Rare, Prehistoric-Age Reptile Found in N.Z.

A rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said Friday.

Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara were found by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in the capital, Wellington, during routine maintenance work Friday, conservation manager Rouen Epson said.

"The nest was uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding," Epson said. "It suggests that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don't know of."

Tuatara, dragon-like reptiles that grow to up to 32 inches, are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say...

--Discovery Channel

Cheetah gets loose on Delta flight

A Delta baggage worker got a bit of a fright when she opened a jetliner's cargo door and found a cheetah running loose amid the luggage.

Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Friday that two cheetahs were being flown in the cargo area of a passenger flight from Portland, Ore., to Atlanta a day earlier when one escaped from its cage.

Talton said the airline summoned help from an Atlanta zoo. Experts rushed to a closed airport hangar and tranquilized both animals and took them back to the zoo...

--MSNBC

As economy melts away, so does N.Y. sculpture

The economy is melting — literally.

Two artists on Wednesday installed a 1,500-pound ice sculpture that spelled the word "Economy" in Manhattan's financial district.

The "Main Street Meltdown" was to remain in Foley Square until it melted — about 24 hours. By Wednesday evening, the E and the C had already thawed and vanished.

The backdrop to the sculpture — the wide stairs and row of pillars fronting the state Supreme Court building — is instantly recognizable to millions of viewers of TV's "Law & Order."

"To see the word 'economy' melting down is representational of an extreme time," artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese said on their website...

--USA Today