FX and order a pilot.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: "Broad City" made its broadcast television premiere in January 2014 and was received with positive reviews and strong ratings, becoming Comedy Central's highest-rated first season since 2012 among the younger demographics, including adults 18–34, with an average of 1.2 million viewers.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: The show has received critical acclaim from fans and critics alike. Review aggregation website Metacritic noted season 1 received "generally favorable reviews", giving it a score of 75 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics. Karen Valby from "Entertainment Weekly" described the show as a "deeply weird, weirdly sweet, and completely hilarious comedy". "The Wall Street Journal" referred to the show as "Sneak Attack Feminism". Critic Megan Angelo quotes Abbi Jacobson: "If you watch one of our episodes, there's not a big message, but if you watch all of them, I think, they're empowering to women." "The A.V. Club" critic Caroline Framke wrote that "Broad City" was "worth watching" despite its "well-trod premise", and that the series is "remarkably self-possessed, even in its first episode". Jacobson was a fan of bands like Phish growing up and would often spoof her jamband fandom on "Broad City".


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: Season one of the show received a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 23 critics, with the site's consensus stating, "From its talented producers to its clever writing and superb leads, "Broad City" boasts an uncommonly fine pedigree." "The A.V. Club" named "Broad City" the second best TV show of 2014 for its first season.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In February 2014, Comedy Central renewed the show for a second season. Season two received positive reviews, with Metacritic giving it a score of 89 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Rotten Tomatoes gave the second season a rating of 100%, based on reviews from 11 critics, with the site's consensus: "Led by two of the funniest women on TV, "Broad City" uses its stars' vibrant chemistry to lend an element of authenticity to the show's chaotic yet enlightening brand of comedy."


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In January 2015, the series was then renewed for a third season, which premiered on February 17, 2016. In January 2016, the series was renewed for a fourth and a final, fifth season.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In 2011, Jacobson wrote and performed in a solo show called "Welcome to Camp", which ran in New York and Los Angeles.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In December 2015, Jacobson was cast in the film "Person to Person", opposite Michael Cera and Phillip Baker Hall, written and directed by Dustin Guy Defa. Jacobson also starred in "The Lego Ninjago Movie", released on September 22, 2017.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: Her first appearance in "BoJack Horseman" was in the 2016 episode "The Bojack Horseman Show", in which she voiced Emily.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In 2017, Jacobson hosted a 10-episode podcast about modern and contemporary art called "A Piece of Work" co-produced by The Museum of Modern Art and WNYC Studios. She plans to do a second season.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In 2021, Jacobson voiced Katie Mitchell in the Sony Pictures Animation film "The Mitchells vs. the Machines".


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In 2022 she served as a writer producer and star of the Amazon series, "A League of Their Own", based on the 1992 film of the same name where she plays catcher Carson Shaw.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In 2013, Jacobson published two coloring books with Chronicle Books: "Color This Book: New York City" and "Color This Book: San Francisco". Jacobson also illustrated a book titled "Carry This Book," published October 2016 by Viking Press. It features colorful, humorous illustrations of the imagined contents of various celebrities' bags. "I have always been intrigued by what people carry around with them. It can tell you everything" says Jacobson in the book's introduction. Well received by critics, "Carry This Book" was a "New York Times" bestseller.


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: Jacobson published another book, "I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff." The book was published on October 30, 2018, with Grand Central Publishing. With drawings throughout, the book of personal essays is centered around Jacobson's solo three week cross-country road trip. The 320 pages of personal essays and various short stories, although some are comical in nature, largely focus on Jacobson getting over her first love, first relationship with a woman, and general issues of identity. According to Jacobson, the book is centered around self-reflection: "It's about how I've felt like an internal outsider for my entire life because I just never understood what love was, that I would never get to experience it, and being a public figure only heightened that anxiety."


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: In an April 2018 interview, Jacobson stated that she dates men and women but "they have to be funny, doing something they love".


title: Abbi Jacobson

text: She has been in a relationship with Jodi Balfour since October 2020. As of August 2022, Jacobson and Balfour are engaged.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite ( ) is a British savoury food spread based on yeast extract, invented by the German scientist Justus von Liebig. It is made from by-products of beer brewing (lees) and is produced by the British company Unilever. Marmite is a vegan source of B vitamins, including supplemental vitamin B. A traditional method of use is to spread it very thinly on buttered toast.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite is a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, salty, powerful flavour and heady aroma. This distinctive taste is represented in the marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it." Such is its prominence in British popular culture that Marmite is often used as a metaphor for something that is an acquired taste or polarises opinion. Marmite is commonly used as a flavouring, as it is particularly rich in umami due to its very high levels of glutamate (1960 mg/100g).


title: Marmite

text: The image on the jar shows a "marmite" (), a French term for a large, covered earthenware or metal cooking pot. Marmite was originally supplied in earthenware pots but since the 1920s has been sold in glass jars. Marmite's distinctive bulbous jars are supplied to Unilever by the German glass manufacturer Gerresheimer.


title: Marmite

text: Similar products include the Australian Vegemite (whose name is derived from that of Marmite), the Swiss Cenovis, the Brazilian Cenovit, the long-extinct Argentinian Condibé, and the German Vitam-R. Marmite in New Zealand has been manufactured since 1919 under licence, but with a different recipe; it is the only one sold as "Marmite" in Australasia and the Pacific Islands, whereas elsewhere the British version predominates.


title: Marmite

text: The product that was to become Marmite was invented during the late 19th century when the German scientist Justus von Liebig discovered that brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten. During 1902, the Marmite Food Extract Company was formed in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England with Marmite as its main product and Burton as the site of the first factory. The by-product yeast needed for the paste was supplied by Bass Brewery. By 1907, the product had become successful enough to warrant construction of a second factory at Camberwell Green in London.


title: Marmite

text: By 1912, the discovery of vitamins was a boost for Marmite, as the spread is a rich source of the vitamin B complex;


title: Marmite

text: with the vitamin B deficiency beriberi being common during World War I, the spread became more popular. British troops during World War I were issued Marmite as part of their rations.


title: Marmite

text: During the 1930s, Marmite was used by the English scientist Lucy Wills to successfully treat a form of anaemia in mill workers in Bombay. She later identified folic acid as the active ingredient. Marmite was used to treat malnutrition by Suriya-Mal workers during the 1934–5 malaria epidemic in Sri Lanka. Housewives were encouraged to spread Marmite thinly and to "use it sparingly just now" because of limited rations of the product.


title: Marmite

text: During 1990, Marmite Limited, which had become a subsidiary of Bovril Limited, was bought by CPC International Inc, which changed its name to Best Foods Inc during 1998. Best Foods Inc subsequently merged with Unilever during 2000, and Marmite is now a trademark owned by Unilever.


