So, the question is: should we make Bill Gates a hero for declaring an end to the lie of warming/change? Or should we accept

The new digital map increases the Roman road network by nearly 100%.

Statistically, it is unlikely that an insurgency can defeat a conventional military without major outside support or a sanctuary. Despite this, insurgencies have proven to be successful in many cases and can capture the worlds attention. Read on to learn more about some of the most successful insurgencies in military history.1. Haitian RevolutionPainting of the Haitian attack against French settlements, 1819. Source: National Museum of African American History & CultureAfter its conquest by Spain in the 1500s, the island of Hispaniola became a colony of multiple European powers for around 300 years. France and Spain imported thousands of Africans to work in gold mines and sugar farms as slaves. By 1789, France controlled half of the island, which they named Saint-Domingue. The colony had a population of 560,000, most of whom were slaves. The horrific living conditions they endured made a revolt inevitable.The revolutionary French government in 1793 banned slavery and granted citizenship to mixed-race Haitians. Toussaint Louverture, a wealthy mixed-race landowner, took control over much of the colony and agreed to keep it under French rule with limited autonomy. However, First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte reinstituted slavery and launched a military expedition to oust Toussaint in 1802. Over 20,000 French troops arrived and began fighting Toussaints militias. They captured him and he subsequently died in French captivity in April 1803.The Haitians continued to fight under the leadership of men such as Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who staged a hit-and-run campaign against French forces. French forces suffered staggering casualties from Haitian ambushes and yellow fever. They could beat the Haitians in pitched battles, but they struggled to track them down in the jungles. By 1804, French troops were bottled up by Haitian rebels and the British Navy in the last colonial outpost at Gonaves. When they surrendered, Haiti gained its independence at the cost of over 200,000 people.2. Spanish Guerrilla War Against NapoleonFrench troops executing Spanish rebels during the Madrid Uprising against the French occupation. Painting by Francisco de Goya, 1814. Source: Museo del PradoIn 1807, Emperor Napoleon dispatched an army to invade Portugal through Spain. The French military presence in Spain was unpopular among many Spaniards, and in May 1808, residents of Madrid staged a revolt against French forces. The brutal suppression of this revolt led to the rise of a widespread insurgency throughout Spain. French forces struggled to handle the rise of ambushes and raids on their outposts and they lashed out at the civilian population.In July 1808, Napoleon imprisoned King Charles IV of Spain and his son Ferdinand VII and installed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. The regular army struggled to resist French occupation, and many Spanish peasants and soldiers took to the countryside to fight as insurgents without a higher military command structure. They called themselves guerrilleros, coining the term guerrilla warfare.The insurgents and Spanish regulars who refused to serve King Joseph received assistance from the British, who hoped to push the French army out of the Iberian peninsula entirely. As the French occupation grew more brutal, more Spaniards joined the revolt, threatening French supply lines.By 1812, it was estimated that close to 40,000 guerrilleros were fighting the French. Their attacks grew more bold and Spanish regulars fought under the Duke of Wellingtons command. By 1814, British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces pushed the French out of the peninsula and invaded France. While the guerrilleros did not win the war single-handedly, their actions proved vital in destabilizing French rule in Spain.3. Great Arab Revolt of WWIColonel T.E. Lawrence, a British officer who helped lead the Hashemite Revolt, pictured here after WWI ended, 1919. Source: National Army Museum, LondonBefore the First World War began, Arab tribes in the Mashriq began advocating for more freedom from the Ottoman Empire. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, Arab nationalists began demanding more sovereignty and equality to Turks. They lacked the force to be able to get what they wanted, but many hoped that the British and French would help them realize their ambitions once the war broke out.Starting in 1914, British officials in Egypt began surreptitiously communicating with the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, and his son Abdullah. Hussein originally sided with the Ottomans but decided to support the Entente, believing that it would create an Arab empire in the Hejaz.Hussein ordered members of his family to lead Arab warriors in raids against Turkish outposts throughout the Arabian peninsula. The raiders struggled due to a lack of munitions and the unwillingness of many Arab soldiers within the Ottoman ranks to desert. However, by 1916, several important population centers, such as Taif and Mecca, were free of Ottoman control. Later that year, Hussein was joined by British Captain T.E. Lawrence.Lawrence was sent along with other Anglo-French officers by his commanders to liaise with the Arab rebels. He managed to convince the different Arab leaders to work together and coordinate their actions with the Entente. Instead of marching on Medina, Lawrence and Hussein took their forces north along the Hejaz