title: Anarcho-communism

text: Anarchist communism, as an anarchist philosophy, is against hierarchy in all its forms. Anarchist communists do not think anyone has the right to be anyone else's master or 'boss' as this concept of capitalism and the state implies authority over the individual. Some contemporary anarchist communists and advocates of post-left anarchy, such as Bob Black, reject the concept of work altogether in favor of turning necessary subsistence tasks into voluntary free play.


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Kropotkin said that the main authoritarian mistakes in communist experiments of the past were their being based on "religious enthusiasm" and the desire to live "as a family" where the individual had to "submit to the dictates of a punctilious morality". For him, anarcho-communism should be based on the right of free association and disassociation for individuals and groups and on significantly lowering the number of hours each individual dedicates to necessary labor. He says that "to recognise a variety of occupations as the basis of all progress and to organise in such a way that man may be absolutely free during his leisure time, whilst he may also vary his work, a change for which his early education and instruction will have prepared him—this can easily be put in practice in a Communist society—this, again, means the emancipation of the individual, who will find doors open in every direction for his complete development".


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Some anarcho-communists and collectivist anarchists also reject individualism and collectivism as illusory concepts. They argue that individuals sacrificing themselves for the "greater", or being ruled by the "community" or "society", is not possible because society is composed of individuals rather than being a cohesive unit separate from the individual and argue that collective control over the individual is tyrannical and antithetical to anarchism. Others such as Lucien van der Walt and Michael Schmidt argue that "[t]he anarchists did not [...] identify freedom with the right of everybody to do exactly what one pleased but with a social order in which collective effort and responsibilities—that is to say, obligations—would provide the material basis and social nexus in which individual freedom could exist." They argued that "genuine freedom and individuality could only exist in a free society" and that in contrast to "misanthropic bourgeois individualism" anarchism was based in "a deep love of freedom, understood as a social product, a deep respect for human rights, a profound celebration of humankind and its potential and a commitment to a form of society where a 'true individuality' was irrevocably linked to 'the highest communist socieability'".


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Egoist anarchist philosophical positions are essential in anarcho-communist insurrectionary anarchism. In the early 20th century, the Italian individualist anarchist Renzo Novatore advocated both revolution and anarcho-communism when he said, "revolution is the fire of our will and a need of our solitary minds; it is an obligation of the libertarian aristocracy. To create new ethical values. To create new aesthetic values. To communalize material wealth. To individualize spiritual wealth." From Stirnerist positions, he also disrespected private property when he said that "[o]nly ethical and spiritual wealth" was "invulnerable. This is the true property of individuals. The rest no! The rest is vulnerable! And all that is vulnerable will be violated!" This can also be seen in the contemporary writings of insurrectionary anarchism, as seen in the work of Wolfi Landstreicher, Alfredo Bonanno, and others. After analyzing insurrectionary anarcho-communist Luigi Galleani's view on anarcho-communism, post-left anarcho-communist Bob Black went as far as saying that "communism is the final fulfillment of individualism [...] The apparent contradiction between individualism and communism rests on a misunderstanding of both [...] Subjectivity is also objective: the individual really is subjective. It is nonsense to speak of 'emphatically prioritizing the social over the individual,' [...] You may as well speak of prioritizing the chicken over the egg. Anarchy is a 'method of individualization.' It aims to combine the greatest individual development with the greatest communal unity."


title: Anarcho-communism

text: In the article by Max Baginski called "Stirner: The Ego and His Own", published in the American anarchist magazine "Mother Earth", there is the following affirmation: "Modern Communists are more individualistic than Stirner. To them, not merely religion, morality, family and State are spooks, but property also is no more than a spook, in whose name the individual is enslaved—and how enslaved! The individuality is nowadays held in far stronger bondage by property, than by the combined power of State, religion and morality [...] The prime condition is that the individual should not be forced to humiliate and lower himself for the sake of property and subsistence. Communism thus creates a basis for the liberty and Eigenheit of the individual. I am a Communist because I am an Individualist. Fully as heartily the Communists concur with Stirner when he puts the word "take" in place of "demand"—that leads to the dissolution of private property, to expropriation. Individualism and Communism go hand in hand."


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Anarchist communists counter the capitalist conception that communal property can only be maintained by force and that such a position is neither fixed in nature nor unchangeable in practice, citing numerous examples of communal behavior occurring naturally, even within capitalist systems. Anarchist communists call for the abolition of private property while maintaining respect for personal property. As such, the prominent anarcho-communist Alexander Berkman maintained that "The revolution abolishes private ownership of the means of production and distribution, and with it goes capitalistic business. Personal possession remains only in the things you use. Thus, your watch is your own, but the watch factory belongs to the people. Land, machinery, and all other public utilities will be collective property, neither to be bought nor sold. Actual use will be considered the only title-not to ownership but to possession. The organization of the coal miners, for example, will be in charge of the coal mines, not as owners but as the operating agency. Similarly will the railroad brotherhoods run the railroads, and so on. Collective possession, cooperatively managed in the interests of the community, will take the place of personal ownership privately conducted for profit."


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Anarcho-communism has been critical of a simple call for workers' ownership of workplaces and their administration as cooperatives. While not at odds with syndicalism as a tactic, it opposes the vision of anarcho-syndicalism as a theory, which sees a post-capitalist economy being made up of federations of industrial syndicates.


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Anarcho-communism proposes that the future society be organized territorially through free communes (localities) instead of industrially through workers' unions (syndicates). Each commune is perceived as an integrated political-economic unit, removing the distinction between work and community and existing as part of a wider communal confederation made up of other such autonomous communes linked together via voluntary contractual agreements. This is seen as overcoming the economic-centrism of more "workerist" forms of socialism, which focus on the workplace alone as a site of struggle.


title: Anarcho-communism

text: The term "communism" in anarcho-communism should be taken to refer to a polity of communes and an economy of the commons.


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Leninists believe that without a transitional period of state control (their interpretation of the dictatorship of the proletariat), it would be impossible for any revolution to maintain the momentum or cohesion to defend the new society against external and internal threats. Friedrich Engels noted: "Without a previous social revolution the abolition of the state is nonsense; the abolition of capital is in itself the social revolution and involves a change in the whole method of production." Alternatively, such quotations have been interpreted by anarcho-communists supportive of Marx and Engels to suggest the abolition of capitalism and the state simultaneously, not the creation of a new state. Anarchists reject the Marxist–Leninist model of the "dictatorship of the proletariat," arguing that any revolutionary minority taking over state power would be just as authoritarian as the ruling class in capitalism to defend the new state and eventually constitute itself as a new ruling class. As an extension of this, anarcho-communists counter-argue that decentralized, stateless collective federations are sufficient to give both power to workers and preserve personal freedom and point to the fact that no socialist state has ever shown signs of "withering away". The Spanish Revolution is cited as an example of successful anarchist military mobilization, albeit one crushed by superior forces.


title: Anarcho-communism

text: Anarcho-communism calls for a decentralized confederal form in relationships of mutual aid and free association between communes as an alternative to the centralism of the nation-state. Peter Kropotkin thus suggested:


title: Volga Tatars

text: The Volga Tatars or simply Tatars () are a Turkic ethnic group native to the Volga-Ural region of Russia. They are subdivided into various subgroups. Volga Tatars are Russia's second-largest ethnicity after the Russians. They compose 53% of the population of Tatarstan and 25% of the population of Bashkortostan. The Volga Tatars are by far the largest group amongst the Tatars.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Tatars inhabiting the Republic of Tatarstan, a federal subject of Russia, constitute one third of all Tatars, while the other two thirds reside outside Tatarstan. Some of the communities residing outside Tatarstan developed before the Russian Revolution of 1917, as Tatars were specialized in trading.


title: Volga Tatars

text: During the 14th century, Sunni Islam was adopted by many of the Tatars. Tatars became subjects of Russia after the Siege of Kazan in 1552.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Russians were using the Tatar ethnonym during the 18th and 19th centuries to denote all Turkic inhabitants of the Russian Empire, but, before the emergence of the Soviet Union, the Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire did not generally identify as Tatars. Up to the end of the 19th century, Volga Tatars mainly identified as Muslims, until the rehabilitation of the ethnonym Tatar occurred. Russian officials used literary Tatar language to interact with the Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire before the end of the 19th century. The Volga Tatar role in the Muslim national and cultural movements of the Russian Empire before the 1917 Revolution is significant and this continued even after 1917.


title: Volga Tatars

text: The 1921–1922 famine in Tatarstan was a period of mass starvation and drought that took place in the Tatar ASSR as a result of war communism policy, in which 500 thousand to 2 million peasants died. The event was part of the greater Russian famine of 1921–22 that affected other parts of the USSR, in which up 5 million people died in total.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Tatar authorities have attempted since the 1990s, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, to reverse the Russification of Tatarstan that took place during the Soviet period.


title: Volga Tatars

text: The majority of Volga Tatars are Kazan Tatars. They form the bulk of the Tatar population of Tatarstan. Traditionally, they inhabit the left bank of Volga River.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Khazar invasions forced the Bulgars, Turkic people, to migrate from the Azov steppes to the Middle Volga and lower Kama region during the first half of the eighth century. In the period of 10th–13th centuries, other Turkic peoples, including Kipchaks, migrated from Southern Siberia to Europe. They played a significant role in the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 13th century. Tatar ethnogenesis took place after migrated Turkic peoples, mixed with the local Bulgar population and other inhabitants of the Volga River area, kept Kipchak dialect and became Muslims. Several new Tatar states had emerged by the 1500s after the Golden Horde fell. These states were Khanate of Kazan, Astrakhan Khanate, Khanate of Sibir, and Crimean Khanate.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Controversy surrounds the origin of the Tatar people, whether they are descended either from Bulgars or Golden Horde. According to one theory, Kazan Tatar heritage can be traced back to Kipchaks of the Golden Horde, yet according to another theory, the Tatars emerged from the Bulgar culture that survived the Mongol conquest of 1236–1237.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Among Volga Tatars, especially in Tatarstan, there is an ongoing debate about whether they should embrace their Turkic Bolgar history. Advocates of such idea (see: "Bulgarism") feel like they are the descendants of Volga Bolgars and at the same time experience the umbrella term "Tatar" as a derogative given to them by the Russians. Leading figure among the Bolgarists was Rashid Kadyrov, who pointed out how recent generations of 'Tatars' have taken the term for granted and don't even know its history.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Mishars (or Mişär-Tatars) are an ethnographic group of Volga Tatars speaking Mishar dialect of the Tatar language. They comprise approximately one third of the Volga Tatar population. They are descendants of Cuman-Kipchak tribes who mixed with the Burtas in the Middle Oka River area and Meschiora. Nowadays, they live in Chelyabinsk, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Ryazan, Nizhegorodskaya oblasts of Russia and in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Mordovia.


title: Volga Tatars

text: The Qasím Tatars have their capital in the town of Qasím (Kasimov in Russian transcription) in Ryazan Oblast. See "Qasim Khanate" for their history. Today, there are 1,100 Qasím Tatars living in Kasimov. There is no reliable information about their number elsewhere.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Noqrat Tatars live in Russia's Republic of Udmurtia and Kirov Oblast. In 1920s their number was around 15,000 people.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Ethnographic subgroup of Kazan Tatars that lives in Russia's Perm Krai. Some Tatar scholars (as Zakiev) name them "Ostyak Tatars". Their number is (2002) c.130,000 people.


title: Volga Tatars

text: A policy of Christianization of the Muslim Tatars was enacted by the Russian authorities, beginning in 1552, resulting in the emergence of Keräşens (Christianized Tatars).


title: Volga Tatars

text: Many Volga Tatars were forcibly Christianized by Ivan the Terrible during the 16th century, and continued to face forced baptisms and conversions under subsequent Russian rulers and Orthodox clergy up to the mid-eighteenth century.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Keräşen Tatars live in much of the Volga-Ural area. Today, they tend to be assimilated among the Russians and other Tatar groups. Eighty years of Atheistic Soviet rule made Tatars of both faiths not as religious as they once were. Russian names are largely the only remaining difference between Tatars and Keräşen Tatars.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Tatar cuisine is rich with hot soups (şulpa), dough-based dishes (qistibi, pilmän, öçpoçmaq, peremech, etc.) and sweets (çäkçäk, göbädiä, etc.). Traditional Tatar beverages include ayran, katyk and kumys.


title: Volga Tatars

text: In the 1910s, they numbered about half a million in the area of Kazan. Nearly 2 million Volga Tatars died in the 1921–22 famine in Tatarstan. Some 15,000 belonging to the same stem had either migrated to Ryazan in the center of Russia (what is now European Russia) or had been settled as prisoners during the 16th and 17th centuries in Lithuania (Vilnius, Grodno, and Podolia). Some 2,000 resided in St. Petersburg.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Volga-Ural Tatars number nearly 7 million, mostly in Russia and the republics of the former Soviet Union. While the bulk of the population is found in Tatarstan (around 2 million) and neighbouring regions, significant number of Volga-Ural Tatars live in Siberia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Outside of Tatarstan, urban Tatars usually speak Russian as their first language (in cities such as Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Ufa, and cities of the Ural and Siberia).


title: Volga Tatars

text: According to over 100 samples from the Tatarstan DNA project, the most common Y-DNA haplogroup of the ethnic Volga Tatars is Haplogroup R1a (over 20%), predominantly from the R1a-Z93 subclade.


title: Volga Tatars

text: Haplogroup N is the other significant haplogroup. According to different data, J2a or J2b may be the more common subclade of Haplogroup J2 in Volga Tatars. The haplogroups C and Q are among the more rare haplogroups.


title: Volga Tatars

text: The study of Suslova et al. found indications of two non-Kipchak sources of admixture, Finno-Ugric and Bulgar:


title: Volga Tatars

text: Volga Tatars, along with Maris, Finns, and Karelians, all cluster genetically with northern and eastern Russians, and are distinct from southern and western Russians. The scientists also found differences in relationships among some of the northern and eastern Russians.


title: Volga Tatars

text: According to a genetic study on mitochondrial haplogroups, Volga Tatars reveal roughly 90% West-Eurasian and 10% East-Eurasian maternal haplogroups.


title: Volga Tatars

text: According to a full genome study by Triska et al. 2017, the Volga Tatars ""bear very little traces of East Asian or Central Siberian ancestry. Volga Tatar are a mix between Bulgar who carried a large Finno-Ugric component, Pecheneg, Kuman, Khazar, local Finno-Ugric tribes, and even Alan. Therefore, Volga Tatars are predominantly European ethnicity with a tiny contribution of East-Asian component. As most Tatar’ IBD is shared with various Turkic and Uralic populations from Volga-Ural region, an amalgamation of various cultures is evident. When the original Finno-Ugric speaking people were conquered by Turkic tribes, both Tatar and Chuvash are likely to have experience language replacement, while retaining their genetic core"".


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: General Sherman is a giant sequoia ("Sequoiadendron giganteum") tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, in the U.S. state of California. By volume, it is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth. It is estimated to be around 2,200 to 2,700 years old.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: While General Sherman is the largest currently living tree, it is not the largest historically recorded tree. The Lindsey Creek tree, with more than almost twice the volume of General Sherman, was reported felled by a storm in 1905. Another larger coast redwood, the Crannell Creek Giant, a coast redwood ("Sequoia sempervirens") cut down in the mid-1940s near Trinidad, California, is estimated to have been 15–25% larger than the General Sherman Tree by volume.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: The General Sherman Tree was named after the American Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. The official story, which may be apocryphal, claims the tree was named in 1879 by naturalist James Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: Seven years later, in 1886, the land came under the control of the Kaweah Colony, a utopian socialist community whose economy was based on logging. Noting the pivotal role that Sherman had played in the Indian Wars and his forced relocation of native American tribes, they renamed the tree in honor of Karl Marx. However, the community was disbanded in 1892, primarily as a result of the establishment of Sequoia National Park, and the tree reverted to its previous name.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: In 1931, following comparisons with the nearby General Grant tree, General Sherman was identified as the largest tree in the world. One result of this process was that wood volume became widely accepted as the standard for establishing and comparing the size of different trees.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: In January 2006, the largest branch on the tree (seen most commonly, in older photos, as an "L" or golf-club shape, protruding from about a quarter of the way down the trunk) broke off. There were no witnesses to the incident, and the branch – larger than most tree trunks; diameter over and length over – smashed part of the perimeter fence and cratered the pavement of the surrounding walkway. The breakage is not believed to be indicative of any abnormalities in the tree's health, and may even be a natural defense mechanism against adverse weather conditions.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: On September 16, 2021, the tree was wrapped in aluminum foil to protect it from the KNP complex fires.


title: General Sherman (tree)

text: While it is the largest tree known, the General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Hyperion tree, a Coast redwood), nor is it the widest (both the largest cypress and largest baobab have a greater diameter), nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to a Great Basin bristlecone pine). With a height of , a diameter of , an estimated bole volume of , and an estimated age of 2,3002,700 years, it is nevertheless among the tallest, widest, and longest-lived of all trees on the planet.


title: Adam Duritz

text: Adam Fredric Duritz (born August 1, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and film producer. He is known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, of which he is a founding member and principal composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 million records, released seven studio albums that have been certified gold or platinum, and been nominated for two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award.


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz has recorded solo material of his own and has collaborated with other musical acts. He has also founded two record labels, "E Pluribus Unum" and "Tyrannosaurus Records". His work scoring music for film has been recognized by the music industry, notably with an award from BMI for co-writing the song "Accidentally in Love" for the movie "Shrek 2".


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz and producer/guitarist David Bryson formed Counting Crows in San Francisco in 1991. When Gary Gersh of Geffen Records heard the band's demo tape, he was "blown away". A bidding war between nine different record labels broke out in February 1992. In April, the band—which, by that time, included other members—"signed a deal with Gersh and Geffen believed to be so lucrative that industry wags dubbed them Accounting Crows".


title: Adam Duritz

text: The band's first album, "August and Everything After", charted within the top five of the "Billboard" 200, and the single "Mr. Jones" (1993) was a number-one hit in Canada. After the band performed as the music guest on "Saturday Night Live", "Mr. Jones" jumped 40 spots in the charts. The album has been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Six of the band's albums have charted on the Billboard 200 and four have been certified gold or platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Counting Crows was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1994. The band also received a 2004 Academy Award nomination for the song "Accidentally in Love", which was included in the film "Shrek 2".


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz has collaborated with The Wallflowers (led by Jakob Dylan) on the album "Bringing Down the Horse" on the track "6th Avenue Heartache"; with Ryan Adams on "Gold" and the song "Butterfly in Reverse" from "Hard Candy"; with Peter Stuart on "Propeller" and "Daisy"; with Live on "V";, with Dashboard Confessional on the track "So Long, So Long" from "Dusk and Summer" and with Maria Taylor on the song "Waiting In Line."


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz also contributed the songs "Spin Around," "You Don't See Me," and "You're a Star" to the "Josie and the Pussycats" soundtrack that was performed by the film's fictional title band. Along with bandmates Dan Vickrey, Bryson, and Immerglück, Duritz co-wrote the song "Accidentally in Love" for the soundtrack of the movie "Shrek 2", winning them each an award from BMI.


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz's lyrics have been described as "morose" and "tortured" and as "wordy introspection", while his vocals have been called "expressive".


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz co-founded the record label "E Pluribus Unum" in 1997. Before the label was purchased by new ownership, Duritz had signed Joe 90, Gigolo Aunts, and Neilson Hubbard.


title: Adam Duritz

text: In 2007, Duritz launched a record label called "Tyrannosaurus Records". Debut artists on the label included Notar and Blacktop Mourning. , the label was defunct.


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz was executive producer for the film "The Locusts" and produced the ensemble comedy film "Freeloaders".


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz grew up in Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; El Paso, Texas; and Berkeley, California. He is the son of Gilbert and Linda Duritz, both physicians. Duritz has a younger sister, Nicole. Duritz attended the prestigious Taft School, and graduated from the Head-Royce School in Oakland, California. He has Russian Jewish ancestry. Duritz attended University of California, Berkeley, but left college two credits short of a degree.


title: Adam Duritz

text: Duritz has a dissociative mental health issue. He disclosed this mental health issue publicly in 2008.


title: Adam Duritz

text: In August 2019, Duritz—who had "rocked voluminous dreadlocks" since Counting Crows was formed—revealed that he had shaved his head.


title: Buryats

text: The Buryats (; ) are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their titular homeland, the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia which sprawls along the southern coast and partially straddles the Lake Baikal. Smaller groups of Buryats also inhabit Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug (Irkutsk Oblast) and the Agin-Buryat Okrug (Zabaykalsky Krai) which are to the west and east of Buryatia respectively as well as northeastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China. They traditionally formed the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.


title: Buryats

text: Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryat Republic, although many still follow a more traditional lifestyle in the countryside. They speak a central Mongolic language called Buryat. UNESCO's 2010 edition of the "Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger" classifies the Buryat language as "severely endangered".


title: Buryats

text: It is most likely that the ancestors of modern Buryats are Bayyrku and Kurykans who were part of the tribal union of the Tiele. The Tiele, in turn, came from the Dingling. The first information about Dingling appeared in sources from the 2nd century BC. The name "Buriyad" is mentioned as one of the forest people for the first time in "The Secret History of the Mongols" (possibly 1240). It says Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, marched north to subjugate the Buryats in 1207. the Buryats lived along the Angara River and its tributaries at this time. Meanwhile, their component, Barga, appeared both west of Baikal and in northern Buryatia's Barguzin valley. Linked also to the Bargas were the Khori-Tumed along the Arig River in eastern Khövsgöl Province and the Angara. A Tumad rebellion broke out in 1217, when Genghis Khan allowed his viceroy to seize 30 Tumad maidens. Genghis Khan's commander Dorbei the Fierce of the Dörbeds smashed them in response. The Buryats joined the Oirats challenging the imperial rule of the Eastern Mongols during the Northern Yuan period in the late 14th century.


title: Buryats

text: Historically, the territories around Lake Baikal belonged to Mongolia, Buryats were subject to Tüsheet Khan and Setsen Khan of Khalkha Mongolia. When the Russians expanded into Transbaikalia (eastern Siberia) in 1609, the Cossacks found only a small core of tribal groups speaking a Mongol dialect called Buryat and paying tribute to the Khalkha. However, they were powerful enough to compel the Ket and Samoyed peoples on the Kan and the Evenks on the lower Angara to pay tribute. The ancestors of most modern Buryats were speaking a variety of Turkic-Tungusic dialects at that time. In addition to genuine Buryat-Mongol tribes (Bulagad, Khori, Ekhired, Khongoodor) that merged with the Buryats, the Buryats also assimilated other groups, including some Oirats, the Khalkha, Tungus (Evenks) and others. The Khori-Barga had migrated out of the Barguzin eastward to the lands between the Greater Khingan and the Argun. Around 1594, most of them fled back to the Aga and Nerchinsk in order to escape subjection by the Daurs.


title: Buryats

text: The Russians reached Lake Baikal in 1643 but the Buryats resisted them and their forces. The Buryats were defeated, though they attempted to revolt a few times. These revolts were suppressed. The territory and people were formally annexed to the Russian state by treaties in 1689 and 1727, when the territories on both the sides of Lake Baikal were separated from Mongolia.


title: Buryats

text: Consolidation of modern Buryat tribes and groups took place under the conditions of the Russian state. From the middle of the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the Buryat population increased from 77,000 (27,700–60,000) to 300,000. Another estimate of the rapid growth in people referring to themselves as Buryat is based on the clan list names paying tribute in the form of a sable-skin tax. This indicates a population of about 77,000 in 1640 rising to 157,000 in 1823 and more than a million by 1950.


title: Buryats

text: The historical roots of the Buryat culture are related to the Mongolic peoples. After Buryatia was incorporated into Russia, it was exposed to two traditions – Buddhism and Orthodox Christianity. Buryats west of Lake Baikal and Olkhon (Irkut Buryats), are more "Russified", and they soon abandoned nomadism for agriculture, whereas the eastern (Transbaikal) Buryats are closer to the Khalkha, may live in yurts and are mostly Buddhists. In 1741, the Tibetan branch of Buddhism was recognized as one of the official religions in Russia, and the first Buryat datsan (Buddhist monastery) was built.


title: Buryats

text: The second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was a time of growth for the Buryat Buddhist religion (48 datsans in Buryatia in 1914). Buddhism became an important factor in the cultural development of Buryatia. Because of their skills in horsemanship and mounted combat, many were enlisted into the Amur Cossacks host. During the Russian Civil War most of the Buryats sided with the White forces of Baron Ungern-Sternberg and Ataman Semenov. They formed a sizable portion of Ungern's forces and often received favorable treatment when compared with other ethnic groups in the Baron's army. After the Revolution, most of the lamas were loyal to Soviet power. In 1925, a battle against religion and clergy in Buryatia began. Datsans were gradually closed down and the activity of the clergy was curtailed. Consequently, in the late 1930s the Buddhist clergy ceased to exist and thousands of cultural treasures were destroyed. Attempts to revive Buddhism started during World War II, and it was officially re-established in 1946. A revival of Buddhism has taken place since the late 1980s as an important factor in the national consolidation.


title: Buryats

text: In the 1930s, Buryat-Mongolia was one of the sites of Soviet studies aimed to disprove Nazi race theories. Among other things, Soviet physicians studied the "endurance and fatigue levels" of Russian, Buryat-Mongol, and Russian-Buryat-Mongol workers to prove that all three groups were equally able.


title: Buryats

text: In 1923, the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed and included Baikal province (Pribaykalskaya guberniya) with Russian population. The Buryats rebelled against the communist rule and collectivization of their herds in 1929. The rebellion was quickly crushed by the Red Army with loss of 35,000 Buryats. The Buryat refugees fled to Mongolia and resettled, however, only a few of them joined the Shambala rebellion there. In 1937, in an effort to disperse Buryats, Stalin's government separated a number of counties ("raions") from the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and formed Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug and Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug; at the same time, some raions with Buryat populations were left out. Fearing Buryat nationalism, Joseph Stalin had more than 10,000 Buryats killed. Moreover, Stalinist purge of Buryats spread into Mongolia, known as the incident of L'humbee.


title: Buryats

text: In 1958, the name "Mongol" was removed from the name of the republic (Buryat ASSR). Also around 1958, the Mongolian script was banned and replaced by Cyrillic. BASSR declared its sovereignty in 1990 and adopted the name Republic of Buryatia in 1992. The constitution of the Republic was adopted by the People's Khural in 1994, and a bilateral treaty with the Russian Federation was signed in 1995.


title: Buryats

text: The Buryat national tradition is ecological by origin in that the religious and mythological ideas of the Buryat people have been based on a theology of nature. The environment has traditionally been deeply respected by Buryats due to the nomadic way of life and religious culture. The harsh climatic conditions of the region have in turn created a fragile balance between humans, society and the environment itself. This has led to a delicate approach to nature, oriented not towards its conquest but rather towards a harmonious interaction and equal partnership with it. A synthesis of Buddhism and traditional beliefs that formed a system of ecological traditions has thus constituted a major attribute of Buryat eco-culture.


title: Buryats

text: Prior to the arrival of the Russians, Buryats lived in semi-nomadic groups scattered across the steppes. Kinship was immensely important in Buryat society, both in spiritual and social terms. All Buryats traced their lineage to a single mythical individual, with the particular ancestor varying based upon geographical region. Kinship also determined proximity, as neighbours were nearly always related. Groups of relatives that inhabited the same grazing land organized themselves into clans based on genealogy. While coalitions between clans did occur, they were infrequent and often relied on looser interpretations of kinship and relations.


title: Buryats

text: Marriage was arranged by the family, at times occurring as early as one to two years old. A unique aspect of traditional Buryat marriage was the "kalym", an exchange that combined both bride wealth and a dowry. "Kalym" involved a husband exchanging an agreed number of head of cattle for his bride, while the bride's family would provide dowry in the form of a yurt and other essential household goods. If a husband did not have enough cattle, a period of bride service would be arranged. Polygamy was permitted, however only men of extreme wealth could afford the price of multiple wives. Marriage ceremonies involved rituals such as the bride stoking the fire in the grooms tent with three pieces of fat, and sprinkling fat upon the clothing of the groom's father.


title: Buryats

text: The arrival of the Russians saw drastic changes to the way "kalym" system worked. Money became a significant part of the exchange. Over time, the price of a bride significantly increased to the point where "in the 1890s, bride price involved '400 to 600 rubles' in addition to 86–107 head of livestock, when 70 years earlier only the wealthiest Western Buryats gave 100 heads (of cattle)." As the situation worsened, many men engaged in multi-year work contracts with wealthy herd-owners under the promise their employer would aid them in gaining a wife. Later on, the "kalym" system fell out of favour, and was replaced by marriages arrangements based upon courtship and romantic feelings.


title: Buryats

text: Religion today in the Republic of Buryatia is primarily divided between Russian Orthodoxy, Buddhism, and irreligious. Shamanism has undergone a revival in rural areas since Soviet repression, however it is still small. Those involved practise either Yellow, Black, or a mixture of the two.


title: Buryats

text: Buryats traditionally practised shamanism, also called Tengrism, with a focus on worship of nature. A core concept of Buryat shamanism is the "triple division" of the physical and spiritual world. There are three divisions within the spirit world: the "tengeri", the "bōxoldoy", and lower spirits. These spirits are the supreme rulers of mankind, the spirits of commoners, and the spirits of slaves respectively. In parallel to this is the concept that man is divided into three parts: the body ("beye"), the "breath and life" of a man, and the soul. The soul is further divided into three parts: first, second, and third. The first soul is contained within the entirety of the physical skeleton, and that damage to it damages the soul. Rituals involving the sacrifice of animals involve great care not to damage the bones, lest the deity receiving the offering reject it. The second soul is believed to have the power to leave the body, transform into other beings, and is stored in the organs. The third soul is similar to the second, differing only in that its passing marks the end of one's life.


