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Weird WildlifeLove is in the Air….
Ducking and Diving
Now we move on to a piece about perking up a patchy penguin. Ralph, a nine year old Humbolt penguin from Hampshire (probably by way of Chile or Peru) recently found himself in a bit of a pickle. He lost all his feathers in one day while moulting—rather shedding them over the standard period of four to six weeks. This left him with sensitive skin and at risk of becoming sunburned during the long hot British summer (!) whilst waiting for his feathers to grow back again. Happily, though, the penguin keepers at Marwell Wildlife Park (which is where Ralph lives) came up with a solution to stop Ralph from becoming a pink and crispy penguin. They made him a protective costume out of the leg of an adult wetsuit. Once they got Ralph into the wetsuit, they cut extra flaps for his flippers (how they got him into the outfit in the first instance is a bit of a stretch of the imagination!). Apparently Ralph doesn’t seem to mind his get up, and has no problem swimming in his new suit. Understandably enough the other penguins in the park were initially rather curious, but according to David Schofield, head keeper for the penguins it didn’t take long for them to recognise Ralph and accept him again. We say: ‘What a great penguin pick-me up!’ Rat Eating Plants
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….For tortoises at least. Way back in February we brought you the touching tale of Henry the tuatara (a type of reptile from New Zealand a bit like a lizard) who had finally become a father at the grand old age of 111. Now, here at the Bugle rest-home whilst we would by no means consider ourselves to be decrepit, we are
well aware that we are no longer spring chickens, and we are always on the look out for stories involving romance in ‘senior’ years. So it is with a song in our heart that we tell you about Billy the tortoise who has finally found love at the age of 110 with wife Tammy (47), and have now produced seven eggs that should hatch in the next couple of months. Owner Peter Crane from King’s Lynn in Norfolk had given up hope of Billy ever mating with Tammy - for years she has been rejecting his advances. But suddenly things have changed. Billy and Tammy have now been spotted engaging in head butting mating rituals. Mr Crane explained: “I didn’t realise he had it in him, but apparently the older they [tortoises] get the more fertile they become and he’s obviously raring to go—he’s a very lively tortoise. Tammy even has a dent in the back of her shell where he has given her a nasty bang. Ah, the course of true love….
This month we bring you a couple of heart-warming (if eccentric) animal rescue stories from the British Isles (where else?!). In Wales, a plucky duck called Lucky has had a lucky escape from being prematurely turned into duck soup, due to the clucky intervention of her new owner. Some weeks back, Lucky was unlucky enough to have an accident that badly damaged her right foot, and it was thought that she would have to be put down. Allison Morgan, from Lliswerry, Newport, hearing of Lucky’s plight (future not bright….OK let’s stop this silly rhyming game and steer clear of the tongue twister that includes the words ‘pheasant’ and ‘plucker’), came to the rescue. ‘Cobblers!’ she thought. And so it was that Kelvin Reddicliffe, a local master cobbler, was asked to make a special shoe that Lucky could wear to help ease the pain in her foot / web whilst she is waiting for an operation. According to the
A Happy Hairy Penguin?
Talk about giving people back-handed compliments….Scientists who have recently discovered a giant rat eating plant in the Philippines have decided to name it after the naturalist Sir David Attenborough. The carnivorous pitcher plant makes the Venus Flytrap look like a snowdrop. The plant has special enzymes which make it capable of digesting / dissolving small rodents (we actually didn’t really want to find out all the gory details), and has been named Nepenthes attenboroughii in Sir David’s honour. Gracious as ever, Sir David professes himself to be extremely flattered by the privilege. “I like these oddball plants and this is a very dramatic one. It can hold up to two litres of water in its jugs”. This is not the first time that he has been acknowledged in this way. According to the Guardian online, so far he has a lizard, a parasitic wasp, a spiny anteater and a fossilized fish named after him. And it’s not just scientists that get immortalized like this. For example, three new species of slime mold beetle have been named Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheyneyi and Agathidium rumsfeldi after George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld respectively (not that this would seem to indicate a lot of respect!). A species of lichen has been named after Barack Obama, a sea snail after Boris Becker, a beetle after Kate Winslet (you have to wonder what goes on in these boffins’ heads!) and a dinosaur named after Mark Knopler, the guitarist from Dire Straits (oh, and less surprisingly, several other dinosaurs have been named after Stephen Spielberg). I think I’d make do with a simple plaque on the wall or a ship to remember me by….!
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SHARK SAYS: "let’s
have fun with a bison”
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© 2009 Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle |
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