title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: The initial plan for Warrior's 1992 return was to eventually give him another run with the WWF Championship. However, his return coincided with the government's crackdown on steroids in wrestling. Warrior was admittedly a heavy user of steroids during his professional wrestling career. In his book "Sex, Lies and Headlocks", ESPN writer Shaun Assael stated that Canadian chemist Mauro Di Pasquale, who had been hired in June to monitor the WWF's new drug testing program and was known for being tough towards anyone who failed a drug test, nailed Warrior for steroid use in September and was able to successfully persuade McMahon, who was under federal scrutiny at the time for allegations of illegally supplying steroids to some of his wrestlers, to release Warrior from the company. However, in "Warrior: The Ultimate Legend", McMahon claims that it was Warrior's experimenting with growth hormone which led to his departure; Warrior was suspended and, in return, skipped dates as he took offense to McMahon's actions. Warrior left the company on November 21, 1992 with his last match being a victory over Kamala on November 8 in Orlando, Florida.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Between November 1992 and July 1995, Warrior was semi-retired. During his time away from the WWF, Warrior opened the short-lived "Warrior University", a professional wrestling school based in Scottsdale, Arizona.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In January 1993 he wrestled as the Dingo Warrior, defeating Hercules Hernandez in Billerica, Massachusetts, for Killer Kowalski's International Wrestling Federation.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In April 1993, he toured Europe for World Wrestlings Superstars in Germany and that same year he also played the role of "the swordsman" in the action movie "Firepower".


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: On July 22, 1995, he returned to the ring for the National Wrestling Conference (NWC) promotion in Las Vegas, defeating The Honky Tonk Man. He had also wrestled a tour of Germany for Otto Wanz's Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) promotion where he defeated Ulf Herman.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior returned to the WWF on March 31, 1996, defeating Hunter Hearst Helmsley at WrestleMania XII. He made his first appearance on "Monday Night Raw" on April 8, where he gave an in-ring interview and credited the "voices" of the "warriors" (his name for members of the WWF audience) for his return; he was then interrupted by Goldust. Warrior challenged for Goldust's Intercontinental Championship at ; Warrior won the match by countout, but did not win the title. The following night on "Monday Night Raw", Warrior defeated Isaac Yankem, DDS. A rematch with Intercontinental Champion Goldust, on the May 27 episode of the show, ended in a double countout, thus eliminating both men from the tournament and eventually giving Vader a bye into the semi-finals. Warrior defeated Jerry Lawler at King of the Ring, and defeated Owen Hart by disqualification on the July 8 episode of "Monday Night Raw".


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior was scheduled to team with Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson to face Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, and Vader at later that month, but the WWF terminated Warrior's contract when he missed several house shows, taking time off allegedly to grieve the death of his father. WWF owner Vince McMahon claimed that Warrior had not seen his father in ten years and did not care much for him; therefore, he did not take Warrior's excuse for missing house shows at face value. Warrior disputes McMahon's explanation, claiming that the real reason why he did not show up to those events was a breach of contract by McMahon, in which WWF sold Warrior's merchandise without giving him a percentage. He was replaced by Sycho Sid at in Your House 9.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: WCW signed Warrior "at great expense" in May 1998. He formed a stable opposing Hollywood Hulk Hogan's New World Order (nWo): the "One Warrior Nation" using the initialism oWn as a play on the name nWo. Highlights of the storyline included Warrior kidnapping and "converting" The Disciple and frequent instances of "magic smoke" knocking out all of the nWo members except for Hollywood Hogan and covering Warrior's movement through a trapdoor in the ring. The trapdoor was responsible for nearly paralyzing Davey Boy Smith, when he awkwardly fell on it during a match at Fall Brawl 98. Warrior's debut promo also unexpectedly lasted over 27 minutes, which was more than 20 minutes over its allotted time and forced Eric Bischoff to do a massive rewrite of "Nitro" on the spot, including re-adding a commercial break that was supposed to take place during the promo.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior only participated in three matches in WCW. The first was the WarGames match at Fall Brawl, where he competed as a member of Team WCW, competing against 8 other wrestlers for a shot at Goldberg's WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Halloween Havoc. Diamond Dallas Page won the match by pinning Stevie Ray. On the October 12 edition of "Monday Nitro", he teamed with Sting to defeat Hogan and Bret Hart by disqualification. The third was his loss to Hogan at Halloween Havoc, in what is considered by many to be one of the worst wrestling matches ever staged. During the bout, Hogan attempted to "blind" The Warrior using flash paper, but was unable to light it properly, and as a result The Warrior was forced to briefly sell the move despite the flames clearly not touching him in any way. The match came to an end when Horace Hogan hit Warrior in the back with a chair, allowing Hogan to score the pinfall.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: WCW claimed that attempts were made to save the storyline though Warrior has claimed in interviews and convention appearances that the only reason he was brought back was so Hogan could get a win over Warrior in return for Hogan's WrestleMania job. Warrior's last appearance in WCW was on the November 9, 1998 episode of "Monday Nitro", when he came to the rescue of The Disciple who was being attacked by members of The nWo. Warrior retired from wrestling that year.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: After retiring in 1998, Warrior only wrestled a single match on June 25, 2008, against Orlando Jordan in Barcelona, Spain. Warrior won the match and the Nu-Wrestling Evolution World Heavyweight Championship, but immediately vacated the title.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: On February 20, 2013, Warrior confirmed on his official YouTube channel that he would appear at "WrestleCon" on April 7, 2013. In the same clip he spoke positively about Vince McMahon for the first time on his channel. His appearance was so popular that a second print run of tickets had to be ordered.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: On July 15, 2013, Warrior was featured in a "WWE 2K14" game trailer and revealed he was in the roster as a pre-order bonus.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: On April 5, 2014, The Ultimate Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014. The next day, Warrior appeared at WrestleMania XXX, and the following night delivered a promo on "Raw", his first appearance on the show since his final televised WWF match in 1996. During what turned out to be his final public appearance, Warrior gave a speech to the fans and wrestlers past and present as his Ultimate Warrior character.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior married Shari Lynn Tyree on October 2, 1982. They remained together for the majority of Warrior's WWF career before divorcing on March 22, 1991, two days before WrestleMania VII. Warrior married for the second time to Dana Viale on January 31, 1999. The couple had two daughters together.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Between 1987 and 1989, he appeared in several TV ads for Westway Ford, a car dealership in Irving, Texas. Warrior interacted in full wrestling costume with Westway's wacky character, "Mean Joe Greed."


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior returned to the WWF at WrestleMania VIII after nearly eight months on hiatus since SummerSlam 1991. Due to the drastic change in his appearance (shorter, blonder hair and a smaller physique), rumors began circulating that a new wrestler was playing the role. At the time it was rumored to be Kerry Von Erich, who was then under contract to the WWF. Some said Warrior died from liver failure due to years of steroid abuse or that his signature arm tassels cut off his blood circulation. WWE claims that the theory that a different man returned to play The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VIII remains "perhaps the longest standing urban legend in WWE history". WWE announcer Tom Phillips claims that the rumors likely originated from Gene Okerlund's WCW Hotline as well as the WCW debut of Warrior doppelgänger The Renegade.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In 1993, Hellwig legally changed his name to the mononym Warrior. This one-word name appears on all legal documents pertaining to Warrior, and his children carry the Warrior name as their legal surname.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior and the WWF engaged in a series of lawsuits and legal actions in 1996 and 1998, where both parties sought a declaration that they owned the characters, Warrior and Ultimate Warrior, under both contract and copyright law. The court ruled that Warrior was legally entitled to use the gimmick, costuming, face paint designs, and mannerisms of the "Warrior" character.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: On September 27, 2005, WWE released a DVD documentary focusing on Warrior's wrestling career, titled "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior". The DVD featured clips of his more notable feuds and matches along with commentary from WWE stars past and present (most of which are unflattering), with Triple H (by this point one of WWE's top main eventers and the husband of Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie McMahon) adding that his WrestleMania debut loss against Warrior at WrestleMania XII left him with mixed emotions, saying that Warrior "ruined the experience" for him and was "one of the most unprofessional guys" he's ever performed with. The DVD has provoked some controversy due to Warrior's own allegations of libel by WWE against him. Originally, Warrior was asked to help with the production of the DVD, but as he refused to work with WWE (citing he did not want to be associated with their promotion), there had been some resulting animosity between Warrior and WWE over the Warrior claiming bias on the part of WWE. In January 2006, Warrior filed another lawsuit against WWE in an Arizona court over the depiction of his wrestling career in "The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" DVD. On September 18, 2009, Warrior's lawsuit in Arizona was dismissed.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior formally retired from wrestling in 1999 and had a short-lived career as a conservative speaker and commentator, partnering with conservative spokesman Daniel Pinheiro, denouncing left-wing politics. In one instance, he mentioned that "queering doesn't make the world work" during a speech at the University of Connecticut. Warrior explained those comments on his website as meaning that the human race would die out if everyone were a homosexual.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In 1996, Warrior published a comic book titled "Warrior", featuring himself as the main character. The series was co-written with Jim Callahan and illustrated by the Sharp Brothers.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior maintained a blog on his personal website titled "Warrior's Machete", where he discussed his personal life, his personal views on politics, sexuality, patriotism, and his legacy as a wrestler, amongst other topics. There were numerous instances where Warrior used his blog to address his viewpoint on members of his wrestling past (Vince McMahon, Road Warrior Animal, The British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger); historical (Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington) or religious figures (Jesus). Warrior depicted celebrities who were newsworthy at the time of his blog (Heath Ledger and Paris Hilton).