railway towards Aqaba. By 1918, they pushed into Syria and helped destroy the remaining Ottoman forces. While the aftermath of the war saw more conflict and turmoil, the Great Arab Revolt was one of the most successful insurgencies of WWI.4. Yugoslav Partisans of WWIIYugoslav partisans from Titos army with an American-supplied M3 Stuart tank, 1945. Source: The Online Tank MuseumThe brutal Axis occupations of East Asia, North Africa, and Europe during World War II encouraged mass resistance among occupied populations. When Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, and Hungary carved up the Balkans and sought to break up Yugoslavia, they created a massive resistance movement that undermined Axis control. The Yugoslav Partisan Army, led by Josip Broz Tito, became one of the most successful insurgent movements of the Second World War.Following their seizure of Yugoslavia, several Axis nations broke up Yugoslavia while creating puppet governments in Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, and elsewhere in the region. The brutality of the Axis occupiers not only reopened sectarian divisions; it also led to large numbers of Yugoslavs to resist. Tito, the leader of the Yugoslav Communist Party, began organizing people into a coalition of resistance groups. They fought against Serbian and Croatian collaborator militias as well as the Serbian Royalist Chetniks, who also despised the Axis occupiers.Throughout the war, Titos Partisans fought the Axis armies and the Chetniks in a series of brutal clashes. They withstood repeated offensives and grew to over 650,000 men and women by 1945. Allied support proved crucial in ensuring they could dominate rival factions struggle. By the time the Soviets invaded Yugoslavia, the Partisans became Yugoslavias regular military and enabled Tito to become the head of state after the war. Unlike many other partisan movements in WWII, Titos army had access to heavy weapons from the Western Allies, meaning that they could launch major offensives against Axis forces and the Chetniks.5. Triumph of the Viet MinhVietnamese communist troops raising their flag over the French command bunker at Dien Bien Phu, 1954. Source: Southeast Asia GlobeTitos accomplishments in defeating the Axis in Yugoslavia during WWII were mirrored in the French colony of Indochina by Ho Chi Minh and his fellow communists of the League for Independence of Vietnam. Ho was a longtime Communist who failed to achieve Vietnamese statehood at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Afterwards, he began forming an underground movement aimed at overthrowing French colonial rule and creating a communist republic. His plans were put on hold by Japans conquest of Indochina.During the Second World War, Ho and his comrades organized a militia in the jungles in northern Vietnam to fight the French and Japanese forces. He had support from the US, which wanted the Japanese out of southern Asia entirely. When the war ended, the Viet Minh began fighting the returning French authorities. Lacking heavy weapons, they launched a jungle-based insurgency. Ho aimed to sap Frances strength until his army, known as the Viet Minh, could overwhelm the French forces. By 1950, this plan was working as the Peoples Republic of China and the USSR began providing substantial aid to the Viet Minh.Hos military commander, Vo Nguyen Giap, began launching major offensives against French forces. His most successful operation was besieging the French Army garrison in the Dien Bien Phu valley. In four months, the Viet Minh destroyed a French force of 15,000 men and strengthened their hand at the negotiating table in Geneva. By 1954, French forces vacated Vietnam, leaving behind two Vietnamese states, including Hos communist republic in North Vietnam. North Vietnamese forces would eventually defeat South Vietnam and reunite in 1975 after ill-fated American military intervention in the Vietnam War.6. Afghan Mujahideen Against the SovietsSoviet sniper outpost in Afghanistan, 1988. Source: AP PhotoIn December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support the faltering communist government and suppress the Mujahideen insurgency. This marked the USSRs only military intervention outside Europe and coincided with the decline of communism in the Eastern Bloc. Approximately 100,000 Soviet troops occupied major Afghan cities, leading to intense and prolonged conflict with Mujahideen fighters.The war, lasting nearly a decade, resulted in the deaths of around one million people and left Afghanistan in ruins. Despite overwhelming firepower, the Soviets failed to crush the different Mujahideen bands, who operated with outside support and had sanctuaries in Pakistan or Iran. By using the terrain and taking advantage of the weakness of the Soviet Armys weaker Afghan partner force, the Mujahideen was able to inflict heavy losses on the communist forces.The Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 precipitated a power vacuum, leading to civil unrest and the eventual rise of the Taliban in 1996. This conflict significantly strained the Soviet economy and military, contributing to the USSRs collapse in 1991.The invasion had profound long-term effects, destabilizing the region and fostering conditions that led to the rise of extremist groups. Unlike the postwar insurgencies such as the Baltic Forest Brothers in Eastern Europe against Soviet forces, the Mujahideen benefited from several advantages that made them almost impossible to defeat. When the Taliban used the same tactics against the NATO coalition later on, they managed to take back power from the Western-backed government in Kabul in 2021.

Today maps are considered primarily a tool for navigation, but medieval maps were so much more. They reflected how Europeans understood the world before the Age of Exploration. Blending myth, religion, and limited geography, they showed how medieval explorations took place, as well as combining elements of reality and fantasy.Why Medieval Maps Were MadeMappa Mundi measures an impressive 2.4m x 2.4m. Source: BBCWorld-views during the Middle Ages were markedly different from today. The prevailing maps of Europe in that time period were less about plotting course and getting somewhere, and more about representing the cosmos and Christendom. Some maps of the Holy Land were used both as a visual representation, and to give a path or instructions on how to take a pilgrimages. These maps were also used as a way of teaching and expressing ideology rather than simple navigation. How Religion and Myth Shaped Medieval CartographyT and O map, from the first printed version of Isidores Etymologaiae, identifies the three known continentsExamples of maps where religion is the centerpiece include the T and O maps. They show a symbolic representation of Gods created order, and Christendoms place within, it while expressing the ocean and known lands in vague sections rather than defined land masses. The T is a symbol of the cross, and Jerusalem is the center and most important part of the world.One other key difference in how maps were made then compared to now is orientation. Our convention of north is at the top was not universally adapted. Instead, different places used a different focal point at the top of the map, and those that used the same one could differ in orientation based on where they were located.Latin Christian maps placed east at the top, because east was pointed towards the rising sun. Other religions would point towards the city of Jerusalem as the top of the map. Even other countries outside of Europe used different orientation.In China, the Tang and Song dynasties saw advancement in map making. Cartographers like Jia Dan used grid-based maps that we are now familiar with scales to include rivers and boundaries. The top areas of Chinese maps were most often South, due to facing the emperors southern throne. The throne would be placed at the top, rather than religious orientations. Another key part of religious imagery on maps, such as on the Ebstorf Map, was to include Christs head at the top, with the hands on either side.Geographic Knowledge Among Medieval EuropeansScan of an illustration on Medieval medicine, ca. 1542. Source: Wikimedia Commons.Geography wasnt unknown during the Middle Ages, especially amongst scholars and higher ranks who had tutors, although it was far more limited than today. Few people who traveled were able to go far enough to see distant lands. Most of the knowledge of places were second-hand reports of travel narratives, books, and merchants who traveled during trade. They understood, for example, the vast size of Asia, but they did not understand the specific area, coastline, or geography.So, while Europeans in the Middle Ages understood the overall frame of geography, and some far off countries, larger seas and oceans, and trade routes to countries, like the Silk Road, the details were more vague. Maps that were studied blended fact with tradition and theology; enough to give a general worldview, but not enough to actually travel with.How Medieval Maps Influenced Early ExplorersSaint Beatus of Liebanas map, c. 8th c. ADE. Source: HistoryHitContemporary historian Richard Pflederer talks about the importance of being able to navigate the seas in order to be successful in trade and growth. While early maps werent always accurate, they gave an idea of what could be. The infusion of medieval spatial ideas with voyages meant explorers were mapping the expectations and adjusting later for actuality. These journeys to coastlines of other countries and interests in discovering new waterways used charts and maps that gave an impression of the world and land they were headed to.It was a unique mix of fact and fiction that eventually grew into a backbone of European exploration when combined with tools sailors already used to navigate on the seas. This included the portolan chart; a nautical chart developed in the Mediterranean.Myths Surrounding Medieval Maps1570 Theatrum Obris Terrarum Map Monsters. Source: Library of CongressMany modern audiences today envisage medieval maps that are decorated, covered in dragons, sea serpents, and warnings of the worlds edge, and that the people in that time actually believed the world was flat and that dangerous creatures roamed the ocean ready to swallow boats. So, what was the truth, and what was on the maps?Most mappae mundi did include highly decorated images on the edges, and sometimes icons that were seamlessly decorated into the map itself. However, the image generated from popular culture is a myth that comes from a romanticized notion of maps, rather than reality.One of the most well-known myths of maps is about dragons. While many times strange being adorned the edges, they were not meant literally, but a representation of morality and spiritual boundaries. These creatures included blemmyae without heads and sciopods without feet. Dragons, however, dont show up on maps that were created in the Middle Ages.Another myth was the idea that people thought the world was flat. Most scholars believed that the world was a sphere. Since these were not used for actual travel, there was no need to create accurate proportions.What Maps Reveal About the Medieval MindsetUniversalis cosmographia by Martin Waldseemuller, 1507. Source: Library of CongressAbout 1,100 maps survive today that are dated between the eighth and fifteenth centuries, during the Middle Ages. It is from these maps that we are able to understand the map makes and those who would study them.We know the importance of religion based on how European countries oriented their maps, not by directional north, but by religious locations. While they did not use these maps for the entire purpose of travel, they still played an important role in their society. For the viewers of that era, the map allowed them to see their place in Gods story. To track the changes of these ancient charts, those that came before, and how they evolved through the Renaissance to modern maps show what societies held important to their culture.

Numerous revolutions and uprisings in the name of nationalist causes marked the 19th century. The forces of nationalism and revolution shaped George Fishers world. In the early 19th century, he participated in multiple rebellions on two continents. However, Fisher was not exactly a professional revolutionary. Rather, he was caught up in significant social and political changes in Serbia, the United States, and Mexico. Fishers far-flung travels and role in the turmoil in Mexico and Texas in the 1830s attracted international notoriety. Some publications referred to Fisher as an Adventurous Serb.George Fishers WorldBattle of Miar, by Afanasij Scheloumoff, before 1939. Source: Wikimedia CommonsGeorge Fisher was not even his actual name. He was born ore agi in April 1795 to Serbian parents in present-day Hungary. His nickname, ore Ribar, is believed by some to be the origin of his anglicized name George Fisher. In Mexico, he would be known as Jorge Fisher.At the time of Fishers birth, most Serbs lived under Ottoman rule. However, Fishers parents were part of the Serbian Orthodox Christian minority in the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.Young ore was sent to the Serbian Orthodox Church seminary at Sremski Karlovci. According to journalist and historian Misha Glenny, Sremski Karlovci was the center of Serbian cultural life in the Habsburg Empire (1999, 50). However, he was not destined to become a priest, as a Serbian revolt against the Ottoman Empire put this region of the Habsburg Empire on high alert.Instead of continuing his training for the priesthood, ore agi traveled across the Habsburg/Ottoman border to join the Serbian rebellion.The Serbian UprisingDjordje (George) Petrovic, called Karageorge (Black George), by Uro Kneevi, 1852. Source: Wikimedia Commonsore agi volunteered to join the Serbian rebels in 1813. He joined a unit called the Slavonian Legion.However, Serbs had been fighting the Ottomans since 1804. Misha Glenny explains that the rebellious Serbs in 1804 fought to remove corrupt local Ottoman officials, rather than for national independence. However, by 1813, the conflict evolved into a movement to drive out Serbias Ottoman rulers (1999, 8-9).Unfortunately for agi and the Serbian rebels, the Ottomans launched a massive offensive in 1813 to crush the rebellion. As a result, historian Andr Gerolymatos noted that Serbian leader Karageorge (George Petrovic) fled to Habsburg territory (2002, 154). agi did not follow the Serbian rebel leadership