couchtripper

8th February 2008

Leaping into the air, she looks like something from the funny farm. But this curious creature is making scientists do a double-take. Meet Lisa the geep... a cross between a goat and a sheep. She was born after an unscheduled amorous encounter on the farm of Klaus Exsternbrink, in Schwerte, in northern Germany's Ruhr Valley. One of his young billy goats leapt over a fence and had a passionate liaison with a ewe.

The result a month ago was Lisa - resembling a lamb in shape and stature, but with the colouring and agile back legs of a goat. Her mother seems unfazed by her unusual offspring and has raised her happily so far. Now Lisa is booked into a specialist animal medical school in Hanover for genetic tests to determine her hybrid status. "These whims of nature are extremely rare," said the school's Professor Karl-Heinz Waldmann.

So far, it's unclear whether the geep will produce the milk of a goat or a sheep - but the farmer thinks it will be drinkable. "We will find out what the milk and cheese tastes like in the autumn," he said. Sadly, however, Lisa won't be basking in a proud paternal gaze down on the farm. Two goats were recently slaughtered there and Mr Exsternbrink is unsure which was which. "But one of them was Lisa's father."

------------------

luke wrote:the maddest animals are under the sea - every time they do a deep sea mission they find new stuff. theres these things i can't remember the name off, but they look like that have all these different coloured lights flashing over their bodies - must be something to do with the light reflecting off them, they look incredible

U might like this site .....

https://marinebio.org/

"dumbo octopus"

A Macedonian bear who was just as fond of the sweet treat has been found guilty of stealing honey. A court convicted the beast of theft and damage for stealing honey from a beekeeper who fought off the attacks with thumping "turbo-folk" music.

The Bitola city court found the bear guilty, and since it had no owner and belonged to a protected species, ordered the state to pay the 140,000 denars (£1,700) for the damage it caused to the hives. The bear did not attend court to plead its case and there was no information on the whereabouts of the bear.

"I tried to distract the bear with lights and music because I heard bears are afraid of that," Zoran Kiseloski told a Macedonian newspaper after the year-long case of The Bear vs. The Beekeeper ended in the beekeeper's favour. "So I bought a generator, lit up the area and put on songs of (Serbian 'turbo-folk' star) Ceca."

The bear stayed away for a few weeks, but came back when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent, Kiseloski said, adding, "it attacked the beehives again."

-------------------

Bears are always getting in the news!

This is the amazing moment a man pats a monstrous Great White Shark off the coast of Australia after attracting it with chunks of bait. The image was originally taken to demonstrate the powers of the Shark Shield, an electronic device designed to keep sharks away from surfers. But after one Great White bit right through such a device, and in a separate incident a student died in a horrifying shark attack, scientists began to wonder if the devices do not repel sharks so much as they attract them.

Jarrod Stehbens, 23, was on a University diving trip when he was taken by a shark at Glenelg in Adelaide, Australia in August 2005. At the inquest into his death, staff from Adelaide University questioned whether shark shields should be used at all. The university was worried that the devices attracted sharks before deterring them, and posed a health risk, especially to pregnant women or anyone with heart problems.

The Shark Shield's website claims the device utilises a technologically advanced three dimensional electronic wave form to repel sharks by inducing spasms in their snouts. The electronic waves work from about eight metres away. The closer the shark gets, the site claims, the more intolerable the spasms become. It says the product is tried and tested and does not attract sharks but repels them.

www.sharkshield.com

--------------------

[align=center]
NZ man 'used hedgehog as weapon'[/align]

A man in New Zealand has been charged with using a hedgehog as a weapon, the New Zealand Herald has reported. Police said William Singalargh, 27, had hurled the hedgehog about 5m (16ft) at a 15-year-old boy. "It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," said Senior Sgt Bruce Jenkins, in the North Island town of Whakatane.

It was unclear whether the hedgehog was still alive when it was thrown, though it was dead when collected as evidence. The police spokesman said the suspect was arrested "for assault with a weapon, namely the hedgehog." Mr Singalargh is due to appear in court on 17 April. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

----------------

Here's hoping the judge isn't as prickly...

Crowds at a dog show made a double take when they witnessed what looked like an escaped mop-head leaping hurdles and bounding through an obstacle course. But this is no mop - it is in fact a pedigree Hungarian sheepdog named Fee, who will be making a bid for stardom at an international dog show in Germany, next week.

The mutt's rastafarian tresses obscure most of its face, but that hasn't stopped him sweeping through the course without a hitch. Fluffy Fee will take on 6,000 other dogs at the Dortmund show next week and owner Eva Meyer says she is confident he will wipe the floor with the competition.

------------------

The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja, where apes are rehabilitated into the wild after being rescued from zoos, private homes or even butchers' shops. "Orang hutan" means "forest man" in one of Indonesia's many languages and our long-armed cousins do indeed show a remarkable ability to mimic our behaviour. This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River. Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals' fishing lines.

The image is part of a series taken for a new book, The Thinkers Of The Jungle, which also includes the first photograph of an orangutan swimming. Thinkers Of The Jungle, by Gerd Schuster, Willie Smits and Jay Ullal, is published by Ullmann Publishing on May 5.

