On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me…

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Extraordinary

A, um, venomous tiger snake all curled in ma Crimbo tree.

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Snake Catcher Victoria

In one of the more unusual festive stories doing the rounds, news reaches us that an Australian woman was putting the finishing touches to her Christmas tree over the weekend when, nestled among the tinsel and baubles, she discovered a snake.

Professional snake catcher Barry Goldsmith (strong name) was called in to get a handle on the situation, at a house in Melbourne.

“It’s one of the more different ones, but we find them in all sorts of places,” he said, “Tiger snakes are very good climbers.”

With the warmer weather, snakes are more active, but people should leave them alone and not try to kill them, he said. “It’s dangerous, it’s illegal, and it’s cruel.”

Tiger snakes, which are common in southeastern and southwestern Australia, are highly venomous and can be very aggressive.

They can be yellow, orange-brown and jet black – good camouflage for a Christmas tree…

Man Shocked to Discover Puppies are Actually Black Bears

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Extraordinary

1. Take a look at picture A. What do you see?

Picture A: Can you name the animal?

2. Now take a look at picture B. What do you see?

Picture B: Can you name the animal?

Hopefully, if you have a set of functioning eye balls and a rudimentary knowledge of the animal kingdom your answer to questions 1 and 2 would have been bear and dog respectively. See, it’s not that tough really is it?

Well try telling that to Wang Kaiyu.

Mr Kaiyu bought two puppies while on a trip to Vietnam back in 2013. At least, he thought they were puppies; it turned out that his new pets, which were described to him as “very lively, not picky about food and friendly with human beings”, were in fact baby black bears. Awww.

The penny finally dropped TWO YEARS LATER! when the man, who works as a banana farmer in China – at least he thinks they are bananas, perhaps they are watermelons – saw a wildlife protection poster warning about black bears on the loose, which looked suspiciously like his own little pooches.

Needless to say, he could bear-ly believe what had happened. Mr Kaiyu had no choice but to contact the local public security bureau and give up his beloved dogs/bears, which were promptly sent to a rescue centre.

The pair of pets, one female and one male, reportedly weight 50 kilograms each and according to China.org they are both in good health… probably all that fetch they were playing.

Now check out this waving dog…

Scientists Discover Animal that Changes Sex When it Gets Warm

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Extraordinary

First there was Caitlyn Jenner and now the Australian Central Bearded Dragon: sex changers have been all over the news in recent weeks.

In the case of the latter, scientists have just discovered that the cold-blooded reptile has chromosomes that can change depending on the weather. This means, to put it in simple terms, the temperature at which the bearded dragon’s eggs are incubated at will dictate whether you have a boy or a girl.

All Australian Central Bearded Dragon begin life with two Z chromosomes – making them genetically male – but at warm temperatures this genetic make-up changes and they are born female. It had been seen in the lab before, but for the first time ever it has taken place in the wild.

Exciting, head-scratchingly interesting news, yes. But scientists also say that the discovery raises some concerns. Namely, with global warming pushing temperatures higher and higher, it is foreseeable that more of the lizards could make the transition to become female.

However, while this has been making the news, gendering altering animals are nothing new; there have been various extraordinary discoveries of species that are able to switch between being male and female to adapt to their surroundings.

Hawkfish, Parrotfish and Clown anemonefish all have the ability to choose their gender depending on the balance of males and females in the area. Sluts.

But none of these can compete with our favourite sex-changing animals. No, no. That prize goes to the cleaner fish.

Back in 2011 a team from the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society London published a groundbreaking study which found that female cleaner fish, if they eat too much can actually turn into men. What better motivation than to not eat that last tub of ice cream than the risk of a penis popping out?!

RUUUUNNN! Australian Town Taken Over by 25,000 DEADLY SPIDERS!

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Extraordinary

One standard domestic house spider can often illicit such fear in people that their screams become ultrasonic and their hands flap fast enough to propel them off the ground.

So just imagine what it would be like if 25,000 of them INVADED YOUR TOWN! Because that’s exactly what happened in Australia this week.

The arachnid invasion of Maningrida, a town 300 miles away from Darwin on the country’s north coast, has left scientists scratching their heads and the residents (quite rightly) running for their lives.

Arachnologist Dr Robert Raven, whose own state of wellbeing must be seriously questioned if he chooses to spend his life pocking at these eight-legged freaks, is stumped as to what has brought so many venomous tarantula – oh yes, did we not mention, these are tarantulas AND THEY ARE VENOMOUS – to the small town.