into exile in his Habsburg homeland. Instead, he made his way across Europe, eventually arriving in Amsterdam.A second Serbian revolt broke out in 1815. However, at this point, ore agi left to begin a new life in North America by boarding a ship in Amsterdam bound for Philadelphia.Arrival in North America: The Road to TexasPortrait of George Fisher, by an unknown author, ca. 1830s or 1840s. Source: Wikimedia Commonsore agi or Ribar became George Fisher upon his arrival in Philadelphia in 1815. His emigration to the United States appears to be a turbulent story. agi and several others were detained upon arrival as redemptionists. This meant that since they could not afford to pay for their passage, agi and the others would have to work until they could pay the ships captain.However, agi managed to lead the groups escape from the captain. According to Claudia Hazelwood, people believed the escapees were fishermen, and thus ore agi became George Fisher (1952).Fishers movements are hazy for the next few years. However, we know that he made his way from Philadelphia to Mississippi by 1819. He became a US citizen there at some point in the early 1820s. Fisher also married Elizabeth Davis. The couple had three sons before divorcing in 1839. Fisher remarried on three other occasions.In 1825, Fisher traveled to Mexico City with a business partner from New Orleans. This initiated a long-standing relationship with Mexico and the northern province of Texas, in particular.Loyalty, Dissent & the Road to the Texas RevolutionPortrait of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, by Carlos Paris, 19th century. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Museo Nacional de Historia, Mexico CityLike many in the American South, Fisher saw the potential for Texas to be a profitable destination for land-hungry American settlers in their westward expansion.According to historian Claudia Hazlewood, Fisher unsuccessfully sought to become an empresario (land agent) like Stephen F. Austin in 1827 (1952). As a result, Fisher decided to become a Mexican citizen in 1829 and secured a contract to settle five hundred families on land in Texas.By 1830, Fisher was living in Galveston, where he served as the ports administrator.Mexico in the 1830s was embroiled in domestic political turmoil as military leaders and politicians vied for power. Fisher lost his position because he was labeled a supporter of an opposition leader in Mexico.However, by late 1831, General Manuel de Mier y Tern appointed Fisher as customs collector at Anahuac on Galveston Bay.While in Anahuac, Fisher played a role in one of the series of events that sparked the Texas Revolution. American settlers (Texians) and local Tejanos (Mexican Texans) alike opposed Mexican taxation policies enforced by Fisher at Anahuac. Angry American settlers threatened violence against Mexican officials and troops stationed in Anahuac.Fisher fled Texan anger to Matamoros, Mexico, where he began publishing a newspaper, Mercurio del Puerto de Matamoros. He soon became involved in a failed insurrection against the dictatorship of Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna.In the future, the former Mexican bureaucrat Fisher and Texan rebels would have a mutual enemy in Santa Anna.The Origins of the Texas RevolutionThe Fall of the Alamo or Crocketts Last Stand, by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, 1903. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Texas Governors Mansion, AustinFishers newspaper angered Mexican officials in Mexico City. However, Santa Annas regime soon faced a major challenge in Texas.Increasing numbers of American settlers, especially from the slaveholding southern states, put pressure on Mexican officials in Texas. Historian H.W. Brands explains that slavery was officially abolished in Mexico in 1829 (2004, 149). Mexican officials in places like Anahuac wrestled with the question of whether to enforce the ban on slavery or permit Americans to settle with slaves in Texas.Mexican officials, such as George Fisher and Juan Bradburn (born John Bradburn in Virginia), clashed with American settlers in Anahuac over more than just unpopular taxation policies. Like debates that would rage in the United States until the Civil War in the 1860s, Mexican officials and slaveholding, newly arrived American settlers fought over whether slavery should be permitted in Texas.The explosive question of slavery and the number of increasingly