-------------------

His name is Chilli and he's described as a gentle giant. Which is just as well for his handler, Tara Nirula, pictured by his side. His owners have contacted the Guinness Book of Records who are currently assessing his credentials and comparing them to other big bovines. The black and white Friesian bullock weighs well over a ton and at the same height as a small elephant, casts a shadow over his cattle companions who are about 5ft.

Despite his grand stature, Chilli only grazes on grass during the day and enjoys the occasional swede as a treat. The heifer, who is almost as high as he is long, lives at the Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Chard, Somerset, after he was left on their doorstep aged just six-days-old. Nine years on, Chilli has kept on growing, and staff believe the giant will smash a record for Britain's tallest ever cow.

Naomi Clarke, manager at the sanctuary, said: "As Chilli was growing up we began noticing that he was bigger than our other cows. He now stands at 6ft 6ins from the floor to the top of his shoulder and he is massive when he holds his head up. We have made an application to Guinness Book Of Records and we are quite confident he will get it."

Chilli, who is 6ft 7ins long, was left running around on the doorstep of the sanctuary along with his twin sister Jubilee in 1999. Over the years, staff noticed Chilli begin to tower over his sister and companions. But it was only when he failed to fit in a standard cattle cage to have his hooves clipped that they realised just how big he had grown compared to normal bullocks.

Miss Clarke said: "For some reason a farmer decided he didn't want Chilli and Jubilee so dumped them with three others on our doorstep nine years ago. He was only six days old and didn't look that big but as the years passed we noticed he was getting rather tall. People would always comment on how much bigger he was from the other cows and bulls when they visited the sanctuary. He does weigh over a ton but is quite lean and not as fat as some of his companions."

She continued: "We don't know what has made him so tall. He doesn't eat that much and his feet and head are in proportion - he is just very large. He is a very friendly and gentle cow so we hopes he manages to break the record - he deserves it."

At present, the tallest bovine in the world is 6ft 8ins Fiorino, who lives in Italy. A spokeswoman for the Guinness Book Of Records said: "I can confirm that an application has been received for Chilli which is currently under research." Six months ago another bullock vying for a record breaking spot was The Field Marshal who weighed in at 3,000lb. At the time he was on course to over take the current British record-holder, his former stablemate The Colonel, who stood 6ft 5in tall and weighed 3,500lb. He died in 2005.

-------------------

She has fallen head over heels. Literally. After the saddle slipped from underneath jockey Anna-Katharina Bromann, her mount Schattenlady crashed into the safety rails, unseating the jockey. She then went on to perform a dramatic somersault, to the amazement of race-goers. And amazingly, both horse and jockey emerged from the acrobatics unscathed.

-------------------

HORSE!

It may look like this poodle is having something of an identity crisis, but this is in fact the handywork of one of America's most dedicated dog groomers. Since 2000, pet hairdresser Sandra Hartness has coloured, cropped and accessorised her dogs, with startling results. Other creations by Sandra, from Yucca Valley, California, include a dragon, peacock, camel and even the star-spangled banner.

Cindy, Sandra's patient pooch, has won numerous prizes for appearing at dog shows in the various guises and was once made up to look like a UFO. The pair have featured in numerous editions of US dog care industry bible Groomer to Groomer and are a popular if eccentric sight in their hometown.

-----------------------

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

This will come as no surprise, but there's even a reality show on the cable network "Animal Planet" called "Groomer Has It" where the competitors for "Groomer of the Year" do similarly embarrassing things to some poor dogs..... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213750/

A deer with a single horn in the center of its head - much like the fabled, mythical unicorn - has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said today. 'This is fantasy becoming reality,' Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato said.

The one-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed, unsurprisingly, 'Unicorn' - was born in captivity in the research centre's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence. He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns.

The unicorn, a horse-like creature with magical healing powers, has appeared in legends and stories throughout history, from ancient and medieval texts to the adventures of Harry Potter. 'This shows that even in past times, there could have been animals with this anomaly,' he said by telephone. 'It's not like they dreamed it up.'

Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of - but even more unusual is the central positioning of the horn, experts said. 'Generally, the horn is on one side of the head rather than being at the center. This looks like a complex case,' said Fulvio Fraticelli, scientific director of Rome's zoo. He said the position of the horn could also be the result of a trauma early in the animal's life.

Other mammals are believed to contribute to the myth of the unicorn, including the narwhal, a whale with a long, spiraling tusk.

------------------

Someone get on the phone to Ted Nugent!

It lurked in the wreck of an old battleship 160ft below the surface – a true monster of the deep. Diver Paul Worsley could hardly believe the size of the giant crab he found in Lyme Bay, off the Dorset coast. Careful to avoid its fearsome claws, he managed to get it into a bag and raise it to the surface. Enlarge Claws for concern: Paul Worsley gets to grips with the giant crab he caught in Lyme Regis harbour

For his efforts, he can congratulate himself on capturing what experts believe is the biggest edible crab ever landed. It weighed 17lb and had a shell width of 12in while each of its massive claws was as big as a man's hand. The previous largest edible crab on record is in the collection of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Its carapace was 11in wide.

Mr Worsley, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, said: 'I couldn't believe it when I saw it.' Andy Horton founder of the British Marine Life Study Society, said: 'If anyone has found a bigger one could they let us know?' Unfortunately, Mr Worsley's crab will not be displayed in any museum. A friend has eaten it.

--------------