Bizarre animals

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Here's something that 'popped up' in my inbox...

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The abandoned monkey who has found love with a pigeon
13th September 2007

They're an odd couple in every sense but a monkey and a pigeon have become inseparable at an animal sanctuary in China. The 12-week-old macaque - who was abandoned by his mother - was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province. After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless - until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon.

The blossoming relationship helped to revive the macaque who has developed a new lease of life, say staff at the sanctuary. Now the unlikely duo are never far from each other's side, but they aren't the only ones to strike up an unusual friendship.

Earlier this year a pig adopted a tiger cub and raised him along with her piglets because his mother couldn't feed him. And in 2005 a baby dear named Mi-Lu befriended lurcher Geoffrey at the Knowsley Animal Park in Merseyside after she was rejected by her mother.

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Giant lobster leaves his mates in the shade
18th September 2007


It really would be a Hell's Kitchen if you were presented with this lobster for the pot. Fortunately, however, this Giant Pink Spiny lobster looks set to live out his retirement in an aquarium - and perhaps score a place in the record books. Named Poseidon for his size and strength, this lobster dwarfs others, measuring two feet in length and a whopping nine-and a-quarter pounds.

He was accidentally caught by the fishing boat Brittania around 200 miles south west of Newlyn, Cornwall. Spiny lobsters are actually a type of crayfish and don't usually occur in British waters. The crew were fishing for stony bass on a wreck at a depth of 238 metres when they found him, and he is now on display at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay.


At around five times the size of the average lobster as can be seen when he stands next to his mate.

Staff at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay were shocked to see quite how big he was, especially when he proudly displayed his huge antennae which reach over the back of aquarium worker Rachel Rigby's head. They make his mate look rather puny and inferior in comparison. Now experts are now consulting record books to see if Poseidon is the biggest one ever landed in Britain.

Blue Reef's David Waines said: "He's a real monster. In fact he's so big that it takes two members of staff to pick him up safely. Over the years we have looked after some very big crustaceans indeed ranging from Alaskan king crabs to lobsters but everyone here believes this is the largest specimen we've ever seen. He is at least twice the average size for a pink spiny lobster and therefore there's got to be a good chance"

The pink spiny lobster is closely related to the common crawfish but is usually found off the west coast of Africa and in the Mediterranean. It grows much bigger than its cousin and can survive at depths of up to 600 metres. Poseidon was one of three pink spiny lobsters landed by the Britannia during their wreck fishing trip. The other two were sold at the fish market in Newlyn.

"Poseidon's extraordinary size saved him from the pot and we're now hoping that he'll be able to live out the rest of his days in the safety of the aquarium. No one's certain how long pink spiny lobsters live but to have grown so large one can only assume that he is a real old man of the sea," added David.

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Stink bugs rain down on Estonian island
11/ 09/ 2007

TALLIN, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Ruhnu, a small Estonian island in the Gulf of Riga, in the Baltic Sea, has been deluged by a rain of stink bugs, the Eesti Paevaleht newspaper said Tuesday. The freakish shower occurred early Monday, and by morning downtown streets were teeming with red and brown bugs with green bellies diffusing an unpleasant smell.

"In the lamplight, you could see bugs falling from the sky, shaking the leaves," the newspaper quoted a local woman as saying.

Although stink bugs are able to fly, they are unlikely to have made it to the island under their own power, and were probably swept there by strong winds. Stink bugs, or shield bugs, produce a foul smelling liquid used as a means of defense.

[luke]

that lobster is huge! shame they couldn't just put it back in the sea

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Amazing rescue of the bear who jumped off a bridge
1st October 2007

The "bare necessities of life" included a net and a pole from an army surplus store after a bear was stranded on the ledge of a bridge over a ravine in California. The Bruin bear was crossing Rainbow Bridge on Highway 40 near Truckee when he jumped out of the way of two approaching vehicles. He ended up clinging to a ledge - for almost 24 hours.

His rescuers strung the net underneath the 80-year-old bridge before an animal control officer shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart. After the animal lost consciousness, volunteers used a pole to push it into the net, then lowered the bear onto the floor of the ravine.

More than 100 spectators cheered the sleepy-headed bear when he picked himself up and wandered off.

