Some scientists peer into ocean depths and explore jungles in search of new species. But South African scientist Mike Picker made his discovery — a new species of cockroach — in the middle of a top tourist destination.
Cape Town’s Table Mountain National Park is home to the world’s only jumping cockroach, which was recently named one of the top 10 species discoveries of the year by an international panel of experts. Picker, a zoology professor at the University of Cape Town, said his discovery shows how little is known about the world’s insects and other animals.
But the story doesn’t end here. Picker’s cockroach is joined on the list by a mushroom that glows in the dark and another that blooms underwater, a spider that weaves giant webs, bacteria found on the remains of the Titanic, a fish found in Gulf of Mexico waters affected by the 2010 oil spill, a leech with enormous teeth, a cricket that pollinates a rare orchid, a giant, fruit-eating lizard, and a small antelope from West Africa.
The jumping cockroach is a delicate creature just a centimetre (less than a third of an inch) long with powerful hind legs and bulging eyes. It could endear itself even to those who recoil at the thought of a household cockroach. The neon-green mushrooms emerge during the rainy season in Japanese and Brazilian forests, scattering the floor with glowing spores. Next on the list is the spooky spider called Darwin bark spider of Madagascar that weaves whoopy webs up to 82-feet-long, a leech that is less than two inches in length but with a single jaw and gigantic teeth, named Tyrannobdella rex, which means ‘tyrant leech king’, a six-feet, six-inch-long brightly-coloured fruit-eating lizard that was found in the forests of Luzon Island, Philippines and the pollinating cricket that make a raspy sound, is the only pollinator of the rare and endangered orchid Angraecum cadetii on Réunion in the Mascarene Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
These unusual species were the picks of scientists from around the world and The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University, USA for the top 10 new species described in 2010.
SOURCE:SCIENCEDAILY.COM & DAILYJOURNAL.NET
Pampered parrots on the piste
A woman from Loughborough, UK is so devoted to her pet parrots that she takes them shopping, cycling, walking — and even on her skiing holidays!
Mother-of-three, Jane Hartley, 52, rarely leaves home without black-headed Caique parrots, Fiz and Buzz on her arm. The brightly-coloured birds accompany her each morning on the school run, help her take the dogs for a walk and sit on her arm while she does the weekly shopping. The pampered parrots are even invited on her annual skiing holiday in the Alps and sit in her pocket while she zooms down the black runs. Hartley said: “I know that if I kept them in a cage all the time they would have a miserable existence, so I take them out and about with me. I do get a lot of people stopping and staring, but most seem to find it quite amusing. They are only small birds so they are easy to carry around.”
At home the birds have a cage, but are given the run of the house and enjoy perching on the sofa and watching television, particularly music shows. They also love long bicycle rides and will sit on Hartley’s hand as she pedals along. “I put them in a little harness so I know they are not going to fly away, but it’s great for them to spend so much time outdoors.”
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
The chopstick piercing
While walking across a sports arena the chances of getting hit by a wayward ball increase — but getting a chopstick through your chin at the same time doesn’t feature so highly.
Chinese student Xiao Wei was walking across a basketball court toward a canteen carrying his lunch box and two chopsticks, when his mobile phone rang. What happened next is the main reason mums tell their kids not to put things in their mouths.
While reaching to answer his phone, Wei put the chopsticks in his mouth and just as he was answering, a ball flew into him skewering one chopstick right through the bottom of his jaw. Ouch!
Unsurprisingly, it’s not the first time doctors in China have had to deal with a chopstick-related injury. Last year, a 50-year-old man underwent surgery after a chopstick he swallowed almost 28 years before began to give him stomach problems.
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
The jet-powered eagle
This striking picture would have you believe that there are jet-propelled eagles flying the earth. Are there? Is it a bird or is it a plane? It seems as though a new eagle species has landed.
This adds a whole new dimension to bird engineering, because this eagle looks for all the world like it’s jet-propelled — just look at those vapour trails streaking across the sky from the eagle’s talons. Not quite, perhaps, but snapper, Pam Mullins captured an extraordinary moment when an aircraft was flying above the eagle, exactly in line with the trajectory of the bird’s feet. She said, “The eagle was just gliding through the sky and I was panning with my camera trying to get a good shot. As I took the photo I just thought I had taken a normal picture. But when I looked back I realised how extraordinary it looked. I thought my photo had been ruined by the jet trails! I don’t know if I would have been able to take the photo if I had tried.” The shot of a lifetime was taken in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada.
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
No hugs, high-fives and handshakes!
A school in UK has banned pupils from giving each other high-fives, handshakes — and even hugs. Governors imposed a ‘no contact’ rule which they say prevents fighting or bullying. Dayna Chong, 15, was thrown into detention for cuddling a female pal at The Quest Academy, in Croydon, South London. Her mother, Anita, 33, from New Addington, said the policy was “extreme” and “ludicrous”. She said, “If the kids can’t even hug each other at school some of them will never learn how to be socially interactive. You need an embrace to comfort you when things go wrong. I’ve never heard of anything so crazy in my life.” Year Ten pupil Dayna said, “I was just hugging my friend in the morning to say hello and I had to sit on my own and miss out on break because of it.” Another 15-year-old pupil got into trouble for giving a friend a high-five. Her mother, Mrs Hope said, “It’s a very, very cold policy. I think it’s sad that the children are missing out on this sort of closeness.” A Quest Academy spokesman said, “Physical contact between students is not allowed because it is often associated with poor behaviour or bullying and can lead to fighting.”
SOURCE: WEB.ORANGE.CO.UK
Hog with no hedge
Poor Betty — she’s the hedgehog without any spines and without any friends. The mystery skin condition has left the six-week-old creature too scared and nervous to mix with other normal hogs at the Foxy Lodge in Hemsby, Norfolk, UK.
Unfortunately Betty can’t be released back out into the wild because without her spines she is defenceless against predators. Hedgehogs also use their spines to provide warmth during winter so Betty needs special attention during the cold months. Keeper Tonia Garner said: “She’s healthy, but it’s sad. She lives alone in an enclosure indoors. We hope the spines will come back so she has a normal life.” As if permanent nudity and no friends weren’t bad enough, Garner also revealed Betty has another problem — dry skin. “I mix almond oil and tea tree oil to put on her back because her skin can get very dry,” she added.
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
How about a Candwich for breakfast?
The American makers of the Candwich, a sandwich in a can which can be dispensed by vending machines and is opened like a can of Coke, say it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
The Candwich, which has a shelf life of a year, has just gone on sale in the US and online, selling for £7 (Rs983.5) for a four-pack or £44 (Rs6,182.6) for 24. Twelve flavours are planned, including US-style peanut butter and grape jelly, BBQ chicken and pepperoni pizza. The peanut butter version requires diners to spread sachets of the filling on to the bread but the rest have the fillings baked inside, like a pasty.
Creator Mark Kirkland said, “My original idea was to stack cookies in a soft drink can to sell in soft drink vending machines. I started looking for a technology for shelf stable sandwiches, which I wanted because it was a healthy and convenient meal.”
SOURCE: METRO.CO.UK
The serial bride
I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do…
A british woman, Pat Higgins has married her NINTH husband — a toyboy 32 years her junior. And despite her eight previous attempts at wedded bliss, the 56-year-old gran vowed, “This time it’s forever.”
Pat, who once claimed to be “hooked on marriage,” wore a full-length cream dress and tiara to tie the knot with supermarket worker Mark Sanderson, 24. She is seven years older than Mark’s mum and had been married three times before her groom was born.
Can you imagine that even after eight marriages, Pat managed to put Mark’s wedding band on the WRONG finger as they got hitched at the register office in North Shields, Tyne and Wear. She placed it on the fourth digit of his right hand instead of on his left The longest of Pat’s marriages lasted five years and the shortest just five days. She spent £8,000 (Rs1.12 million) on her eighth wedding only for it to fall apart after two months. All of Pat’s hubbies have been younger than her and her five children have been adopted by others.
SOURCE: THESUN.CO.UK
Standing tall
“That’s where he’ll stand. Forty-five metres to the very top and symbolising Swedish Lapland in all its glory,” reads the official website of a Swedish project that will build a giant wooden moose. Called an ‘innovative tourist attraction’, the giant moose is set to become a centre for commercial tourism and adventure activities, with a focus on forest and wildlife in the surrounding area. Stoorn, the giant moose, will be hollow — and home to a restaurant, exhibition venues, a concert hall, and modern conference facilities for businesses to promote themselves.
The giant moose’s location is atop the 510-metre Vithatten Mountain and offers visitors an expansive view of the mountain ranges, all the way to the sea.
SOURCE: POPJOLLY.COM
Published in The Express Tribune, June 4th, 2011.
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