Bizarre animals

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Giant rat caught in China
A giant rat with one-inch-long teeth has been caught in the southern Chinese province of Fujian.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
18 Feb 2009

The rat, which weighed six pounds and had a 12-inch tail, was caught at the weekend in a residential area of Fuzhou, a city of six million people on China's south coast.

The ratcatcher, who was only named as Mr Xian, said he swooped for the rodent after seeing a big crowd of people surrounding it on the street. He told local Chinese newspapers that he thought the rat might be a valuable specimen, or a rare species, and had to muster up his courage before grabbing its tail and picking it up by the scruff of its neck. "I did it, I caught a rat the size of a cat!" he shouted out afterwards, according to the reports. Mr Xian is believed to still be in possession of the animal, after stuffing into a bag and departing the scene.

The local forestry unit in the city identified the nightmarish creature as a bamboo rat from initial photographs, but said that it would need to examine the rat more closely before making a final identification. Chinese bamboo rats rarely grow beyond ten inches and are found throughout southern China, northern Burma and Vietnam. However, the Sumatra bamboo rat, usually found in the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan and in the Malay Peninsula can grow up to 30 inches long, including tail, and can weigh up to eight pounds.

A "Giant Rat of Sumatra" is mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes tale: The Adventure of a Sussex Vampire. All bamboo rats are slow-moving and usually spend their time in underground burrows, feeding on bamboo. Chinese bamboo rats are often sold for meat in Chinese markets. The largest rats in the world are thought to be African giant pouched rats, which can grow up to 36 inches in length.

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Croikey!

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Russian priest to investigate bigfoot sighting in Siberia
19/ 02/ 2009

KEMEROVO, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - A group of people led by the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Kemerovo and a regional official set out on Thursday in search of a bigfoot sighted in the Tashtagol area by hunters, a regional spokesman said.

Earlier this week, the Kemerovo regional administration released a report that local hunters had spotted "some hairy humanoid creatures with a height of 1.5-2 meters [5'6"-6']" near the Azass Cave on Mount Shoriya. The report was illustrated with a photograph from inside the cave showing the track of an unidentified creature.

"From the nearest village of Ust-Kabyrz, the bishop, regional head and a group of others will reach the Azass Cave by the only transportation possible: snowmobiles," the spokesman told RIA Novosti. He added that the priest would also make a private visit to Mount Shoriya, where he will open and bless a small church at a gulag barracks open to tourists. In the Soviet era, there were a large number of gulag camps in the area northeast of Novosibirsk.

According to the head of the department of anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology in Moscow, anthropologists have never seen or studied the body of a bigfoot or yeti, although there are numerous reports of their sightings throughout the world. He also noted that yetis for some reason are always spotted singularly, which is "biological nonsense," as a large population must exist in order to create generation after generation. According to the anthropologist, Earth has been studied so thoroughly that if a population of yeti existed it would have been confirmed.

The Kemerovo regional spokesman said a scientific expedition is being organized for the summer to investigate the sighting. The financial details of the expedition are being worked out and there are already many enthusiasts, businessmen and hunters ready to help.

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Is this the world's only PINK dolphin?
2nd March 2009

These are the stunning pictures of a rare pink bottlenose dolphin spotted swimming in a Louisiana lake. The mammal was pictured by local charter boat captain Erik Rue, who has been studying the dolphin since it first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in Southwestern USA. Since it was spotted with its pod of normal coloured dolphins last year the animal has been wowing visitors on the lake.

Capt Rue, 42, originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side. 'I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter. It was absolutely stunningly pink', he said. 'I had never seen anything like it. It's the same colour throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth. The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its colouration, which is quite beautiful.

'The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws. I have spotted it about 40 to 50 times in the time since the original sighting as it has apparently taken up residence with its family in the Calcasieu Ship Channel.

'As time has passed he has grown and sometimes ventures away from its mother to feed and play but always remains in the vicinity of the pod. Surprisingly, it does not appear to be drastically affected by the environment or sunlight as might be expected considering its condition, although it tends to remain below the surface a little more than the others in the pod.'

Capt Rue added: 'I feel very fortunate to have seen this incredible mammal and lucky to be able to work and live in the area where such a fantastic creature frequents. Our guests are always thrilled at the opportunity to spot such a unique mammal and we look forward to it being around for some time to come.'

Regina Asmutis-Silvia, senior biologist, with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, called the dolphin 'truly beautiful'. 'I have never seen a dolphin coloured in this way in all my career', she said. 'While this animal looks pink, it is an albino which you can notice in the pink eyes. Albinism is a genetic trait and it unclear as to the type of albinism this animal inherited. It is a truly beautiful dolphin but people should be careful, as with any dolphins, to respect it. Observe from a distance, limit their time watching, don't chase or harass it.

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[web]https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7928996.stm[/web]

haha, excellent - 'mon the chimps!

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The moment a wild orang-utan caught a rope and swam across flooded river to save her baby
Richard Shears
18th March 2009

These astonishing pictures from the World Wildlife Fund capture the moment the terrified mother caught a rope thrown to her by humans and swam across a flooded river to bring her baby to safety.

It is a long-held belief that the giant apes are petrified of water. But the mother did not appear to give her leap into the swollen river a second thought. The amazing pictures were taken by local officials of the WWF on the Malaysian island of Borneo. Villagers had reported that the mother and her baby were stranded in a tree when a river flooded on the north east tip of the island. Some reports claimed they had been trapped there for several days.

The Sabah Wildlife Department, which is linked to WWF, sent a team to the area and set up a rope bridge so they could get close to the hungry mother and baby. But what next? How could they coax her to climb down from the tree when orang-utans have always been thought to be afraid of water? Even when it rains they scamper for shelter. Then the rangers came up with the 'impossible idea' of throwing the mother a rope to cling on to so she could swim to the nearest river bank, said an official.

Anything was worth a try. So a rope was tossed to the mother - and unbelievably she reached out and grabbed it. Then in a scene that no-one could have ever imagined, she climbed down the tree, with the baby on her back, and slipped into the water. Clinging to the rope, and ensuring the baby's head was above the water, she dog-paddled towards the river bank and scrambled up.

'We were able to give her some food, bananas and other fruit, before she and the baby disappeared into the jungle,' said an official. 'It's always been thought that orang-utans hate water but we now know that if they're desperate, especially if they have a baby whose life depends on them, they'll take any kind of risk.'

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[web]https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7951331.stm[/web]

They're jsut trying to muscle in on the dolphin's moment in the sun - down with elephants!

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The hog with no hedge:
How a mysterious skin condition made Spud's spikes fall out
By Neil Sears
16th March 2009

He looks like a cross between a battered children's toy and a pink potato. Meet Spud, the spineless hedgehog.Staff at Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire, who have been caring for him since August, are baffled by his condition.

Founder Les Stocker said: 'Spud was brought to us last year after someone found him in their garden. He's had biopsies and skin tests, but we've had no answers. He seems quite happy and does all the things a hedgehog should. We're now appealing for someone to come forward with ideas about what has caused his problem, and suggestions for treatment, whether it's homeopathy or some other natural treatment.'

Mr Stocker added: 'We think he's at least three years old, but we don't know if he was born like this or it was a problem that developed later in life. The fear is that in winter it would get too cold for him, so we can't risk releasing him. Funnily enough we've got a bald squirrel in too. We call him Smoothie, and we don't know what his problem is either.'

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what a shame .. poor thing ..

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Bamboozled! Amazing pictures of a 30 stone Silverback gorilla who has one too many - and ends up with a sore head
Bill Mouland
22nd March 2009

When wildlife photographer Andy Rouse was told he would find a family of endangered gorillas high on the mountain, he did not expect to find them this high. Sitting back in the foliage as if it was a cocktail bar, the mountain gorillas had been gorging on alcoholic sap from fresh bamboo shoots and were looking distinctly the worse for wear.

Some were propping up the bar with a bleary air, while others staggered to their feet obviously hoping the mountain police would not ask them to walk in a straight line.

'It was not exactly Gorillas In The Mist, more like gorillas who were p*****,' said Rouse, 43, who was on his fourth trip to see the animals in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, Central Africa. 'I had heard they sometimes get like this, but I had never actually seen it. It was just like any family party when one or two members have a little bit too much to drink. The boss of the group, a huge silverback called Kwitonda, and some of the younger males were completely out of it.

'Some were running round cackling to each other, others were going mad swinging through the trees, some were just lying on the ground in an inebriated state. Normally, they eat handfuls of other vegetation, like a sort of salad to soak up the sap, but this time they were just enjoying a drink.'

The bam-boozled family lives between 8,000 and 13,000 ft up the mountain and are some of the 380 gorillas still living in Rwanda, an area made famous after Dian Fossey's conservation work there. To protect the gorillas, photographers and safari groups are not allowed to go within 21ft of them.

Mr Rouse said: 'I was allowed to stay with them for only an hour each day and it was difficult taking photographs of them at their party because I was laughing so much. It was hilarious.'

As these remarkable pictures show, 30-stone Kwitonda could hold his liquor - up to a point. 'When I went back the next day, it was all very quiet, as if they were nursing gorilla-sized hangovers.'

