With their small size they weigh between 0.8 to 1 pound in adulthood. Usually once a male has reached maturity, they become territorial and do not tolerate other males. This is why their social life is described as solitary, although they are known to be able to live among females of their species. In captivity the lifespan of the pygmy slow loris may be 20 years.
They produce offspring every 12 to 18 months. The females have gestational periods of about 188 days and have small litters of one or two babies. This species do not share parenting. The offspring stay with their mothers until they reach maturity.
When the loris feels threatened it has a defense mechanism. It gives off a bad odor. If a predator is not scared away by the smell they produce some kind of toxic secretion from their elbows. If they bite the predator, the poison is passed on.
Despite conservation efforts, they are captured and sold for pets in markets in Vietnam. They have a very cuddly appearance but in no way are suitable to be pets.
Punta La Marmora
Punta La Marmora () is a mountain in the Gennargentu range, Sardinia (Italy).
The mountain is named after Alberto della Marmora, an Italian geographer and naturalist who described the island in two works: "Voyage en Sardaigne" (1826) and "Itinéraire de l'île de Sardaigne" (1860).
The name of the mountain, in the Sardinian language, was "Perdas Carpìas", which means "split stones" because of its rocks of schist which tend to break into pieces.
The Punta La Marmorea is in the communes of Desulo and Arzana (province of Nuoro), in the "Barbagia" mountain area of inner Sardinia. With its summit at an elevation of , it is the highest peak on the Sardinia island.
Near Punta La Marmorea, there are other high mountains as "Bruncu Spina" that, with an elevation of , is the second highest point of Sardinia. They are part of the Gennargentu National Park.
The mountain is formed by metamorphic rocks, mainly shales, from Paleozoic era.
Punta La Marmora is just east of the approximate centre of Sardinia. On a clear day, it is possible to view from the top over a large part of Sardinia and the mountains of southern Corsica.
Snowfalls are frequent in winter, usually with an average depth over of snow. Snowfalls are stronger in January and February.
The wind on the summit can reach up to .
The summit is reached by hiking. The easiest route is from the "Bruncu Spina" mountain where there are ski lifts to get to the top; from there, it is easy to get to the five highest summits of Sardinia, including Punta La Marmora.
Joanne (album)
Joanne is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga. It was released on October 21, 2016. It was named for Gaga's aunt, her father's sister, who died before Gaga was born. Joanne is also Gaga's middle name.
The album was produced by Gaga, Mark Ronson, Kevin Parker, and BloodPop, among other producers. Gaga collaborated with RedOne on the song "Angel Down", which was written about Trayvon Martin, who was killed in 2012. RedOne also helped produce Gaga's previous blockbuster hits, such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", and "Bad Romance". Country songwriter Hillary Lindsey also worked with Gaga on "Joanne" on songs like "Million Reasons". Singer-songwriter Beck worked with Gaga on the dance song "Dancin' in Circles".
Two singles were released for the album: "Perfect Illusion" and "Million Reasons". The first single reached the top 20 in several countries, like the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK. "Million Reasons" first peaked at number 52 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. However, after her Super Bowl halftime performance on February 5, 2017, the song entered the "Billboard" Hot 100 again at number four. This is Gaga's 14th top-ten song and her 10th song to reach the top five on the chart.
Gaga went on a Dive Bar Tour at three different dive bars in the United States to promote "Joanne".
Critics have said that "Joanne" is different from Gaga's previous releases, such as "The Fame", "The Fame Monster", "Born This Way", and "Artpop". The album sold 201,000 copies in its first week in the United States. The album entered the "Billboard" 200 albums chart at number one. It became Gaga's fourth number-one album in the U.S. After the album was released, Gaga became the female artist with the most number-one albums of the 2010s decade. "Joanne" ranked at number 108 on the "Billboard" 200 year-end chart of 2016 in the US.
In August 2017, Gaga began the Joanne World Tour, which was set to run through December. However, in September 2017, Gaga canceled her performance at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, with Maroon 5 taking her place. The European leg of her tour was postponed to early 2018 due to severe chronic pain. She is set to continue the remainder of the North American dates.
On October 22, 2017, Gaga announced that the album had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for over one million certified units in the United States.
The standard version of the album has 11 songs, while the deluxe version has 14.
Milky Way–Andromeda collision
The collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda will happen about four billion years in the future.
The Andromeda galaxy is approaching the Milky Way at about as shown by its blueshift. Until 2012, it was not known whether the possible collision was definitely going to happen or not, because its proper motion was too small to measure.
In 2012, researchers concluded that the collision is sure to happen. They used the Hubble Space Telescope to track the motion of stars in Andromeda between 2002 and 2010 with great accuracy. Andromeda's tangential or sideways velocity with respect to the Milky Way was much smaller than the speed of approach. Therefore, it is expected that it will collide with the Milky Way in around 4 billion years.
Such collisions are relatively common. Andromeda, for example, has collided with at least one other galaxy in the past. Several dwarf galaxies such as SagDEG are already colliding with the Milky Way and being merged into it. The Antennae galaxies are an example of two roughly equal spiral galaxies colliding.
Slow loris
Slow lorises are the genus Nycticebus, nocturnal species of strepsirrhine primates. They live in southeast Asia and nearby areas.
There are about eight species: the Sunda slow loris ("N. coucang"), Bengal slow loris ("N. bengalensis"), pygmy slow loris ("N. pygmaeus"), Javan slow loris ("N. javanicus"), Philippine slow loris ("N. menagensis"), Bangka slow loris ("N. bancanus"), Bornean slow loris ("N. borneanus"), and Kayan River slow loris ("N. kayan").
The group's closest relatives are the slender lorises of southern India and Sri Lanka. Their next closest relatives are the African lorisids, the pottos, false pottos, and angwantibos. They are less closely related to the remaining lorisoids (the various types of galago), and more distantly to the lemurs of Madagascar. Their evolutionary history is uncertain: their fossil record is patchy and molecular clock studies have given various results.
Slow lorises eat insects, small birds and reptiles, eggs, fruits, gums, nectar and some vegetation. A 1984 study of the Sunda slow loris found its diet was 71% fruit and gums, and 29% insects and other animal prey. A more detailed study of another Sunda slow loris population in 2002 and 2003 showed different dietary proportions: 43.3% gum, 31.7% nectar, 22.5% fruit, and just 2.5% arthropods and other animal prey.
Scrapie
Scrapie is a fatal disease that affects the nervous system of sheep and goats. It is similar to Mad cow disease which affects cattle. Scrapie was first described in 1732. Much like with mad cow disease, prions seem to be involved in transmitting it.
Stone slab
A stone slab is a big stone, flat and of little thickness, that are generally used for paving floors, for covering walls or as headstones.
Other definitions refine the meaning a bit more: