Gary Kidd had a pretty good idea that what his 3-year-old grandson had found was no rock, but the tooth of a woolly mammoth. That's because he had found one himself nine years ago.
Kaleb Kidd was chasing squirrels Monday at a family friend's property near La Crosse when he spotted what looked like an unusual rock.
"Grandpa, what's that?" Kaleb asked.
He told his grandson it looked like the tooth of the extinct woolly mammoth.
Next stop was the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which confirmed that it was, indeed, the tooth of a mammoth...
--USA Today
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
Iowa man recovering after being shot by his dog
A hunter is recovering after he was shot in the leg at close range by his dog, who stepped on his shotgun and tripped the trigger, an official said Tuesday.
James Harris, 37, of Tama, was hit in the calf Saturday, the opening day of pheasant season, said Alan Foster, a spokesman with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
"He had surgery and is doing pretty well," he said. "He took between 100-120 pellets in about a 4-inch circle to his calf"...
--USA Today
James Harris, 37, of Tama, was hit in the calf Saturday, the opening day of pheasant season, said Alan Foster, a spokesman with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
"He had surgery and is doing pretty well," he said. "He took between 100-120 pellets in about a 4-inch circle to his calf"...
--USA Today
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Woman finds live World War II-era bomb
A woman walking her dog Wednesday found a live, World War II-era bomb on a Florida beach, which authorities later detonated.
No one was injured.
Jeannie Emack called local authorities, who determined the roughly 100-pound (45.4-kilogram) bomb was too old and unstable to move. Instead, they evacuated nearly two blocks of homes, while members of the sheriff's Explosive Ordinance Disposal team dug a hole in the sand and detonated the bomb...
--USA Today
No one was injured.
Jeannie Emack called local authorities, who determined the roughly 100-pound (45.4-kilogram) bomb was too old and unstable to move. Instead, they evacuated nearly two blocks of homes, while members of the sheriff's Explosive Ordinance Disposal team dug a hole in the sand and detonated the bomb...
--USA Today
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Chicago highway closed by pig grease
A busy section of highway was closed for seven hours Sunday after a truck tipped over and spilled pig ears, pig feet and grease.
The greasy pig parts created slippery conditions and forced the closure of northbound lanes of the Edens Expressway. The lanes were reopened Sunday afternoon.
A sudden shift in the truck's load caused it to tip onto its side near an entrance ramp in Skokie, according to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey. The Edens Expressway connects downtown Chicago to its northern suburbs.
No injuries were reported...
--USA Today
The greasy pig parts created slippery conditions and forced the closure of northbound lanes of the Edens Expressway. The lanes were reopened Sunday afternoon.
A sudden shift in the truck's load caused it to tip onto its side near an entrance ramp in Skokie, according to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey. The Edens Expressway connects downtown Chicago to its northern suburbs.
No injuries were reported...
--USA Today
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lake disappears suddenly in Chile
Scientists in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a glacial lake in the south of the country.
When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.
But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.
One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.
"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal," Juan Jose Romero from Chile's National Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said...
--BBC News
When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.
But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.
One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.
"In March we patrolled the area and everything was normal," Juan Jose Romero from Chile's National Forestry Corporation, Conaf, said...
--BBC News
"We" the 2-headed snake's long odd life ends
A two-headed snake named “We,” the main attraction at the World Aquarium, has died.
The 8-year-old rat snake died of natural causes during the weekend, said caretaker Leonard Sonnenschein. Most two-headed snakes survive for only a week or two.
“It’s terrible news,” Sonnenschein said. “People come in every day and say: ’I’m here to see the two-headed snake.'"
Sonnenschein said more than a million people have seen We over the years. Children were especially fascinated by the snake, wondering how two heads could coexist on the same body as We sometimes strained to slither in two directions at once.
“These kinds of questions helped spur the science spirit in children,” Sonnenschein said. Sonnenschein said he bought We from a snake breeder in Indiana for $15,000 when the reptile was just a few weeks old...
--MSNBC
The 8-year-old rat snake died of natural causes during the weekend, said caretaker Leonard Sonnenschein. Most two-headed snakes survive for only a week or two.
“It’s terrible news,” Sonnenschein said. “People come in every day and say: ’I’m here to see the two-headed snake.'"
Sonnenschein said more than a million people have seen We over the years. Children were especially fascinated by the snake, wondering how two heads could coexist on the same body as We sometimes strained to slither in two directions at once.
“These kinds of questions helped spur the science spirit in children,” Sonnenschein said. Sonnenschein said he bought We from a snake breeder in Indiana for $15,000 when the reptile was just a few weeks old...
--MSNBC
Monday, May 28, 2007
Awakened man wrestles leopard out of his bed
A man clad only in underwear and a T-shirt wrestled a wild leopard to the floor and pinned it for 20 minutes after the cat leapt through a window of his home and hopped into bed with his sleeping family.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."
Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch's small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans.
Shapira said it was probably food that lured the big cat. Leopards living near humans are usually too old to hunt in the wild and resort to chasing down domestic dogs and cats for food, he added...
--CNN
"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."
Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch's small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans.
Shapira said it was probably food that lured the big cat. Leopards living near humans are usually too old to hunt in the wild and resort to chasing down domestic dogs and cats for food, he added...
--CNN
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Man tries to smuggle 700 snakes on plane
Customs officers at Cairo's airport on Thursday detained a man bound for Saudi Arabia who was trying to smuggle 700 live snakes on a plane, airport authorities said.
The officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carryon bag, told them it contained live snakes.
Tulba opened his bag to show the snakes to the police and asked the officers, who held a safe distance, not to come close. Among the various snakes, hidden in small cloth sacks, were two poisonous cobras...
--USA Today
The officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carryon bag, told them it contained live snakes.
Tulba opened his bag to show the snakes to the police and asked the officers, who held a safe distance, not to come close. Among the various snakes, hidden in small cloth sacks, were two poisonous cobras...
--USA Today
Monday, May 21, 2007
Ancient Coelacanth Caught in Indonesia
An Indonesian fisherman hooked a rare coelacanth, a species once thought as extinct as dinosaurs, and briefly kept the "living fossil" alive in a quarantined pool.
Justinus Lahama caught the four-foot, 110-pound fish early Saturday off Sulawesi island near Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest marine biodiversity in the world.
The fish died 17 hours later, an extraordinary survival time, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas said Sunday.
"The fish should have died within two hours because this species only lives in deep, cold-sea environment," he said. Lumingas works at the local Sam Ratulangi University, which plans to study the carcass...
--ABC News
Justinus Lahama caught the four-foot, 110-pound fish early Saturday off Sulawesi island near Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest marine biodiversity in the world.
The fish died 17 hours later, an extraordinary survival time, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas said Sunday.
"The fish should have died within two hours because this species only lives in deep, cold-sea environment," he said. Lumingas works at the local Sam Ratulangi University, which plans to study the carcass...
--ABC News
Thursday, May 17, 2007
School's pet bat tests positive for rabies
Catching a bat in a school basement and keeping it as a classroom pet is a great way to learn — about rabies.
Two staff members at Trinity Lutheran School are getting a weekslong series of rabies shots after a bat kept in a locked terrarium tested positive for the disease.
On May 9, seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Steve Coniglio used a stick and a bucket to capture the bat, which died two days later.
The bat had been displayed in classrooms and students gave it crickets, but Susan Tucker, head teacher at the central Wyoming school, said Coniglio made sure students did not handle the animal.
State and county health officials on Tuesday interviewed all 95 staff members and students at the school and decided that Coniglio and a teaching assistant who cleaned the cage after the bat died needed to be treated as a precaution, said Marty Stensaas, manager for Fremont County Public Health Nursing...
--USA Today
Two staff members at Trinity Lutheran School are getting a weekslong series of rabies shots after a bat kept in a locked terrarium tested positive for the disease.
On May 9, seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Steve Coniglio used a stick and a bucket to capture the bat, which died two days later.
The bat had been displayed in classrooms and students gave it crickets, but Susan Tucker, head teacher at the central Wyoming school, said Coniglio made sure students did not handle the animal.
State and county health officials on Tuesday interviewed all 95 staff members and students at the school and decided that Coniglio and a teaching assistant who cleaned the cage after the bat died needed to be treated as a precaution, said Marty Stensaas, manager for Fremont County Public Health Nursing...
--USA Today
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Study hints that fruit flies have free will
A spark of free will may exist in even the tiny brain of the humble fruit fly, based on new findings that could shed light on the nature and evolution of free will in humans.
Future research delving further into free will could lead to more advanced robots, scientists added. The result, joked neurobiologist Björn Brembs from the Free University Berlin, could be "world robot domination."