title: Buryats

text: The number three and multiples of it are deeply sacred to the Buryat. Examples of this numerology include three major yearly sacrifices, shamans prolonging the lives of the sick by three or nine years, the total number of "tengeri" being 99, and countless other examples.


title: Buryats

text: Shamans are divided into two classes: "great" shamans of arctic regions and "little" shamans from the taiga. Shamans often are associated with nervous disorders, and in some cases are prone to seizure. Shamans can also be divided into "White" shamans that summon good spirits and "Black" shamans that summon malicious ones. Yellow shamanism refers to shamanistic practices that have been heavily influenced by Buddhism. Shamans exist to heal, especially in regards to psychological illnesses. Buryat shamanism is not necessarily hereditary, and other members of the kinship-group can receive the calling (however, shamans do keep records of their lineage, and a descendant is preferred). Shamans could both control and be controlled by spirits.


title: Buryats

text: There are variations in belief between different traditional groups, so there is no consensus on beliefs and practices. For example, Western Buryats along the Kuda river believe in reincarnation of the third soul, likely a result of their exposure to Buddhism.


title: Buryats

text: A majority of the Buryats are followers of Buddhism. The Buryats converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the early eighteenth century under the influence of Tibetan and Mongolian missionaries.


title: Buryats

text: A small minority of Buryats are converts to Christianity. The earliest Orthodox mission was established in Irkutsk in 1731. Some Buryats converted to Christianity for material incentives while others were forcefully converted. Despite its presence in the area, Christianity is not perceived as a "Buryat" religion.


title: Buryats

text: Traditionally, the Buryats were semi-nomadic pastoralists. Buryat nomads tended herds of cattle, sheep, goats, and camels. Buryats also relied greatly on local resources to supplement their diets. Following colonization by Russia, pastoralism was gradually replaced by agriculture. The Buryat of today are largely agrarian but most in rural areas still focus on raising livestock as their main way of surviving.


title: Buryats

text: The Buryats located in Siberia are still largely focused on raising livestock due to the shortness of the growing season. They focus on the raising of dairy cattle and the growing of berries to sustain most of their diet. There are also some communities that farm various types of trees and cash crops such as wheat and rye. On the slopes of the Sayan and Altai Mountains, there are communities whose way of life is breeding reindeer.


title: Buryats

text: Mongolian Buryats are farmers as well but are typically semi-settled. They build sheds and fences to keep livestock contained and use hay as their main source of food for the livestock. However, the Buryats located in Buryatia are more focused on the agriculture aspect of farming and not the livestock raising aspect.


title: Buryats

text: Buryat healing practices incorporates folk shamanic traditions and Tibeto-Mongolian medicine. Before the adoption of Buddhism, the Buryats relied on shamanic rituals to stop or cure pain and illness which was said to be caused by evil spirits. With the conversion to Tibetan Buddhism, Buryats incorporated Tibetan medical practices to their healing practices. Medical schools were soon established and Buryats studying in these schools learned about medical and prescription techniques. Training in treatment and diagnostics was also given in these schools. Buryats soon contributed to expanding the Tibeto-Mongolian medical literature.


title: Buryats

text: Traditional Buryat medicine emphasises the use of mineral and thermal springs for healing. A balanced diet (of meat, offal, plants and herbs) and proper nutrition were recommended to cure illness. The use of herbs for medical purposes was minimal because of the lack of vegetation in the semi-deserts and dry steppes. However, Buryat healers were considered skilled in healing wounds, treating head trauma, midwifery and bone-setting. In the modern age, some practices derived from Buryat folk medicine has been incorporated into contemporary settings.


title: Buryats

text: Buryat cuisine is very similar to Mongolian cuisine and share many dishes like buuz and khuushuur. Dairy products are an important part of the cuisine, and traditional dishes are often hearty and simple. Most main courses are usually meat based, but fish like omul is common especially around Lake Baikal.


title: Buryats

text: The Buryats have a diverse pool of mitochondrial DNA, with about 83.7% (247/295) belonging to haplogroups of Eastern Eurasian origin or affinity and about 16.3% (48/295) belonging to haplogroups of Western Eurasian origin or affinity. The most common Eastern Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups among present-day Buryats are D4 (approximately 29% of the total Buryat population), C (approximately 16.6%), and G2a (approximately 11%). The most common Western Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups among the Buryats are H (approximately 6.8%) and U (approximately 5.4%).


title: Buryats

text: Jeffrey T. Lell, Rem I. Sukernik, Yelena B. Starikovskaya, "et al." (2002) tested a sample of thirteen Buryat males collected in Kushun village, Nizhneudinsk District, Irkutsk Region, representing the Buryats of the Sayan-Baikal upland. The Y-chromosomes of these individuals were assigned to the following haplogroups: 6/13 = 46.2% O-M119, 3/13 = 23.1% N-Tat, 2/13 = 15.4% N-DYS7Cdel(xTat), 1/13 = 7.7% C-M48, 1/13 = 7.7% F-M89(xK-M9). This sample entirely lacks C-M407 and instead has a great proportion of O-M119; thus, it appears very different from published samples of Y-DNA collected from Buryats east of Lake Baikal.


title: Buryats

text: Miroslava Derenko, Boris Malyarchuk, Galina A. Denisova, "et al." (2006) tested a sample of 238 Buryat males and found the following Y-DNA haplogroup distribution: 4/238 = 1.7% P*-92R7(xQ-DYS199/M3, R1-M173), 2/238 = 0.8% R1*-M173(xR1a-SRY1532b), 5/238 = 2.1% R1a1-M17, 3/238 = 1.3% N*-LLY22g(xTat), 45/238 = 18.9% N3-Tat, 152/238 = 63.9% C-RPS4Y/M130, 4/238 = 1.7% F*-M89(xG-M201, H-M52, I-M170, J-12f2, K-M9), 1/238 = 0.4% G-M201, 1/238 = 0.4% I-M170, 21/238 = 8.8% K*-M9(xL-M20, N-LLY22g, P-92R7). Boris Malyarchuk, Miroslava Derenko, Galina Denisova, "et al." (2010) retested 217 of these 238 Buryats and found that they were 148/217 (68.2%) haplogroup C-RPS4Y711/M130, including 117/217 (53.9%) C3d-M407, 18/217 (8.3%) C3∗-M217(xC3a-M93, C3b-P39, C3c-M77, C3d-M407, C3e-P53.1, C3f-P62), and 13/217 (6.0%) C3c-M77. Fourteen of the 217 Buryats (6.5%) had STR haplotypes belonging to the “star cluster" in C3*, from which it might be inferred that they most likely belonged to C2a1a3-P369/M504.


title: Buryats

text: Michael F. Hammer, Tatiana M. Karafet, Hwayong Park, "et al." (2006) tested a sample of 81 Buryat males and found that they belonged to the following Y-DNA haplogroups: 45/81 = 55.6% C-M217(xM86), 4/81 = 4.9% C-M86, 1/81 = 1.2% G-M201, 1/81 = 1.2% J-12f2, 2/81 = 2.5% N-P43, 23/81 = 28.4% N-M178, 2/81 = 2.5% O-LINE, 3/81 = 3.7% R-M207. Karafet "et al." (2018) retested the same sample of Buryat males (minus the G-M201 singleton) and found that they belonged to the following haplogroups: 4/80 = 5.0% C2a1a2a-M86, 5/80 = 6.3% C2a1a3-P369, 40/80 = 50.0% C2b1a1a1a-M407, 1/80 = 1.3% J2a1-P354(xJ2a1a-L27), 2/80 = 2.5% N1a2b1-P63(xP362), 23/80 = 28.8% N1a1a1a1a3a-P89, 2/80 = 2.5% O2a1b-JST002611, 1/80 = 1.3% R2a-M124, 1/80 = 1.3% R1a1a1b1a-Z282, 1/80 = 1.3% R1b1a1b1a1a2-P312(xL21).


title: Buryats

text: Soon-Hee Kim, Ki-Cheol Kim, Dong-Jik Shin, "et al." (2011) reported the following Y-DNA haplogroup distribution in a sample of "Mongolians (Buryats)": 16/36 = 44.44% C2-M217, 1/36 = 2.78% D1a1a-M15, 1/36 = 2.78% F-M89(xK-M9), 9/36 = 25.00% N-M231, 1/36 = 2.78% O1b2-SRY465(x47z), 1/36 = 2.78% O2a-M324(xO2a1b-JST002611, O2a2-P201), 6/36 = 16.67% O2a2-P201, 1/36 = 2.78% R-M207.