title: Marmite

text: There are a number of similar yeast products available in other countries; these products are not directly connected to the original Marmite recipe and brand. The Australian product Vegemite was developed in early 1920s by Cyril Callister for Fred Walker and Co. due to shortages of Marmite exports to Australia as a result of the First World War. It is now distributed in many countries, and AussieMite is sold in Australia. Other products include OzeMite, which is made by Dick Smith Foods; Cenovit, a Brazilian spread; Vitam-R, a German spread; Cenovis, a Swiss spread; and Vegex, an autolyzed yeast product available in the United States since 1913. In the United Kingdom, own-branded yeast extract, very similar to Marmite, is sold by Sainsbury's, Tesco and Aldi.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite has traditionally been eaten as a savoury spread on bread, toast, savoury biscuits or crackers, and other similar baked products. Owing to its concentrated taste, it is often spread very thinly in combination with butter or margarine. It can be made into a savoury hot drink by adding one teaspoon to a mug of hot water, much like Oxo or Bovril. It is also commonly used to enrich casseroles and stews.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite is often paired with cheese—for example, in a cheese sandwich or a cheese-flavoured biscuit such as Mini Cheddars. In the UK, Starbucks offers a cheese and Marmite panini. There are Marmite-flavored varieties of Walkers Crisps, and of some brands of rice cakes and biscuits.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite has also been used as an ingredient in cocktails, including the Marmite Cocktail and the Marmite Gold Rush.


title: Marmite

text: Celebrity chefs have created signature Marmite-flavored recipes: Nigella Lawson has one for Marmite spaghetti, and Heston Blumenthal has one for Marmite consommé.


title: Marmite

text: In 2020, Marmite launched a campaign on Instagram—“The Great Marmite Experiment”—-encouraging people to share their Marmite-flavored recipes. The many entries in response included roast potatoes, beef Wellington and cookies.


title: Marmite

text: In Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, Marmite is enjoyed stirred into congee (rice porridge), and in an intensely savory Malaysian dish (local Chinese dish) called Marmite Chicken, consisting of fried pieces of chicken tossed in a Marmite sauce.


title: Marmite

text: While the process is secret, the general method for making yeast extract on a commercial scale is to add salt to a suspension of yeast, making the solution hypertonic, which results in the cells shrivelling; this triggers autolysis, during which the yeast self-destructs. The dying yeast cells are then heated to complete their breakdown, and since yeast cells have thick cell walls which would detract from the smoothness of the end product, the husks are sieved out. As with other yeast extracts, Marmite contains free glutamic acid, the monosodium salt of which being monosodium glutamate.


title: Marmite

text: Currently, the main ingredients of Marmite are glutamic acid-rich yeast extract, with lesser quantities of salt, vegetable extract, spice extracts and celery extracts, although the precise composition is a trade secret. Vitamins added for food fortification include riboflavin, folic acid, and Vitamin B. Vitamin B is not naturally found in yeast extract, but is very important for vegans who are at risk of deficiency.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite is rich in B vitamins including thiamin (B), riboflavin (B), niacin (B), and folic acid (B). Vitamin B is only available through artificial enrichment; riboflavin and folic acid are added on top of the naturally-occurring amount. The sodium content of the spread is high and has caused concern, although it is the amount per serving rather than the percentage in bulk Marmite that is relevant. The main ingredient of Marmite is yeast extract, which contains a high concentration of glutamic acid. Marmite is not gluten free, as it is made with wheat, and although it is thoroughly washed, it may contain small quantities of gluten.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite should be avoided if a person takes a MAOI antidepressant, such as phenelzine (Nardil) or tranylcypromine (Parnate), as yeast extracts interact adversely with these types of medications due to their tyramine content.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite should be stored in the dark and kept cool, but should not be refrigerated. The "best before" date is given as guidance for the loss of vitamins rather than safety.


title: Marmite

text: Marmite's publicity campaigns initially emphasised the spread's healthy nature, extolling it as "The growing up spread you never grow out of". The first major Marmite advertising campaign began during the 1930s, with characters whose faces incorporated the word "good". Soon afterwards, the increasing awareness of vitamins was used in Marmite advertising, with slogans proclaiming that "A small quantity added to the daily diet will ensure you and your family are taking sufficient vitamin B to keep nerves, brain, and digestion in proper working order".


title: Marmite

text: During the 1980s, the spread was advertised with the slogan "My mate, Marmite", chanted in television commercials by an army platoon. The spread had been a standard vitamin supplement for British-based German POWs during the Second World War.


title: Marmite

text: By the 1990s Marmite's distinctive and powerful flavour had earned it as many detractors as it had fans, and it was known for producing a polarised "love/hate" reaction amongst consumers. For many years television advertisements for Marmite featured the song "Low Rider" by the band War with the lyrics changed to the phrase "My Mate, Marmite". Marmite began a "Love it or Hate it" campaign during October 1996, and this resulted in the inventing of the phrase "Marmite effect" or "Marmite reaction" for anything which provoked controversy. On 22 April 2010, Unilever threatened legal action against the British National Party for using a jar of Marmite and the "love it or hate it" slogan in a party political broadcast.


title: Marmite

text: Because of the local product named "Marmite", European Marmite is sold by the name "Our Mate" in Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand Marmite uses the name "NZ-Mite" elsewhere. A similar product with the same name, albeit manufactured by Sanitarium is available in Australia and New Zealand.


title: Marmite

text: In Denmark, food safety legislation dictates that foodstuffs that contain added vitamins can only be sold by retailers which have been licensed by the Veterinary and Food Administration. During May 2011, the company that imports the product to Denmark revealed that it was not licensed and had therefore stopped selling the product: this resulted in widespread but inaccurate reports by the British media that Marmite had been banned by the Danish authorities. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration stated during 2015 that Marmite had not been banned in the country, but that fortified foods need to be tested for safety and approved before they can be marketed in the country. The issue was resolved in 2016, after the completion of a 2014 supplier-requested test.


title: Marmite

text: On 24 January 2014, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was noted, in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation story, as preparing to stop the sale of Marmite, as well as Vegemite and Ovaltine, in Canada because they were enriched with vitamins and minerals which were not listed by Canadian food regulations. The agency said the products were not a health hazard.


title: Marmite

text: The CFIA later specified that these specific items had been seized because they were not the versions that are formulated for sale in Canada and which satisfied all Canadian food regulations. Canadian versions of Marmite and the other products would still be permitted to be sold in Canada.


title: Marmite

text: South Africa also produces a bottled, long-life Marmite-flavoured Cheese Spread, which is extremely popular in that country. It is light in texture and contains a hint of Marmite.


title: Marmite

text: In addition, Lancewood, a major dairy producer in South Africa, manufactures a fresh Full-cream Cheese Spread, flavoured with Marmite, especially for those who prefer fresh dairy over the long-life variety.


title: Marmite

text: During February 2007, Marmite produced a limited edition Guinness Marmite of 300,000 250g jars of their yeast extract with 30% Guinness yeast, giving it a noticeable hint of "Guinness" flavour. During January 2008 Champagne Marmite was released for Valentine's Day, with a limited-edition production of 600,000 units initially released exclusively to Selfridges of London. The product had 0.3% champagne added to the recipe, and a modified heart-shaped label with "I love you" in place of the logo.


title: Marmite

text: During 2009, a limited edition Marston's Pedigree Marmite was initiated to celebrate the 2009 Ashes Cricket test series.


title: Marmite

text: During March 2010, a "super-strength" version of Marmite was released, called Marmite XO (XO standing for "extra old"). Marmite XO is matured for 28 days, four times longer than usual. The original Marmite XO's cap was black, and has a black and gold label. In July 2019, Marmite XO returned due to popular demand. The 2019 version has an off-white cap as opposed to the original black.


title: Marmite

text: During April 2012, a special edition jar in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was released. With the product renamed "Ma'amite," the redesigned label featured a colour scheme based upon the Union Jack; the marmite and spoon logo replaced by a gold crown, and with a red rather than yellow cap. The front label also declares "Made with 100% British Yeast". Coinciding with the 110th anniversary of the brand, production was limited to 300,000 jars. For Christmas 2012 a gold limited edition was begun, containing edible gold-coloured flecks.


title: Marmite

text: During 2015, Marmite Summer of Love Special Edition featured a flower power themed label. This special edition's blend had a lighter taste made using 100% Lager yeast.


title: Marmite

text: On March 25, 2019, Marmite Peanut Butter was introduced, which (as the title implied) combined the taste of Marmite with that of crunchy peanut butter.


title: Marmite

text: On 2 May 2022, Marmite Truffle was launched and sold exclusively in Sainsburys, It was marketed with a variation of the 'Love it Or Hate It' slogan designed to make it sound more sophisticated, "One either loves it or considers it utterly vulgar".


