Year 1088 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Almoravid forces under Sultan Yusuf ibn Tashfin, besiege Aledo, but is forced to retreat, by the arrival of Spanish troops of King Alfonso VI of Castile. Catalonian troops under Count Berenguer Ramon II reconquer Tarragona, he will rule Catalonia with his 6-year-old nephew Ramon Berenguer III. Spring – A rebellion led by William the Conqueror's half-brothers Odo of Bayeux and Robert, begins against King William II with the aim to remove him from the throne. Odo's revolt in Kent and Sussex is supported by nobles across the country; the Worcestershire rebellion led by Robert de Lacy is dealt with by Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, who calls on those knights and local landowners still loyal to William II to defend Worcester. Many of the rebels are killed. William II calls the representatives of the fyrd to a meeting in London, he promises the people better laws, the removal of taxes if they support him against the rebels. William II lay siege to Pevensey Castle.

Odo is forced to surrender, agrees to go to Rochester to convince the rebels to accept William as the rightful king of England. Summer – William II lay siege to Rochester Castle and puts down the revolt. Odo of Bayeux and the rebels surrender. William exiles him to Normandy. Nasir ibn Alnas, ruler of the Hammadids, dies after a 26-year reign, he is succeeded by his son Al-Mansur ibn al-Nasir. The Dream Pool Essays is published by statesman Shen Kuo, his book represents the earliest known writing about the magnetic compass, movable type printing, experimentation with the camera obscura only decades after Hasan ibn al-Haytham, which includes many different fields of study in essay and encyclopedic form, including geology, archaeology, pharmacology, geography, hydraulics, military strategy, etc. Some of Shen's most advanced theories include geomorphology and climate variability, while he improves Chinese astronomy, by fixing the position of the pole star and correcting the lunar error, by plotting its orbital course every night for a continuum of five years.

Shen's book is the first to describe the drydock in China – and discusses the advantages of the recent invention of the canal pound lock, over the old flash lock. Su Song, Chinese polymath scientist and statesman, invents the pilot model for his astronomical clock tower constructed in Kaifeng, it features an escapement mechanism – and the world's oldest known power-transmitting chain drive to operate the armillary sphere, opening doors, mechanical-driven mannequins, that would rotate in shifts to announce the time on plaques. The oldest extant university, the University of Bologna, is founded in Italy. April 16 – The 6.5 Ms Tmogvi earthquake affects the southern provinces of Georgia, which causes the destruction of the castle of Tmogvi and many deaths. March 12 – Pope Urban II succeeds Victor III as the 159th pope of the Catholic Church in Rome. July 24 – Ibn al-Arif, Moorish Sufi scholar and writer Hemachandra, Indian Jain poet and polymath Irene of Hungary, Byzantine empress consort John IV, Byzantine prince and archbishop Lucienne de Rochefort, French crown princess Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, king of Connacht William III, French nobleman Zhenxie Qingliao, Chinese Zen Buddhist monk January 6 – Berengar of Tours, French theologian April 7 – Burchard II, German bishop June 15 – Gebhard of Salzburg, German archbishop June 24 – William de Warenne, Norman nobleman July 27 – Benno II, German bishop and architect September 25 – Godfrey, bishop of Chichester September 28 – Hermann of Salm, German nobleman Alberic of Monte Cassino, German Benedictine cardinal Berthold of Reichenau, German chronicler and writer Dubh Chablaigh ingen Áed, Irish queen of Munster Hugh de Montfort, Norman nobleman John Doukas, Byzantine usurper Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian Sufi poet Mael Isa ua Máilgiric, Irish Chief Ollam and writer Marianus Scotus of Regensburg, Irish abbot Naser Khosrow, Persian poet and philosopher Nasir ibn Alnas, Berber ruler of the Hammadids Ranulf I, Italo-Norman nobleman Rhiryd ap Bleddyn, Welsh king of Powys Tigernach Ua Braín, Irish abbot and writer

The African forest buffalo known as the dwarf buffalo and the Congo buffalo, is the smallest subspecies of the African buffalo. It is related to the Sudan buffalo and the Nile buffalo. However, it is the only subspecies that occurs in the rainforests of central and western Africa with an annual rainfall around 1,500 mm; the African forest buffalo is a small subspecies of the African buffalo. Cape buffalo weigh anywhere from 400 to 800 kg, whereas African forest buffalo are much lighter, weighing in at 250 to 320 kg. Weight is not the only differentiation, however; the shape and size of the horns distinguish African forest buffalo from the other subspecies. African forest buffalo have much smaller horns than their savanna counterparts the Cape and Nile buffalo. Cape buffalo horns grow and fuse together, but African forest buffalo horns fuse. African forest buffalo live in the rainforests of Central Africa. Savannas are the area where the buffalo graze, while the marshes serve as wallows and help with the insects.

