Brown bears in spectacular wrestling duel

 

Brown bears in spectacular wrestling duel

Two brown bears have been pictured fighting in front of a snow-topped mountain range in Alaska.

 

The duel was photographed by Scott Cromwell during a bear spotting trip to Hallow Bay, part of the Katmai National Park, in Alaska.

Photo: SOLENT NEWS AND PHOTOS

Despite one of the bears holding a definite weight advantage, the giant animals grappled and exchanged blows.

But after 15 minutes of combat they seemed happy to call it a draw and went hunting for salmon in a nearby river.

The duel was captured by amateur photographer Scott Cromwell during a bear-spotting trip.

He flew for six hours from Homer, Alaska, to Hallo Bay, which is part of the Katmai National Park, also in Alaska, to see the animals.

Cromwell, 38, said: "The guide and pilot flew us over a known area and we spotted a few bears so we landed on the beach a few hundred yards away from them.

"We walked up to about 250ft from them and stood and watched from a dry part of the river bed.

"They instantly quit fishing for salmon in the river and ran out in the open in between us and the mountains.

"The smaller bear came out into the open first but then the bigger one galloped after it making a lot of noise.

"They circled around the whole large area a couple of times and then started wrestling right in front of us – we were no more than 100ft away.

"I couldn’t believe what was happening – we had only just got off the plane and this all seemed to have happened instantly."

TV repairman Scott said the bears battled for 15 minutes before getting bored or hungry and returning to hunting for salmon.

He added: "I was leaning over the whole time while shooting, trying to get as close to the ground as possible without including any grass in the foreground.

"It truly was the most enjoyable 15 minutes of my life. In fact the whole trip was the best six hours of my life.

"Seeing bears this close really is incredible."

Article from www.telegraph.co.uk

‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ robot goes walkabout in Mexico

 

‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ robot goes walkabout in Mexico

A remote-controlled dinosaur robot worth about £60,000 has been stolen from Australia’s "Walking with Dinosaurs" show in Guadalajara, event organisers said on Monday.

 

Photo: CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER

"Only in Mexico! How it happened, we don’t know. We don’t even know if whoever stole it knows its value," said Karla Arroyo, a spokesman for the show.

It was the first time an exhibit has been stolen from the show, which has toured worldwide and been seen by more than four million people, she said.

"Walking with Dinosaurs" opened in Guadalajara on Friday, and staff discovered that one of the smaller robots was missing after the show closed that same day.

The missing reptilian is five feet tall and moves by remote control. At around £60,000, it is the least expensive of its fellow robots at the show, which measure up to 42 feet and cost up to £600,000, Ms Arroyo said.

Despite the robbery, she said the show "did not stop".

"Everything went on as usual," she added.

‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ robot goes walkabout in Mexico – Telegraph

Scientists create the world’s smallest ’snowman’

 

Scientists create the world’s smallest ’snowman’

Scientists have created the world’s smallest ’snowman’, measuring about a fifth of the width of a human hair.

 

The snowman is made of two tiny tin beads, normally used to calibrate electron microscope lenses, which were welded together with platinum Photo: Dr Cox / National Physical Laboratory

Experts at the National Physical Laboratory in West London made the miniature figure which is just 0.01mm across.

However, far from the thrill of rolling balls of snow around a field to build their masterpiece, it was assembled using tools designed for manipulating nanoparticles.

The snowman is made of two tiny tin beads, normally used to calibrate electron microscope lenses, which were welded together with platinum.

A focused ion beam was used to carve the snowman’s eyes and smile, and to deposit a tiny blob of platinum for the nose

It was put together by Dr David Cox, a member of the Quantum Detection group at the laboratory, who also took the picture.

However, Britons searching for the real thing will have to head for the northern hills of Scotland, where forecasters say there is a chance of snow falling over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Alps have seen heavy snow falls in the past week allowing the ski season to get under way at many resorts. Andermatt in Switzerland has received nearly 40 ins (100cm) of fresh snow.

The NPL is one of Britain’s leading science facilities and research centres. It is a world-leading centre of excellence in developing and applying the most accurate measurement standards.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Japanese man ‘marries’ computer game character

 

Japanese man ‘marries’ computer game character

A Japanese man infatuated with a character in a computer game has married the object of his desires in a solemn ceremony in Tokyo.