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: The Panzerhaubitze 2000 ("tank howitzer 2000"), () abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm self-propelled howitzer developed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall in the 1980s and 1990s for the German Army. It is capable of a very high rate of fire; in burst mode it can fire three rounds in nine seconds, ten rounds in 56 seconds, and can—depending on barrel heating—fire between 10 and 13 rounds per minute continuously. The PzH 2000 has automatic support for up to five rounds of Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact (MRSI). Replenishment of shells is automated. Two operators can load 60 shells and propelling charges in less than 12 minutes. The PzH 2000 equips the armies of Germany, Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands, Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Qatar and Croatia, mostly replacing older systems such as the M109 howitzer. In November 2019, a PzH 2000 L52 gun fired a shell a distance of 67 km.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: In 1986, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany agreed to terminate their existing development of the PzH 155-1 (SP70) programme, which had run into reliability problems and had design defects, notably being mounted on a modified tank chassis. A new Joint Ballistics Memorandum of Understanding (JBMOU) for a 52 calibre barrel (based on a UK proposal), to replace the 39 caliber design, was nearing an agreement. German industry was asked for proposals to build a new design with gun conforming to the JBMOU. Of the proposed designs, Wegmann's was selected. Wegmann eventually won a contract in 1996 for 185 units to be delivered to Germany's rapid reaction force, followed by another 410 for the main force.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: Wegmann and KraussMaffei, the two main German military tracked vehicle manufacturers, merged in 1998 to form "KMW".


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: Rheinmetall designed the 155 mm 52-calibre JBMOU compliant rifled gun (60-rifles, right-hand spiral), which is chromium-lined for its entire 8 m length and includes a muzzle brake on the end. The gun uses a new modular charge system with six charges (five identical), which can be combined to provide the optimal total charge for the range to the target, as well as the conventional bagged charge systems. Primer is loaded separately via a conveyor belt, and the entire loading, laying and clearing are completely automated. The maximum range of the gun is 30–36 km with the standard DM121 Boattail round, about 40–47 km with base bleed rounds, and 67 km with M2005 V-LAP assisted projectiles. In April 2006 a PzH 2000 fired assisted shells (Denel V-Lap) over a distance of 56 km with a probable maximum range of over 60 km. The gun can also fire the SMArt 155 artillery round, which is used by Germany and Greece.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: Wegmann supplied both the chassis, sharing some components with the Leopard 2, and the turret for the gun. The system has superb cross-country performance because of its use of continuous tracks and considerable protection in the case of counter-fire. The turret includes a phased array radar on the front glacis for measuring the muzzle velocity of each round fired. Laying data can be automatically provided via encrypted radio from the battery fire direction centre.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: A lighter, more air-portable version, using the gun in a module fitted to a lighter chassis, has been developed by KMW. It is called the Artillery Gun Module.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: In December 2013, Raytheon and the German Army completed compatibility testing for the M982 Excalibur extended range guided artillery shell with the PzH 2000. Ten Excaliburs were fired at ranges from 9 to 48 km. Shells hit within 3 m of their targets, with an average miss distance of 1 m at 48 km. The Excalibur may be accepted by the German Army in 2014.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: A PzH 2000 L52 gun fired a shell 67 km at the Alkantpan test range in South Africa on 6 November 2019.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: In 2021, Germany and the Netherlands agreed to jointly define & execute a Mid-Life Update to the operational Pzh2000 in their inventories and ensure standardisation and availability.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: The PzH 2000 was used for the first time in combat by the Fire Support Command of the Royal Netherlands Army in August 2006 against Taliban targets in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Medusa. It was then used regularly in support of coalition troops in Uruzgan province. The PzH 2000 was also used extensively during the Battle of Chora. It was known as "the long arm of ISAF" and proved to be accurate and effective. However, the gun was criticised by the Dutch in Uruzgan province as the NBC system, designed for use in Europe, couldn't cope with the high level of dust in Afghanistan.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: The guns have been modified with additional armor being fitted to the roof to protect against mortar rounds. There have been reports of other problems, including the need to keep it in the shade unless actually firing, the damage done when traveling on poorly built roads, and a significant 'cold gun' effect necessitating the use of 'warmers'.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: Starting in June 2010, German ISAF troops at PRT Kunduz had three PzH 2000s at their disposal. They were first used on 10 July 2010 to provide support for the recovery of a damaged vehicle. This was the first time in its history that the Bundeswehr has used heavy artillery in combat. The PzH 2000 also played a key role during Operation Halmazag in November 2010, when the villages of Isa Khel and Quatliam were retaken from the Taliban by German paratroopers.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: On 21 June 2022, twelve Panzerhaubitze 2000s were deployed to Ukraine; seven came from Germany and five from the Netherlands. After a couple of weeks of intensive use, the guns required repairs, as they are designed and built to fire no more than 100 shots a day. This came about due to error messages that were being displayed. Ukraine has also fired “special ammunition at too great a distance.” Germany considers 100 shots a day “a high-intensity mission”. Ukraine has constantly exceeded this number. This has stressed the loading mechanism. The Bundeswehr has sent spare parts while a repair facility in Lithuania was chosen to repair the weapons. This comes as Ukraine and KMW enter into a 1.7 billion euro deal to purchase 100 PzH 2000s. Russian state news agency TASS reported that a Panzerhaubitze 2000 was destroyed by Russian forces in Kherson Oblast on 30 October 2022.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: A number of armies have tested the PzH 2000 system; its ability to provide accurate fire at 40 km has been a major selling point.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: The PzH 2000 was considered for the US Army's Crusader concept system, but several requirements of the Crusader made it unsuitable. The Crusader specifications placed the crew and gun in separate compartments, allowing a single highly armoured crew compartment to control the firing of an entire battery of guns through intervehicle links. In addition, the Crusader included an automated ammunition tender, and an active cooled barrel.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: The PzH 2000 was a contender for Phase 1C of Australia's Land 17 Artillery Replacement Programme, until that phase of the project was cancelled in May 2012.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: Finland tested a PzH 2000 alongside the 155mm SpGH ZUZANA and AS-90 "Braveheart". Tests ended in 1998; more of the cheaper 155 K 98 field guns were bought instead of self-propelled systems.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: The German Navy evaluated a modified system known as MONARC for installation onboard frigates; while the system performed well, components were difficult to protect against corrosion.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: In December 2018, Hungary ordered 24 new-build PzH 2000s from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, along with 44 Leopard 2A7+ and 12 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks, in a deal valued at over 160 billion HUF (USD $565 million).