"Seriously though," Brembs said that programming robots with aspects of free will "may lead to more realistic and probably even more efficient behavior, which could be decisive in truly autonomous robots needed for planetary exploration"...
--MSNBC
Future research delving further into free will could lead to more advanced robots, scientists added. The result, joked neurobiologist Björn Brembs from the Free University Berlin, could be "world robot domination."
"Seriously though," Brembs said that programming robots with aspects of free will "may lead to more realistic and probably even more efficient behavior, which could be decisive in truly autonomous robots needed for planetary exploration"...
--MSNBC
Baby Bubba's got a Beretta -- and a license
My 10-month-old son has the cutest FOID card.
Howard David Ludwig -- affectionately nicknamed Bubba -- received his state-issued firearm owner's identification card two weeks ago.
The wallet-size card arrived about a month after his dear ol' dad correctly completed the online form and sent in the fee.
As a FOID card holder, baby Bubba can own a firearm, as well as ammunition, in Illinois.
He can also legally transport an unloaded weapon, though he can't yet walk, so that's not an issue.
The plastic card has a picture of Bubba giving a toothless grin in the upper right corner. It includes his name, address and date of birth -- 6/14/2006.
The FOID card lists his height (2 feet, 3 inches) and his weight (20 pounds)...
--Chicago Sun-Times
Howard David Ludwig -- affectionately nicknamed Bubba -- received his state-issued firearm owner's identification card two weeks ago.
The wallet-size card arrived about a month after his dear ol' dad correctly completed the online form and sent in the fee.
As a FOID card holder, baby Bubba can own a firearm, as well as ammunition, in Illinois.
He can also legally transport an unloaded weapon, though he can't yet walk, so that's not an issue.
The plastic card has a picture of Bubba giving a toothless grin in the upper right corner. It includes his name, address and date of birth -- 6/14/2006.
The FOID card lists his height (2 feet, 3 inches) and his weight (20 pounds)...
--Chicago Sun-Times
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Sea lion joins California schoolchildren's walk-a-thon
He has flippers instead of feet — and certainly no sneakers or hiking boots. But that didn't stop a sea lion from joining schoolchildren on a walk-a-thon.
The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.
"He did a whole lap," said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.
It was the latest brush with humans for the 1-year-old sea lion, called Astro by staffers at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.
Astro's mother abandoned him at Ano Nuevo Island off the San Mateo coast in June, prompting biologists to bottle-feed the pup. They released the adolescent on April 25 with a radio tag...
--USA Today
The marine mammal apparently noticed children doing laps Friday morning around a course they had set up at the Marin Country Day School next to the shores of the San Francisco Bay. The 185-pound Steller sea lion waddled ashore, shocking students and teachers.
"He did a whole lap," said Kelly Watson, director of constituent relations and web communications at the private school.
It was the latest brush with humans for the 1-year-old sea lion, called Astro by staffers at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.
Astro's mother abandoned him at Ano Nuevo Island off the San Mateo coast in June, prompting biologists to bottle-feed the pup. They released the adolescent on April 25 with a radio tag...
--USA Today
Cat survives trip from China to N.C. in crate
After Eric Congdon opened a crate from China and discovered a cat inside, coming up with a name for the furry stowaway was easy.
China the cat had chewed through one of the boxes before it left Shanghai on April 3 and spent at least 35 days on a ship inside the container filled with motorcycle gear.
"I saw something in the container move," Congdon said. "I turned up the headlights on the fork lift to get a better look."
That was when he saw the cat cowering in a corner, weak but still alive. Congdon, owner of Olympia Moto Sports in Hendersonville, said he and a co-worker called the county's animal services when the cat would not let them near...
--USA Today
China the cat had chewed through one of the boxes before it left Shanghai on April 3 and spent at least 35 days on a ship inside the container filled with motorcycle gear.
"I saw something in the container move," Congdon said. "I turned up the headlights on the fork lift to get a better look."
That was when he saw the cat cowering in a corner, weak but still alive. Congdon, owner of Olympia Moto Sports in Hendersonville, said he and a co-worker called the county's animal services when the cat would not let them near...
--USA Today
Missing Big Boy statue found on top of high school
Students arriving at Gahanna Lincoln High School on Monday morning were greeted by a 7-foot statue of a rosy-cheeked lad that was pilfered from a Frisch's Big Boy restaurant.
The 200-pound fiberglass figure of the chubby boy in red and white suspenders was reporting missing Saturday morning from its concrete base, only to turn up on the roof of the school in the Columbus suburb, police said.