assertive American settlers plunged Texas into crisis, made worse by the political turmoil in domestic Mexican politics.American lawyer and Anahuac resident William Barret Travis became a leading agitator on the part of these anti-government pro-slavery settlers.H.W. Brands notes that Bradburn arrested Travis for his agitation and threatened to execute him after an armed mob gathered to attack the prison. Although the incidents at Anahuac in 1831-1832 did not result in a significant escalation, they emboldened the pro-slavery American settlers to continue to resist Mexican policies (2004, 166-167).Fighting between Texan rebels and Mexican forces broke out in April 1835.Texas: From Independent Republic to US StateHon. Sam Houston, Texas, ca. 1860-1863, photograph by Matthew Brady. Source: Wikimedia Commons/The National Archives at College ParkTexans meeting to discuss the provinces future in 1835 did not initially want to declare independence from Mexico. Even several battles between Texan rebels and Mexican troops did not immediately result in popular calls for independence. For example, historian James E. Crisp notes that delegates meeting in San Felipe de Austin in November 1835 declared their loyalty to the Mexican Federalist Constitution of 1824 (2005, xiii).However, the volatile political situation in Mexico, where supporters of Federalism clashed with those in favor of centralization, only further destabilized Texas.Mexicos dictator, General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, threatened a crackdown on troublesome American settlers in Texas.Santa Anna, dubbed the Napoleon of the West, personally led a Mexican army to crush the rebellious Texans. Santa Annas troops besieged Texan forces at an abandoned Spanish mission known as the Alamo in San Antonio de Bxar. The Alamos co-commander was none other than William B. Travis from the Anahuac disturbances.Texans formally declared their independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836. On March 6, Santa Annas forces seized the Alamo and annihilated the defenders.General Sam Houston, the commander-in-chief of the Texan rebels, decisively defeated the Mexican army and captured Santa Anna following the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. Historian James L. Haley notes that the battle secured Texass independence and paved the way for Houston to become President of the Republic of Texas (2002).In December 1845, Texas became a state of the United States.George Fishers Later Life and LegacyPortrait of George Fisher in a Texas Militia Uniform, ca. 1843. Source: Wikimedia CommonsGeorge Fisher returned to public service in the independent Republic of Texas. He served as a justice of the peace, a land agent, an officer in the Texas militia, and a member of the Houston City Council.The Adventurous Serb George Fisher continued to be a public servant wherever he lived. He left Texas in the late 1840s and eventually settled in San Francisco, California.Fisher ended his public service career as the consul for the Kingdom of Greece in San Francisco in the 1860s. Fisher died in San Francisco on June 11, 1873.George Fishers life was shaped by the powerful forces of nationalism and the American expansionist doctrine known as Manifest Destiny. Nationalism drove the Slavonian Legion, to which Fisher volunteered to join during the First Serbian Uprising in 1813. Patriotic devotion to the nation inspired many similar uprisings in 19th-century Europe.In the New World, Fisher participated in the nation-building projects of Mexico, Texas, and the United States. Fishers biography is a fascinating example of how these very different events in the 19th century were connected to a larger idea, such as nationalism.References and Further ReadingBrands, H.W. (2004). Lone Star Nation: The Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence. Anchor Books.Crisp, J.E. (2005). Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crocketts Last Stand and Other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution. Oxford University Press.Gerolymatos, A. (2002). The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond. Basic Books.Glenny, M. (1999). The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999. Penguin.Haley, J.L. (2002). Sam Houston. University of Oklahoma Press.Hazelwood, C. (1952). Fisher, George (1795-1873).https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/fisher-george. Texas State Historical Association.