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: In June 2022, Germany and the Netherlands authorized the transfer of twelve Panzerhaubitze 2000s to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the first being received on 21 June.


title: Panzerhaubitze 2000

text: In September 2022, Germany announced the hand-over of 4 additional Panzerhaubitze 2000s to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.


title: Super Dragon Ball Heroes (web series)

text: The series is set outside of the main continuity and explores several alternate scenarios within the franchise.


title: Super Dragon Ball Heroes (web series)

text: Following the Tournament of Power, a mysterious figure named Fu, who after kidnapping Future Trunks, lures Goku and Vegeta to the Prison Planet, an experimental area which Fu created and has filled with strong warriors from different planets and eras in order to force them into a game where they must collect the seven Special Dragon Balls if they wish to escape.


title: Super Dragon Ball Heroes (web series)

text: The Prison Planet was only the beginning of Fu's experiments... Based on the experimental data collected at the Prison Planet, Fu finally begins his real experiment! What is Fu's real goal, and what is his real power? Goku and companions from "Dark Demon Realm Mission" and "Universe Mission" appear! An experiment involving the whole universe and space-time!


title: Super Dragon Ball Heroes (web series)

text: After Fu's defeat, warriors and fighters from all over the space-time gather to participate in the Space-Time Ultra Tournament planned by Aeos, the former Supreme Kai of Time. Goku and his allies will face very powerful opponents.


title: Super Dragon Ball Heroes (web series)

text: In May 2018, "V Jump" announced a promotional anime for "Super Dragon Ball Heroes" that will adapt the game's Prison Planet arc. A teaser trailer for the first episode was released on June 21, 2018, and shows the new characters and , the evil Saiyan. The first episode was shown at Aeon Lake Town, a shopping mall in Koshigaya, Saitama, on July 1, 2018, and was uploaded to the game's official website that same day. Likewise, the second episode was shown at Jump Victory Carnival Tokyo Kaijō on July 16, 2018, before being uploaded to the website.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela. Salamander diversity is highest in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains; most species are found in the Holarctic realm, with some species present in the Neotropical realm.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders rarely have more than four toes on their front legs and five on their rear legs, but some species have fewer digits and others lack hind limbs. Their permeable skin usually makes them reliant on habitats in or near water or other cool, damp places. Some salamander species are fully aquatic throughout their lives, some take to the water intermittently, and others are entirely terrestrial as adults.


title: Salamander

text: This group of amphibians is capable of regenerating lost limbs as well as other damaged parts of their bodies. Researchers hope to reverse engineer the regenerative processes for potential human medical applications, such as brain and spinal cord injury treatment or preventing harmful scarring during heart surgery recovery.


title: Salamander

text: Members of the family Salamandridae are mostly known as newts and lack the costal grooves along the sides of their bodies typical of other groups. The skin of some species contains the powerful poison tetrodotoxin; these salamanders tend to be slow-moving and have bright warning coloration to advertise their toxicity. Salamanders typically lay eggs in water and have aquatic larvae, but great variation occurs in their lifecycles. Some species in harsh environments reproduce while still in the larval state.


title: Salamander

text: The skin lacks scales and is moist and smooth to the touch, except in newts of the Salamandridae, which may have velvety or warty skin, wet to the touch. The skin may be drab or brightly colored, exhibiting various patterns of stripes, bars, spots, blotches, or dots. Male newts become dramatically colored during the breeding season. Cave species dwelling in darkness lack pigmentation and have a translucent pink or pearlescent appearance.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders range in size from the minute salamanders, with a total length of , including the tail, to the Chinese giant salamander which reaches and weighs up to . Most, however, are between in length.


title: Salamander

text: An adult salamander generally resembles a small lizard, having a basal tetrapod body form with a cylindrical trunk, four limbs, and a long tail. Except in the family Salamandridae, the head, body, and tail have a number of vertical depressions in the surface which run from the mid-dorsal region to the ventral area and are known as costal grooves. Their function seems to be to help keep the skin moist by channeling water over the surface of the body.


title: Salamander

text: Some aquatic species, such as sirens and amphiumas, have reduced or absent hind limbs, giving them an eel-like appearance, but in most species, the front and rear limbs are about the same length and project sidewards, barely raising the trunk off the ground. The feet are broad with short digits, usually four on the front feet and five on the rear. Salamanders do not have claws, and the shape of the foot varies according to the animal's habitat. Climbing species have elongated, square-tipped toes, while rock-dwellers have larger feet with short, blunt toes. The tree-climbing salamander ("Bolitoglossa" sp.) has plate-like webbed feet which adhere to smooth surfaces by suction, while the rock-climbing "Hydromantes" species from California have feet with fleshy webs and short digits and use their tails as an extra limb. When ascending, the tail props up the rear of the body, while one hind foot moves forward and then swings to the other side to provide support as the other hind foot advances.


title: Salamander

text: In larvae and aquatic salamanders, the tail is laterally flattened, has dorsal and ventral fins, and undulates from side to side to propel the animal through the water. In the families Ambystomatidae and Salamandridae, the male's tail, which is larger than that of the female, is used during the amplexus embrace to propel the mating couple to a secluded location. In terrestrial species, the tail moves to counterbalance the animal as it runs, while in the arboreal salamander and other tree-climbing species, it is prehensile. The tail is also used by certain plethodontid salamanders that can jump, to help launch themselves into the air. The tail is used in courtship and as a storage organ for proteins and lipids. It also functions as a defense against predation, when it may be lashed at the attacker or autotomised when grabbed. Unlike frogs, an adult salamander is able to regenerate limbs and its tail when these are lost.


title: Salamander

text: The skin of salamanders, in common with other amphibians, is thin, permeable to water, serves as a respiratory membrane, and is well-supplied with glands. It has highly cornified outer layers, renewed periodically through a skin shedding process controlled by hormones from the pituitary and thyroid glands. During moulting, the skin initially breaks around the mouth, and the animal moves forwards through the gap to shed the skin. When the front limbs have been worked clear, a series of body ripples pushes the skin towards the rear. The hind limbs are extracted and push the skin farther back, before it is eventually freed by friction as the salamander moves forward with the tail pressed against the ground. The animal often then eats the resulting sloughed skin.


title: Salamander

text: Glands in the skin discharge mucus which keeps the skin moist, an important factor in skin respiration and thermoregulation. The sticky layer helps protect against bacterial infections and molds, reduces friction when swimming, and makes the animal slippery and more difficult for predators to catch. Granular glands scattered on the upper surface, particularly the head, back, and tail, produce repellent or toxic secretions. Some salamander toxins are particularly potent. The rough-skinned newt ("Taricha granulosa") produces the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, the most toxic nonprotein substance known. Handling the newts does no harm, but ingestion of even a minute fragment of skin is deadly. In feeding trials, fish, frogs, reptiles, birds, and mammals were all found to be susceptible.


title: Salamander

text: Mature adults of some salamander species have "nuptial" glandular tissue in their cloacae, at the base of their tails, on their heads or under their chins. Some females release chemical substances, possibly from the ventral cloacal gland, to attract males, but males do not seem to use pheromones for this purpose. In some plethodonts, males have conspicuous mental glands on the chin which are pressed against the females' nostrils during the courtship ritual. They may function to speed up the mating process, reducing the risk of its being disrupted by a predator or rival male. The gland at the base of the tail in "Plethodon cinereus" is used to mark fecal pellets to proclaim territorial ownership.