He said: “Normally, I find two or three hundred spiders in one spot. Presumably, something is missing that would hammer them or there is something good [like a food source].

“It’s one of the beauties of science, being able to say ‘I don’t know’.”

Great, thanks Dr Raven.

The only comfort anyone can take from this is that the venom from the spiders is not strong enough to kill you, it will simply make you vomit for around eight hours. But seeing 25,000 tarantulas running riot in one town would probably do that anyway, with or without a bite.

Extraordinary News has suggested to the Australian government that the entire town and a 1,000-mile radius surrounding the new arachnid HQ is bombed until it falls into the ocean. We are yet to get a response… don’t they realise this is how apocalyptic horror films start?!

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Two-Headed Piglet Brings Homes the Bacon for Colombian Farmer

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Extraordinary

Two heads are better than one, or so the saying goes. Well, try telling that to a little piglet in Colombia that has been born with a second, extra, surplus, auxiliary head.

The tiny little bacon-maker has two snouts and three eyes and celebrity status from the moment it was born. And while Hegel Ortega Padilla, who owns the farm says he has never come across anything like it in his life before, he is already licking his lips at what he hopes could be a real cash cow (in pig form).

Padilla, 68, says he has been inundated with offers from people who want to buy the latest addition to his farm. But the farmer has decided that he is going to use the two-headed pig as an attraction to get more people to his business.

Rather low quality images of the little snorter have gone viral online, with the adorably deformed piglet – who was the only abnormal one in a litter of 25 – winning the affections of people around the world.

Hegel’s son, Fernando Ortega, said: “Everyone began to ask about the pig, they wanted to find out about it and take pictures.

“It was a sensation. However, no one knows why it was born with two heads. There are 25 others in the group and there is no other animal with any deformity or physical problems.”

He added that some of the more superstitious members of the community in Colombia have called for the pig to be killed. In reality, however, the polycephaly animal will not last long anyway, so allowing it to live out its short life seems like the fairest thing to do.

New Horny Dinosaur Gets Scientists Very Excited

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Extraordinary

In the search for extraordinary news, you will never go far wrong with dinosaurs. And once again the pre-historic beasts have delivered up another treat from beyond the grave in the form of a new, exciting species.

The dinosaur, which was discovered by a member of the public in southeastern Alberta, had been buried along a Canadian river bank for 68 million years. But it has now been given its grand unveiling at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology.

Scientists have described the beast as one of the most unique dinosaurs ever discovered. It boasts an exotic set of facial horns and spines around the edge of the bony frill at the back of its skull.

Some people have dubbed the new discovery ‘Hellboy’ because its stubby horns above the eyes resembled the comic-book character of the same name. But ignore these troglodytes, its real, catchier name is Regaliceratops peterhewsi, which means “royal horned face” and honours the geologist who found it, Peter Hews.

The unveiling of the new species is well timed too, as dino blockbuster Jurassic World is busy trampling over the box office record books as it draws in huge crowds around the world.

The fourth film in the Jurassic saga includes an interesting twist in which Chris Pratt is able tame and train his own Raptor Squad – this in turn has given birth to a new internet craze of zookeepers recreating one of the stand-out scenes, which you can admire below or check out #JurassicZookeeper.

Man Charged after Having Sex with Wife’s Attention-Stealing Dog

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Extraordinary

A man in the United States has been charged with animal cruelty after he had sex with his wife’s dog because he was jealous of the amount of attention it was getting from his significant other.

Jonathan Edward Medley of Geneva, Alabama was suspected by his wife of having an affair with another woman when the romance dissipated from their relationship. She hid a recording device in the house and it was then that she made the startling discovery.

The recordings uncovered that Medley was actually committing an act of bestiality by having sex with Buster, his wife’s Shih Tzu.

Geneva police captain Ricky Morgan said that the 39-year-old was “mad at his wife because she paid more attention to the dog than him so he had sex with the dog”.

Morgan explained: “She actually thought he was having an affair with another woman and hid a recording device,” Geneva Police Capt. Ricky Morgan told the Eagle.

“She learned he was in fact molesting the dog.”

Medley was held on $535 after his arrest on Friday 12 June. However, he only faces a misdemeanour charge, which is all bestiality carries under Alabama law.