Wedding Party: SaL9000(left), Nene on the DS being held by the best man

The Bride, Nene Anegasaki, from Konami’s Love Plus Photo: Konami

The groom – who calls himself SAL9000 – says he fell in love with Nene Anegasaki from the Nintendo DS game Love Plus after a string of failed romances with girlfriends from other animated games.

The wedding took place at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and was presided over by a priest. The groom, dressed in a white suit and tie, read his vows before Ms Anegasaki flashed hers up on the touch screen of his red Nintendo.

The event was broadcast live on the Nico Nico Douga website, with the groom’s best man giving a speech and Ms Anegasaki’s maid of honour – also imaginary – posting an on-screen message expressing her happiness at the first union of a man and computer character.

The reception included a disco and the entire event attracted thousands of online comments before SAL9000 and his new wife jetted off to the Pacific island of Guam for their honeymoon.

In an online message, SAL9000 said: "I had heard before that the groom is very busy during a Japanese wedding, but it was much more than I expected.

"Both the actual wedding space and the live web site were full on the day and I’m so happy that so many people were able to witness this.

"Now that the ceremony is over, I feel as if I have been able to achieve a major milestone in my life," he wrote. "Some people have expressed doubts about my actions, but at the end of the day this is really just about us as husband and wife.

"As long as the two of us can go on to create a happy household, I’m sure any misgivings about us will be resolved."

The message included photos of the groom shopping in Tokyo with his bride in his hand, as well as photos from their honeymoon – including one of SAL9000 playing on the beach watched by his new wife, a tropical flower resting gently on her screen.

There may be trouble ahead for the newly-weds, however, as SAL9000 has not informed his parents that he has got married. The couple plans to visit his family over the New Year holidays to announce their betrothal.

Japanese man ‘marries’ computer game character – Telegraph

By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
Published: 2:32PM GMT 03 Dec 2009

Penguin searches for winter coat

 

Penguin searches for winter coat

A lone adult penguin looks like it is searching for a warm winter coat as it wanders among dozens of fluffy chicks on an island in the southern Atlantic.

 

An adult King penguin wonders amongst chicks on South Georgia Island Photo: David C Schultz/SOLENT

The black and white king penguin waddled into the crowd of chicks – known as woolies – as they fattened up on the shoreline of South Georgia Island.

The birds pictured are among 400,000 king penguins living in the world’s largest colony.

Photographer David C Schultz named his shot "Penguin Day Care" because the adult is supervising the brown chicks playing in the stream.

The chicks lose their brown down feathers after a year.

Schultz spent several days on the island trying to get a shot of the penguins where they were not huddled together too closely.

He said: "In conditions like this there is complete chaos and constant movement.

"Most of the penguins tend to be so tightly packed together that isolating a point of interest is a challenge.

"I was watching this group of woolies all standing around the stream when one adult wandered into the mix, so I started shooting.

"I like this photo best because the adult is leaning out and seems to be peering around the chicks.

"’Penguin Day Care’ came to mind as a title almost immediately and it is the one shot in my gallery that everyone stops at for a closer look.

"They’re usually trying to figure out, what are these things that look like ‘kiwis on legs’, as one person put it."

He added: "South Georgia Island is, in my opinion, the jewel of any trip to this southern region of the world.

The king penguin, or Aptenodytes patagonicus, is the second largest species of penguin, after the Emperor Penguin.

They grow up to 90cm (3 ft) tall and weigh between 11 and 16 kg (24 to 35 lb).

King penguins eat small fish and squid.

Published: 9:52AM GMT 03 Dec 2009 by www.telegraph.co.uk

 

Stowaway cat Pharaoh survives two-week voyage to Britain from Egypt

 

Stowaway cat Pharaoh survives two-week voyage to Britain from Egypt

Pharoah the cat has survived after stowing away in a container on a merchant ship that arrived at the British port of Felixstowe after a 3,000 mile journey from Egypt.

Pharaoh: Pharoah the cat has been put into quarantine in Stanway, Colchesters Par Air Quarantine Cattery after it was found in a container at the docks in Ipswich Photo: ARCHANT

The hungry animal was found in a container after two weeks on board the MV Maersk Batam which travelled from the Port Said in Egypt to the Suffolk port.