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior occasionally referenced his respect for the Founding Fathers of the United States, and also enjoyed books like Homer's "Odyssey" and James Allen's "As a Man Thinketh". In 2012, he started selling "Weapons of Wisdom", inspirational 6×9 pieces of watercolor paper with drawings, quotes, and doodles on them by the Warrior himself. He also used the blog to post replies to letters from fans.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior died on April 8, 2014, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, appeared at WrestleMania XXX on April 6, and made his first "Raw" appearance in almost 18 years on April 7, the day before his death. According to reports, Warrior clutched his chest and collapsed at 5:50 p.m. while walking to his car with his wife outside of their hotel in Arizona. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead at age 54. Warrior's colleagues said Warrior appeared frail during WrestleMania weekend, and said that he was sweating profusely and breathing heavily backstage.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Although Warrior's relationship with WWE was strained at times, more recently WWE has recognized him as one of the legends of the company. WWE described him as being "As devastating and intense as any Superstar who stepped through the ropes...", further saying that "The Ultimate Warrior may be the most enigmatic man to ever hold the WWE Championship." In 2011, WWE called him "one of the most recognizable" wrestlers in WWE history, praising his ability to draw power from "the WWE Universe", and further spoke of his impact as having "brought Hulkamania to its knees" at WrestleMania VI, "retired the Madness at WrestleMania VII and press slammed a slew of the greatest legends of his era".


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior appeared in the Mattel Legends figures line in both Series 4 and Series 6. He was also chosen as one of six legends to be included in the Defining Moments series of action figures. Most recently he was one of a number of figures in the WWE Superstars line of Mattel action figures in an assortment called "World Champions". Warrior further appears as a playable character in "WWE All Stars", "WWE Legends of WrestleMania", "WWE 2K14", "WWE 2K15", "WWE 2K16", "WWE 2K17", "WWE 2K18", "WWE 2K19", and "WWE 2K20". In "WWE All Stars", in which Ultimate Warrior appears as one of the "Legends", WWE stated that he was the "ultimate archetype of strength and intensity", and further stated that "without question, the Ultimate Warrior has etched his name in the pantheon of WWE greats". In 2005, WWE released "The Self-Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior" DVD, which portrayed Warrior in a negative light. Warrior claimed that if WWE wanted to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame they would have "to tell the right story" opposite of the one depicted in the 2005 DVD. WWE released "Ultimate Warrior: The Ultimate Collection", a 3-DVD, 540 minute-compilation of matches and stories, which portrayed Warrior far more positively, on April 1, 2014. Warrior was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, 2014, the night before WrestleMania XXX.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior had been largely alienated from his peers in professional wrestling in the decade before his death, and was sometimes described as a bitter man on bad terms with various wrestling figures such as Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan and Jake Roberts. Hogan even questioned Warrior's value, saying, "You gave the [WWF Championship] belt to The Ultimate Warrior... and right away the revenue went down." With Warrior's reconciling with the professional wrestling industry just before his death, some of his former adversaries offered their condolences. McMahon stated that "We are all so sad that the Ultimate Warrior has passed away. Our heart is with his wife Dana and his two daughters." Hogan said, "RIP WARRIOR. only love ... We talked, both forgave each other, we hugged, we shook hands as we told each other I love you, I am so sad, God bless his beautiful family". Roberts said that he was "Deeply saddened. We just had a great talk & buried a senseless hatchet. Talked working together. RIP Warrior. Taking solace we made peace." News of his death spread the next day on sites such as Bing, Facebook, and Twitter. It was also mentioned on ABC News, HLN and CNN. Reportedly almost immediately after Warrior's death, WWE sent two senior officials to Arizona to assist his widow in handling personal things such as grocery shopping so that she could focus on being with her and Warrior's daughters.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: WWE paid tribute to Warrior on the April 14 episode of "Raw" with a ten bell salute and a video. The WWE Network aired a lineup dubbed "Warrior Week" in Warrior's memory. The lineup included a four-part special. A wrestling themed episode of "The Goldbergs", which aired on May 6, was dedicated in Warrior's memory. The 2015 film "", which stars "The Flintstones" and WWE Superstars and Divas, was dedicated to Warrior's memory.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: At the "UFC Fight Night 40" weigh-ins, fighter Lorenz Larkin wore an Ultimate Warrior mask, tassels and wristbands as a tribute.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: Warrior was awarded a posthumous Slammy Award for Return of the Year in December 2014. A WWE-sponsored biography, entitled "Ultimate Warrior: A Life Lived Forever: The Legend of a WWE Hero", was released in 2015.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: During his April 2014 Hall of Fame speech shortly before his death, Warrior proposed that the "Jimmy Miranda Award" should be created to honour WWE's behind-the-scenes employees. Miranda, who died in 2002, was part of the WWE merchandise department for more than 20 years.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In 2015, WWE introduced the Warrior Award for those who have "exhibited unwavering strength and perseverance, and who lives life with the courage and compassion that embodies the indomitable spirit of the Ultimate Warrior." Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts expressed disappointment at how WWE used portions of Warrior's Hall of Fame speech to promote the award, but left out Warrior's intentions of honoring WWE's off-screen employees. WWE responded, "It is offensive to suggest that WWE and its executives had anything but altruistic intentions in honouring Connor and his legacy with the Warrior Award", adding that "moving forward the award will be given annually to acknowledge other unsung heroes among WWE's employees and fans." As Of 2019, Sue Aitchison would be the first WWE employee to be given the warrior award.


title: The Ultimate Warrior

text: In 2017, WWE started promoting the "Unleash Your Warrior" breast cancer awareness campaign in partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, where Warrior's likeness was promoted on television by WWE wrestlers and breast cancer survivors. WWE has been criticized for using Warrior as the inspirational "emblem" of the campaign. "Pro Wrestling Torch" described Warrior in real-life having made public "vile, bigoted, hateful, judgmental comments about a cancer victim, Hurricane Katrina victims, homosexual people, a woman defending a gay man, and even Martin Luther King Jr." For example, when Bobby Heenan contracted cancer, Warrior said, "Karma is just a beautiful thing to behold." "Vice" wrote that "completely whitewashing his past and elevating his likeness to a bland symbol of corporate altruism is shockingly tone-deaf, especially for a company that's at least outwardly trying to appear progressive, inclusive and diverse". In response, WWE said that the Unleash Your Warrior campaign and the Warrior Award "recognize individuals that exhibit the strength and courage of WWE's legendary character The Ultimate Warrior. Any attempt to distract from the mission of these initiatives and take the spotlight away from the honorees is unfortunately misguided."


title: Decapitation

text: Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function.


title: Decapitation

text: The term "beheading" refers to the act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution; it may be performed with an axe, sword, knife, machete or by mechanical means such as a guillotine or chainsaw. An executioner who carries out executions by beheading is sometimes called a headsman. Accidental decapitation can be the result of an explosion, a car or industrial accident, improperly administered execution by hanging or other violent injury. Suicide by decapitation is rare but not unknown. The national laws of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Qatar permit beheading; however, in practice, Saudi Arabia is the only country that continues to behead its offenders regularly as a punishment for capital crimes.


title: Decapitation

text: Less commonly, decapitation can also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead. This might be done to take the head as a trophy, for public display, to make the deceased more difficult to identify, for cryonics, or for other, more esoteric reasons.


title: Decapitation

text: The word decapitation has its roots in the Late Latin word "decapitare". The meaning of the word "decapitare" can be discerned from its morphemes "de-" (down, from) + "capit-" (head). The past participle of "decapitare" is "decapitatus" which was used to create "decapitationem", the noun form of "decapitatus" in Medieval Latin. From the Medieval Latin form, "decapitationem", the French word "décapitation" was produced.


title: Decapitation

text: Humans have practiced capital punishment by beheading for millennia. The Narmer Palette (c. 3000 BCE) shows the first known depiction of decapitated corpses. The terms "capital offence", "capital crime", "capital punishment", derive from the Latin "caput", "head", referring to the punishment for serious offences involving the forfeiture of the head; i.e. death by beheading.


title: Decapitation

text: Some cultures, such as ancient Rome and Greece, regarded decapitation as the most honorable form of death. In the Middle Ages, many European nations continued to reserve the method only for nobles and royalty. In France, the French Revolution made it the only legal method of execution for all criminals regardless of class, one of the period's many symbolic changes.


title: Decapitation

text: Others have regarded beheading as dishonorable and contemptuous, such as the Japanese troops who beheaded prisoners during World War II. In recent times, it has become associated with terrorism.


title: Decapitation

text: If a headsman's axe or sword is sharp and his aim is precise, decapitation is quick and thought to be a relatively painless form of death. If the instrument is blunt or the executioner is clumsy, repeated strokes might be required to sever the head, resulting in a prolonged and more painful death. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Mary, Queen of Scots required three strikes at their respective executions. The same could be said for the execution of Johann Friedrich Struensee, favorite of the Danish queen Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, is said to have required up to 10 strokes before decapitation was achieved. This particular story may, however, be apocryphal, as highly divergent accounts exist. Historian and philosopher David Hume, for example, relates the following about her death:


title: Decapitation

text: To ensure that the blow would be fatal, executioners' swords usually were blade-heavy two-handed swords. Likewise, if an axe was used, it almost invariably was wielded with both hands. In England, a bearded axe was used for beheading, with the blade's edge extending downwards from the tip of the shaft.


