Bizarre animals

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She's not exactly the looker is she?!

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I'm thinking to get a parrot as they're cracking creatures, but they're pretty expensive. I saw a bloke taking one for a walk in the park recently - the guy looked stupid but the parrot looked cool! haha

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The crows that attacked a koala bear for straying too close to their nest
16th August 2008

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Bigfoot Remains Found?
www.searchingforbigfoot.com

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Ah well. I do hope they find Bigfoot someday.

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Meet Yoda the cat with FOUR ears
19th August 2008

When Valerie and Ted Rock came across a kitten with four-ears, they couldn't believe their eyes. But the endearing feline was so adorable they decided he was destined to be a part of their family.

The couple were in a Chicago bar two years ago when they noticed a little grey bundle of fur being passed around to the amazement of fellow drinkers - and their parental instincts kicked in. The couple immediately fell for the freaky feline and asked the owner if they could adopt him. He agreed and the couple named the cat Yoda, after the pointy-eared Jedi knight in Star Wars.

Valerie, 65, said: 'We were at a pub on the south side of Chicago with a group of friends when we noticed a small cage sitting on the bar and people passing around a kitten. He had been part of a large litter and the owners were looking to find a home for him. Ted and I had just lost a cat that was our pet for over 20 years, and we were sure we were done with cats. When he was passed around he reached for Ted, crawled up into the crook of his neck and fell asleep - Ted was a goner. It was a done deal when the kitten made himself at home on Ted's shoulder. We decided to name him Yoda. I understand the Star Wars character was based on George Lucas' cat.'

After adopting the eight-week-old kitten into their Illinois home, Valerie decided to have Yoda checked out with the local vet. But the vet was mystified by his unique appearance. 'The vet had never seen anything like it before,' explains Valerie. 'He immediately went to the internet and found the four-eared cat in Germany. We have spoken with other vets in our acquaintance, and they likewise had never encountered anything like this. We began to realise that we had something very special. As a result, he has been an indoor cat and has a chip installed in case he gets lost. Yoda is so different that we were concerned that he might be catnapped.'

Yoda's extra 'flaps' are separate to the base of his skull, with one placed slightly behind the other. Yet despite his unusual looks, Valerie is sure Yoda's behaviour - and hearing - are quite normal. 'Yoda's hearing is normal as far as we know,' says Valerie. 'People do a double take when they see him or his picture. It is great fun showing him off.

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Now that's a brilliant freak of nature!

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Meet the cats which have sprouted wings
27th August 2008

While most cats are renowned for having nine lives, these moggies are clearly living on a wing and a prayer. The cute little devils began sprouting bumps on their backs, which later turned into wing-like growths, during a recent spell of hot weather in China's Sichuan province.

One cat owner, known only as Feng, claims her cat's wings are a result of stress after he was 'harassed' by females looking to mate. 'At first, they were just two bumps, but they started to grow quickly, and after a month there were two wings,' she told Huashang News. 'Many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow.'

And while she says her lovable Tom is no devil, his wings, which contain bones, make him look more like a 'cat angel'. But genetic experts claim there is nothing angelic or magical about the condition, which doesn't hinder the cat's quality of life. They say the wings can form through poor grooming, a genetic defect or a hereditary skin condition.

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"Unicorn" photographed for first time
Lewis Smith,
Environment Reporter

An animal once thought to be living proof that unicorns really existed has been photographed in the wild for the first time. The okapi, the giraffe's closest relative, is one of the most secretive creatures of the central African jungles but has finally been caught on film in the wild.

During the nineteenth century it was thought to be the fabled unicorn by some of the few Westerners who managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of the animal. Pictures of the okapi based on glimpses and imagination were sent back to Europe and suggested to naturalists that the source of the unicorn myth had been found.

Even when pygmy hunters presented a skin of an okapi to Sir Harry Johnston, the the British governor of Uganda, and he sent it to to Zoological Society of London for scientific analysis in 1901 the tales persisted. The condition of the skin was in such poor condition that some of the more romantic observers still maintained a link to the unicorn, a hope eventually dashed when the first live specimen was captured and sent to the United States in the 1930s.