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The moment a dolphin joins the world
6th October 2007
www.dailymail.co.uk


It is one of the rarest and most magical sights in the natural world. A bottlenose dolphin goes into labour . . . then a calf emerges, tail first. Mother guides baby gently to the surface, where they swim together for the first time.

Very few dolphin births have been captured on film in such astonishing detail. This one was recorded at a wildlife park pool in Rimini, Italy, where photographer Leandro Stanzani was in exactly the right place at the right time.

"To take good pictures is not easy," said Mr Stanzani, who has been taking photos of dolphins for 14 years. "Most births happen during the night when the light is very poor. Sometimes dolphins prefer to stay far away from windows. Sometimes water quality is poor. This time I was extremely lucky. It was daytime first of all. There were three photographers, one at each of the three underwater windows - and I was at the right one! The others couldn't even see the event."

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Ok, so it's not exactly bizarre, but it's certainly cool to see...

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Road hog
24th October 2007

There was no time for social niceties, table manners or even a please and thank you. When little pigs insist on stopping for lunch, there's nothing much a mother on the move can do. This sow and her litter had been roaming the New Forest in Hampshire when the youngsters decided it was time to tuck in. Rather than battle the might of a half dozen little squealers, she pulled up in the middle of the road and let them have lunch. Motorists were forced to wait, with tailbacks stretching along the road. Roaming pigs are a common sight this time of year as the pannage season gets under way, an ancient custom which allows pig farmers to turn their animals on to Crown land for up to 60 days of grazing.

"The sow was feeding her piglets in the middle of the road and there was no way of moving her," said Bernie Bedford, a local doctor who took the picture. Dr Bedford, of Hythe, near Southampton, said: "I was driving along the B3079 Bramshaw to Landford road when I turned a bend and suddenly saw this amazing sight. Local radio even broadcast a warning that the pigs were a traffic hazard on that road. Cars had to carefully crawl around her but it wasn't easy."

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Biting off more than it could chew...
26th October 2007

A fisherman found a fish in waters off the South Coast of Grand Cayman that had swallowed another fish more than four times its size. McPherson "Dorson" Wright's attention was drawn to an object floating on the surface nearby. The fish, aptly named the Great Swallower, was just 7.5 inches in length. The fish it had eaten measured 34 inches, which is close to three feet in length.

Mr. Wright said that normally its expected that "big fish to eat down the small fish," but this greedy little creature had a huge appetite and eyes far bigger than its belly. When I first saw it, I really couldn't believe my eyes," said Wright. "It had obviously just died, so I decided I had to put it in the boat and take it down to the Department of the Environment to investigate it further."

On later inspection by scientists, it was established that the fish had consumed an extremely large and aggressive "snake mackerel" that was more than four times its own length. Snake mackerel have a similar appearance to barracudas. Scientist Mr Sutton of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute added that it was likely "the finding would be written up in a scientific paper" and was intrigued about how the Great Swallower avoided being eaten by the snake mackerel.

The fish may even make it into the world record books and may be shipped to the United States for further inspection. Local Marine Scientist Phillippe Bush said, "I would hate to see what a three-foot-long Great Swallower is capable of eating."

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gah!

[luke]

pirty, down in the new forest you get them and ponies living wild all over the place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Forest



its a nice place down there, i used to go a lot when i was a kid

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Is this Bigfoot ... or is it a bear with bad skin?
30th October 2007

It is furry, lives in the woods and walks on all fours. Beyond that, there are no hard facts about the furtive creature spotted prowling around the foot of a tree in Pennsylvania. But its mysterious appearance has prompted a storm of speculation - and prompted many Bigfoot believers to grab their cameras and head for the woods.

The animal was photographed by Rick Jacobs, who captured the images after fastening a camera with an automatic trigger to a tree in the Allegheny National Forest on September 16. He had hoped to get pictures of deer - but instead ended up with something more sinister. "I couldn't figure out what it was," he said. "But I've been hunting for years and I've never seen anything like this."

Mr Jacobs contacted the Bigfoot Research Organization, which pursues reports of the legendary two-legged creature, also known as the sasquatch, that some people believe lives in parts of the U.S. and Canada. "It appears to be a primate-like animal. In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch," said Paul Majeta of the Bigfoot group.

Despite the furore, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has a more conventional opinion. Agency spokesman Jerry Feaser said conservation officers routinely trap bears to be tagged and often see animals that look like the photos. "There is no question it is a bear with a severe case of mange," Feaser said.