John Biscoe, of GMA Freight, said: "We opened this container that had just arrived from Egypt to ensure that it was all in order and I was with the forklift operator and became aware there was something in there.

"It was a container with wire coils and I said there was a cat in there.

"The other chap wondered if it was a lion or something but then this little thing jumped out and started rubbing around my legs."

Two RSPCA officers collected Pharaoh and he is now being looked after a quarantine cattery near Colchester, Essex.

"He was very scrawny and we gave him a bowl of water and one of my colleagues gave him his sandwich ~ he ate the meat very quickly," said Mr Biscoe.

"He must have been someone’s pet in Egypt – he was very happy to see us."

Pharaoh will be kept at the cattery for five and a half months because of rabies quarantine regulations.

A Suffolk County Council spokeswoman said it had been "touch and go" for the cat when it was found two weeks ago.

She said: "He was not in a very good state and at first it was thought he might not survive.

"He has been taken to a quarantine centre at Colchester, checked for rabies and other problems, fed and been looked after and now looks much better.

"Pharaoh will have to stay in quarantine and then it will be re-homed here."

By www.telegraph.co.uk

I am a BZZAgent

 

I am a BzzAgent and finally the day arrived when the box containing Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief Toothpaste arrived. I had been talking about how I was a BzzAgent to my family (Wife,Mum,Sister,Brother and Mother in Law) and how I was going to receive Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief to try so when the box arrived I phoned them to come round and pick up a tube each. On previous occasions we had been talking about sensitive teeth and the problem the family had with it so everybody was very keen to try Colgate Pro-Relief.

I asked them had any one heard of Colgate Pro-Relief but they all said they did not know that Colgate made sensitive teeth toothpaste. We agreed to meet in 4 days time to report our findings. Well I did not have to wait the full 4 days until I had my first report from my sister she was amazed her actual words were ” It was the first time in many years that I was able to drink a cold well known fizzy drink without pain” I asked her did she think it would have worked so quickly and she said she was surprised it did. I asked her how many times she used Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief per day and she said twice a day and had really noticed a difference.

My sister is a nurse and said she was going to tell her Ward Sister about Colgate Sensitive as she suffers badly with sensitive teeth. I will report back shortly about myself and the rest of my family when we meet on Sunday and how we found Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief. I have a funny feeling the reports are going to be good!

Will let you all know how the rest of the family got on in a later report but I have to write a second Bzz report first!

Best websites:

 

Best websites: Fun

From time-wasting tips to laugh-out-loud funnies through puzzles, the best websites to make you smile and train your brain.

 

The memory of Michael Jackson is safe forever thanks to the thousands of people who’ve contributed to the hypnotic eternalmoonwalk.com Photo: REUTERS

1. If you’ve ever lived with a food hoarder or neat freak you’ll appreciate the strained tones of the messages on Passive-Aggressive Notes (passiveaggressivenotes.com).

2. Smartkit (smart-kit.com) is home to all sorts of puzzles (jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, cryptograms) to help you train your brain.

3. Letters of Note (lettersofnote.com) is a stylish site with scans of letters, telegrams, faxes and memos: Einstein encouraging Roosevelt to pursue atomic research, the Museum of Modern Art turning down a gift from Andy Warhol in 1956.

4. OMGPOP (omgpop.com) is full of time-wasting games like Tetris-a-like Blockles, and Pictionary clone Draw My Thing. Requires Adobe Flash Player 10.

5. IAmA (reddit.com/r/IAmA) is a place where people invite others to ask them questions based on something they reveal about themselves, be it ‘I am an expert cabinetmaker’ or ‘I attended a taping of The Price is Right’.

6. Low Culture (lowculture.co.uk) is the premier site for dissections of the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show or passionate defences of the eighth season of Spooks.

7. Ffffound (ffffound.com) is one of those nebulous sites – a design/photography ‘image bookmarker’ – that shows you pretty pictures of lovely things.

8. The memory of Michael Jackson is safe forever thanks to the thousands of people who’ve contributed to the hypnotic Eternal Moonwalk (eternalmoonwalk.com).

9. The now legendary FAIL Blog (failblog.org) lowlights humanity in all its dumb idiocy, from placard typos to wedding day slapstick.

10. spEak You’re bRanes (ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com) brings together the best – or rather, worst – user comments from news websites.