title: Salamander

text: Olfaction in salamanders plays a role in territory maintenance, the recognition of predators, and courtship rituals, but is probably secondary to sight during prey selection and feeding. Salamanders have two types of sensory areas that respond to the chemistry of the environment. Olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity picks up airborne and aquatic odors, while adjoining vomeronasal organs detect nonvolatile chemical cues, such as tastes in the mouth. In plethodonts, the sensory epithelium of the vomeronasal organs extends to the nasolabial grooves, which stretch from the nostrils to the corners of the mouth. These extended areas seem to be associated with the identification of prey items, the recognition of conspecifics, and the identification of individuals.


title: Salamander

text: The eyes of most salamanders are adapted primarily for vision at night. In some permanently aquatic species, they are reduced in size and have a simplified retinal structure, and in cave dwellers such as the Georgia blind salamander, they are absent or covered with a layer of skin. In amphibious species, the eyes are a compromise and are nearsighted in air and farsighted in water. Fully terrestrial species such as the fire salamander have a flatter lens which can focus over a much wider range of distances.


title: Salamander

text: To find their prey, salamanders use trichromatic color vision extending into the ultraviolet range, based on three photoreceptor types that are maximally sensitive around 450, 500, and 570 nm. The larvae, and the adults of some highly aquatic species, also have a lateral line organ, similar to that of fish, which can detect changes in water pressure.


title: Salamander

text: All salamanders lack middle ear cavity, eardrum and eustachian tube, but have an opercularis system like frogs, and are still able to detect airborne sound. The opercularis system consists of two ossicles: the columella (equivalent to the stapes of higher vertebrates) which is fused to the skull, and the operculum. An opercularis muscle connects the latter to the pectoral girdle, and is kept under tension when the animal is alert. The system seems able to detect low-frequency vibrations (500–600 Hz), which may be picked up from the ground by the fore limbs and transmitted to the inner ear. These may serve to warn the animal of an approaching predator.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders are usually considered to have no voice and do not use sound for communication in the way that frogs do; however, in mating system they communicate by pheromone signaling; some species can make quiet ticking or popping noises, perhaps by the opening and closing of valves in the nose. The California giant salamander can produce a bark or rattle, and a few species can squeak by contracting muscles in the throat. The arboreal salamander can squeak using a different mechanism; it retracts its eyes into its head, forcing air out of its mouth. The ensatina salamander occasionally makes a hissing sound, while the sirens sometimes produce quiet clicks, and can resort to faint shrieks if attacked. Similar clicking behaviour was observed in two European newts "Lissotriton vulgaris" and "Ichthyosaura alpestris" in their aquatic phase. Vocalization in salamanders has been little studied and the purpose of these sounds is presumed to be the startling of predators.


title: Salamander

text: Respiration differs among the different species of salamanders, and can involve gills, lungs, skin, and the membranes of mouth and throat. Larval salamanders breathe primarily by means of gills, which are usually external and feathery in appearance. Water is drawn in through the mouth and flows out through the gill slits. Some neotenic species such as the mudpuppy ("Necturus maculosus") retain their gills throughout their lives, but most species lose them at metamorphosis. The embryos of some terrestrial lungless salamanders, such as "Ensatina", that undergo direct development, have large gills that lie close to the egg's surface.


title: Salamander

text: When present in adult salamanders, lungs vary greatly among different species in size and structure. In aquatic, cold-water species like the southern torrent salamander ("Rhyacotriton variegatus"), the lungs are very small with smooth walls, while species living in warm water with little dissolved oxygen, such as the lesser siren ("Siren intermedia"), have large lungs with convoluted surfaces. In the terrestrial lungless salamanders (family Plethodontidae), no lungs or gills are present, and gas exchange mostly takes place through the skin, supplemented by the tissues lining the mouth. To facilitate this, these salamanders have a dense network of blood vessels just under the skin and in the mouth.


title: Salamander

text: In the amphiumas, metamorphosis is incomplete, and they retain one pair of gill slits as adults, with fully functioning internal lungs. Some species that lack lungs respire through gills. In most cases, these are external gills, visible as tufts on either side of the head. Some terrestrial salamanders have lungs used in respiration, although these are simple and sac-like, unlike the more complex organs found in mammals. Many species, such as the olm, have both lungs and gills as adults.


title: Salamander

text: In the "Necturus", external gills begin to form as a means of combating hypoxia in the egg as egg yolk is converted into metabolically active tissue. However, molecular changes in the mudpuppy during post-embryonic development primarily due to the thyroid gland prevent the internalization of the external gills as seen in most salamanders that undergo metamorphosis. The external gills seen in salamanders differs greatly from that of amphibians with internalized gills. Unlike amphibians with internalized gills which typically rely on the changing of pressures within the buccal and pharyngeal cavities to ensure diffusion of oxygen onto the gill curtain, neotenic salamanders such as Necturus use specified musculature, such as the levatores arcuum, to move external gills to keep the respiratory surfaces constantly in contact with new oxygenated water.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders are opportunistic predators. They are generally not restricted to specific foods, but feed on almost any organism of a reasonable size. Large species such as the Japanese giant salamander ("Andrias japonicus") eat crabs, fish, small mammals, amphibians, and aquatic insects. In a study of smaller dusky salamanders ("Desmognathus") in the Appalachian Mountains, their diet includes earthworms, flies, beetles, beetle larvae, leafhoppers, springtails, moths, spiders, grasshoppers, and mites. Cannibalism sometimes takes place, especially when resources are short or time is limited. Tiger salamander tadpoles in ephemeral pools sometimes resort to eating each other, and are seemingly able to target unrelated individuals. Adult blackbelly salamanders ("Desmognathus quadramaculatus") prey on adults and young of other species of salamanders, while their larvae sometimes cannibalise smaller larvae.


title: Salamander

text: Most species of salamander have small teeth in both their upper and lower jaws. Unlike frogs, even the larvae of salamanders possess these teeth. Although larval teeth are shaped like pointed cones, the teeth of adults are adapted to enable them to readily grasp prey. The crown, which has two cusps (bicuspid), is attached to a pedicel by collagenous fibers. The joint formed between the bicuspid and the pedicel is partially flexible, as it can bend inward, but not outward. When struggling prey is advanced into the salamander's mouth, the teeth tips relax and bend in the same direction, encouraging movement toward the throat, and resisting the prey's escape. Many salamanders have patches of teeth attached to the vomer and the palatine bones in the roof of the mouth, and these help to retain prey. All types of teeth are resorbed and replaced at intervals throughout the animal's life.


title: Salamander

text: A terrestrial salamander catches its prey by flicking out its sticky tongue in an action that takes less than half a second. In some species, the tongue is attached anteriorly to the floor of the mouth, while in others, it is mounted on a pedicel. It is rendered sticky by secretions of mucus from glands in its tip and on the roof of the mouth. High-speed cinematography shows how the tiger salamander ("Ambystoma tigrinum") positions itself with its snout close to its prey. Its mouth then gapes widely, the lower jaw remains stationary, and the tongue bulges and changes shape as it shoots forward. The protruded tongue has a central depression, and the rim of this collapses inward as the target is struck, trapping the prey in a mucus-laden trough. Here it is held while the animal's neck is flexed, the tongue retracted and jaws closed. Large or resistant prey is retained by the teeth while repeated protrusions and retractions of the tongue draw it in. Swallowing involves alternate contraction and relaxation of muscles in the throat, assisted by depression of the eyeballs into the roof of the mouth. Many lungless salamanders of the family Plethodontidae have more elaborate feeding methods. Muscles surrounding the hyoid bone contract to store elastic energy in springy connective tissue, and actually "shoot" the hyoid bone out of the mouth, thus elongating the tongue. Muscles that originate in the pelvic region and insert in the tongue are used to reel the tongue and the hyoid back to their original positions.