According to most reports, Bigfoot is a large ape with dark brown or dark reddish hair. There have been recorded sightings of the creature since 1840 but most scientists dimiss the sasquatch as myth. However, the Bigfoot legend refuses to die and there have been a number of elaborate hoaxes, as well as some possible genuine spots. The best known and most controversial was a film shot by two Americans Roger Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin which purported to show a genuine recording of Bigfoot.



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New species of 'giant wild pig' discovered in Amazon jungle
5th November 2007

A new species of wild pig previously unknown to science has been discovered in the Brazilian jungle. The large creature grows to a length of more than four feet and is almost twice as heavy as its nearest relative. Named the 'giant peccary', the creature was unknown until the skins and bones of animals killed by local hunters came to the attention of Dutch biologist Marc van Roosmalen. The pig-like animals do not travel in large herds and prefer to remain in small family groups while its well known relatives tend to travel in herds of hundreds.

Mr van Roosmalen, from the National Institute for Amazon Research in Manaus, has caught the giant peccaries on film. The animal, only known to live along the remote banks of the Aripuana river, is thought to be endangered by the illegal timber trade and road building. Local tribes call it "Caitetu Munde", which means "great peccary which lives in pairs" and may have been spotted by an American rubber-cutter, John Yungjohann, who worked in the Amazon from 1906 to 1919. In his book "White Gold" he talks of three different "bush pigs" including a "great big one". He wrote: "They travel in pairs, and are very lively. They will attack on sight - either you have to be swift and a sure shot or climb a tree."

Larger than the other species, the giant peccary is more slightly built with longer legs and a relatively small head. It also has different markings and walks almost silently. While other peccaries dig up the ground in search of seeds and roots, this one mostly lives off freshly fallen fruit. Researchers have pointed out that "unprecedented" illegal extraction of timber and gravel was taking place in the Rio Aripuana region. They have recommended that the giant peccary be placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources' Red List of threatened species.

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Meet Lil'Bit - the cat with two faces

Everybody knows that cats have nine lives. But one very special and much loved cat has been born with TWO faces - and very possibly, two brains. The owner of the tomcat called Lil'Bit - as in 'A little bit of love' - nearly dropped the kitten in shock when its extra features were revealed.

But the 47-year old woman owner from Arizona, USA, was determined that the odd arrival, although ill, should not be put to sleep and she pledged to become Lil'Bit's carer. Now, seven months later, after feeding the mog from a pipette on baby milk and eventually more solid food, he is apparently thriving and seems likely to live to a grand old age.

Lil'Bit had four eyes when he was born, although the two middle eyes are on the point of merging, two mouths, two noses, but just two ears. And vets believe the cat may actually have two brains as one face can go to sleep while the other remains awake. If Lil'Bit gets a cold, the nose on only one of her faces will run.

Lil'Bit was one of five kittens born in a litter from his mum, Lil'Pine, seven months ago. His two brothers and two sisters only had the regulation one face. Vets believe Lil'Bit may actually have two brains as one face can go to sleep while the other remains awake

The cat's owner, who wishes to remain anonymous as she believes unwanted callers to her home to see the cat may leave Lil'Bit stressed and ill, told how she discovered the puss with two faces. She said yesterday: 'The kittens were born underneath my computer table. When I picked Lil'Bit up I suddenly spotted that he had two faces. I was so shocked that I nearly dropped him. I called a kitten rescue service and they told me not to expect him to survive. But I didn't see why he shouldn't be given the chance to live. Everything is possible.

'I got him a heating pad and started feeding him every 15 minutes from an eye-dropper. I fed him like that for two or three months before starting him on proper cat food. He finds it hard to walk normally so there was a litter problem because he couldn't do it himself. So I hit on the idea of using premature baby diapers on him. It seems to work well. The amazing thing to watch is that one of Lil'Bit's faces can be asleep while the other one is awake. I have also seen him sneeze out of one side and not the other and blink on one side of his face but not the other. And when he purrs it is like he is purring in stereo.

'We haven't had any X-rays done or operations under anaesthesia because I think that could upset Lil'Bit. But the vet seems to think there is a good chance there are two brains operating here. It seems logical as she breathes out of both mouths and noses'. The mother of two boys added: 'The whole family loves Lil'Bit.'