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British scientists study Hawaiian happy face spider
Scientists have found themselves raising a smile when studying this creature - the happy face spider.
22 Apr 2009
telegraph.co.uk

The spider, which measures just a few millimetres across, has developed bizarre markings giving the appearance of a smiling face. Scientists think the spider, which has the scientific name Theridion grallator and is harmless to humans, has evolved the patterns to confuse predators. It is under-threat of extinction in the rainforests of the Hawaiian island chain in the Pacific.

Dr Geoff Oxford, a spider expert from the University of York, said: "I must admit when I turned over the first leaf and saw one it certainly brought a smile to my face. There are various theories as to why the spider has developed the markings it has, one of these that it may be to confuse predators. When a bird or other predator first sees a prey item it has not seen before there is a moment before it decides whether to eat it or not.

"It may be that this spider has developed these variations to take advantage of this, in the moment the predator is deciding if it is food it may have the chance to escape. I don't think the smiling face is enough to put off a bird though, but it would be nice to think so. Not all happy-face spiders have such striking markings, and some are nearly all orange or all blue. The species is only found high in the rainforests of Hawaii and are under threat from the introduction of animals not native to the islands."

Dr Oxford, who has been studying the spiders since 1993, said that the unusual markings of the arachnid had made them a symbol of all of Hawaii's threatened wildlife. "They are ambassadors for all the threatened invertebrates, insects and spiders on Hawaii," he said. "Conservationists are using them to highlight the plight of native species and you can't go far on the islands without seeing them on T-shirts, baseball caps, post cards and even removal trucks. The Hawaiian fauna is being threatened by all the human-imported species of animals and plants that establish there each year. Sadly most of the plants and animals in lowland areas of Hawaii are non-native and one has to go up into the rainforest to find the native species."

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haha, brilliant

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[web]https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8023413.stm[/web]

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Fish and trips?
14th May 2009

A fish that can trigger LSD-like hallucinations when eaten has been discovered in UK waters.

The sarpa salpa species of bream is normally found in the Mediterranean and around South Africa. But fisherman Andy Giles has told how he hauled a sarpa salpa, instantly recognisable by its gold stripes, near Polperro, Cornwall.

Mr Giles, 38, said: 'We were trawling for lemon sole and hauled it up at the end of the day. After taking a photograph, I put it in the fish box and brought it back for experts. Perhaps I should have taken it into town to sell to some clubbers!'

There have only been three recordings of sarpa salpa in British waters before. Experts say they may be being lured north by warmer waters. Marine biologist James Wright said: 'It could be a single fish shoaling with a different species but it could be there are more in our seas.'

Sarpa salpa are served in Mediterranean restaurants - but if the head is eaten hallucinations, caused by plankton the fish eats, can last days. In 2006, two men, one aged 90, suffered hallucinations and nightmares for days after eating sarpa salpa in southern France.

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I've never heard of this before - but if you have to eat its head to get the trip I think I'd stick with a blotter...

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Thousands of marauding caterpillars trap car in silky web
28th May 2009

Most drivers would be delighted if their car came with a silk-lined interior. Whether it's such an appealing prospect on the outside is another matter.

This is the sight that greeted one unlucky motorist when he returned to his vehicle in Rotterdam. Under a giant silk cocoon created by an army of caterpillars, the shape of a Honda is just about visible. The car was mistaken as food by spindle ermine larvae, which had already begun to strip a nearby tree of its leaves.

Spindle ermines weave silk webs to protect themselves from birds and wasps, allowing them to gorge on leaves for six weeks before transforming into butterflies.

Eight species live in Britain and their webs can be seen throughout the country. Their favoured tree is the spindle - which is often used in car parks and for lining motorways. Stuart Hine of the Natural History Museum said: 'It only takes a few days. But we aren't talking about anything from Indiana Jones here. They can bear a bit of weight but the car owner will be able to back the car out and clean it.'

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ALIENS!!!

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Mucky mating mayflies block Bavarian bridge
6 Aug 09

Police were forced to close a bridge in the Bavarian town Schwandorf overnight to clean up millions of dead mayflies that created a dangerous slime after their yearly mating frenzy. “The slimy film is as slippery as black ice in the winter,” Officer Lang told The Local on Thursday. “Each year swarms of mayflies gather on two bridges over the Naab River for a few nights to mate.”

After the flies finish their coupling, the males fall dead to the ground, or in this case, the bridge – which was closed for some three hours while rescue workers used snow shovels and fire hoses to clear the road. In the past, several two-wheeled vehicles have crashed from the dead-fly goo, which is created when other vehicles drive over the mushy insects.

“We also have to get them off because they start to stink the next day in the summer sun,” Lang told The Local. The cleanup crew simply dumped the dead flies into the Naab river below. “It’s fish food,” Lang said.

The adult life of mayflies, which are among the most ancient species of insects, lasts a maximum of just a few days near bodies of water. Their primary function during this time is reproduction.