Photographs of the live okapi in its natural habitat were taken by a camera trap triggered when animals tripped a sensor. The traps were set up by researchers from the ZSL and Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was the first time that the species had been seen alive in the national park for almost 50 years, though tracks were found in 2006. In two other protected areas it has suffered severe declines and in unprotected areas the decline is presumed to be even worse because of the bushmeat trade.

Dr Noelle Kumpel, of ZSL, said: “To have captured the first ever photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing. Okapi are very shy and rare animals - which is why conventional surveys only tend to record droppings and other signs of their presence. "They are declining as far as we can tell but our knowledge of the animals is pretty scant. We don't have a good hold on the number or distribution." She added: "It used to be thought it was a unicorn in the Victorian era. The few Westerners who came across it only caught passing glances and stories of this mythical donkey-like and unicorn-like animal were reported."

The trap was part of a survey project which has also revealed the presence of a previously unknown population of the animals. Okapis are known as the forest giraffe and, similar to its taller cousin, it has a long, black prehensile toungue. On its rear are black and white stripes like a zebra's bottom which the young use to recognise their mothers.

Thierry Lusenge, a member of the survey team, said: “The photographs clearly show the stripes on their rear, which act like unique fingerprints.
"We have already identified three individuals, and further survey work will enable us to estimate population numbers and distribution in and around the Park, which is a critical first step in targeting conservation efforts.” Norbert Mushenzi, deputy director of Virunga National Park, added: “Okapi are an emblematic species for the Congolese and are even pictured on the ICCN logo. The rangers and I are incredibly excited to have found evidence of okapi still surviving here, as this gives added value to the Park.”

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I had no idea these were so rare - I remember as a kid having model animals and there was one of these in there. Okapi's a great scrabble word btw... haha

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A rare Eaglemouth tortoise, believed to be more than 500 years old, which was found in a fish pond in Taizhou, China. Sporting an oddly-shaped head and six spikes on its shell, the Eaglemouth is hostile to human contact and has a vicious bite.

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ah the beauty of nature!

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'Yeti' footprints found by adventurers in Nepal
By Richard Shears
20th October 2008

Footprints from the legendary Yeti have been found in the snow-covered slopes of the Himalayas, a Japanese team of explorers claimed today. The adventurers could hardly contain their excitement as they told of finding the 8in-long footprints which bore a close resemblance to those of humans.

But, said team leader Yoshiteru Takahashi, they were not human - neither were they the footprints of wolves, deer or snow leopards. 'They were made by the Yeti, we believe,' said Mr Takahashi, who heads the Yeti Project Japan, after returning from the mountains to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.

Stories of the Yeti - also known as the Abominable Snowman - have been passed down through generations of Nepalese families whose ancestors have told of a half-man, half ape, living in the Himalayas, where the world's tallest mountain, Mt Everest, is located.

The scientific community has mostly discounted the stories, saying they are more myth than fact, but Mr Takahashi is convinced the 'creature' exists. If so, it would be very old, for it was first described in 1832 by Englishman James Prinsep who told of his local guides spotting a tall, bipedal creature covered with long dark hair.

Takashi is convinced the 8in footprint was made by a yeti and not any other animal. Mr Takahashi also claims to have seen a Yeti when he went to the Himalayas in 2003. On that expedition he was 200 yards away from the apparition but remains convinced he was not mistaken. 'It was in silhouette,' he said. 'It was walking on two legs like a human and looked about 150 centimeters (5ft) tall.' Now, finding strange footprints in the snow on his most recent expedition, has left Mr Takahashi convinced that the Yeti is still wandering among the towering Himalayan peaks. 'We have no doubt about what we have found. This makes us certain that the Yeti exists. As well as the footprints, the stories the locals tell makes us sure that this being is not imaginary.'