Julius CsotonyiResearchers in Canada have identified a new species theyre calling the frosty rhino that lived in the Arctic some 23 million years ago.Scientists have discovered a new species of rhino that roamed the Canadian Arctic roughly 23 million years ago.The polar rhino, or Epiaceratherium itjilik, was uncovered in Nunavut, Canada, about 600 miles above the Arctic Circle, making it the northernmost rhino ever discovered. The animal had no horns, and was relatively small compared to most of its modern brethren. It was, however, similar in size to the modern Indian rhino.Researchers theorized that the rhino made its way to Canada from Europe using the North Atlantic Land Bridge, indicating that this land bridge existed for far longer than previously thought. This find also has the research team wondering what other astonishing Arctic animals from the prehistoric era have yet to be uncovered.The Discovery Of A Prehistoric Arctic Rhino Thats Nothing Like Modern SpeciesPierre Poirier/Canadian Museum of NatureThe researchers were able to uncover 75 percent of the animals bones.A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution describes what scientists currently know about the newly-discovered Epiaceratherium itjilik.For one, instead of a large horn on its nose, the Arctic rhino had a narrow nose and mouth.This was ideal for moving through leaves and branches on trees and shrubs to look for food. During the Early Miocene, when the animal was roaming the Arctic, the landscape looked much different than it does today. Instead of a desolate polar desert, the Canadian Arctic was filled with pine, larch, alder, spruce, and birch forests.Another surprising characteristic is that, unlike modern rhinos who have three toes on each foot the E. itjilik had four toes on each of its feet. The rhinos bones also revealed it was about three feet tall, approximately the size of a small pony.Martin Lipman/Canadian Museum of NatureStudy authors Natalia Rybczyski and Mary Dawson looking over the bones of Epiaceratherium itjilik in 2007.The new rhinos name, Itjilik, means frosty in Inuktitut, one of the languages spoken by the Inuit people of northern Canada. The name was chosen through a collaboration with Jarloo Kiguktak, an Inuit elder and the former mayor of Grise Fiord.While the E. itjilik was only recently confirmed as a new species, this find was decades in the making. The E. itjilik bones were first unearthed by late paleontologist and curator emeritus at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Mary Dawson in 1986.When she found the bones within the 14-mile-wide Haughton Crater, which was created by an asteroid impact more than 23 million years ago, Dawson immediately knew they came from a rhinoceros because of the distinctive bands on the teeth.After consulting various rhino experts, no one could tell her what exactly the animal was. Scientists, including Dawson, continuously returned to the site throughout the 2000s, eventually excavating 75 percent of the creatures bones. In the end, it took four decades to finally solve the mystery of these Arctic rhino bones.Whats remarkable about the Arctic rhino is that the fossil bones are in excellent condition, study co-author Marisa Gilbert said in a statement from the Canadian Museum of Nature. They are three dimensionally preserved and have only been partially replaced by minerals. About 75% of the skeleton was discovered, which is incredibly complete for a fossil.How Epiaceratherium itjilik Made Its Way To CanadaMartin Lipman/Canadian Museum of NatureResearchers examine the Arctic rhinos bones.Along with describing the rhino, the study also delves into one of the possible ways in which the E. itjilik came to make Canada its home. The researchers suggest that the animals may have made their way to the Americas via the North Atlantic Land Bridge from Europe.Through extracting and analyzing the proteins in the rhinos teeth, researchers concluded that the Arctic rhino is similar to species found in Europe, the Middle East, and southwestern Asia. Researchers believe that the rhino could have traveled from these regions to Canada using the land bridge.However, this would mean that the North Atlantic Land Bridge existed for far longer than previously thought. It was initially believed that the land bridge disappeared during the early Eocene, roughly 30 million years before E. itjilik inhabited Canada. The researchers also suggested that it was possible that the land bridge had already broken up into islands by the time the rhino made its journey to Canada, making it still possible to cross.However, this theory has not been universally accepted. A paleooceanographer who was not involved with the study, Philip Sexton, told the Globe and Mail that the theory conflicts with all geological evidence.Regardless of how the animal got to Canada, the discovery of the Arctic rhino has inspired the researchers to think about what other unknown prehistoric animals once lived in this region.We often think about the tropics as centers for biodiversityand they are, lead author Danielle Fraser told Reuters. But the more fossil discoveries we make in the Arctic, the more it is becoming clear that it was an essential region in the evolution of mammals.After reading about the newly discovered polar rhino, take a look at 11 unbelievable prehistoric animals. Then, learn about the prehistoric rhino heard discovered in Nebraska.The post Researchers Just Identified A Polar Rhino That Lived In The Canadian Arctic 23 Million Years Ago appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Sometimes, there is nothing better than turning off your brain for a while to simply get lost inside a massive fantasy world and just do whatever the hell you want, and open-world games are perfect for that.

If you are a GTA fan and have been living in suspicion and silent anticipation, heres the confirmation youve been waiting (and fearing) for: Grand Theft Auto VI has just been delayed again by Rockstar Games.

TVS Motor booked a 152% return as it sold its Rapido stake to Accel and Prosus.

Perhaps one of the most anticipated video games of all time, GTA VI is now slated for a November 19, 2026, release.