title: Decapitation

text: Finland's official beheading axe resides today at the Museum of Crime in Vantaa. It is a broad-bladed two-handed axe. It was last used when murderer Tahvo Putkonen was executed in 1825, the last execution in peacetime in Finland.


title: Decapitation

text: Decapitation is quickly fatal to humans and most animals. Unconsciousness occurs within 10 seconds without circulating oxygenated blood (brain ischemia). Cell death and irreversible brain damage occurs after 3–6 minutes with no oxygen, due to excitotoxicity. Some anecdotes suggest more extended persistence of human consciousness after decapitation, but most doctors consider this unlikely and consider such accounts to be misapprehensions of reflexive twitching rather than deliberate movement, since deprivation of oxygen must cause nearly immediate coma and death ("[Consciousness is] probably lost within 2–3 seconds, due to a rapid fall of intracranial perfusion of blood").


title: Decapitation

text: A laboratory study testing for humane methods of euthanasia in awake animals used EEG monitoring to measure the time duration following decapitation for rats to become fully unconscious, unable to perceive distress and pain. It was estimated that this point was reached within 3–4 seconds, correlating closely with results found in other studies on rodents (2.7 seconds, and 3–6 seconds). The same study also suggested that the massive wave which can be recorded by EEG monitoring approximately one minute after decapitation ultimately reflects brain death. Other studies indicate that electrical activity in the brain has been demonstrated to persist for 13 to 14 seconds following decapitation (although it is disputed as to whether such activity implies that pain is perceived), and a 2010 study reported that decapitation of rats generated responses in EEG indices over a period of 10 seconds that have been linked to nociception across a number of different species of animals, including rats.


title: Decapitation

text: Some animals (such as cockroaches) can survive decapitation and die not because of the loss of the head directly, but rather because of starvation. A number of other animals, including snakes, and turtles, have also been known to survive for some time after being decapitated, as they have slower metabolisms and their nervous systems can continue to function at some capacity for a limited time even after connection to the brain is lost, responding to any nearby stimulus. In addition, the bodies of chickens and turtles may continue to move temporarily after decapitation.


title: Decapitation

text: Although head transplantation by the reattachment of blood vessels has seen some very limited success in animals, a fully functional reattachment of a severed human head (including repair of the spinal cord, muscles, and other critically important tissues) has not yet been achieved.


title: Decapitation

text: Early versions of the guillotine included the Halifax Gibbet, which was used in Halifax, England, from 1286 until the 17th century, and the "Maiden", employed in Edinburgh from the 16th through the 18th centuries.


title: Decapitation

text: The modern form of the guillotine was invented shortly before the French Revolution with the aim of creating a quick and painless method of execution requiring little skill on the part of the operator. Decapitation by guillotine became a common mechanically assisted form of execution.


title: Decapitation

text: The French observed a strict code of etiquette surrounding such executions. For example, a man named Legros, one of the assistants at the execution of Charlotte Corday, was imprisoned for three months and dismissed for slapping the face of the victim after the blade had fallen in order to see whether any flicker of life remained. The guillotine was used in France during the French Revolution and remained the normal judicial method in both peacetime and wartime into the 1970s, although the firing squad was used in certain cases. France abolished the death penalty in 1981.


title: Decapitation

text: The guillotine was also used in Algeria before the French relinquished control of it, as shown in Gillo Pontecorvo's film "The Battle of Algiers".


title: Decapitation

text: Another guillotine existed in Vatican City until recent years. It had been brought in by Napoleon's forces during the early 19th century; and, as of 1870, the pope still claimed the authority to use it. The Holy See has since abolished capital punishment within its own jurisdiction, and recent popes have condemned capital punishment wherever it is still practised.


title: Decapitation

text: Many German states had used a guillotine-like device known as a ("falling axe") since the 17th and 18th centuries, and decapitation by guillotine was the usual means of execution in Germany until the abolition of the death penalty in West Germany in 1949. It was last used in communist East Germany in 1966.


title: Decapitation

text: In Nazi Germany, the was reserved for common criminals and people convicted of political crimes, including treason. Members of the White Rose resistance movement, a group of students in Munich that included siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl, were executed by decapitation.


title: Decapitation

text: Contrary to popular myth, executions were generally not conducted face-up, and chief executioner Johann Reichhart was insistent on maintaining "professional" protocol throughout the era, having administered the death penalty during the earlier Weimar Republic. Nonetheless, it is estimated that some 16,500 persons were guillotined in Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945, a number that includes resistance fighters both within Germany itself and in countries occupied by Nazi forces. As these resistance fighters were not part of any regular army, they were considered common criminals and were in many cases transported to Germany for execution. Decapitation was considered a "dishonorable" death, in contrast to execution by firing squad.


title: Decapitation

text: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the conflict and ethnic massacre between local army and Kamuina Nsapu rebels has caused several deaths and atrocities such as rape and mutilation. One of them is decapitation, both a fearsome way to intimidate victims as well as an act that may include ritualistic elements. According to an UN report from Congolese refugees, they believed the Bana Mura and Kamuina Nsapu militias have "magical powers" as a result of drinking the blood of decapitated victims, making them invincible. According to some reports, they indeed feed the blood from their victims' heads to younger members as an initiation rite, then they often burn the remains or sometimes consume these, committing cannibalism.


title: Decapitation

text: Besides the massive decapitations (like the beheading of 40 members of the State Police), a globally notorious case happened in March 2017 to Swedish politician Zaida Catalán and American UN expert Michael Sharp, who were kidnapped and executed during a mission near the village of Ngombe in Kasaï Province. The UN was reportedly horrified when video footage of the executions surfaced in April that same year, where some grisly details led to assume ritual components of the beheading: the perpetrators first cut the hair of both victims, and then one of them beheaded Catalán only, because it would "increase his power", which may be linked to the fact that Congolese militias are particularly brutal in their acts of violence toward women and children.


title: Decapitation

text: In the trial that followed investigations after the bodies were discovered, and according to a testimony of a primary school teacher from Bunkonde, near the village of Moyo Musuila where the executions took place, he witnessed a teenage militant carrying the young woman's head, but despite the efforts of the investigation, the head was never found. According to a report published on 29 May 2019, the Monusco peacekeeping military mission led by Colonel Luis Mangini, in the search for the missing remains, arrived to a ritual place in Moyo Musila where "parts of bodies, hands and heads" were cut and used for rituals, where they lost track of the victim's head.


title: Decapitation

text: During the 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes, reports emerged that Yazidi-Armenian serviceman Kyaram Sloyan was decapitated by Azerbaijani servicemen. Azerbaijan denied this.


title: Decapitation

text: Several reports of decapitation, along with other types of mutilation of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijani soldiers, emerged during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.


title: Decapitation

text: In traditional China, decapitation was considered a more severe form of punishment than strangulation, although strangulation caused more prolonged suffering. This was because in Confucian tradition, bodies were gifts from their parents, and so it was therefore disrespectful to their ancestors to return their bodies to the grave dismembered. The Chinese, however, had other punishments, such as dismembering the body into multiple pieces (similar to the English quartering). In addition, there was also a practice of cutting the body at the waist, which was a common method of execution before being abolished in the early Qing dynasty due to the lingering death it caused. In some tales, people did not die immediately after decapitation.


title: Decapitation

text: The British officer John Masters recorded in his autobiography that Pathans in British India during the Anglo-Afghan Wars would behead enemy soldiers who were captured, such as British and Sikh soldiers.


title: Decapitation

text: In Japan, decapitation was a common punishment, sometimes for minor offences. Samurai were often allowed to decapitate soldiers who had fled from battle, as it was considered cowardly. Decapitation was historically performed as the second step in seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment). After the victim had sliced his own abdomen open, another warrior would strike his head off from behind with a katana to hasten death and to reduce the suffering. The blow was expected to be precise enough to leave intact a small strip of skin at the front of the neck—to spare invited and honored guests the indelicacy of witnessing a severed head rolling about, or towards them; such an occurrence would have been considered inelegant and in bad taste. The sword was expected to be used upon the slightest sign that the practitioner might yield to pain and cry out—avoiding dishonor to him and to all partaking in the privilege of observing an honorable demise. As skill was involved, only the most trusted warrior was honored by taking part. In the late Sengoku period, decapitation was performed as soon as the person chosen to carry out seppuku had made the slightest wound to his abdomen.


title: Decapitation

text: Decapitation (without seppuku) was also considered a very severe and degrading form of punishment. One of the most brutal decapitations was that of (杉谷善住坊), who attempted to assassinate Oda Nobunaga, a prominent "daimyō", in 1570. After being caught, Zenjubō was buried alive in the ground with only his head out, and the head was slowly sawn off with a bamboo saw by passers-by for several days (punishment by sawing; (). These unusual punishments were abolished in the early Meiji era. A similar scene is described in the last page of James Clavell's book "Shōgun".