11. The Daily Mash (thedailymash.co.uk) is a brilliantly satirical news site. Typical headline: ‘BNP Question Time to replace Christmas for Guardian readers.’

12. You Can’t Please Everyone, part of the Cynical-C blog (cynical-c.com), is a collection of one-star Amazon reviews of classic films, books and albums.

Best websites: Fun – Telegraph

Snake pictured slithering across car windscreen

 

Snake pictured slithering across car windscreen

This is the moment two engineers were left seriously rattled when a giant snake slithered across their car windscreen.

 

The 4ft albino snake slithering across car windscreen Photo: SWNS

James Denton and Morne Aspeling were driving back to their office when the 4ft giant albino snake emerged from the under the bonnet.

James and Morne, both telecom engineers, pulled over and jumped out of the van and called for help. The snake was safely removed from the van and taken to an animal shelter to be cared for in a special reptile-friendly tank.

Mr Denton believes the snake is an escaped pet which crawled under their bonnet to find warmth – but moved when they started the engine.

He said: "As I looked back across the dashboard I saw the head of a snake poking up from the bonnet.

"Needless to say, it was quite a shock and it took me a moment to realise it was real. "When its tongue flicked out and it moved again, we both made a pretty sharp exit from the van."

The workers, both based in Jersey, were rescued by officials at the Jersey Animal Shelter.

Ambulance driver Jonathan Hudson said the animal is either a non venomous corn or milk snake.

He said: "It’s not everyday that we get a call to come and collect a live snake from a telecommunications van, so I was curious to see what had been found.

"When I got there the snake was much bigger than I expected at a little under four feet long. I knew right away that it wasn’t an indigenous snake so had to be an escapee pet.

"From its markings we think that it is a corn snake or milk snake, both of which are non-venomous, and one of the albino varieties.

"Snakes don’t do well in the cold, so my guess is that it was attracted by the warmth of the engine and crawled in there for shelter.

"This is a mature snake that has been a pet for some time and has only recently escaped. We are very keen to see it re-united with its owner."

Snake pictured slithering across car windscreen – Telegraph

Bald baby hedgehog abandoned by mother

 

Bald baby hedgehog abandoned by mother

A bald baby hedgehog is being nursed back to full prickliness after being abandoned by its mother when it was born with almost no spikes.

 

Baldrick the hedgehog Photo: IMAGES INTERNATIONAL

The four-month-old creature, named Baldrick, was bald apart from a few prickles when he was found in a garden in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

He is now being looked after by John and Tonia Garner at Foxy Lodge Wildlife Rescue.

Mr Garner, 50, who is a signaller for Network Rail, said Baldrick, who was named after Blackadder’s unlucky sidekick, is very unusual.

"He’s a bit of a rarity," he said. "We’ve had 45 hedgehogs altogether, but he’s the first one without any spikes."

Hedgehogs’ wrinkly bodies normally have around 500 spikes, which protect them from predators and the elements and keep them warm. Until he grows spikes, Mr Garner said releasing Baldrick would be "pointless".

Mr Garner added: "There’s no way he would survive if he was released now. It would be like releasing a polar bear which has just been shorn like a sheep into the North Pole."

Each day, the Garners clean Baldrick using antiseptic scrub and massage baby oil into his body to soften up his skin. They hope making his skin softer will allow spikes to come through.

Mr Garner said Baldrick, one of 22 hedgehogs currently being looked after by him and his wife, was a bit of a character.

"Baldrick loves mealworms," he said. "As a treat, he gets more than his fair share and would jump through a hoop for one. You go into his room and he will go up to the edge of the cage and put his paw up. He’s not satisfied until he gets a few mealworms. He’s quite a character."

He believes Baldrick was abandoned by his mother when he was just weeks old.

He said: "I think the mother suspected he would not survive and they’re quite ruthless in the wild. If one of the babies is not keeping up it will be abandoned.

"Luckily, Baldrick was found, otherwise he would have been dead a long time ago."

When the hedgehog was brought to Foxy Lodge at the age of about six weeks he weighed 240g, but is now up to about 800g.

The animal sanctuary was only started up by Mr and Mrs Garner in May and has had just under 180 animals through its doors, including a lamb, bats, seagulls, barn owls and a kestrel.

www.telegraph.co.uk