title: Buryats

text: V. N. Kharkov, K. V. Khamina, O. F. Medvedeva, "et al." (2014) examined blood samples obtained from a total of 297 ethnic Buryats, separated into eight geographical groups according to the location of sample collection: Okinsky district (N = 53) (southwest of the Republic of Buryatia, ethnoterritorial group of Oka Buryats); Dzhida (N = 31) and Kyakhta (N = 27) (south, ethnoterritorial group of Selenga Buryats); the Kizhinga (N = 64) and Eravninsky (N = 30) regions (east, ethnoterritorial group of Khorin Buryats); Kurumkan village (N = 23) (north, ethnoterritorial group of Barguzin Buryats); Ulan-Ude and Khuramsha (30 km west of Ulan-Ude) (N = 26) (ethnoterritorial group of Kudarinsk Buryats); and Aginskoe village (N = 44) (Agin–Buryat Autonomous Region of Chita, Agin Buryats). For the statistical treatment, samples from Ulan-Ude and Khuramsha village were united into one group designated as “Ulan-Ude.” The authors found significant differences among eastern Buryats (Khorin Buryats from Kizhinga and Eravninsky districts of Buryatia plus Agin Buryats from Agin-Buryat Okrug of Zabaykalsky Krai), southern and central Buryats (Selenga Buryats from Dzhida and Kyakhta plus Kudarinsk Buryats from Ulan-Ude and Khuramsha), and southwestern and northern Buryats (Oka Buryats from Okinsky district of Buryatia plus Barguzin Buryats from Kurumkan village). Similar to the Buryat samples examined by Malyarchuk "et al." (2010) and Karafet "et al." (2018), the southwestern and northern Buryat samples of Kharkov "et al." (2014) exhibited an extremely high frequency of haplogroup C2-M407: 48/76 = 63.2% C3d-M407, 14/76 = 18.4% N1c1-Tat, 4/76 = 5.3% O3a3c*-M134(xM117), 3/76 = 3.9% C3*-M217(xM77, M86, M407), 2/76 = 2.6% C3c-M77/M86, 2/76 = 2.6% O3a3c1-M117, 2/76 = 2.6% R1a1a-M17, 1/76 = 1.3% N1b-P43. In contrast, the eastern Buryat samples of Kharkov "et al." (2014) exhibited an extremely high frequency of haplogroup N-Tat: 102/138 = 73.9% N1c1-Tat, 19/138 = 13.8% C3d-M407, 5/138 = 3.6% C3c-M77/M86, 4/138 = 2.9% E, 3/138 = 2.2% C3*-M217(xM77, M86, M407), 2/138 = 1.4% R1a1a-M17, 1/138 = 0.7% O3a*-M324(xM7, M134), 1/138 = 0.7% O3a3c1-M117, 1/138 = 0.7% R2a-M124. The southern and central Buryat samples of Kharkov "et al." (2014) exhibited a significant proportion of C3*-M217(xM77, M86, M407), which may be related to Y-DNA subclades that often have been observed among Mongols in Mongolia, while also exhibiting both N-Tat and C-M407 with moderate frequency: 26/84 = 31.0% N1c1-Tat, 19/84 = 22.6% C3d-M407, 16/84 = 19.0% C3*-M217(xM77, M86, M407), 8/84 = 9.5% R1a1a-M17, 7/84 = 8.3% R2a-M124, 4/84 = 4.8% C3c-M77/M86, 4/84 = 4.8% O3a*-M324(xM7, M134).


title: Buryats

text: Haplogroup N-M178 is found mainly among the indigenous peoples of northern Eurasia ("e.g." Yakuts, Finns). Among Buryats, haplogroup N-M178 is more common toward the east ("cf." 50/64 = 78.1% N1c1 in a sample of Buryat from Kizhinginsky District, 34/44 = 77.3% N1c1 in a sample of Buryat from Aga Buryatia, and 18/30 = 60.0% N1c1 in a sample of Buryat from Yeravninsky District, every one of which regions is located at a substantial distance east of the eastern shore of the southern half of Lake Baikal, "versus" 6/31 = 19.4% N1c1 in a sample of Buryat from Dzhidinsky District, which is slightly south of the southwestern end of the lake, and 2/23 = 8.7% N1c1 in a sample of Buryat from Kurumkansky District, which is slightly east of the northeastern end of the lake), and it mostly belongs to a subclade (N-F4205) that reaches its maximal frequency among Buryats, but which also has been found in some other Mongolic peoples as well as in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Ukraine, and Poland. N-F4205 is estimated to share a common ancestor with N-B202, which has been found in many present-day inhabitants of Chukotka, approximately 4,600 (95% CI 3,700 <-> 5,500) years before present.


title: Buryats

text: Haplogroup C3d (M407) is found mainly among the northern and southwestern Buryats, Barghuts, Hamnigans, Soyots, Kazakh Khongirad, and Dörbet Kalmyks.


title: Buryats

text: A large scale genetic study from 2021 shows that the Buryats, as well as other Mongolic ethnic groups, such as Mongols, have nearly exclusively East-Eurasian (East Asian-related) genetic ancestry (≈95% to 98%), which can be largely traced back to Neolithic millet agriculturalists of Northeast Asia, but also Paleo-Siberians, and "Yellow river farmers" from around the Yellow River region of Northern China. Genetic evidence shows that Northeast Asian like ancestry massively expanded westwards during the Bronze Age and Iron Age in several waves. Although Buryats are closer to their Mongolic and Tungusic-speaking neighbors, out of the major East Asian ethnic groups, they are genetically closest to the Koreans, followed by Northern Han, Japanese and Southern Han, in that order, according to FST genetic distance measurements.


title: Buryats

text: According to the Buryat creation myth, there were 11 Buryat tribes or clans. According to the myth, all 11 tribes are descendants of a man and a mysterious but beautiful creature that turns into a swan during the day and a woman during the night. After the two married, the man asked her to give him her wings so that she would not turn into a swan anymore. However, it is said that after some time the woman asked for her wings back and flew away never to return. Today there are a number of different Buryat tribes, or clans.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Dirt is the second studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 1992, through Columbia Records. Peaking at No. 6 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, the album received critical acclaim. It has since been certified five-times platinum by the RIAA making "Dirt" the band's highest selling album to date. It was the band's last album recorded with all four original members, as bassist Mike Starr was fired in January 1993 during the tour to support the album. The album spawned five singles: "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole", all with accompanying music videos. "Dirt" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. The music video for "Would?" was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film, as the song was featured on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's 1992 film "Singles".


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The songs on the album focused on depression, pain, anger, anti-social behavior, relationships, drug addiction (primarily heroin), war, death, and other emotionally charged topics. The track "Iron Gland" features Tom Araya from Slayer on vocals. Most of the music from the album was written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell, but for the first time vocalist Layne Staley wrote two songs by himself ("Hate to Feel" and "Angry Chair"), both also featuring Staley on guitar.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: In retrospect, the album has continued to receive acclaim, with "Rolling Stone" placing the album at No. 26 on its list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. "Dirt" was included in the 2005 book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". It was voted ""Kerrang!" Critic's Choice Album of the Year". "Guitar World" named "Dirt" as the best guitar album of 1992. "Loudwire" named it as one of the best Metal albums of the 1990s, and "Rolling Stone" ranked it at No. 6 on its list of "50 Greatest Grunge Albums" in 2019.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Alice in Chains' fourth studio album, "Black Gives Way to Blue", was released on the 17th anniversary of "Dirt", on September 29, 2009.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The recording of "Dirt" began in the spring of 1992. Producer Dave Jerden, who had previously worked with the band on their debut, "Facelift", wanted to work with them again. He admired vocalist Layne Staley's lyrics and voice, and lead guitarist Jerry Cantrell's guitar riffs. The track "Would?" produced, engineered and mixed by Rick Parashar, was recorded before the album, and first appeared on the to the 1992 movie "Singles". "Dirt" was recorded at Eldorado Recording Studio in Burbank, California, London Bridge Studio in Seattle, and One on One Studios in Los Angeles from April to July 1992.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Dirt" was recorded during the Los Angeles riots that erupted following the acquittal of four LAPD officers caught on camera beating unarmed black motorist Rodney King. The riots started on the first day of recording. The band was watching TV when the verdict for the incident was announced. Jerry Cantrell was in a store buying some beer when a man came in and started looting the place. Cantrell also got stuck in traffic and saw people pulling each other out of their cars and beating them. The band tried to get out of the town without getting hurt while LA was protesting against police brutality. They took Slayer vocalist Tom Araya with them and went to the Joshua Tree desert for four or five days until things calmed down, then moved back into the studio and started recording the album.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: When recording the album, Staley had previously checked out of rehab and quickly went back to using heroin. Staley later went cold-turkey on his own while reading "The Bad Place", by horror novelist Dean R. Koontz. Jerden later said that he was told Staley felt animosity toward him dating back to the "Dirt" sessions due to Jerden repeatedly recommending to Staley that he get sober at the time. Jerden said, "Apparently he got all mad at me [during the "Dirt" sessions] ... And what's my job as a producer? To produce a record. I'm not getting paid to be Layne's friend."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Staley was not the only one who went through heavy drug use; drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr were also struggling with alcohol addiction.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Dave Jerden got the album's famous guitar tone by blending three different amps - a Bogner Fish preamp for the low end, a Bogner Ecstacy for the mid frequencies, and a Rockman Headphone amp for the high frequencies.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: With songs written primarily on the road, the material is darker than "Facelift". "We did a lot of soul searching on this album. There's a lot of intense feelings." Cantrell said, "We deal with our daily demons through music. All of the poison that builds up during the day we cleanse when we play". Drug use was front and center as a lyrical theme on the album. Three tracks ("Sickman", "Junkhead" and "God Smack") specifically reference heroin use and its effects.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Staley revealed that the album is semi-conceptual and that there are two basic themes in it. The first theme is about "dealing with kind of a personal anguish and turmoil, which turns into drugs to ease that pain, and being confident that that was the answer in a way. Then later on the songs start to slip down closer and closer to hell, and then he figures out that drugs were not, and are not, the way to ease that pain. Basically, it's the whole story of the last three years of my life." Staley described the other theme as being about "painful relationships and involvements with persons."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Staley later expressed regret about the lyrical content of some songs on "Dirt", explaining, "I wrote about drugs, and I didn't think I was being unsafe or careless by writing about them ... I didn't want my fans to think that heroin was cool. But then I've had fans come up to me and give me the thumbs up, telling me they're high. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Cantrell said in 2013: "That darkness was always part of the band, but it wasn’t "all" about that. There was always an optimism, even in the darkest shit we wrote. With "Dirt", it’s not like we were saying ‘Oh yeah, this is a good thing.’ It was more of a warning than anything else, rather than ‘Hey, come and check this out, it’s great!’ We were talking about what was going on at the time, but within that there was always a survivor element – a kind of triumph over the darker elements of being a human being. I still think we have all of that intact, but maybe the percentage has shifted."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: In the liner notes of 1999's "Music Bank" box set collection, Cantrell cited "Junkhead" and "God Smack" as "the most openly honest" songs about drug use.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Cantrell said he wrote "Them Bones" about "mortality, that one of these days we'll end up a pile of bones." He told RIP magazine in 1993: "'Them Bones' is pretty cut and dried. It's a little sarcastic, but it's pretty much about dealing with your mortality and life. Everybody's going to die someday. Instead of being afraid of it, that's the way it is: so enjoy the time you've got. Live as much as you can, have as much fun as possible. Face your fear and live. I had family members die at a fairly early age; so I've always had kind of a phobia about it. Death freaks me out. I think it freaks a lot of people out. It's the end of life, depending on your views. It's a pretty scary thing. "Them Bones" is trying to put that thought to rest. Use what you have left, and use it well."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Cantrell was inspired to write "Dam That River" after a fight he had with Sean Kinney, in which Kinney broke a coffee table over his head. The lyrics to "Rain When I Die" were written by Cantrell and Staley about their respective girlfriends. "Sickman" came together after Staley asked Cantrell to "write him the sickest tune, the sickest, darkest, most fucked up and heaviest thing [Cantrell] could write."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Rooster" was written by Cantrell for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr., who served in the Vietnam War and his childhood nickname was "Rooster". Cantrell described the song as "the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Discussing the title track "Dirt", Cantrell stated that "the words Layne put to it were so heavy, I've never given him something and not thought it was gonna be the most bad-assed thing I was going to hear." Staley said he wrote the song "to a certain person who basically buried my ass".