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a flying mobula ray

23rd November 2007

Lurking off Mexico's eastern shore in the Sea of Cortez, these flap-jack-like creatures burst out of the water with graceful precision. Soaring as high as two metres above the plankton-rich green water, mobula rays are a sight to behold.

Both mantas and mobulas are members of the Family Mobulidae, a group about which, very little is known. Mobulas can grow up to ten feet though they are considerably smaller than their Manta Ray cousin. Mantas, the most well known of, which is the Pacific Manta Ray, can exceed disc-like shapes of up to twenty-three feet.

For some time now, the comings and goings of the mobula have remained something of a mystery. Scientists do not know why large schools spend a few days in one area, or why the disc like creatures breach the water in spectacular fashion. Is it to dislodge the parasite-cleaning remoras that attach to their backside? Is it some way of keeping fit, of practising the underwater gathering of food? Could it be a form of play? What if jumping was a form of co-operative hunting, a way of tricking vibration-wary mysids into migrating downwards and into the open mouths of other mobulas below?

Keller Laros, a dive master based out of Hawaii has logged long hours underwater observing Pacific Manta Rays, the largest of munkiana's mobulid cousins. The smaller manta ray's out-of-water acrobatics is not unlike its feeding behaviour below the surface. Underwater, mantas have been observed doing loop after loop in the same place, concentrating their prey into a tight area. As they circle, they direct the green soup into their mouths with the cephalic lobes found on each side of their head.

Karey Kumli, research associate at the Pacific Manta Research Group located at Santa Rosa Junior College, thinks the breaching behaviour isn't done deliberately. She said: "We wonder why they go through that plane between water and air, and I ask why would they avoid it. They'd have to be pretty careful to avoid being airborne. Remember, when they are in the air, there's so little resistance compared to that offered by water that a slight bend of a fin would send them tumbling." In short, mobulas spin out in the absence of the resistance provided by water.

However, like most beautiful species of the sea they face the many dangers posed by man. According to SeaWatch - www.seawatch.org - sports fishermen in Parque Nacional Bahia de Loreto, say that their business is off 40 per cent to 50 per cent from last year, and the consensus among commercial fisherman is that there are no fish left to catch.

Longlines, trawls, spear-guns, nylon nets, and large-scale commercial operations have replaced the individual fishermen using a hand line. And it is by no means unique to the Sea of Cortez. Worldwide, by-catch accounts for 20 million tons a year of unwanted fish. About one-fourth of the world's catch is thrown back. The ratio is even higher among the take from shrimp trawlers. Today, due in part to the work of Sea Watch, the Mexican government now imposes a $10,000 fine for those convicted of intentionally killing a Pacific Manta Ray.

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brilliant looking things!

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Bizarre rodent with ears bigger than its head is caught on camera for first time

10th December 2007

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) today released the first known footage of the long-ear jerboa, which looks like a mouse-sized kangaroo with enormous ears. The little jumping Mongolian rodent was filmed hopping about in its natural habitat in the Gobi desert by the scientists from the ZSL's Edge programme, which focuses its efforts on animals which are "evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered".

The jerboa, found in the deserts of Mongolia and China, is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is threatened by disturbance of its habitat - with the domestic cat emerging as a newly-introduced predator into the rodent's range. It is one of 10 species which has been selected for the focus of the first year of the scheme because it was receiving little conservation attention.

All the Edge species are highly distinct genetically, with few close relatives, but are extremely endangered and need immediate action to save them from becoming extinct. Dr Jonathan Baillie, ZSL head of field conservation and leader of the expedition to Mongolia, said: "The footage and images from this expedition really are extraordinary and incredibly charming.

"The long-eared jerboa is a bit like the Mickey Mouse of the desert, cute and comic in equal measure. When people see ZSL's footage of this tiny, threatened creature I am convinced they will want to get involved in its conservation. Unfortunately, this is just one of many amazing and unusual animals that are highly threatened but receiving little or no conservation attention."

The long-eared jerboa (Euchoreutes naso) is a jumping rodent whose legs are specially adapted for jumping like a kangaroo and is easily recognised by ears which are about a third bigger than its head. It is a primarily nocturnal insect-eating animal which spends its daylight hours in underground tunnels.