African forest buffalo are rarely observed in the unbroken canopy of the forests. They instead spend most of their time in grazing on grasses and sedges, their diet is made up of grasses and other plants that grow in clearings and savannas. The mixture of habitats is essential for the African forest buffalo. Expansion and encroachment of the rainforest on the surrounding savannas and openings are major difficulties of maintaining the ecosystem. African forest buffalo enjoy old logging roads and tracks, where the forest is thinner and grass and other foods can grow. In these areas, African forest buffalo depend on the grass, able to develop as a result of the areas that have been clear-cut. In some areas park management staff burn off the savannas on a regular basis to keep the rainforest from growing onto the savannas and changing the ecosystem of the area. Large home ranges can be associated with less-productive habitats. Home ranges remain remarkably stable year after year; the only documentation of the actual home range boundaries of these animals is recent, so only time will tell how these boundaries remain over large lengths of time.

Although the area included in a home range is constant over time, the preferences in regard to what part of the range is most used shift with the seasons. From March until August, African forest buffalo spend most of their time in the forest, while from September through February, they favor the savannas and marshes. African forest buffalo arrange themselves into herds. Among predators, the African leopard is the most common, but is only a threat to young buffaloes and will feast on them only when they have the opportunity; the Nile crocodile is the only predator, capable of killing an adult buffalo. African forest buffalo have small herds compared to the well-studied Cape buffalo. Cape buffalo can have herds of over 1,000 members. If African forest buffalo are in a large group, they spend more time grazing, since there is less need to devote time to alert behavior. A herd of African forest buffalo consists of one or two bulls and a harem of adult females and young calves. Unlike Cape buffalo bulls, African forest buffalo bulls remain with the herd continually, year round.

On the other hand, Cape buffalo bulls stay in bachelor herds until the wet season, when young bulls join the females, help protect the young calves and leave. Animals remain in the same herd for their entire lives. Herd-switching in cows has been observed. Herds can split into two groups for a short period of time before merging back together. African forest buffalo are unaffected by seasonal cycles. However, in the wet season, herds are more spread out in the forest and these animals tend to use resting places based on sand during the wet season, but use dirt and leaves during the dry season. Moreover, in open habitats such as clearings, herds are more aggregated when resting and are more rounded in shape than herds in forest habitats during the wet season. Bekhuis, Patricia D. B. M.. T.. "Diet selection and density estimates of forest buffalo in Campo-Ma'an National Park, Cameroon". African Journal of Ecology. 46: 668–675. Doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2008.00956.x. Blake, Stephen. "Forest Buffalo Prefer Clearings to Closed-canopy Forest in the Primary Forest of Northern Congo".

Oryx. 36: 81–86. Doi:10.1017/S0030605302000121. Hoek, Yntze van der. "Potential Effects of Prescribed Savannah Burning on the Diet Selection of Forest Buffalo in Lope´ National Park, Gabon". African Journal of Ecology. 51: 94–101. Doi:10.1111/aje.12010. Korte, Lisa M. "Habitat Selection at Two Spatial Scales and Diurnal Activity Patterns of Adult Female Forest Buffalo". Journal of Mammalogy. 89: 115–125. Doi:10.1644/06-MAMM-A-423.1. Korte, Lisa M. "Varia

James Shaw was a businessman and political figure in Canada West and Ontario. He was educated in Dublin, he came to Upper Canada in 1820. He served as a clerk for the settlements at Lanark-on-Clyde and Perth and served as an overseer during the construction of the Rideau Canal, he served in the local militias, becoming lieutenant colonel in 1860. He opened a blacksmith shop in Smiths Falls. In 1851, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada for Lanark. In 1860, he was elected to the Legislative Council and served until 1867 when he was named to the Senate of Canada, he died in Smiths Falls in 1878. Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online James Shaw – Parliament of Canada biography