title: Decapitation

text: Historically, decapitation had been the most common method of execution in Korea, until it was replaced by hanging in 1896. Professional executioners were called (망나니) and they were volunteered from death rows.


title: Decapitation

text: Pakistan's government employs death by hanging for capital punishment. Since 2007, militants from Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan have used beheadings as a form of punishment for opponents, criminals and spies in the northwest region of Pakistan. Severed heads of opponents or government officials in Swat Valley were left on popular street corners in order to terrorize the local population. The beheadings have stopped in Swat since the military incursion and sweep-up that began in May 2009 and ended in June 2009. Three Sikhs were beheaded by the Taliban in Pakistan in 2010. Daniel Pearl was beheaded by his captors in the city of Karachi.


title: Decapitation

text: Historically, decapitation had been the main method of execution in Thailand, until it was replaced by shooting in 1934.


title: Decapitation

text: During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) there were a number of ritual beheadings of Serbs and Croats who were taken as prisoners of war by mujahedin members of the Bosnian Army. At least one case is documented and proven in court by the ICTY where mujahedin, members of 3rd Corps of Army BiH, beheaded Bosnian Serb Dragan Popović.


title: Decapitation

text: In British history, beheading was typically used for noblemen, while commoners would be hanged; eventually, hanging was adopted as the standard means of non-military executions. The last actual execution by beheading was of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat on 9 April 1747, while a number of convicts were beheaded posthumously up to the early 19th century. (Typically traitors were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, a method which had already been discontinued.) Beheading was degraded to a secondary means of execution, including for treason, with the abolition of drawing and quartering in 1870 and finally abolished by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973. One of the most notable executions by decapitation in Britain was that of King Charles I of England, who was beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall in 1649, after being captured by parliamentarians during the English Civil War and tried for treason.


title: Decapitation

text: The Celts of western Europe long pursued a "cult of the severed head", as evidenced by both Classical literary descriptions and archaeological contexts. This cult played a central role in their temples and religious practices and earned them a reputation as head hunters among the Mediterranean peoples. Diodorus Siculus, in his 1st-century "Historical Library" (5.29.4) wrote the following about Celtic head-hunting:


title: Decapitation

text: Both the Greeks and Romans found the Celtic decapitation practices shocking and the latter put an end to them when Celtic regions came under their control. However, Greeks and Romans both employed decapitation and other horrific tortures, highlighting a tendency to view practices as more shocking when carried out by an outside group, even if the practices are essentially similar.


title: Decapitation

text: According to Paul Jacobsthal, "Amongst the Celts the human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the other-world." Arguments for a Celtic cult of the severed head include the many sculptured representations of severed heads in La Tène carvings, and the surviving Celtic mythology, which is full of stories of the severed heads of heroes and the saints who carry their own severed heads, right down to "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", where the Green Knight picks up his own severed head after Gawain has struck it off in a beheading game, just as Saint Denis carried his head to the top of Montmartre.


title: Decapitation

text: A further example of this regeneration after beheading lies in the tales of Connemara's Saint Féchín, who after being beheaded by Vikings carried his head to the Holy Well on Omey Island and on dipping it into the well placed it back upon his neck and was restored to full health.


title: Decapitation

text: The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded decapitation as a comparatively honorable form of execution for criminals. The traditional procedure, however, included first being tied to a stake and whipped with rods. Axes were used by the Romans, and later swords, which were considered a more honorable instrument of death. Those who could verify that they were Roman citizens were to be beheaded, rather than undergoing the much more horrific experience of crucifixion. In the Roman Republic of the early 1st century BC, it became the tradition for the severed heads of public enemies—such as the political opponents of Marius and Sulla, for example—to be publicly displayed on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum after execution. Perhaps the most famous such victim was Cicero who, on instructions from Mark Antony, had his hands (which had penned the "Philippicae" against Antony) and his head cut off and nailed up for display in this manner.


title: Decapitation

text: In France, until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981, the main method of execution had been by beheading by means of the guillotine. Other than a small number of military cases in which a firing squad was used (including that of Jean Bastien-Thiry), the guillotine was the only legal method of execution from 1791, when it was introduced by the Legislative Assembly during the last days of the kingdom French Revolution, until 1981. Before the revolution, beheading had typically been reserved for noblemen and carried out manually. In 1981, President François Mitterrand abolished capital punishment and issued commutations for those whose sentences had not been carried out.


title: Decapitation

text: The first person executed by the guillotine in France was highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier in April 1792. The last execution was of murderer Hamida Djandoubi, in Marseilles, in 1977. Throughout its extensive overseas colonies and dependencies, the device was also used, including on St Pierre in 1889 and on Martinique as late as 1965.


title: Decapitation

text: In Nordic countries, decapitation was the usual means of carrying out capital punishment. Noblemen were beheaded with a sword, and commoners with an axe. The last executions by decapitation in Finland in 1825, Norway in 1876, Faroe Islands in 1609, and in Iceland in 1830 were carried out with axes. The same was the case in Denmark in 1892. Sweden continued the practice for a few decades, executing its second to last criminal—mass murderer Johan Filip Nordlund—by axe in 1900. It was replaced by the guillotine, which was used for the first and only time on Johan Alfred Ander in 1910.


title: Decapitation

text: In Spain executions were carried out by various methods including strangulation by the garrotte. In the 16th and 17th centuries, noblemen were sometimes executed by means of beheading. Examples include Anthony van Stralen, Lord of Merksem, Lamoral, Count of Egmont and Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn. They were tied to a chair on a scaffold. The executioner used a knife to cut the head from the body. It was considered to be a more honourable death if the executioner started with cutting the throat.


title: Decapitation

text: Iran, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has alleged it uses beheading as one of the methods of punishment.


title: Decapitation

text: Though not officially sanctioned, legal beheadings were carried out against at least 50 prostitutes and pimps under Saddam Hussein as late as 2000.


title: Decapitation

text: Beheadings have emerged as another terror tactic especially in Iraq since 2003. Civilians have borne the brunt of the beheadings, although U.S. and Iraqi military personnel have also been targeted. After kidnapping the victim, the kidnappers typically make some sort of demand of the government of the hostage's nation and give a time limit for the demand to be carried out, often 72 hours. Beheading is often threatened if the government fails to heed the wishes of the hostage takers. Sometimes, the beheadings are videotaped and made available on the Internet. One of the most publicized of such executions was that of Nick Berg.


title: Decapitation

text: Saudi Arabia has a criminal justice system based on Shari'ah law reflecting a particular state-sanctioned interpretation of Islam. Crimes such as rape, murder, apostasy, and sorcery are punishable by beheading. It is usually carried out publicly by beheading with a sword.


title: Decapitation

text: A public beheading will typically take place around 9am. The convicted person is walked into the square and kneels in front of the executioner. The executioner uses a sword to remove the condemned person's head from his or her body at the neck with a single strike. After the convicted person is pronounced dead, a police official announces the crimes committed by the beheaded alleged criminal and the process is complete. The official might announce the same before the actual execution. This is the most common method of execution in Saudi Arabia.


title: Decapitation

text: According to Amnesty International, at least 79 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2013. Foreigners are not exempt, accounting for "almost half" of executions in 2013.


title: Decapitation

text: The Syrian government employs hanging as its method of capital punishment. However, the terrorist organisation known as the Islamic State, which controlled territory in much of eastern Syria, had regularly carried out beheadings of people. Syrian rebels attempting to overthrow the Syrian government have been implicated in beheadings too.


title: Decapitation

text: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Ignacio Allende, José Mariano Jiménez and Juan Aldama were tried for treason, executed by firing squad and beheaded during the Mexican independence in 1811. Their heads were on display on the four corners of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, in Guanajuato.


title: Decapitation

text: During the Mexican Drug War, some Mexican drug cartels turned to decapitation and beheading of rival cartel members as a method of intimidation.


title: Decapitation

text: The United States government has never employed beheading as a legal method of execution. However, beheading has sometimes been used in mutilations of the dead, particularly of black people like Nat Turner, who led a rebellion against slavery. When caught, he was publicly hanged, flayed, and beheaded. This was a technique used by many enslavers to discourage the "frequent bloody uprisings" that were carried out by "kidnapped Africans". While bodily dismemberment of various kinds was employed to instill terror, Dr. Erasmus D. Fenner noted postmortem decapitation was particularly effective.


title: Decapitation

text: US soldiers have committed decapitations in various invasions and/or conquests, including of the Native Americans, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam.


title: Decapitation

text: Regarding Vietnam, correspondent Michael Herr notes "thousands" of photo-albums made by US soldiers "all seemed to contain the same pictures": "the severed head shot, the head often resting on the chest of the dead man or being held up by a smiling Marine, or a lot of the heads, arranged in a row, with a burning cigarette in each of the mouths, the eyes open". Some of the victims were "very young".


title: Decapitation

text: General George Patton IV, son of the famous WWII general George S. Patton, was known for keeping "macabre souvenirs", such as "a Vietnamese skull that sat on his desk." Other Americans "hacked the heads off Vietnamese to keep, trade, or exchange for prizes offered by commanders."


title: Decapitation

text: As a terror tactic, "some American troops hacked the heads off... dead [Vietnamese] and mounted them on pikes or poles".