title: Salamander

text: An aquatic salamander lacks muscles in the tongue, and captures its prey in an entirely different manner. It grabs the food item, grasps it with its teeth, and adopts a kind of inertial feeding. This involves tossing its head about, drawing water sharply in and out of its mouth, and snapping its jaws, all of which tend to tear and macerate the prey, which is then swallowed.


title: Salamander

text: Though frequently feeding on slow-moving animals like snails, shrimps and worms, sirenids are unique among salamanders for having developed speciations towards herbivory, such as beak-like jaw ends and extensive intestines. They feed on algae and other soft-plants in the wild, and easily eat offered lettuce.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders have thin skins and soft bodies, and move rather slowly, and at first sight might appear to be vulnerable to opportunistic predation. However, they have several effective lines of defense. Mucus coating on damp skin makes them difficult to grasp, and the slimy coating may have an offensive taste or be toxic. When attacked by a predator, a salamander may position itself to make the main poison glands face the aggressor. Often, these are on the tail, which may be waggled or turned up and arched over the animal's back. The sacrifice of the tail may be a worthwhile strategy, if the salamander escapes with its life and the predator learns to avoid that species of salamander in the future.


title: Salamander

text: Skin secretions of the tiger salamander ("Ambystoma tigrinum") fed to rats have been shown to produce aversion to the flavor, and the rats avoided the presentational medium when it was offered to them again. The fire salamander ("Salamandra salamandra") has a ridge of large granular glands down its spine which are able to squirt a fine jet of toxic fluid at its attacker. By angling its body appropriately, it can accurately direct the spray for a distance of up to .


title: Salamander

text: The Iberian ribbed newt ("Pleurodeles waltl") has another method of deterring aggressors. Its skin exudes a poisonous, viscous fluid and at the same time, the newt rotates its sharply pointed ribs through an angle between 27 and 92°, and adopts an inflated posture. This action causes the ribs to puncture the body wall, each rib protruding through an orange wart arranged in a lateral row. This may provide an aposematic signal that makes the spines more visible. When the danger has passed, the ribs retract and the skin heals.


title: Salamander

text: Although many salamanders have cryptic colors so as to be unnoticeable, others signal their toxicity by their vivid coloring. Yellow, orange, and red are the colors generally used, often with black for greater contrast. Sometimes, the animal postures if attacked, revealing a flash of warning hue on its underside. The red eft, the brightly colored terrestrial juvenile form of the eastern newt ("Notophthalmus viridescens"), is highly poisonous. It is avoided by birds and snakes, and can survive for up to 30 minutes after being swallowed (later being regurgitated). The red salamander ("Pseudotriton ruber") is a palatable species with a similar coloring to the red eft. Predators that previously fed on it have been shown to avoid it after encountering red efts, an example of Batesian mimicry. Other species exhibit similar mimicry. In California, the palatable yellow-eyed salamander ("Ensatina eschscholtzii") closely resembles the toxic California newt ("Taricha torosa") and the rough-skinned newt ("Taricha granulosa"), whereas in other parts of its range, it is cryptically colored. A correlation exists between the toxicity of Californian salamander species and diurnal habits: relatively harmless species like the California slender salamander ("Batrachoseps attenuatus") are nocturnal and are eaten by snakes, while the California newt has many large poison glands in its skin, is diurnal, and is avoided by snakes.


title: Salamander

text: Some salamander species use tail autotomy to escape predators. The tail drops off and wriggles around for a while after an attack, and the salamander either runs away or stays still enough not to be noticed while the predator is distracted. The tail regrows with time, and salamanders routinely regenerate other complex tissues, including the lens or retina of the eye. Within only a few weeks of losing a piece of a limb, a salamander perfectly reforms the missing structure.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders split off from the other amphibians during the mid- to late Permian, and initially were similar to modern members of the Cryptobranchoidea. Their resemblance to lizards is the result of symplesiomorphy, their common retention of the primitive tetrapod body plan, but they are no more closely related to lizards than they are to mammals. Their nearest relatives are the frogs and toads, within Batrachia. The earliest known salamander fossils have been found in geological deposits in China and Kazakhstan, dated to the middle Jurassic period around 164 million years ago.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders are found only in the Holarctic and Neotropical regions, not reaching south of the Mediterranean Basin, the Himalayas, or in South America the Amazon Basin. They do not extend north of the Arctic tree line, with the northernmost Asian species, "Salamandrella keyserlingii" occurring in the Siberian larch forests of Sakha and the most northerly species in North America, "Ambystoma laterale", reaching no farther north than Labrador and "Taricha granulosa" not beyond the Alaska Panhandle. They had an exclusively Laurasian distribution until "Bolitoglossa" invaded South America from Central America, probably by the start of the Early Miocene, about 23 million years ago. They also lived on the Caribbean Islands during the early Miocene epoch, confirmed by the discovery of "Palaeoplethodon hispaniolae", found trapped in amber in the Dominican Republic. However, possible salamander fossils have been found in Australia at the Murgon fossil site, representing the only known salamanders known from the continent.


title: Salamander

text: There are about 760 living species of salamander. One-third of the known salamander species are found in North America. The highest concentration of these is found in the Appalachian Mountains region, where the Plethodontidae are thought to have originated in mountain streams. Here, vegetation zones and proximity to water are of greater importance than altitude. Only species that adopted a more terrestrial mode of life have been able to disperse to other localities. The northern slimy salamander ("Plethodon glutinosus") has a wide range and occupies a habitat similar to that of the southern gray-cheeked salamander ("Plethodon metcalfi"). The latter is restricted to the slightly cooler and wetter conditions in north-facing cove forests in the southern Appalachians, and to higher elevations above 900 m (3,000 ft), while the former is more adaptable, and would be perfectly able to inhabit these locations, but some unknown factor seems to prevent the two species from co-existing.


title: Salamander

text: One species, the Anderson's salamander, is one of the few species of living amphibians to occur in brackish or salt water.


title: Salamander

text: Many salamanders do not use vocalisations, and in most species the sexes look alike, so they use olfactory and tactile cues to identify potential mates, and sexual selection occurs. Pheromones play an important part in the process and may be produced by the abdominal gland in males and by the cloacal glands and skin in both sexes. Males are sometimes to be seen investigating potential mates with their snouts. In Old World newts, "Triturus" spp., the males are sexually dimorphic and display in front of the females. Visual cues are also thought to be important in some "Plethodont" species.


title: Salamander

text: In about 90% of all species, fertilisation is internal. The male typically deposits a spermatophore on the ground or in the water according to species, and the female picks this up with her vent. The spermatophore has a packet of sperm supported on a conical gelatinous base, and often an elaborate courtship behavior is involved in its deposition and collection. Once inside the cloaca, the spermatozoa move to the spermatheca, one or more chambers in the roof of the cloaca, where they are stored for sometimes lengthy periods until the eggs are laid. In the most primitive salamanders, such as the Asiatic salamanders and the giant salamanders, external fertilization occurs, instead. In these species, the male releases sperm onto the egg mass in a reproductive process similar to that of typical frogs.