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The 43-second "Iron Gland" was developed out of a guitar riff that Cantrell would play that annoyed the other band members, so he created the song (adding in a reference to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man") and promised to never play the guitar riff again, although the track is played as intro music in concert. It features Tom Araya of thrash metal band Slayer on vocals, as well as Layne Staley. "Hate to Feel" and "Angry Chair" were both composed solely by Staley, who also played guitar on both tracks, and Cantrell has expressed his pride in seeing Staley grow as a songwriter and guitarist.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Down in a Hole" was written by Cantrell to his long-time girlfriend, Courtney Clarke. Cantrell explained the song in the liner notes of 1999's "Music Bank" box set: "["Down in a Hole"]'s in my top three, personally. It's to my long-time love. It's the reality of my life, the path I've chosen and in a weird way it kind of foretold where we are right now. It's hard for us to both understand...that this life is not conducive to much success with long-term relationships."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The album's final track, "Would?", was written by Cantrell as a tribute to his friend and late lead singer of Mother Love Bone, Andrew Wood, who died of a drug overdose in 1990. Cantrell said the song is also "directed towards people who pass judgments."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The album's cover art features a woman half buried in a cracked desert landscape. The cover was photographed by Rocky Schenck, who also created the image along with the album's art director, Mary Maurer. It was the band's idea to have a nude woman half-buried in the desert for this cover, and she could be either dead or alive. The band discussed the type of woman they wanted and Schenck began casting shortly after. Schenck submitted a photo of model/actress Mariah O'Brien and the band chose her.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The cover shoot took place at Schenck's Hollywood studio on June 14, 1992, with the supervision of drummer Sean Kinney. After the eight hour photo session, O'Brien went to the bathroom and left her wig embedded in the dirt. Schenck then snapped a few photos, which were later used for the 1999 box set "Music Bank".


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: For many years, fans believed that the model on the cover was Staley's then-girlfriend, Demri Parrott, but Schenck revealed to "Revolver Magazine" in 2011 that the girl was actually Mariah O'Brien, with whom he had previously worked on the cover of Spinal Tap's single "Bitch School". The magazine also published behind the scenes photos from the shoot featuring O'Brien. Schenck told "Revolver Magazine":


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: In an interview with the Canadian magazine "M.E.A.T." in December 1992, Layne Staley said about the cover:


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The cover was referenced on the music video for Alice in Chains' 2009 single "A Looking in View". At the 6:55 mark of the video, a woman (played by Sacha Senisch) is seen lying on a cracked desert floor similarly to "Dirt"'s cover. "A Looking in View" was featured on Alice in Chains' fourth studio album, "Black Gives Way to Blue", released exactly 17 years after "Dirt", on September 29, 2009.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Upon its release in September 1992, "Dirt" peaked at number six on the "Billboard" 200 and charted for 102 weeks, ending at number 196 in the week of September 24, 1994. "Dirt" granted Alice in Chains international recognition, and the album was certified five times platinum status in the United States, platinum status in Canada and gold status in the UK. The album had sold 3,358,000 copies in the United States as of 2008. A remastered reissue of the album was released on vinyl on November 23, 2009.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The album returned to the top 10 of the "Billboard 200" chart at No. 9 following the release of its 30th anniversary reissue on September 23, 2022.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Dirt" received critical acclaim, and is considered by many critics and fans alike as the group's best album. In a retrospective review, Steve Huey of AllMusic said ""Dirt" is Alice in Chains' major artistic statement and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece. It's a primal, sickening howl from the depths of Layne Staley's heroin addiction, and one of the most harrowing concept albums ever recorded. Not every song on "Dirt" is explicitly about heroin, but Jerry Cantrell's solo-written contributions (nearly half the album) effectively maintain the thematic coherence—nearly every song is imbued with the morbidity, self-disgust, and/or resignation of a self-aware yet powerless addict."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Michael Christopher of PopMatters praised the album saying "the record wasn't celebratory by any means – but you'll be hard pressed to find a more brutally truthful work laid down – and that's why it will always be one of the greatest records ever made." Chris Gill of "Guitar World" called "Dirt" "huge and foreboding, yet eerie and intimate," and "sublimely dark and brutally honest." Don Kaye of "Kerrang!" described "Dirt" as "brutally truthful and a fiercely rocking testimonial to human endurance".


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Dirt" is often considered as one of the most influential albums to the sludge metal subgenre, which fuses doom metal with hardcore punk. It was voted ""Kerrang!" Critic's Choice Album of the Year" for 1992.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Dirt" included the top-30 singles "Would?", "Them Bones", "Angry Chair", "Rooster", and "Down in a Hole", all of which had accompanying music videos. The album remained on Billboard's charts for nearly two years.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: At the 1993 Grammy Awards, "Dirt" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The band also contributed the song "Would?" to for the 1992 Cameron Crowe film "Singles", whose video received an award for Best Video from a Film at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: In 2011, Joe Robinson of Loudwire named "Dirt" as one of the best metal albums of the 1990s, alongside other albums such as Megadeth's "Rust in Peace" and Tool's "Ænima", writing "In the battle between metal and grunge, Alice in Chains are a rare band that is embraced by fans of both genres. The most metal of the Seattle bands, they were marketed as metal for 1990's 'Facelift,' then touted as grunge for 1992's 'Dirt.' The band members themselves didn't bother much with labels, they just churned out some of the finest alt-metal with classics like 'Would?,' 'Rooster' and 'Them Bones' leading their charge all the way to the headlining spot on Lollapalooza '93."


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: In October 2011, the album was ranked number one on "Guitar World" magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992, with The Offspring's "Ignition" in second place and Bad Religion's "Generator" in third place.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: In June 2017, "Dirt" was ranked at No. 26 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". In April 2019, "Rolling Stone" ranked the album at No. 6 on its list of the "50 Greatest Grunge Albums".


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: Alice in Chains was added as openers to Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tours" tour. Days before the tour began, Staley broke his foot in an ATV accident, forcing him to use crutches on stage. During the tour, Starr was fired following the Hollywood Rock concert in Rio de Janeiro on January 22, 1993 and was replaced by former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Mike Inez.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: During June–August 1993, Alice in Chains joined Primus, Tool, Rage Against the Machine and Babes in Toyland for the alternative music festival Lollapalooza, which was the last major tour the band played with Staley.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: "Sickman", "Junkhead", "Dirt" and "God Smack" are credited to Cantrell/Staley with no specification for lyrics or music. "Rain When I Die" is credited to Cantrell/Staley/Kinney/Starr, and it was later stated that Cantrell and Staley wrote the lyrics.


title: Dirt (Alice in Chains album)

text: The songs "Fear the Voices" and "Lying Season" were featured on Alice in Chains' 1991 demo tape that featured songs from "Sap" and "Dirt". Both of these songs were later included on the band's 1999 box set, "Music Bank". "Fear the Voices" was released as a single in 1999 to promote "Music Bank" and became a radio hit that same year. Regarding the two songs, Cantrell said that they came from a time when the band was still developing its sound.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox; or ; ) is a slender, long-tailed, cat-like mammal that is endemic to Madagascar. It is a member of Eupleridae, the family of carnivorans, and closely related to the Malagasy civet.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa is the largest mammalian carnivore on Madagascar and has been compared to a small cougar, as it has convergently evolved many cat-like features. Adults have a head-body length of and weigh between , with the males larger than the females. It has semi-retractable claws (meaning it can extend but not retract its claws fully) and flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down trees head-first, and also support jumping from tree to tree. A larger relative of the species, "Cryptoprocta spelea", probably became extinct before 1400.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The species is widespread, although population densities are usually low. It is found solely in forested habitat, and actively hunts both by day and night. Over 50% of its diet consists of lemurs, the endemic primates found on the island; tenrecs, rodents, lizards, birds, and other animals are also documented as prey. Mating usually occurs in trees on horizontal limbs and can last for several hours. Litters range from one to six pups, which are born blind and toothless (altricial). Infants wean after 4.5 months and are independent after a year. Sexual maturity occurs around three to four years of age, and life expectancy in captivity is 20 years. The fossa is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. It is generally feared by the Malagasy people and is often protected by their "fady" taboo. The greatest threat to the fossa is habitat destruction.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Its classification has been controversial because its physical traits resemble those of cats, yet other traits suggest a close relationship with viverrids. Its classification, along with that of the other Malagasy carnivores, influenced hypotheses about how many times mammalian carnivores have colonized Madagascar. With genetic studies demonstrating that the fossa and all other Malagasy carnivores are most closely related to each other forming a clade, recognized as the family Eupleridae, carnivorans are now thought to have colonized the island once, around 18–20 million years ago.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The generic name "Cryptoprocta" refers to how the animal's anus is hidden by its anal pouch, from the Ancient Greek words "crypto-" "hidden", and "procta" "anus". The species name "ferox" is the Latin adjective "fierce" or "wild".