The End is Nigh! Toothed Fish Fall from the Sky onto Alaskan Town

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Extraordinary

It might not have been one of the signs of the apocalypse or even one of Moses’ 10 plagues of Egypt, but it probably should have been – eels with rows of sharp, jagged teeth have literally been falling from the sky on to an Alaskan town.

Residents of Fairbanks have been left scratching their heads, bewildered (and slightly terrified) by the fact that it is raining lamprey eels. The slender fish have been found on people’s lawns and in car parks, but where are they coming from?

The lamprey eel is not easily caught in Alaska, nor is it commercially sold, so these are not easy fish to get your hands on. Not that you would want to get your hands on them either; as you can see from the picture, these are more like something you would find in a science fiction film rather than a character from Finding Nemo.

Dubbed “vampire fish” and “fish monsters” by locals, there have been numerous theories as to how the eels have ended up on land. One theory is that waterspouts or tornadoes crossing over a lake or river can pick up debris, including light aquatic animals, and carry them for miles before they rain down. But no such weather system has been recorded, so this seems more likely to just be a load of hot air.

Others have said it is a practical joke. But no one person or group has been targeted, nor has anyone claimed credit for this weird prank, so that seems unlikely.

The most credible theory is that birds have begun preying on the lamprey eel – they can sometimes be seen picking the fish out of water and flying away with them in their beak. Occasionally they will drop their meal (or realise how unappetising the creature is) leaving them flopping on the earth.

Whatever the theory, it’s probably best for you to go right ahead and scratch Fairbanks off your list of potential holiday destinations this summer.

Man Calls 911 After Being Evicted by Pet Cat

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Extraordinary

Despite the internet’s love affair with cats, there can be no denying that the little felines often have some real attitude problems. In fact, the fur balls usually demonstrate a wanton disregard for human beings and their belonging (see exhibit A, below).

Well one cat has taken its reign of terror a little further than most by physically evicting its owner from his house. That’s right, a man in Stamford, Connecticut has been forced to flee his home because of his overly aggressive pet kitty.

But far from accepting his fate as a homeless man – which probably would have been the honourable thing to do after be deposed by a small domesticated creature – the cat owner in question called the police for back-up, with a recording of the emergency 911 call quickly going viral. You can listen to it here:

In case you couldn’t make that out, the unnamed caller said: “My cat was getting too aggressive, and I was inside, and then he attacked me, he scratched me in my leg and he bite me.”

He continued: “So me and my wife, we come outside, and now we cannot go in the home for like three to four hours.”

In a tone that was more begrudging and bewildered than actually concerned, the dispatcher agreed to send an officer out to deal with the issue. And with the track record of the US police these days, it is safe to say the cat has probably been shot (although as we cannot verify the colour of the cat, we cannot confirm or deny these claims).

The fearsome feline reportedly weighed a little over seven pounds, which, following some thorough investigative journalism, we can tell you is roughly the same as: a four-slice toaster; a newborn baby; or, more adorably, two boxes of wine. The horror, the horror.

Dyed Cat Dies After Woman Paints Pet Pink

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Extraordinary

One of the great injustices of this world is that cats – everyone’s favourite feline pet – don’t come in a wide enough range of colours to be used as fully functioning fashion accessories.

For one Russian author, the frustration of not having a luminous pink cat to accompany her to a party of the same colour theme was clearly too much, so she came up with the ingenious solution: she would paint the cat.

We know what you’re thinking, ‘what a flawless plan, I’m going to go buy a tin of paint and decorate my own cat right now’. But stop, because unfortunately the home made cat-dying experiment had cat-astrophic consequences. That’s right, it tragically backfired and the dyed cat died.

Lena Lenina’s poor kitten, in an attempt to lick himself (yes, HIMSELF, as if the whole thing wasn’t cruel enough!) clean of his garish new paint job, ingested so much of the pink stuff that he lost not one but all of his nine lives, rendering him dead.

Unsurprisingly, Lenina, who works as a writer, has been widely criticised for the whole thing. However, she claims that her vet actually told her that it would be “beneficial” to paint the cat pink.

She said: “The pink colour was especially chosen for its healing properties and also strengthens the cat’s hair. My vet told me it was a beneficial addition to him.”

So the fact that the cat was taken to a ‘pink party’ shortly after being painted is a lucky coincidence because it was in fact recoloured for medicinal reasons. Phew.

An online petition has been launched demanding the local police to investigate the incident for animal cruelty charges.

ExtraordinaryNews.com

Category Archives: Animals