title: Salamander

text: Three different types of egg deposition occur. "Ambystoma" and "Taricha" spp. spawn large numbers of small eggs in quiet ponds where many large predators are unlikely. Most dusky salamanders ("Desmognathus") and Pacific giant salamanders ("Dicamptodon") lay smaller batches of medium-sized eggs in a concealed site in flowing water, and these are usually guarded by an adult, normally the female. Many of the tropical climbing salamanders ("Bolitoglossa") and lungless salamanders (Plethodontinae) lay a small number of large eggs on land in a well-hidden spot, where they are also guarded by the mother. Some species such as the fire salamanders ("Salamandra") are ovoviviparous, with the female retaining the eggs inside her body until they hatch, either into larvae to be deposited in a water body, or into fully formed juveniles.


title: Salamander

text: In temperate regions, reproduction is usually seasonal and salamanders may migrate to breeding grounds. Males usually arrive first and in some instances set up territories. Typically, a larval stage follows in which the organism is fully aquatic. The tadpole has three pairs of external gills, no eyelids, a long body, a laterally flattened tail with dorsal and ventral fins and in some species limb-buds or limbs. Pond-type larvae may have a pair of rod-like balancers on either side of the head, long gill filaments and broad fins. Stream-type larvae are more slender with short gill filaments, narrower fins and no balancers, but instead have hind limbs already developed when they hatch. The tadpoles are carnivorous and the larval stage may last from days to years, depending on species. Sometimes this stage is completely bypassed, and the eggs of most lungless salamanders (Plethodontidae) develop directly into miniature versions of the adult without an intervening larval stage.


title: Salamander

text: By the end of the larval stage, the tadpoles already have limbs and metamorphosis takes place normally. In salamanders, this occurs over a short period of time and involves the closing of the gill slits and the loss of structures such as gills and tail fins that are not required as adults. At the same time, eyelids develop, the mouth becomes wider, a tongue appears, and teeth are formed. The aqueous larva emerges onto land as a terrestrial adult.


title: Salamander

text: Not all species of salamanders follow this path. Neoteny, also known as paedomorphosis, has been observed in all salamander families, and may be universally possible in all salamander species. In this state, an individual may retain gills or other juvenile features while attaining reproductive maturity. The changes that take place at metamorphosis are under the control of thyroid hormones and in obligate neotenes such as the axolotl ("Ambystoma mexicanum"), the tissues are seemingly unresponsive to the hormones. In other species, the changes may not be triggered because of underactivity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid mechanism which may occur when conditions in the terrestrial environment are too inhospitable. This may be due to cold or wildly fluctuating temperatures, aridity, lack of food, lack of cover, or insufficient iodine for the formation of thyroid hormones. Genetics may also play a part. The larvae of tiger salamanders ("Ambystoma tigrinum"), for example, develop limbs soon after hatching and in seasonal pools promptly undergo metamorphosis. Other larvae, especially in permanent pools and warmer climates, may not undergo metamorphosis until fully adult in size. Other populations in colder climates may not metamorphose at all, and become sexually mature while in their larval forms. Neoteny allows the species to survive even when the terrestrial environment is too harsh for the adults to thrive on land.


title: Salamander

text: A general decline in living amphibian species has been linked with the fungal disease chytridiomycosis. A higher proportion of salamander species than of frogs or caecilians are in one of the at-risk categories established by the IUCN. Salamanders showed a significant diminution in numbers in the last few decades of the 20th century, although no direct link between the fungus and the population decline has yet been found. The IUCN made further efforts in 2005 as they established the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP), which was subsequently followed by Amphibian Ark (AArk), Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG), and finally the umbrella organization known as the Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA). Researchers also cite deforestation, resulting in fragmentation of suitable habitats, and climate change as possible contributory factors. Species such as "Pseudoeurycea brunnata" and "Pseudoeurycea goebeli" that had been abundant in the cloud forests of Guatemala and Mexico during the 1970s were found by 2009 to be rare. However, few data have been gathered on population sizes over the years, and by intensive surveying of historic and suitable new locations, it has been possible to locate individuals of other species such as "Parvimolge townsendi", which had been thought to be extinct. Currently, the major lines of defense for the conservation of Salamanders includes both in situ and ex situ conservation methods. There are efforts in place for certain members of the Salamander family to be conserved under a conservation breeding program (CBP) but it is important to note that there should be research done ahead of time to determine if the Salamander species is actually going to value from the CBP, as researchers have noted that some species of amphibians completely fail in this environment.


title: Salamander

text: Various conservation initiatives are being attempted around the world. The Chinese giant salamander, at 1.8 m (6 ft) the largest amphibian in the world, is critically endangered, as it is collected for food and for use in traditional Chinese medicine. An environmental education programme is being undertaken to encourage sustainable management of wild populations in the Qinling Mountains and captive breeding programmes have been set up. The hellbender is another large, long-lived species with dwindling numbers and fewer juveniles reaching maturity than previously. Another alarming finding is the increase in abnormalities in up to 90% of the hellbender population in the Spring River watershed in Arkansas. Habitat loss, silting of streams, pollution and disease have all been implicated in the decline and a captive breeding programme at Saint Louis Zoo has been successfully established. Of the 20 species of minute salamanders ("Thorius" spp.) in Mexico, half are believed to have become extinct and most of the others are critically endangered. Specific reasons for the decline may include climate change, chytridiomycosis, or volcanic activity, but the main threat is habitat destruction as logging, agricultural activities, and human settlement reduce their often tiny, fragmented ranges. Survey work is being undertaken to assess the status of these salamanders, and to better understand the factors involved in their population declines, with a view to taking action.


title: Salamander

text: "Ambystoma mexicanum", an aquatic salamander, is a species protected under the Mexican UMA (Unit for Management and conservation of wildlife) as of April 1994. Another detrimental factor is that the axolotl lost their role as a top predator since the introduction of locally exotic species such as Nile tilapia and carp. Tilapia and carp directly compete with axolotls by consuming their eggs, larvae, and juveniles. Climate change has also immensely affected axolotls and their populations throughout the southern Mexico area. Due to its proximity to Mexico City, officials are currently working on programs at Lake Xochimilco to bring in tourism and educate the local population on the restoration of the natural habitat of these creatures. This proximity is a large factor that has impacted the survival of the axolotl, as the city has expanded to take over the Xochimilco region in order to make use of its resources for water and provision and sewage. However, the axolotl has the benefit of being raised in farms for the purpose of research facilities. So there is still a chance that they may be able to return to their natural habitat. The recent decline in population has substantially impacted genetic diversity among populations of axolotl, making it difficult to further progress scientifically. It is important to note that although there is a level of limited genetic diversity due to "Ambystoma" populations, such as the axolotl, being paedeomorphic species, it does not account for the overall lack of diversity. There is evidence that points towards a historical bottlenecking of "Ambystoma" that contributes to the variation issues. Unfortunately, there is no large genetic pool for the species to pull from unlike in historical times. Thus there is severe concern for inbreeding due to lack of gene flow. One way researchers are looking into maintaining genetic diversity within the population is via cryopreservation of the spermatophores from the male axolotl. It is a safe and non-invasive method that requires the collection of the spermatophores and places them into a deep freeze for preservation. Most importantly, they have found that there is only limited damage done to the spermatophores upon thawing and thus it is a viable option. As of 2013, it is a method that is being used to save not only the axolotl but also numerous other members of the salamander family.