Officers believe it may have been a prank by seniors, Gahanna police Lt. Jeffrey Spence said. No arrests had been made.
A school maintenance crew removed the statue with a forklift and returned it to the restaurant, Spence said. The statue, valued at $7,000, was not damaged...
--USA Today
The 200-pound fiberglass figure of the chubby boy in red and white suspenders was reporting missing Saturday morning from its concrete base, only to turn up on the roof of the school in the Columbus suburb, police said.
Officers believe it may have been a prank by seniors, Gahanna police Lt. Jeffrey Spence said. No arrests had been made.
A school maintenance crew removed the statue with a forklift and returned it to the restaurant, Spence said. The statue, valued at $7,000, was not damaged...
--USA Today
Man charged with stealing $250,000 worth of Skittles
A little candy can add up to a rainbow of trouble.
A man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles, police said.
Seven pallets of the 28 in the truck are still missing, authorities said. Alan Chavez, 22, has been charged with first-degree felony theft. It was unclear Monday whether he had a lawyer...
--CNN
A man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles, police said.
Seven pallets of the 28 in the truck are still missing, authorities said. Alan Chavez, 22, has been charged with first-degree felony theft. It was unclear Monday whether he had a lawyer...
--CNN
Monday, May 14, 2007
Knoxville Zoo displays albino alligator
This white alligator has it made in the shade. Without an alligator's normal dark camouflaging color, the new inhabitant at the Knoxville Zoo would not live long while exposed to predators or the sun.
In an exhibit made to look like the Louisiana bayou with tree stumps and hanging moss, the 12-year-old American alligator spent one recent afternoon basking under a heat lamp beside a warm pool with one claw lazily dipped in the water. If outside, her skin would burn in the sun.
An albino gene makes the alligator's skin white and her eyes pinkish, and the rare find creates a popular exhibit at zoos around the country.
The exhibit in Knoxville — marketed with the slogan "Look in Dem Eyes" in reference to a legend that good luck will follow those who see the animal — will last through Labor Day...
--USA Today
Friday, May 11, 2007
Brawl breaks out in Boston Pops audience
Concert-goers, and even Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, were caught off-guard when a fight broke out on opening night at usually sedate Symphony Hall.
Television video of the fight Wednesday night showed two men struggling in the balcony — one with his shirt pulled off — as several people stood around them.
Lockhart briefly halted the performance, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds, while the men were escorted out.
Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated...
--USA Today
Television video of the fight Wednesday night showed two men struggling in the balcony — one with his shirt pulled off — as several people stood around them.
Lockhart briefly halted the performance, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds, while the men were escorted out.
Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated...
--USA Today
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Monkeys, capybaras are zoo's odd couple
They're Japan's odd couple.
Capybaras and squirrel monkeys, unlikely neighbors in the wild, are living in the same enclosure at a zoo outside Tokyo and so far, they're loving it.
The monkeys ride on the capybara's backs and kiss the world's largest rodents, who tolerate their tricks. But in the wild, their paths do not cross -- capybara's live on river banks while the monkeys live in forests.
Keepers at the Tobu zoo said it took the capybaras years to tolerate the monkeys...
--Yahoo! News
Capybaras and squirrel monkeys, unlikely neighbors in the wild, are living in the same enclosure at a zoo outside Tokyo and so far, they're loving it.
The monkeys ride on the capybara's backs and kiss the world's largest rodents, who tolerate their tricks. But in the wild, their paths do not cross -- capybara's live on river banks while the monkeys live in forests.
Keepers at the Tobu zoo said it took the capybaras years to tolerate the monkeys...
--Yahoo! News
Vandalized elevator fights back
Two young Norwegian vandals overlooked a small but crucial detail when they started smashing up a train station elevator: They were inside it.
And the elevator at the Lillestroem Train Station, north of Oslo, appeared to be the vengeful sort, sealing its doors and holding the two for the police.
“Vandalism is always sad, but a lot of people do see the humor in this,” Ellen Svendsvoll, of the National Rail Administration, said Monday. “They got what was coming to them”...
--MSNBC
And the elevator at the Lillestroem Train Station, north of Oslo, appeared to be the vengeful sort, sealing its doors and holding the two for the police.
“Vandalism is always sad, but a lot of people do see the humor in this,” Ellen Svendsvoll, of the National Rail Administration, said Monday. “They got what was coming to them”...
--MSNBC
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