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All in Human Interest
Scientists in Peru discovered a new species of snake in the Andes Mountains, which they promptly named after a movie star whose most famous character happens to hate snakes: Tachymenoides harrisonfordi.
A rare two-headed snake took two years to recover from its self-induced injury, but he’s (they’re?) finally back in his exhibit at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas.
A Japanese man spent two million yen (about $15K) on a terrifyingly realistic dog suit. He goes only by his dog name, Toco, preferring to keep his human identity a secret.
A mayor in Mexico’s Oaxaca state has married a caiman – a toothly reptile and close cousin to alligators and crocodiles – in a traditional wedding. Victor Hugo Sosa got hitched to one “Alicia Adriana” in the town of San Pedro Huamelula, re-enacting an ancestral ritual believed to bring good fortune.
Valentine’s Day isn’t just for sharing chocolate and flowers, it’s also a time for feeding your ex to a meerkat. Zoos are offering exes a chance to name cockroaches and other vermin after their departed partners.
Scientists from Tel Aviv University have created a monster, but it might be a useful monster: a very sensitive odor-identification device built of electronics, artificial intelligence, and the antenna of the humble locust.
Prison guards at the Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, British Columbia were stunned last week when a pigeon arrived carrying contraband: about an ounce of crystal meth. The bird was attempting to smuggle the drug inside its wee backpack.
It’s a girl. The Metro Richmond Zoo in Moseley, Virginia received a delightful early Christmas present this year: 16 pounds of pygmy hippopotamus. That’s what she weighed at her first neonatal exam, three days after she came into the world on December 6, to Iris and Corwin. The zoo issued the birth announcement on the 22nd and has yet to name the baby girl.
On March 13, a 3-year-old husky named Leon disappeared from the Iditarod, having slipped his collar at a checkpoint roughly halfway through Alaska’s annual sled race. Three months and 150 miles later, Leon has been found “understandably skinny but seemingly healthy,” Iditarod spokesperson Shannon Markley told the Associated Press.