title: Decapitation

text: Although the Utah Territory permitted a person sentenced to death to choose beheading as a means of execution, no person chose that option, and it was dropped when Utah became a state.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence" which he believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his followers. The city developed as a busy port as it is situated at the mouth of the Providence River in Providence County, at the head of Narragansett Bay.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence was one of the first cities in the country to industrialize and became noted for its textile manufacturing and subsequent machine tool, jewelry, and silverware industries. Today, the city of Providence is home to eight hospitals and eight institutions of higher learning which have shifted the city's economy into service industries, though it still retains some manufacturing activity.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: At the 2020 census, Providence had a population of 190,934, making it the third-most-populous city in New England after Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence was settled in June 1636 by Puritan theologian Roger Williams and grew into one of the original Thirteen Colonies. As a minister in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Williams had advocated for the separation of church and state and condemned colonists' confiscation of land from Native Americans. For these "diverse, new, and dangerous opinions," he was convicted of sedition and heresy and banished from the colony. Williams and others established a settlement in Rumford, Rhode Island. The group later moved down the Seekonk River, around the point now known as Fox Point and up the Providence River to the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers. Here they established a new settlement they termed "Providence Plantations", one of the earliest towns in Colonial America.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Unlike Salem and Boston, Providence lacked a royal charter. The settlers thus organized themselves, allotting tracts on the eastern side of the Providence River in 1638. Roughly six acres each, these home lots extended from Towne Street (now South Main Street) to Hope Street. Over the following two decades, Providence Plantations grew into a self sufficient agricultural and fishing settlement, though its lands were difficult to farm and its borders were disputed with Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 1652, Providence prohibited African and African American slavery for periods of longer than 10 years. This statute constituted the first anti-slavery law in the United States, though there is no evidence the prohibition was ever enforced.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In March 1676, Providence Plantations was burned to the ground by the Narragansetts as part of King Philip's War. Later in the year, the Rhode Island legislature formally rebuked the other colonies for provoking the war. In 1770, Brown University moved to Providence from nearby Warren. At the time, the college was known as Rhode Island College and occupied a single building on College Hill. The college's choice to relocate to Providence as opposed to Newport symbolized a larger shift away from the latter city's commercial and political dominance over the state.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence residents were among the first Patriots to spill blood in the lead-up to the American Revolutionary War during the "Gaspee" Affair of 1772, and Rhode Island was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776. It was also the last of the Thirteen States to ratify the United States Constitution on May 29, 1790, once assurances were made that a Bill of Rights would become part of the Constitution.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Following the war, Providence was the nation's ninth-largest city with 7,614 people. The economy shifted from maritime endeavors to manufacturing, in particular machinery, tools, silverware, jewelry, and textiles. By the start of the 20th century, Providence hosted some of the largest manufacturing plants in the country, including Brown & Sharpe, Nicholson File, and Gorham Manufacturing Company. The city's industries attracted many immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, England, Italy, Portugal, Cape Verde, and French Canada. These economic and demographic shifts caused social strife. Hard Scrabble and Snow Town—two African American neighborhoods in the city—were the sites of race riots in 1824 and 1831.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence residents ratified a city charter in 1831 as the population passed 17,000. The seat of city government was located in the Market House in Market Square from 1832 to 1878, which was the geographic and social center of the city. The city offices soon outgrew this building, and the City Council resolved to create a permanent municipal building in 1845. The city offices moved into Providence City Hall in 1878.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Local politics split over slavery during the American Civil War, as many had ties to Southern cotton and the slave trade. Despite ambivalence concerning the war, the number of military volunteers routinely exceeded quota, and the city's manufacturing proved invaluable to the Union. Providence thrived after the war, and waves of immigrants brought the population from 54,595 in 1865 to 175,597 by 1900.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: By the early 1900s, Providence was one of the wealthiest cities in the United States. Immigrant labor powered one of the nation's largest industrial manufacturing centers. Providence was a major manufacturer of industrial products, from steam engines to precision tools to silverware, screws, and textiles. Giant companies were based in or near Providence, such as Brown & Sharpe, the Corliss Steam Engine Company, Babcock & Wilcox, the Grinnell Corporation, the Gorham Manufacturing Company, Nicholson File, and the Fruit of the Loom textile company. The manufacturing of jewelry and costume jewelry emerged as a dominant local industry. In the 1960s, jewelry trade magazines referred to Providence as “the jewelry capital of the world.”


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city began to see a decline by the mid-1920s as manufacturing industries began to shut down. The city was deeply affected by the Great Depression, which left more than a third of the city's labor force unemployed. The subsequent Recession of 1937–1938 was immediately followed by the New England Hurricane of 1938, which flooded the city's downtown. The hurricane was particularly destructive to the city's struggling textile industry, with many mills never reopening following the storm. Providence's population declined from a peak of 253,504 in 1940 to only 179,213 in 1970, as the white middle class fled to the suburbs. The remainder of these residents were disproportionately poor and elderly. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Providence was a notorious bastion of organized crime.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: From 1975 until 1982, $606 million of local and national community development funds were invested throughout the city. In the 1990s, the city pushed for revitalization, realigning the north–south railroad tracks, removing the huge rail viaduct that separated Downtown from the capitol building, uncovering and moving the rivers (which had been covered by paved bridges) to create Waterplace Park and river walks along the rivers' banks, and constructing the Fleet Skating Rink (now the Alex and Ani City Center) and the Providence Place Mall. In 1980, Providence's previously declining population began to grow once again.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In the early 2000s, Providence developed an economic development plan that outlined a planned shift to a knowledge economy. These efforts involved the rebranding of the formerly industrial Jewelry District as a new "Knowledge District". Despite new investment, poverty remains an entrenched problem. Approximately 27.9 percent of the city population is living below the poverty line. Recent increases in real estate values further exacerbate problems for those at marginal income levels, as Providence had the highest rise in median housing price of any city in the United States from 2004 to 2005.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The Providence city limits enclose a small geographical region with a total area of ; of it is land and the remaining is water (roughly 10%). Providence is located at the head of Narragansett Bay, with the Providence River running into the bay through the center of the city, formed by the confluence of the Moshassuck and Woonasquatucket Rivers. The Waterplace Park amphitheater and riverwalks line the river's banks through Downtown.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is one of many cities claimed to be founded on seven hills like Rome. The more prominent hills are: Constitution Hill (near Downtown), College Hill (east of the Providence River), and Federal Hill (west of Downtown and containing New England's largest Italian district outside of Massachusetts). The other four are: Tockwotten Hill at Fox Point, Smith Hill (where the State House is located), Christian Hill at Hoyle Square (junction of Cranston and Westminster Streets), and Weybosset Hill at the lower end of Weybosset Street, which was leveled in the early 1880s.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: As with many cities worldwide, the Northeastern megacity has a large population of feral pigeons ("Columba livia"). Although expecting Providence's population genetics to be continuous with the larger megacity, Carlen & Munshi-South 2020 find Providence and Boston share one population and the rest of the region shares another. This is likely due to the intervening low urbanization zone in western Connecticut.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence has 25 official neighborhoods, though these neighborhoods are often grouped together and referred to collectively:


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Geographically, Providence is compact—characteristic of eastern seaboard cities that developed prior to use of the automobile. The city is among the most densely populated cities in the country and boasts the eighth-highest percentage of pedestrian commuters. The street layout of the city is irregular; more than one thousand streets run haphazardly, connecting and radiating from traditionally bustling places such as Market Square.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Downtown Providence has numerous 19th-century mercantile buildings in the Federal and Victorian architectural styles, as well as several postmodern and modernist buildings. In particular, a fairly clear spatial separation appears between the areas of pre-1980s development and post-1980s development; West Exchange Street and Exchange Terrace serve as rough boundaries between the two. The newer area, sometimes called "Capitol Center", includes the Providence Place Mall (1999), Omni Providence Hotel (1993) and Residences Providence (2007), GTECH Corporation (2006), Waterplace Towers condominiums (2007), and Waterplace Park (1994). The area tends toward newer development, since much of it is land reclaimed in the 1970s from a mass of railroad tracks referred to colloquially as the "Chinese Wall". This part of Downtown is characterized by open spaces, wide roads, and landscaping.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The streetscape of much of historic downtown has retained a similar appearance since the early 20th century. Many of the state's tallest buildings are found here. At 426 feet (130 m), the city's largest structure is the art deco Industrial National Bank Building. The building contrasts with the city's second tallest structure—One Financial Plaza—which is designed in the modernist style. Other core buildings of the Providence skyline are the postmodern 50 Kennedy Plaza and late modern Textron Tower. Downtown is also the home of the historic Providence Biltmore hotel and Westminster Arcade—the oldest enclosed shopping mall in the U.S.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city's southern waterfront, away from the downtown core, is the location of oil tanks, ferry and sailing docks, power plants, and nightclubs. The Russian Submarine Museum was located here until 2008, when the submarine sank. The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier is also found here, built to protect Providence from storm surge like those endured by the city during the 1938 New England Hurricane and 1954 Hurricane Carol.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The majority of the cityscape comprises abandoned and revitalized industrial mills, double- and triple-decker housing, a small number of high-rise buildings (predominantly for housing the elderly), and single family homes. Interstate 95 serves as a physical barrier between the city's commercial core and neighborhoods such as Federal Hill and the West End.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfa") bordering a humid subtropical climate with hot summers, cold winters, and high humidity year-round. The USDA places the city in hardiness zone 6b, with the suburbs in zones 6a–7b. The influence of the Atlantic Ocean keeps the state of Rhode Island warmer than many inland locales in New England.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: January is the coldest month with a daily mean of and low temperatures dropping to or lower an average of 11 days per winter, while July is the warmest month with a daily mean of and highs rising to or higher an average of 10 days per summer. Extremes range from on February 9, 1934 to on August 2, 1975; the record cold daily maximum is on February 5, 1918, while the record warm daily minimum is on June 6, 1925. Temperature readings of or lower are uncommon in Providence and generally occur once every several years. The year which had the most days with a temperature reading of zero degrees or lower was 2015 with eight days total—one day in January and seven days in February. Conversely, temperature readings of or higher are even rarer, and the year with the most days in this category was 1944 with three days, all of which were in August.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Monthly precipitation in Providence ranges from a high of in March to a low of in July. In general, precipitation levels are slightly less in the summer months than the winter months, when nor'easters can cause significant snowfall and blizzard conditions. Hurricanes are not frequent in coastal New England, although Providence's location at the head of Narragansett Bay makes it vulnerable to them.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: As of the 2000 United States census, Providence's population consisted of 173,618 people, 162,389 households, and 35,859 families. The population density was , characteristic of other small cities in New England such as New Haven, Connecticut; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Hartford, Connecticut. The city's population peaked in the 1940s, just prior to the nationwide period of rapid suburbanization. The Providence metropolitan area includes Providence, Fall River, Massachusetts, and Warwick, and is estimated to have a population of 1,622,520. In 2006, this area was officially added to the Boston Combined Statistical Area (CSA), the sixth-largest CSA in the country. In recent years, Providence has experienced a sizable growth in its under-18 population. The median age of the city was 28 years, while the largest age cohort is 20- to 24-year-olds as of 2000.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence has a racially and ethnically diverse population. In 2020, white Americans formed 53.1% of the population, including a sizable white Hispanic community. Non-Hispanic whites were 33.8% of the total population, down from 89.5% in 1970. Providence has had a substantial Italian American population since the start of the 20th century, with 14% of the population claiming Italian ancestry. Italian influence manifests itself in Providence's 'Little Italy' in Federal Hill. Irish immigrants have also had considerable influence on the city's history, with 8% of residents claiming Irish heritage. The percentages of people claiming Irish and Italian ancestry, though high, has gone down considerably from historical highs, and is much lower than the percentages of these groups in Rhode Island as a whole. The city also has a sizable Jewish community, estimated at 10,500 in 2012, or roughly 5% of the city's population.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In 2020, people of Hispanic or Latino origin composed 43.5% of the city's population. They formed a majority of city public school students as of 2007. The majority of Hispanics in Providence are of Dominican descent. Numbering roughly 25,000 and constituting roughly half of the city's Hispanic population, Providence's Dominican community is the fifth largest in the United States. Other Hispanic groups present in sizable numbers include Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans, and Colombians. Hispanics are widespread in significant numbers in most of Providence, but most concentrated in the neighborhoods of Elmwood, the West End, and Upper and Lower South Providence.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: African Americans constitute 16.1% of the city's population, with their greatest concentrations found in Mount Hope and the Upper and Lower South Providence neighborhoods. Providence has small Liberian and Haitian communities in the city. Liberians compose 0.4% of the population; the city is home to one of the largest Liberian immigrant populations in the country. Asian-Americans constitute 5.6% of Providence's population. The largest Asian groups are Cambodians (1.7%), Chinese (1.1%), Indian Americans (0.7%), Laotians (0.6%), and Koreans (0.6%). Another 6% of the city has multiracial ancestry. American Indians and Pacific Islanders make up the remaining 0.9%.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence has a considerable community of immigrants from various Portuguese-speaking countries, especially Portugal, Brazil, and Cape Verde. These residents are concentrated in the Washington Park and Fox Point neighborhoods. Portuguese is the city's third-largest European ethnicity, after Italian and Irish. Cape Verdeans compose 2% of the city's population.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The per capita income as of the 2000 census was $15,525, which is well below both the state average of $29,113 and the national average of $21,587. The median income for a household was $26,867, and the median income for a family in Providence was $32,058. The city has one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation with 29.1% of the population and 23.9% of families living below the poverty line. Of residents in poverty, the largest concentrations are found in the city's Olneyville, and Upper and Lower South Providence areas. Poverty has affected children at a disproportionately higher rate, with 40.1% of those under the age of 18 living below the poverty line. These residents are concentrated west of Downtown in the neighborhoods of Hartford, Federal Hill, and Olneyville.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Compared to the national average, Providence has an average rate of violent crime and a higher rate of property crime per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2019, the city experienced 18 murders, up slightly from the prior year's total of 13. The 2018 number—10— was tied as the city's lowest in 40 years. Violent crime in the city is highly specific by neighborhood, with the vast majority of the murders taking place in the poorer sections of Providence such as Olneyville, Elmwood, South Providence, and the West End.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Over one third of Providence's economy is based in trade, transportation, utilities, and educational and health services. As the capital of Rhode Island, the city's economy additionally consists of government services, with approximately 70,000 jobs. The unemployment rate in the city is 5.0% as of August 2022, compared to a national rate of 3.8%.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Prominent companies headquartered in Providence include Fortune 500 Textron, an advanced technologies industrial conglomerate; United Natural Foods, a distributor of natural and organic foods; Fortune 1000 Nortek Incorporated; Gilbane, a construction and real estate company. Other companies with headquarters in the city include Citizens Bank, Virgin Pulse, Ørsted US Offshore Wind, and Providence Equity. Providence is the site of a sectional center facility (SCF), a regional hub for the U.S. Postal Service. Providence is also home to some of toy manufacturer Hasbro's business operations, although their headquarters are in Pawtucket.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city is home to the Rhode Island Convention Center, which opened in December 1993. Along with a hotel, the convention center is connected to the Providence Place Mall, a major retail center, through a skywalk.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Much of Providence culture is synonymous with the culture of Rhode Island as a whole. Like the state, the city has a non-rhotic accent that can be heard on local media. Providence also shares Rhode Island's affinity for coffee, with the most coffee and doughnut shops per capita of any city in the country. Providence is also reputed to have the highest number of restaurants per capita of major U.S. cities.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: During the summer months, the city regularly hosts WaterFire, an environmental art installation that consists of about 100 bonfires which blaze just above the surface of the three rivers that pass through the middle of Downtown Providence. There are multiple WaterFire events that are accompanied by various pieces of classical and world music.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence has several ethnic neighborhoods, notably Federal Hill and the North End (Italian), Fox Point (Portuguese), West End (mainly Central American and Asian), and Smith Hill (Irish). There are also many dedicated community organizations and arts associations located in the city.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city gained the reputation as one of the most active and growing gay and lesbian communities in the Northeast. The rate of reported gay and lesbian relationships is 75% higher than the national average. Former mayor David Cicilline won his election running as an openly gay man. Former Mayor Buddy Cianci instituted the position of Mayor's Liaison to the Gay and Lesbian community in the 1990s. and Providence is home to the largest gay bathhouse in New England.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city is the home of the Tony Award-winning theater group Trinity Repertory Company, the Providence Black Repertory Company, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as groups such as The American Band, once associated with noted American composer David Wallis Reeves. Providence hosts several performing arts centers, such as the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, the Providence Performing Arts Center, and Festival Ballet Providence. The city's underground music is centered on artist-run spaces such as the now-defunct Fort Thunder and is known in underground music circles. Providence is also home to the Providence Improv Guild, an improvisational theatre that has weekly performances and offers improv and sketch comedy classes, and AS220, a long-standing non-profit arts center with exhibition, educational, and performance spaces, as well as live-work studios.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is home to a park system. Notable among these are Waterplace Park and the Riverwalk, Roger Williams Park, Roger Williams National Memorial, and Prospect Terrace Park. Prospect Terrace Park features expansive views of the downtown area, as well as a 15-foot tall granite statue of Roger Williams gazing over the city. As one of the first cities in America, Providence contains many historic buildings, while the East Side neighborhood in particular includes the largest contiguous area of buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the U.S., with many pre-revolutionary houses.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence's East Side is home to the First Baptist Church in America, which was founded by Williams in 1638, as well as the Old State House which served as the state's capitol from 1762 to 1904. Nearby is Roger Williams National Memorial. The dome of the State House is the fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world and the second-largest marble dome after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The Westminster Arcade is the oldest enclosed shopping center in the U.S.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The Rhode Island School of Design Museum contains the 20th-largest collection in the United States. The Providence Athenæum is the fourth oldest library in the United States, in addition to the Providence Public Library and the nine branches of the Providence Community Library. Edgar Allan Poe frequented the library, and met and courted Sarah Helen Whitman there. H. P. Lovecraft was also a regular patron.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The Bank Newport City Center is located near Kennedy Plaza in the Downtown district, connected by pedestrian tunnel to Waterplace Park, a cobblestone and concrete park below street traffic that abuts Providence's three rivers. Another downtown landmark is the Providence Biltmore, a historic hotel which stands adjacent to Kennedy Plaza.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The southern part of the city is home to the famous roadside attraction Big Blue Bug, the world's largest termite and mascot of eponymous Big Blue Bug Solutions. Roger Williams Park contains a zoo, a botanical center, and the Museum of Natural History and Planetarium.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is home to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League, who play at the Dunkin' Donuts Center (formerly the Providence Civic Center). From 1926 to 1972, the AHL's Providence Reds (renamed the Rhode Island Reds in their last years) played at the Rhode Island Auditorium. In 1972, the team relocated to the Providence Civic Center, where they played until moving to Binghamton, New York, in 1977.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The NFL's New England Patriots and MLS's New England Revolution play in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is situated halfway between Providence and Boston. Providence was formerly home to two major league franchises: the NFL's Providence Steam Roller in the 1920s and 1930s, and the NBA's Providence Steamrollers in the 1940s. The Rhode Island Auditorium also hosted 29 of the 49 boxing fights of Rocky Marciano.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city's defunct baseball team, the Providence Grays, competed in the National League from 1879 through 1885. The team defeated the New York Metropolitans in baseball's first successful "world championship series" in 1884. In 1914, after the Boston Red Sox purchased Babe Ruth from the then-minor league Baltimore Orioles, the team prepared Ruth for the major leagues by sending him to finish the season playing for a minor league team in Providence that was also known as the Grays. Most baseball fans—along with the local media—tend to follow the Boston Red Sox.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Major colleges and universities fielding NCAA Division I athletic teams are Brown University and Providence College. The latter is a member of the Big East Conference.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence has also hosted the alternative sports event Gravity Games from 1999 to 2001, and was also the first host of ESPN's X Games, known in its first edition as the Extreme Games, in 1995. Providence has its own roller derby league. Formed in 2004, it currently has four teams: the Providence Mob Squad, the Sakonnet River Roller Rats, the Old Money Honeys, and the Rhode Island Riveters. Until 2020, Providence was home to the headquarters of the American Athletic Conference (The American).