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Its common name comes from the word "fosa" in Malagasy, an Austronesian language, and some authors have adopted the Malagasy spelling in English. The word is similar to "posa" (meaning "cat") in the Iban language (another Austronesian language) from Borneo, and both terms may derive from trade languages from the 1600s. However, an alternative etymology suggests a link to another word that comes from Malay: "pusa" refers to the Malayan weasel ("Mustela nudipes"). The Malay word "pusa" could have become "posa" for cats in Borneo, while in Madagascar the word could have become "fosa" to refer to the fossa.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa was formally described by Edward Turner Bennett on the basis of a specimen from Madagascar sent by Charles Telfair in 1833. The common name is the same as the generic name of the Malagasy civet ("Fossa fossana"), but they are different species. Because of shared physical traits with viverrids, mongooses, and Felidae, its classification has been controversial. Bennett originally placed the fossa as a type of civet in the family Viverridae, a classification that long remained popular among taxonomists. Its compact braincase, large eye sockets, retractable claws, and specialized carnivorous dentition have also led some taxonomists to associate it with the felids. In 1939, William King Gregory and Milo Hellman placed the fossa in its own subfamily within Felidae, the Cryptoproctinae. George Gaylord Simpson placed it back in Viverridae in 1945, still within its own subfamily, yet conceded it had many cat-like characteristics.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: In 1993, Géraldine Veron and François Catzeflis published a DNA hybridization study suggesting that the fossa was more closely related to mongooses (family Herpestidae) than to cats or civets. However, in 1995, Veron's morphological study once again grouped it with Felidae. In 2003, molecular phylogenetic studies using nuclear and mitochondrial genes by Anne Yoder and colleagues showed that all native Malagasy carnivorans share a common ancestry that excludes other carnivores (meaning they form a clade, making them monophyletic) and are most closely related to Asian and African Herpestidae. To reflect these relationships, all Malagasy carnivorans are now placed in a single family, Eupleridae. Within Eupleridae, the fossa is placed in the subfamily Euplerinae along with the falanouc ("Eupleres goudoti") and Malagasy civet, but its exact relationships are poorly resolved.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: An extinct relative of the fossa was described in 1902 from subfossil remains and recognized as a separate species, "Cryptoprocta spelea", in 1935. This species was larger than the living fossa (with a body mass estimate roughly twice as great), but otherwise similar. Across Madagascar, people distinguish two kinds of fossa—a large "fosa mainty" ("black fossa") and the smaller "fosa mena" ("reddish fossa")—and a white form has been reported in the southwest. It is unclear whether this is purely folklore or individual variation—related to sex, age or instances of melanism and leucism—or whether there is indeed more than one species of living fossa.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa appears as a diminutive form of a large felid, such as a cougar, but with a slender body and muscular limbs, and a tail nearly as long as the rest of the body. It has a mongoose-like head, relatively longer than that of a cat, although with a muzzle that is broad and short, and with large but rounded ears. It has medium brown eyes set relatively wide apart with pupils that contract to slits. Like many carnivorans that hunt at night, its eyes reflect light; the reflected light is orange in hue.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Its head-body length is and its tail is long. There is some sexual dimorphism, with adult males (weighing ) being larger than females (). Smaller individuals are typically found north and east on Madagascar, larger ones to the south and west. Unusually large individuals weighing up to have been reported, but there is some doubt as to the reliability of the measurements. The fossa can smell, hear, and see well. It is a robust animal and illnesses are rare in captive fossas.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Both males and females have short, straight fur that is relatively dense and without spots or patterns. Both sexes are generally a reddish-brown dorsally and colored a dirty cream ventrally. When in rut, they may have an orange coloration to their abdomen from a reddish substance secreted by a chest gland, but this has not been consistently observed by all researchers. The tail tends to be lighter in coloration than the sides. Juveniles are either gray or nearly white.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Several of the animal's physical features are adaptions to climbing through trees. It uses its tail to assist balance and has semi-retractable claws that it uses to climb trees in its search for prey. It has semiplantigrade feet, switching between a plantigrade-like gait (when arboreal) and a digitigrade-like one (when terrestrial). The soles of its paws are nearly bare and covered with strong pads. The fossa has very flexible ankles that allow it to readily grasp tree trunks so as to climb up or down trees head first or to leap to another tree. Captive juveniles have been known to swing upside down by their hindfeet from knotted ropes.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa has several scent glands, although the glands are less developed in females. Like herpestids it has a perianal skin gland inside an anal sac which surrounds the anus like a pocket. The pocket opens to the exterior with a horizontal slit below the tail. Other glands are located near the penis or vagina, with the penile glands emitting a strong odor. Like the herpestids, it has no prescrotal glands.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: One of the more peculiar physical features of this species is its external genitalia. The fossa is unique within its family for the shape of its genitalia, which share traits with those of cats and hyenas. The male fossa has an unusually long penis and baculum (penis bone), reaching to between his forelegs when erect, with an average thickness of . The glans extends about halfway down the shaft and is spiny except at the tip. In comparison, the glans of felids is short and spiny, while that of viverrids is smooth and long. The female fossa exhibits transient masculinization, starting at about 1–2 years of age, developing an enlarged, spiny clitoris that resembles a male's penis. The enlarged clitoris is supported by an os clitoridis, which decreases in size as the animal grows. The females do not have a pseudo-scrotum, but they do secrete an orange substance that colors their underparts, much like the secretions of males. Hormone levels (testosterone, androstenedione, dihydrotestosterone) do not seem to play a part in this transient masculinization, as those levels are the same in masculinized juveniles and non-masculinized adults. It is speculated that the transient masculinization either reduces sexual harassment of juvenile females by adult males, or reduces aggression from territorial females. While females of other mammal species (such as the spotted hyena) have a pseudo-penis, no other is known to diminish in size as the animal grows.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Overall, the fossa has features in common with three different carnivoran families, leading researchers to place it and other members of Eupleridae alternatively in Herpestidae, Viverridae, and Felidae. Felid features are primarily those associated with eating and digestion, including tooth shape and facial portions of the skull, the tongue, and the digestive tract, typical of its exclusively carnivorous diet. The remainder of the skull most closely resembles skulls of genus "Viverra", while the general body structure is most similar to that of various members of Herpestidae. The permanent dentition is (three incisors, one canine, three or four premolars, and one molar on each side of both the upper and lower jaws), with the deciduous formula being similar but lacking the fourth premolar and the molar. The fossa has a large, prominent rhinarium similar to that of viverrids, but has comparatively larger, round ears, almost as large as those of a similarly sized felid. Its facial vibrissae (whiskers) are long, with the longest being longer than its head. Like some mongoose genera, particularly "Galidia" (which is now in the fossa's own family, Eupleridae) and "Herpestes" (of Herpestidae), it has carpal vibrissae as well. Its claws are retractile, but unlike those of Felidae species, they are not hidden in skin sheaths. It has three pairs of nipples (one inguinal, one ventral, and one pectoral).


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa has the most widespread geographical range of the Malagasy carnivores, and is generally found in low numbers throughout the island in remaining tracts of forest, preferring pristine undisturbed forest habitat. It is also encountered in some degraded forests, but in lower numbers. Although the fossa is found in all known forest habitats throughout Madagascar, including the western dry deciduous forests, the eastern rainforests, and the southern spiny forests, it is seen more frequently in humid than in dry forests. This may be because the reduced canopy in dry forests provides less shade, and also because the fossa seems to travel more easily in humid forests. It is absent from areas with the heaviest habitat disturbance and, like most of Madagascar's fauna, from the central high plateau of the country.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa has been found across several different elevational gradients in undisturbed portions of protected areas throughout Madagascar. In the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale d'Andringitra, evidence of the fossa has been reported at four different sites ranging from . Its highest known occurrence was reported at ; its presence high on the Andringitra Massif was subsequently confirmed in 1996. Similarly, evidence has been reported of the fossa at the elevational extremes of and in the Andohahela National Park. The presence of the fossa at these locations indicates its ability to adapt to various elevations, consistent with its reported distribution in all Madagascar forest types.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa is active during both the day and the night and is considered cathemeral; activity peaks may occur early in the morning, late in the afternoon, and late in the night. The animal generally does not reuse sleeping sites, but females with young do return to the same den. The home ranges of male fossas in Kirindy Forest are up to large, compared to for females. These ranges overlap—by about 30 percent according to data from the eastern forests—but females usually have separated ranges. Home ranges grow during the dry season, perhaps because less food and water is available. In general, radio-collared fossas travel between per day, although in one reported case a fossa was observed moving a straight-line distance of in 16 hours. The animal's population density appears to be low: in Kirindy Forest, where it is thought to be common, its density has been estimated at one animal per in 1998. Another study in the same forest between 1994 and 1996 using the mark and recapture method indicated a population density of one animal per and one adult per .


