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Baleen whales are a widely distributed and diverse parvorder of carnivorous marine mammals. They include 15 species from the families Balaenidae (including right whales), Cetotheriidae (the pygmy right whale), Eschrichtiidae (the gray whale), and Balaenopteridae (the rorquals, including the blue whale, the largest animal on earth). Cetaceans were thought to have descended from the extinct mesonychids, but molecular evidence supports their descent from even-toed ungulates. Baleen whales split from toothed whales around 34 million years ago. The meat, blubber, baleen, and oil of baleen whales have traditionally been used by the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. Once relentlessly hunted by commercial industries for these products, cetaceans are now protected by international law, but Japan, Norway and Iceland continue to catch whales for various purposes. Baleen whales also face threats from marine pollution, ocean acidification, collisions with ships, and entanglement in nets. Sonar can cause strandings and disrupt their communication. They have rarely survived for long in captivity. (Full article...)

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Portrait of Alexander Mornauer, National Gallery, London

... that a 15th-century portrait of a Bavarian town clerk by the anonymous Master of the Mornauer Portrait (pictured) was once partially overpainted and then sold as "Martin Luther, by Hans Holbein"?
... that Irish producer Iglooghost said he did not understand the comparison to the works of PC Music in reviews for his EP Chinese Nü Yr?
... that the first film produced by Gabriel Ripstein was directed by his father and written by his mother?
... that fried cheese was a popular dish in Cairo, Egypt during the Middle Ages, and remained a part of the cuisine throughout the Ottoman occupation?
... that Birgit Jürgenssen, an Austrian photographer, painter, graphic artist, curator and teacher, was acclaimed as one of the "outstanding international representatives of the feminist avant-garde"?
... that the story line of the 2015 Thai teen flick May Who? was inspired by director Chayanop Boonprakob's own teenage years?
... that a recent Major League Soccer match between two teams in New York City was nicknamed the Hudson River Massacre?

In the news

Muhammad Ali

In horse racing, Harzand, ridden by Pat Smullen, wins the Epsom Derby.
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (pictured) dies at the age of 74.
Severe flooding in Western and Central Europe causes at least 14 deaths.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in the world, opens in the Swiss Alps.
In the Philippine presidential election, Rodrigo Duterte of PDP–Laban is proclaimed as president.
Former Chadian military ruler Hissène Habré is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison by a court in Senegal.

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On this day...

June 5: World Environment Day; Feast day of Saint Boniface (Christianity); Father's Day and Constitution Day in Denmark; Yom Yerushalayim in Israel (2016)

Danfeng Gate, Daming Palace

663 – The Daming Palace (reconstructed gate pictured) became the government seat and royal residence of the Tang empire during Emperor Gaozong's reign.
1257 – Kraków in Poland received city rights based on the Magdeburg law.
1899 – Antonio Luna was assassinated in the midst of the Philippine–American War.
1941 – Second Sino-Japanese War: During one sortie in a five-year bombing campaign on Chongqing, 4,000 people died of asphyxiation when the tunnel they were hiding in became blocked.
1976 – The Teton Dam in eastern Idaho, US, collapsed as its reservoir was being filled for the first time, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and 13,000 cattle, and causing up to $2 billion in damage.

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Today's featured picture

The Panorpidae are a family of scorpionflies. This family contains more than 350 species. These insects, which average 9–25 mm long, have four membranous wings and threadlike antennae. Their elongated faces terminate with jaws that are used to feed on dead and dying insects, nectar, and rotting fruit. While in larval form, they scavenge by consuming dead insects on the ground.

Pictured here is a Panorpa alpina male.

Photograph: Luc Viatour

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