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The Providence City Council consists of 15 councilors, one for each of the city's wards, who enact ordinances and pass an annual budget. Providence uses a strong-mayor form of government in which the city council acts as a check against the power of the executive branch, the mayor. The members of the Providence City Council are elected by residents of the fifteen wards of Providence. City Council members are elected to four-year terms and are limited, by City Charter, to serving a maximum of three consecutive full terms (excluding any partial term of less than two years previously served).


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: As the state capital, Providence houses the Rhode Island General Assembly, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor in the Rhode Island State House. Providence also has probate and superior courts. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island is located downtown across from Providence City Hall adjacent to Kennedy Plaza.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The main campuses of five of Rhode Island's colleges and universities are in Providence (city proper):


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In addition, the Community College of Rhode Island, Roger Williams University, and University of Rhode Island have satellite campuses in the city. Between these schools, the number of post-secondary students is between 32,000 and 44,000. Higher education exerts a considerable presence in the city's politics and economy, compounded by the fact that Brown University is the city's second-largest employer.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: There are several private schools in the city's East Side, including Moses Brown, the Lincoln School, and the Wheeler School. La Salle Academy, a Catholic college preparatory school, is located in the North End, near Providence College. The public charter schools Time Squared Academy High School (K–12) and Textron Chamber of Commerce (9–12) are funded by GTECH Corporation and Textron respectively. In addition, the city's South Side houses Community Preparatory School, a private school serving primarily low-income students in grades 3–8. There are two separate centers for students with special needs. Providence Hebrew Day School (1946) is a local Jewish school.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The Providence Public School District serves about 21,000 students from pre-Kindergarten to grade 12. The district has 21 elementary schools, seven middle schools, and nine high schools. The Providence Public School District features magnet schools at the middle and high school level, Nathanael Greene and Classical respectively. The overall graduation rate is 73.6%, which is slightly below the statewide rate of 84% and the national average of 86%.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is the center of Southern New England's broadcasting market, which also encompasses Bristol County, Massachusetts, which includes the cities of Fall River and New Bedford. The city is served by television stations representing every major American television network, as well as radio stations originating from Providence and Boston.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is home to eight hospitals, most prominently Rhode Island Hospital, the largest general acute care hospital in the state. It is also the Level I Trauma Center for Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Connecticut. The hospital is in a complex that includes Hasbro Children's Hospital and Women and Infants Hospital. The city is also home to the Roger Williams Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital For Specialty Care (a division of St. Joseph Health Services Of Rhode Island), The Miriam Hospital, a major teaching affiliate associated with the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, as well as a Veterans Affairs medical center.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Providence is served by T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, and general aviation fields also serve the region. Massport has been promoting T. F. Green as an alternative to Boston's Logan International Airport because of over-crowding. Providence Station is located between the Rhode Island State House and the Downtown district and is served by Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail services, with a commuter rail route running north to Boston and south to T.F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction. Approximately 2,400 passengers pass through the station per day.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: I-95 runs from north to south through Providence; I-195 connects the city to eastern Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, including New Bedford, Massachusetts and Cape Cod. I-295 encircles Providence, while RI 146 provides a direct connection with Worcester, Massachusetts. The city began the long-term project Iway in 2007 to move I-195 for safety reasons, to free up land, and to reunify the Jewelry District with Downtown Providence, which had been separated by the highway. The project was estimated to cost $610 million.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The Port of Providence (branded as ProvPort) is the second largest deep-water seaport in New England. In 1994, the city incorporated ProvPort as an independent non-profit. It is located on a single campus on the west side of the Providence River, next to the Washington Park neighborhood. As of 2021, operations are contracted to Waterson Terminal Services, which also operates ports in New Bedford, Massachusetts and Davisville, Rhode Island. ProvPort handles cargoes such as cement, chemicals, heavy machinery, petroleum, and scrap metal.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Kennedy Plaza in Downtown Providence serves as a transportation hub for local public transit as well as a departure point for Peter Pan Bus Lines and Greyhound Lines. Public transit is managed by Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA). Through RIPTA alone, Kennedy Plaza averages more than 71,000 people a day. The majority of the area covered by RIPTA is served by traditional buses, but RIPTA also runs a "Rapid Bus", the R-Line which connects the suburbs of Pawtucket and Cranston with Downtown Providence. Of particular note is the East Side Trolley Tunnel running under College Hill, whose use is reserved for RIPTA buses. From 2000 to 2008, RIPTA operated a seasonal ferry to Newport between May and October, but SeaStreak began operating that ferry route in 2016. In 2020, RIPTA completed construction of the Downtown Transit Connector, an upgraded bus rapid transit service to run from Providence Station to the Hospital District.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The city serves as the end point for four of the state's major traffic-free bicycle paths: the East Bay Bike Path, Washington Secondary Rail Trail, the Woonasquatucket Greenway Bike Path, and the Blackstone River Greenway. There are several dedicated on-road bicycle lanes within the city.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In 2017, the city signed a $400,000 contract with a bicycle sharing company, Jump, to introduce Providence's first program of its kind, supported by local hospitals and RIPTA. Shortly after the program started in September 2018, the bicycles became associated with a "wave of vandalism and criminal activity" including widespread thefts of bicycles, bikes tossed into the Providence River, and even a company technician held at gunpoint. The company suspended the program in August 2019. In 2021, a new company, Spin, reintroduced a bike sharing program to the city.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In August 2019, a pedestrian bridge opened, spanning the Providence River and connecting Providence's east and west sides. The bridge was constructed on the granite piers of the old Route 195 bridge.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: In January 2020, mayor Jorge Elorza unveiled a "Great Streets" initiative to create a framework of public space improvements to encourage walking, riding bicycles, and public transit. The plan includes establishing an "Urban Trail Network" which includes of bicycle paths, bike lanes, and greenways.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: Electricity and natural gas are provided by Rhode Island Energy, which took over from National Grid in May 2022. Providence Water is responsible for the distribution of drinking water, ninety percent of which comes from the Scituate Reservoir about west of downtown, with contributions coming from four smaller bodies of water. The city has history of severe lead problems from old lead pipes, which the city is actively working to replace and offering loans to homeowners to place. "The Guardian" has criticized the equity of the city's solution. Drinking water in Providence has been rated among the highest quality in the country.


title: Providence, Rhode Island

text: The headquarters of the city's fire and police departments is a Public Safety Complex. The building was dedicated in 2002 by former Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. Providence Police Department operated on a $85.6 million budget in 2020 employing 453 officers.


title: Lizard

text: Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia although some lizards are more closely related to these two excluded groups than they are to other lizards. Lizards range in size from chameleons and geckos a few centimeters long to the 3-meter-long Komodo dragon.


title: Lizard

text: Most lizards are quadrupedal, running with a strong side-to-side motion. Some lineages (known as "legless lizards"), have secondarily lost their legs, and have long snake-like bodies. Some such as the forest-dwelling "Draco" lizards are able to glide. They are often territorial, the males fighting off other males and signalling, often with bright colours, to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Lizards are mainly carnivorous, often being sit-and-wait predators; many smaller species eat insects, while the Komodo eats mammals as big as water buffalo.


title: Lizard

text: Lizards make use of a variety of antipredator adaptations, including venom, camouflage, reflex bleeding, and the ability to sacrifice and regrow their tails.


title: Lizard

text: The adult length of species within the suborder ranges from a few centimeters for chameleons such as "Brookesia micra" and geckos such as "Sphaerodactylus ariasae" to nearly in the case of the largest living varanid lizard, the Komodo dragon. Most lizards are fairly small animals.