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Except for mothers with young and occasional observations of pairs of males, animals are usually found alone, so that the species is considered solitary. A 2009 publication, however, reported a detailed observation of cooperative hunting, wherein three male fossas hunted a sifaka ("Propithecus verreauxi") for 45 minutes, and subsequently shared the prey. This behavior may be a vestige of cooperative hunting that would have been required to take down larger recently extinct lemurs.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Fossas communicate using sounds, scents, and visual signals. Vocalizations include purring, a threatening call, and a call of fear, consisting of "repeated loud, coarse inhalations and gasps of breath". A long, high yelp may function to attract other fossas. Females mew during mating and males produce a sigh when they have found a female. Throughout the year, animals produce long-lasting scent marks on rocks, trees, and the ground using glands in the anal region and on the chest. They also communicate using face and body expression, but the significance of these signals is uncertain. The animal is aggressive only during mating, and males in particular fight boldly. After a short fight, the loser flees and is followed by the winner for a short distance. In captivity, fossas are usually not aggressive and sometimes even allow themselves to be stroked by a zookeeper, but adult males in particular may try to bite.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa is a carnivore that hunts small to medium-sized animals. One of eight carnivorous species endemic to Madagascar, the fossa is the island's largest surviving endemic terrestrial mammal and the only predator capable of preying upon adults of all extant lemur species, the largest of which can weigh as much as 90 percent of the weight of the average fossa. Although it is the predominant predator of lemurs, reports of its dietary habits demonstrate a wide variety of prey selectivity and specialization depending on habitat and season; diet does not vary by sex. While the fossa is thought to be a lemur specialist in Ranomafana National Park, its diet is more variable in other rain forest habitats.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The diet of the fossa in the wild has been studied by analyzing their distinctive scats, which resemble gray cylinders with twisted ends and measure long by thick. Scat collected and analyzed from both Andohahela and Andringitra contained lemur matter and rodents. Eastern populations in Andringitra incorporate the widest recorded variety of prey, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrates consumed ranged from reptiles to a wide variety of birds, including both understory and ground birds, and mammals, including insectivores, rodents, and lemurs. Invertebrates eaten by the fossa in the high mountain zone of Andringitra include insects and crabs. One study found that vertebrates comprised 94% of the diet of fossas, with lemurs comprising over 50%, followed by tenrecs (9%), lizards (9%), and birds (2%). Seeds, which comprised 5% of the diet, may have been in the stomachs of the lemurs eaten, or may have been consumed with fruit taken for water, as seeds were more common in the stomach in the dry season. The average prey size varies geographically; it is only in the high mountains of Andringitra, in contrast to in humid forests and over in dry deciduous forests. In a study of fossa diet in the dry deciduous forest of western Madagascar, more than 90% of prey items were vertebrates, and more than 50% were lemurs. The primary diet consisted of approximately six lemur species and two or three spiny tenrec species, along with snakes and small mammals. Generally, the fossa preys upon larger lemurs and rodents in preference to smaller ones.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Prey is obtained by hunting either on the ground or in the trees. During the non-breeding season the fossa hunts individually, but during the breeding season hunting parties may be seen, and these may be pairs or later on mothers and young. One member of the group scales a tree and chases the lemurs from tree to tree, forcing them down to the ground where the other is easily able to capture them. The fossa is known to eviscerate its larger lemur prey, a trait that, along with its distinct scat, helps identify its kills. Long-term observations of the fossa's predation patterns on rainforest sifakas suggest that the fossa hunts in a subsection of their range until prey density is decreased, then moves on. The fossa has been reported to prey on domestic animals, such as goats and small calves, and especially chickens. Food taken in captivity includes amphibians, birds, insects, reptiles, and small- to medium-sized mammals.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: This wide variety of prey items taken in various rainforest habitats is similar to the varied dietary composition noted occurring in the dry forests of western Madagascar, as well. As the largest endemic predator on Madagascar, this dietary flexibility combined with a flexible activity pattern has allowed it to exploit a wide variety of niches available throughout the island, making it a potential keystone species for the Madagascar ecosystems.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Fossas have a polyandrous mating system. Most of the details of reproduction in wild populations are from the western dry deciduous forests; determining whether certain of these details are applicable to eastern populations will require further field research. Mating typically occurs during September and October, although there are reports of its occurring as late as December, and can be highly conspicuous. In captivity in the Northern Hemisphere, fossas instead mate in the northern spring, from March to July. Intromission usually occurs in trees on horizontal limbs about off the ground. Frequently the same tree is used year after year, with remarkable precision as to the date the season commences. Trees are often near a water source, and have limbs strong enough and wide enough to support the mating pair, about wide. Some mating has been reported on the ground as well.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: As many as eight males will be at a mating site, staying in close vicinity to the receptive female. The female seems to choose the male she mates with, and the males compete for the attention of the female with a significant amount of vocalization and antagonistic interactions. The female may choose to mate with several of the males, and her choice of mate does not seem to have any correlation to the physical appearance of the males. To stimulate the male to mount her, she gives a series of mewling vocalizations. The male mounts from behind, resting his body on her slightly off-center, a position requiring delicate balance; if the female were to stand, the male would have significant difficulty continuing. He places his paws on her shoulders or grasps her around the waist and often licks her neck. Mating may last for nearly three hours. This unusually lengthy mating is due to the physical nature of the male's erect penis, which has backwards-pointing spines along most of its length. Fossa mating includes a copulatory tie, which may be enforced by the male's spiny penis. The tie is difficult to break if the mating session is interrupted. Copulation with a single male may be repeated several times, with a total mating time of up to fourteen hours, while the male may remain with the female for up to an hour after the mating. A single female may occupy the tree for up to a week, mating with multiple males over that time. Also, other females may take her place, mating with some of the same males as well as others. This mating strategy, whereby the females monopolize a site and maximize the available number of mates, seems to be unique among carnivores. Recent research suggests that this system helps the fossa overcome factors which would normally impede mate-finding, such as low population density and lack of den use.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The birthing of the litter of one to six (typically two to four) takes place in a concealed location, such as an underground den, a termite mound, a rock crevice, or in the hollow of a large tree (particularly those of the genus "Commiphora"). Contrary to older research, litters are of mixed sexes. Young are born in December or January, making the gestation period 90 days, with the late mating reports indicating a gestational period of about six to seven weeks. The newborns are blind and toothless and weigh no more than . The fur is thin and has been described as gray-brown or nearly white. After about two weeks the cubs' eyes open, they become more active, and their fur darkens to a pearl gray. The cubs do not take solid food until three months old, and do not leave the den until they are 4.5 months old; they are weaned shortly after that. After the first year, the juveniles are independent of their mother. Permanent teeth appear at 18 to 20 months. Physical maturity is reached by about two years of age, but sexual maturity is not attained for another year or two, and the young may stay with their mother until they are fully mature. Lifespan in captivity is up to or past 20 years of age, possibly due to the slow juvenile development.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa has been assessed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN Red List since 2008, as its population size has probably declined by at least 30 percent between 1987 and 2008; previous assessments have included "Endangered" (2000) and "Insufficiently Known" (1988, 1990, 1994). The species is dependent on forest and thus threatened by the widespread destruction of Madagascar's native forest but is also able to persist in disturbed areas. A suite of microsatellite markers (short segments of DNA that have a repeated sequence) have been developed to help aid in studies of genetic health and population dynamics of both captive and wild fossas. Several pathogens have been isolated from the fossa, some of which, such as anthrax and canine distemper, are thought to have been transmitted by feral dogs or cats. "Toxoplasma gondii" was reported in a captive fossa in 2013.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Although the species is widely distributed, it is locally rare in all regions, making fossas particularly vulnerable to extinction. The effects of habitat fragmentation increase the risk. For its size, the fossa has a lower than predicted population density, which is further threatened by Madagascar's rapidly disappearing forests and dwindling populations of lemurs, which make up a high proportion of its diet. The loss of the fossa, either locally or completely, could significantly impact ecosystem dynamics, possibly leading to over-grazing by some of its prey species. The total population of the fossa living within protected areas is estimated at less than 2,500 adults, but this may be an overestimate. Only two protected areas are thought to contain 500 or more adult fossas: Masoala National Park and Midongy-Sud National Park, although these are also thought to be overestimated. Too little population information has been collected for a formal population viability analysis, but estimates suggest that none of the protected areas support a viable population. If this is correct, the extinction of the fossa may take as much as 100 years to occur as the species gradually declines. In order for the species to survive, it is estimated that at least is needed to maintain smaller, short-term viable populations, and at least for populations of 500 adults.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Taboo, known in Madagascar as "fady", offers protection for the fossa and other carnivores. In the Marolambo District (part of the Atsinanana region in Toamasina Province), the fossa has traditionally been hated and feared as a dangerous animal. It has been described as "greedy and aggressive", known for taking fowl and piglets, and believed to "take little children who walk alone into the forest". Some do not eat it for fear that it will transfer its undesirable qualities to anyone who consumes it. However, the animal is also taken for bushmeat; a study published in 2009 reported that 57 percent of villages (8 of 14 sampled) in the Makira forest consume fossa meat. The animals were typically hunted using slingshots, with dogs, or most commonly, by placing snare traps on animal paths. Near Ranomafana National Park, the fossa, along with several of its smaller cousins and the introduced small Indian civet ("Viverricula indica"), are known to "scavenge on the bodies of ancestors", which are buried in shallow graves in the forest. For this reason, eating these animals is strictly prohibited by "fady". However, if they wander into villages in search of domestic fowl, they may be killed or trapped. Small carnivore traps have been observed near chicken runs in the village of Vohiparara.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: Fossas are occasionally held in captivity in zoos. They first bred in captivity in 1974 in the zoo of Montpellier, France. The next year, at a time when there were only eight fossas in the world's zoos, the Duisburg Zoo in Germany acquired one; this zoo later started a successful breeding program, and most zoo fossas now descend from the Duisburg population. Research on the Duisburg fossas has provided much data about their biology.


title: Fossa (animal)

text: The fossa was depicted as an antagonist in the 2005 DreamWorks animated film "Madagascar", being referred to as the "foosa", and accurately shown as the lemurs' most feared predator.


title: Catfish: The TV Show

text: Catfish: The TV Show (often shortened to Catfish) is an American reality-based documentary television series airing on MTV about the truths and lies of online dating. The series is based on the 2010 film "Catfish" and premiered on November 12, 2012. It is co-hosted by Nev Schulman and Kamie Crawford. Max Joseph served as a co-host for the show's first seven seasons; his last episode aired on August 22, 2018. Crawford was a guest co-host in numerous episodes of season 7 and joined the main cast in the show's 8th season, alongside Schulman.


title: Catfish: The TV Show

text: In May 2018, filming of season 7 was suspended due to sexual misconduct allegations against Schulman. The suspension was lifted after the allegations were found to be "not credible".


title: Catfish: The TV Show

text: In 2020 MTV and Wondery began releasing episodes as podcasts under the title "Catfish: The Podcast", with the first episode released on November 26, 2020.


title: Catfish: The TV Show

text: On the internet, a "catfish" is someone who creates fake personal profiles on social sites using someone else's pictures and false biographical information to pretend to be someone else. These "catfish" usually intend to trick people into falling in love with them. The term "catfish" is derived from the title of the 2010 documentary, in which filmmaker Schulman discovers that the woman with whom he'd been having an online relationship had not been honest in describing herself.


title: Catfish: The TV Show

text: MTV and the "Catfish" film's producers, Schulman and Joseph, help people who are emotionally entangled with someone they have never met in real life. Each episode is an investigation into whether the other participant in the virtual relationship is legitimate or a "catfish". Some couples have been communicating for a few months—others, for years.