title: Salamander

text: Research is being done on the environmental cues that have to be replicated before captive animals can be persuaded to breed. Common species such as the tiger salamander and the mudpuppy are being given hormones to stimulate the production of sperm and eggs, and the role of arginine vasotocin in courtship behaviour is being investigated. Another line of research is artificial insemination, either "in vitro" or by inserting spermatophores into the cloacae of females. The results of this research may be used in captive-breeding programmes for endangered species.


title: Salamander

text: Disagreement exists among different authorities as to the definition of the terms Caudata and Urodela. Some maintain that the Urodela should be restricted to the crown group, with the Caudata being used for the total group. Others restrict the name Caudata to the crown group and use Urodela for the total group. The former approach seems to be most widely adopted and is used in this article.


title: Salamander

text: The ten families belonging to Urodela are divided into three suborders. The clade Neocaudata is often used to separate the Cryptobranchoidea and Salamandroidea from the Sirenoidea.


title: Salamander

text: The origins and evolutionary relationships between the three main groups of amphibians (gymnophionans, urodeles and anurans) is a matter of debate. A 2005 molecular phylogeny, based on rDNA analysis, suggested that the first divergence between these three groups took place soon after they had branched from the lobe-finned fish in the Devonian (around 360 million years ago), and before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea. The briefness of this period, and the speed at which radiation took place, may help to account for the relative scarcity of amphibian fossils that appear to be closely related to lissamphibians. However, more recent studies have generally found more recent (Late Carboniferous to Permian) age for the basalmost divergence among lissamphibians.


title: Salamander

text: The earliest known salamander-line lissamphibian is "Triassurus" from the Middle-Late Triassic of Kyrgyzstan. Other fossil salamanders are known from the Middle-Late Jurassic of Eurasia, including "Kokartus honorarius" from the Middle Jurassic of Kyrgyzstan, two species of the apparently neotenic, aquatic "Marmorerpeton" from the Middle Jurassic of England and Scotland, and "Karaurus" from the Middle-Late Jurassic of Kazakhstan, resembled modern mole salamanders in morphology and probably had a similar burrowing lifestyle. They looked like robust modern salamanders but lacked a number of anatomical features that characterise all modern salamanders.


title: Salamander

text: The two groups of extant salamanders are the Cryptobranchoidea (which includes asiatic and giant salamanders) and the Salamandroidea (which includes all other living salamanders), also known as Diadectosalamandroidei. Both groups are known from the Middle-Late Jurassic of China. the former being exemplified by "Chunerpeton tianyiensis", "Pangerpeton sinensis", "Jeholotriton paradoxus", "Regalerpeton weichangensis", "Liaoxitriton daohugouensis" and "Iridotriton hechti", and the latter by "Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis". By the Upper Cretaceous, most or all of the living salamander families had probably appeared.


title: Salamander

text: The following cladogram shows the relationships between salamander families based on the molecular analysis of Pyron and Wiens (2011). The position of the Sirenidae is disputed, but the position as sister to the Salamandroidea best fits with the molecular and fossil evidence.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders possess gigantic genomes, spanning the range from 14 Gb to 120 Gb (the human genome is 3.2 Gb long). The genomes of "Pleurodeles waltl" (20 Gb) and "Ambystoma mexicanum" (32 Gb) have been sequenced.


title: Salamander

text: Legends have developed around the salamander over the centuries, many related to fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of many salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When the log was placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape, lending credence to the belief that salamanders were created from flames.


title: Salamander

text: The association of the salamander with fire appeared first in ancient Rome, with Pliny the Elder writing in his "Natural History" that "A salamander is so cold that it puts out fire on contact. It vomits from its mouth a milky liquid; if this liquid touches any part of the human body it causes all the hair to fall off, and the skin to change color and break out in a rash." The ability to put out fire is repeated by Saint Augustine in the fifth century and Isidore of Seville in the seventh century.


title: Salamander

text: The mythical ruler Prester John supposedly had a robe made from salamander hair; the "Emperor of India" possessed a suit made from a thousand skins; Pope Alexander III had a tunic which he valued highly and William Caxton (1481) wrote: "This Salemandre berithe wulle, of which is made cloth and gyrdles that may not brenne in the fyre." The salamander was said to be so toxic that by twining around a tree, it could poison the fruit and so kill any who ate them and by falling into a well, could kill all who drank from it.


title: Salamander

text: The Japanese giant salamander has been the subject of legend and artwork in Japan, in the "ukiyo-e" work by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The well-known Japanese mythological creature known as the "kappa" may be inspired by this salamander.


title: Salamander

text: Salamanders' limb regeneration has long been the focus of interest among scientists. The first extensive cell-level study was by Vincenzo Colucci in 1886. Researchers have been trying to find out the conditions required for the growth of new limbs and hope that such regeneration could be replicated in humans using stem cells. Axolotls have been used in research and have been genetically engineered so that a fluorescent protein is present in cells in the leg, enabling the cell division process to be tracked under the microscope. It seems that after the loss of a limb, cells draw together to form a clump known as a blastema. This superficially appears undifferentiated, but cells that originated in the skin later develop into new skin, muscle cells into new muscle and cartilage cells into new cartilage. It is only the cells from just beneath the surface of the skin that are pluripotent and able to develop into any type of cell. Researchers from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute have found that when macrophages were removed, salamanders lost their ability to regenerate and instead formed scar tissue. If the processes involved in forming new tissue can be reverse engineered into humans, it may be possible to heal injuries of the spinal cord or brain, repair damaged organs and reduce scarring and fibrosis after surgery.


title: Salamander

text: A 1995 article in the Slovenian weekly magazine "Mladina" publicized salamander brandy, a liquor supposedly indigenous to Slovenia. It was said to combine hallucinogenic with aphrodisiac effects and is made by putting several live salamanders in a barrel of fermenting fruit. Stimulated by the alcohol, they secrete toxic mucus in defense and eventually die. Besides causing hallucinations, the neurotoxins present in the brew were said to cause extreme sexual arousal.


title: Salamander

text: Later research by Slovenian anthropologist Miha Kozorog (University of Ljubljana) paints a very different picture—Salamander in brandy appears to have been traditionally seen as an adulterant, one which caused ill health. It was also used as a term of slander.


title: Terrell Owens

text: Terrell Eldorado Owens (; born December 7, 1973), nicknamed T.O., is an American football wide receiver for the Knights of Degen of Fan Controlled Football (FCF). He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. Regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, Owens ranks third in NFL history in career receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.


title: Terrell Owens

text: After playing college football and basketball at Chattanooga, Owens was selected in the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Owens was a member of the team for seven seasons until he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004. Two years later, he signed with the Dallas Cowboys, where he spent three seasons. Owens' NFL career subsequently concluded after one season each with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. He also played for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2012 and returned to professional football in 2022 with Fan Controlled Football (FCF).


title: Terrell Owens

text: A six-time Pro Bowl and five-time first-team All-Pro selection, Owens also created a significant amount of controversy during his professional career and attracted attention for his flamboyant touchdown celebrations. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, in his third year of eligibility.