title: Lizard

text: Lizards typically have rounded torsos, elevated heads on short necks, four limbs and long tails, although some are legless. Lizards and snakes share a movable quadrate bone, distinguishing them from the rhynchocephalians, which have more rigid diapsid skulls. Some lizards such as chameleons have prehensile tails, assisting them in climbing among vegetation.


title: Lizard

text: As in other reptiles, the skin of lizards is covered in overlapping scales made of keratin. This provides protection from the environment and reduces water loss through evaporation. This adaptation enables lizards to thrive in some of the driest deserts on earth. The skin is tough and leathery, and is shed (sloughed) as the animal grows. Unlike snakes which shed the skin in a single piece, lizards slough their skin in several pieces. The scales may be modified into spines for display or protection, and some species have bone osteoderms underneath the scales.


title: Lizard

text: The dentitions of lizards reflect their wide range of diets, including carnivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous, herbivorous, nectivorous, and molluscivorous. Species typically have uniform teeth suited to their diet, but several species have variable teeth, such as cutting teeth in the front of the jaws and crushing teeth in the rear. Most species are pleurodont, though agamids and chameleons are acrodont.


title: Lizard

text: The tongue can be extended outside the mouth, and is often long. In the beaded lizards, whiptails and monitor lizards, the tongue is forked and used mainly or exclusively to sense the environment, continually flicking out to sample the environment, and back to transfer molecules to the vomeronasal organ responsible for chemosensation, analogous to but different from smell or taste. In geckos, the tongue is used to lick the eyes clean: they have no eyelids. Chameleons have very long sticky tongues which can be extended rapidly to catch their insect prey.


title: Lizard

text: Three lineages, the geckos, anoles, and chameleons, have modified the scales under their toes to form adhesive pads, highly prominent in the first two groups. The pads are composed of millions of tiny setae (hair-like structures) which fit closely to the substrate to adhere using van der Waals forces; no liquid adhesive is needed. In addition, the toes of chameleons are divided into two opposed groups on each foot (zygodactyly), enabling them to perch on branches as birds do.


title: Lizard

text: Aside from legless lizards, most lizards are quadrupedal and move using gaits with alternating movement of the right and left limbs with substantial body bending. This body bending prevents significant respiration during movement, limiting their endurance, in a mechanism called Carrier's constraint. Several species can run bipedally, and a few can prop themselves up on their hindlimbs and tail while stationary. Several small species such as those in the genus "Draco" can glide: some can attain a distance of , losing in height. Some species, like geckos and chameleons, adhere to vertical surfaces including glass and ceilings. Some species, like the common basilisk, can run across water.


title: Lizard

text: Lizards make use of their senses of sight, touch, olfaction and hearing like other vertebrates. The balance of these varies with the habitat of different species; for instance, skinks that live largely covered by loose soil rely heavily on olfaction and touch, while geckos depend largely on acute vision for their ability to hunt and to evaluate the distance to their prey before striking. Monitor lizards have acute vision, hearing, and olfactory senses. Some lizards make unusual use of their sense organs: chameleons can steer their eyes in different directions, sometimes providing non-overlapping fields of view, such as forwards and backwards at once. Lizards lack external ears, having instead a circular opening in which the tympanic membrane (eardrum) can be seen. Many species rely on hearing for early warning of predators, and flee at the slightest sound.


title: Lizard

text: As in snakes and many mammals, all lizards have a specialised olfactory system, the vomeronasal organ, used to detect pheromones. Monitor lizards transfer scent from the tip of their tongue to the organ; the tongue is used only for this information-gathering purpose, and is not involved in manipulating food.


title: Lizard

text: Some lizards, particularly iguanas, have retained a photosensory organ on the top of their heads called the parietal eye, a basal ("primitive") feature also present in the tuatara. This "eye" has only a rudimentary retina and lens and cannot form images, but is sensitive to changes in light and dark and can detect movement. This helps them detect predators stalking it from above.


title: Lizard

text: Until 2006 it was thought that the Gila monster and the Mexican beaded lizard were the only venomous lizards. However, several species of monitor lizards, including the Komodo dragon, produce powerful venom in their oral glands. Lace monitor venom, for instance, causes swift loss of consciousness and extensive bleeding through its pharmacological effects, both lowering blood pressure and preventing blood clotting. Nine classes of toxin known from snakes are produced by lizards. The range of actions provides the potential for new medicinal drugs based on lizard venom proteins.


title: Lizard

text: Genes associated with venom toxins have been found in the salivary glands on a wide range of lizards, including species traditionally thought of as non-venomous, such as iguanas and bearded dragons. This suggests that these genes evolved in the common ancestor of lizards and snakes, some 200 million years ago (forming a single clade, the Toxicofera). However, most of these putative venom genes were "housekeeping genes" found in all cells and tissues, including skin and cloacal scent glands. The genes in question may thus be evolutionary precursors of venom genes.


title: Lizard

text: Recent studies (2013 and 2014) on the lung anatomy of the savannah monitor and green iguana found them to have a unidirectional airflow system, which involves the air moving in a loop through the lungs when breathing. This was previously thought to only exist in the archosaurs (crocodilians and birds). This may be evidence that unidirectional airflow is an ancestral trait in diapsids.


title: Lizard

text: As with all amniotes, lizards rely on internal fertilisation and copulation involves the male inserting one of his hemipenes into the female's cloaca. The majority of species are oviparous (egg laying). The female deposits the eggs in a protective structure like a nest or crevice or simply on the ground. Depending on the species, clutch size can vary from 4–5 percent of the females body weight to 40–50 percent and clutches range from one or a few large eggs to dozens of small ones.


title: Lizard

text: In most lizards, the eggs have leathery shells to allow for the exchange of water, although more arid-living species have calcified shells to retain water. Inside the eggs, the embryos use nutrients from the yolk. Parental care is uncommon and the female usually abandons the eggs after laying them. Brooding and protection of eggs does occur in some species. The female prairie skink uses respiratory water loss to maintain the humidity of the eggs which facilitates embryonic development. In lace monitors, the young hatch close to 300 days, and the female returns to help them escape the termite mound where the eggs were laid.


title: Lizard

text: Around 20 percent of lizard species reproduce via viviparity (live birth). This is particularly common in Anguimorphs. Viviparous species give birth to relatively developed young which look like miniature adults. Embryos are nourished via a placenta-like structure. A minority of lizards have parthenogenesis (reproduction from unfertilised eggs). These species consist of all females who reproduce asexually with no need for males. This is known in occur in various species of whiptail lizards. Parthenogenesis was also recorded in species that normally reproduce sexually. A captive female Komodo dragon produced a clutch of eggs, despite being separated from males for over two years.


title: Lizard

text: Sex determination in lizards can be temperature-dependent. The temperature of the eggs' micro-environment can determine the sex of the hatched young: low temperature incubation produces more females while higher temperatures produce more males. However, some lizards have sex chromosomes and both male heterogamety (XY and XXY) and female heterogamety (ZW) occur.


title: Lizard

text: The majority of lizard species are active during the day, though some are active at night, notably geckos. As ectotherms, lizards have a limited ability to regulate their body temperature, and must seek out and bask in sunlight to gain enough heat to become fully active. Thermoregulation behavior can be beneficial in the short term for lizards as it allows the ability to buffer environmental variation and endure climate warming.


title: Lizard

text: In high altitudes, the "Podarcis hispaniscus" responds to higher temperature with a darker dorsal coloration to prevent UV-radiation and background matching. Their thermoregulatory mechanisms also allow the lizard to maintain their ideal body temperature for optimal mobility.


title: Lizard

text: Most social interactions among lizards are between breeding individuals. Territoriality is common and is correlated with species that use sit-and-wait hunting strategies. Males establish and maintain territories that contain resources which attract females and which they defend from other males. Important resources include basking, feeding, and nesting sites as well as refuges from predators. The habitat of a species affects the structure of territories, for example, rock lizards have territories atop rocky outcrops. Some species may aggregate in groups, enhancing vigilance and lessening the risk of predation for individuals, particularly for juveniles. Agonistic behaviour typically occurs between sexually mature males over territory or mates and may involve displays, posturing, chasing, grappling and biting.


title: Lizard

text: Lizards signal both to attract mates and to intimidate rivals. Visual displays include body postures and inflation, push-ups, bright colours, mouth gapings and tail waggings. Male anoles and iguanas have dewlaps or skin flaps which come in various sizes, colours and patterns and the expansion of the dewlap as well as head-bobs and body movements add to the visual signals. Some species have deep blue dewlaps and communicate with ultraviolet signals. Blue-tongued skinks will flash their tongues as a threat display. Chameleons are known to change their complex colour patterns when communicating, particularly during agonistic encounters. They tend to show brighter colours when displaying aggression and darker colours when they submit or "give up".


title: Lizard

text: Several gecko species are brightly coloured; some species tilt their bodies to display their coloration. In certain species, brightly coloured males turn dull when not in the presence of rivals or females. While it is usually males that display, in some species females also use such communication. In the bronze anole, head-bobs are a common form of communication among females, the speed and frequency varying with age and territorial status. Chemical cues or pheromones are also important in communication. Males typically direct signals at rivals, while females direct them at potential mates. Lizards may be able to recognise individuals of the same species by their scent.