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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| Vombatiformes Temporal range:
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| Phascolarctos cinereus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Suborder: | Vombatiformes Burnett, 1830 |
| Families | |
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The Vombatiformes are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Seven of the nine known families within this suborder are extinct; only the families Phascolarctidae, with the koala, and Vombatidae, with three extant species of wombat, survive.
Among the extinct families are the Diprotodontidae, which includes the largest marsupials ever, including the rhinoceros sized Diprotodon, as well as the "marsupial lions" Thylacoleonidae and "marsupial tapirs" Palorchestidae.
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Suborder Vombatiformes
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Vombatiformes are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. Seven of the nine known families within this suborder are extinct; only the families Phascolarctidae, with the koala, and Vombatidae, with three extant species of wombat, survive. Among the extinct families are the Diprotodontidae, which includes the largest marsupials ever, including the rhinoceros sized Diprotodon, as well as the "marsupial lions" Thylacoleonidae and "marsupial tapirs" Palorchestidae.
Diprotodontia is an order of Australian marsupial mammals. Members of this order are called diprotodonts. Diprotodontia is the largest order of marsupials and currently comprises 139 extant species, which are grouped into 39 genera. They are found in Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia, in forests, shrublands, grasslands, and savannas, though some species are found in deserts and rocky areas. They come in a wide array of sizes, ranging from the Tasmanian pygmy possum, at 5 cm (2 in) plus a 6 cm (2 in) tail, to the red kangaroo, at 160 cm (63 in) plus a 120 cm (47 in) tail. Diprotodontia is subdivided into three suborders: Macropodiformes, Phalangeriformes, and Vombatiformes. Macropodiformes has 71 species in 3 families: Hypsiprymnodontidae, Macropodidae, and Potoroidae, and includes kangaroos, wallabies, bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. Phalangeriformes has 64 species in 6 families: Acrobatidae, Petauridae, Pseudocheiridae, Tarsipedidae, Burramyidae, and Phalangeridae, and includes cuscus and the brushtail, ringtail, and gliding possums. Vombatiformes has only four species in two families: Phascolarctidae, the koala, and Vombatidae, the wombats. The classification of species in the order is not fixed, with many recent proposals for changes made based on molecular phylogenetic analysis. Additionally, the present set of suborders was created beginning in 1997 by splitting the former suborder Phalangerida into Macropodiformes and Phalangeriformes, and further reorganizations have been proposed. In addition to the extant species, nine species in the suborder Macropodiformes—four in the family Macropodidae and four in Potoroidae—have been made extinct in the modern era, eight between the 1880s and the 1940s after the colonization of Australia began: the broad-faced potoroo, crescent nail-tail wallaby, desert bettong, desert rat-kangaroo, eastern hare-wallaby, Lake Mackay hare-wallaby, Nullarbor dwarf bettong, and toolache wallaby, and one in 2026, the woylie. Dozens of extinct, prehistoric Diprotodont species have also been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed.
Ruben Arthur Stirton (1901-1966), known to his friends as "Stirt", was an American paleontologist, specializing in mammals, who was active in South America, the United States and Australia. Stirton was closely associated with the University of California Museum of Paleontology, receiving an appointment as curator in 1930 and as its fourth director from 1949 to 1966. His career also saw engaged as a lecturer, associate professorship and then as a professor in 1951, from which time he was director of the University's Department of Paleontology. Stirton was born in Kansas on 20 August 1901, and graduated from the state's university in the field of zoology. He served as the mammalogist on expeditions led by Donald R. Dickey to El Salvador in the 1920s. His expeditions included a return to El Salvador in the 1940s, as well as another collecting fossils in Colombia. In 1953, he directed his studies to the marsupials of Australia, with the intent of discovering primitive species of marsupials. His publications mainly dealt with fossilized mammals from the Great Plains, particularly beavers and horses. Other contributions he made included careful and systematic descriptions of fossil specimens including an accurate determination of their geological origin, the use of animal groups to perform stratigraphic correlation, and various studies on evolutionary changes in several families of mammals. Stirton was the leading author of papers that described new taxa, including the Vombatiformes genera Rhizophascolonus and Litokoala, which were published posthumously in 1967. He died on June 14, 1966, of a heart attack, while attending a meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists in southern California. Stirton's students recall him as a popular lively lecturer, noting his rendition of the call of the Australian dingo as an example of his enthusiasm. In 1979, fellow paleontologist Patricia Vickers-Rich named the prehistoric species Dromornis stirtoni (colloquially known as Stirton's thunderbird) after this researcher, which is possibly the largest bird ever.
Kangaroos are marsupials from the subfamily Macropodinae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimated that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013. As with the terms "wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three terms refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod which inhabit the upper branches of trees in the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland, and some of the islands in the region. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be: wallabies: head and body length of 45–105 cm (18–41 in) and tail length of 33–75 cm (13–30 in); the dwarf wallaby (the smallest of all known macropod species) is 46 cm (18 in) long and weighs 1.6 kg (3.5 lb); wallaroos: the black wallaroo (the smaller of the two species) with a tail length of 60–70 cm (24–28 in) and weight of 19–22 kg (42–49 lb) for males and 13 kg (29 lb) for females; kangaroos: a large male can be 2 metres (6 feet 7 inches) tall and weigh 90 kg (200 lb). tree-kangaroos: ranging from Lumholtz's tree-kangaroo: body and head length of 48–65 cm (19–26 in), tail of 60–74 cm (24–29 in), weight of 7.2 kg (16 lb) for males and 5.9 kg (13 lb) for females; to the grizzled tree-kangaroo: length of 75–90 cm (29.5–35.5 in) and weight of 8–15 kg (18–33 lb); Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like most marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development. Because of its grazing habits, the kangaroo has developed specialized teeth that are rare among mammals. Its incisors are able to crop grass close to the ground and its molars chop and grind the grass. Since the two sides of the lower jaw are not joined or fused together, the lower incisors are farther apart, giving the kangaroo a wider bite. The silica in grass is abrasive, so kangaroo molars are ground down and they actually move forward in the mouth before they eventually fall out, and are replaced by new teeth that grow in the back. This process is known as polyphyodonty and, amongst other mammals, only occurs in elephants and manatees. The large kangaroos have adapted much better than the smaller macropods to land clearing for pastoral agriculture and habitat changes brought to the Australian landscape by humans. Many of the smaller species are rare and endangered, while kangaroos are relatively plentiful, despite a common misconception to the contrary. The kangaroo, along with the koala, are symbols of Australia. A kangaroo appears on the Australian coat of arms and on some of its currency, and is used as a logo for some of Australia's most well-known organisations, such as Qantas, and as the roundel of the Royal Australian Air Force. The kangaroo is important to both Australian culture and the national image, and consequently there are numerous popular culture references. Wild kangaroos are shot for meat, leather hides, and to protect grazing land. Kangaroo meat has perceived health benefits for human consumption compared with traditional meats due to the low level of fat on kangaroos.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.