Despite spending 42 days on Dhaulagiri IV - a 25,135ft peak where Mr Takahashi says he has seen the shadowy figure in the past - the seven- man team has failed in their prime objective of capturing a Yeti on film. 'We set up nine motion-sensitive cameras in the area where I first saw what I believed was it, but we have not got any images. But we'll be coming back as soon as we can - and we'll keep coming back until we get the Yeti on film, and then all doubt will vanish.'

Following the first record of a Yeti by James Prinsep, other explorers have also written of the strange creature. In 1921 explorer Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury told of finding footprints he believed had been made by a large wolf, although they gave the impression of being made by a bare-footed man.
nepal The footprint was found in the Himalayas, on a 25,135ft peak where the Japanese team believe they saw a yeti five years ago

The yeti, also known as the abominable snowman, is an ape-like creature said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. The names yeti and meh-teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology. The yeti can be considered a Himalayan parallel to the Bigfoot legend of North America.

In 1954, the Daily Mail reported the discovery of hair specimens from what was said to be the scalp of a Yeti. Professor Frederick Woods Jones, an expert in human and comparative anatomy, failed to reach a conclusion, but said the dark brown hair was not from a bear or an anthropoid (manlike) ape. Alleged sightings and debate has continued through the decades - but so far no-one has been able to produce a clear, definitive photograph of the world's most elusive being.

If it exists at all.

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Bonnie the ape holds a tune

Meet Bonnie the whistling orangutan. The 140lb ape stunned her keepers when she picked up the self-taught trick. Now boffins believe she may hold crucial clues as to how the human language evolved. It is thought that 30-year-old Bonnie - who lives in the National Zoo, in Washington DC, US - taught herself how to whistle after hearing her keepers.

Bonnie also taught her orangutan pal Indah how to whistle - who created her own tunes, rather than just copying what she heard. Animal experts say she is the first indication that the primates can independently pick up and make their own sounds. And a new study suggests the sounds she makes could explain how early humans formed their own language.

Animal keeper and study co-author Erin Stromberg said: "The assumption is that someone was whistling and she probably picked it up from them." The zoo's curator Lisa Stevens said: "It's something she spontaneously developed. It wasn't a trick."

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The piglet squid with a smiley face and a twinkle in his eye
Wil Longbottom
8th January 2009

Something seems to have put a smile on this piglet squid's face. The tentacled creature has developed what appears to be a smiley face, believed to be caused by an unusual alignment of skin pigments.

This happy specimen, known as helicocranchia pfefferi to scientists, was caught during a deepwater plankton trawl in the Pacific Ocean between Los Angeles and Catalina.

Piglet squids are about the size of a small avocado and are found at depths of more than 100m (300ft). The creatures have a habit of filling up with water and have large light producing organs behind both its eyes.

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'Winged mammal' photo: A blurry bird or a new species?
This blurry photo is causing excitement on paranormal websites, amid speculation that it could show a new species of winged mammal.
By Matthew Moore
14 Jan 2009
telegraph.co.uk

The image was reportedly taken by amateur photographer Fabian Romano at a Macachín airport in La Pampa, Argentina. According to the uncorroborated story that accompanies the picture on dozens of cryptozoology websites and blogs, the photographer spotted the fast-moving "being" but was only able to take a single photo before it flew away. He reportedly sent the photo to local UFO study group which decided it showed a creature of "high strangeness" and forwarded it on to the police.

The blurb with the picture claims that officers used high-tech equipment to enhance the image, revealing that the animal had eye sockets and a beak. The special criminal division estimated that the creature could be up to 2ft 7 in tall, it is claimed.

But the story have been met with scepticism among experienced photographers, who point out that it would be impossible to tell the size of the object without knowing how close it was to the camera. More mundane and plauside theories include that the photo is a long exposure shot of a bird, or an insect that flew too close to the camera.

"The legs make me think it's some kind of grasshopper or locust," said one commenter on the Boing Boing blog.

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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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