Petra the swan has a new home and so does her beloved swan-shaped paddleboat.
In 2006, Petra, a black swan, became so attached to the boat — shaped like an outsized white swan — that she refused to leave its side at a lake near a zoo in the German city of Muenster.
Petra and her paddleboat were taken to the zoo.
Zoo officials finally parted bird and boat last week after Petra settled down with a real white swan and the boat was returned to the lake. But the romance was short-lived. The zoo says that, on Saturday, her new beau flew off and sought out the company of other black swans...
--USA Today
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Ponytail Helps Save 10-Year-Old Who Fell In Icy Canal
Jazmine Peters, 10, escaped drowning in the historic Portage Canal by the hair on her head.
Cousin Jeff Gjavenis, also 10, grabbed Jazmine's thick ponytail to keep her head above water after she slid off the Ice Age Trail and into the canal Sunday night.
The scene of the incident is well known to the family members. Jazmine's mother, Terri Reilley, grew up with a sister and cousin on the Old Indian Agency House land where her parents have been resident caretakers for decades. The site is where travelers centuries ago portaged canoes between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and where the canal eventually was built.
Jazmine, Jeff and three other cousins had gone for a walk and went across a bridge to the other side of the canal. That's when Jazmine fell in and her cousins came to the rescue, Jeff holding her head above water with her ponytail and Taylor Weirich pulling her with the strap on her snow pants...
--WISC TV
Cousin Jeff Gjavenis, also 10, grabbed Jazmine's thick ponytail to keep her head above water after she slid off the Ice Age Trail and into the canal Sunday night.
The scene of the incident is well known to the family members. Jazmine's mother, Terri Reilley, grew up with a sister and cousin on the Old Indian Agency House land where her parents have been resident caretakers for decades. The site is where travelers centuries ago portaged canoes between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and where the canal eventually was built.
Jazmine, Jeff and three other cousins had gone for a walk and went across a bridge to the other side of the canal. That's when Jazmine fell in and her cousins came to the rescue, Jeff holding her head above water with her ponytail and Taylor Weirich pulling her with the strap on her snow pants...
--WISC TV
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Giant marine life found in antarctic waters
Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens found, including jellyfish with 12-foot tentacles and 2-foot-wide starfish.
A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.
It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that — but you have to take it with a grain of salt"...
--MSNBC
A 2,000-mile journey through the Ross Sea that ended Thursday has also potentially turned up several new species, including as many as eight new mollusks.
It's "exciting when you come across a new species," said Chris Jones, a fisheries scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "All the fish people go nuts about that — but you have to take it with a grain of salt"...
--MSNBC
Friday, March 21, 2008
Circus zebras briefly escape in Md.
Three zebras from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus briefly escaped from their downtown venue on Thursday but were quickly corralled by their trainer and two handlers.
The zebras — Mali, Giza and Lima — spotted an open door at the 1st Mariner Arena and dashed into traffic on Hopkins Place, but were rounded up half a block away.
Carrie Coleman, a veterinary technician for the circus, told The Baltimore Sun it was a frightening incident because the animals were in traffic lanes before returning to the sidewalk...
--USA Today
The zebras — Mali, Giza and Lima — spotted an open door at the 1st Mariner Arena and dashed into traffic on Hopkins Place, but were rounded up half a block away.
Carrie Coleman, a veterinary technician for the circus, told The Baltimore Sun it was a frightening incident because the animals were in traffic lanes before returning to the sidewalk...
--USA Today
Friday, March 14, 2008
Wisconsin plant treats wastewater with sugar, molasses
Ingredients better suited for a cookie recipe are being used to treat Janesville's wastewater.
Workers are dumping sugar and molasses into the wastewater at the treatment plant.
Utilities director Dan Lynch said that the ingredients replace chemicals that aren't as friendly to the environment...
--WISC TV.com
Workers are dumping sugar and molasses into the wastewater at the treatment plant.
Utilities director Dan Lynch said that the ingredients replace chemicals that aren't as friendly to the environment...
--WISC TV.com
Airport stops women with human remains in suitcase
Two Italian women carrying luggage containing the remains of a man who died in Brazil 11 years ago were stopped by Munich airport police during a stopover on their journey from Sao Paulo to Naples.
"Airport security spotted the skull and bones when the suitcase was put through the x-ray machine," police spokesman Christian Maier said.
One of the women was the dead man's sister and she explained to surprised officials that it had been her brother's wish to be buried in Italy.
After showing his death certificate, the Italians, aged 63 and 62, were allowed on their next flight to Naples...
--Reuters
"Airport security spotted the skull and bones when the suitcase was put through the x-ray machine," police spokesman Christian Maier said.
One of the women was the dead man's sister and she explained to surprised officials that it had been her brother's wish to be buried in Italy.
After showing his death certificate, the Italians, aged 63 and 62, were allowed on their next flight to Naples...
--Reuters
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Rare white killer whale spotted in Alaska
The white killer whale spotted in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent researchers and the ship's crew scrambling for their cameras.
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it"...
--MSNBC
The nearly mythic creature was real after all.
"I had heard about this whale, but we had never been able to find it," said Holly Fearnbach, a research biologist with the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle who photographed the rarity. "It was quite neat to find it"...
--MSNBC
Kitten survived in crate from Singapore to Ohio
A scrawny, black and white female kitten has apparently survived a trip across the Pacific Ocean and North America inside a shipping crate.
Cleveland Animal Protective League Executive Director Sharon Harvey says a Cleveland company that received the crate of spooled steel coil Friday found the kitten inside one the spools.
Harvey says the mother cat and other kittens found in the crate were dead. The crate came to Samsel Supply Co. from Singapore. It was sealed Feb. 4 and shipped three days later...
--USA Today
Cleveland Animal Protective League Executive Director Sharon Harvey says a Cleveland company that received the crate of spooled steel coil Friday found the kitten inside one the spools.
Harvey says the mother cat and other kittens found in the crate were dead. The crate came to Samsel Supply Co. from Singapore. It was sealed Feb. 4 and shipped three days later...
--USA Today
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