Odd Articles - UniqueDaily.com

Odd Creature Defies Identification

“This bizarre discovery on Diggers Beach, near Coffs Harbour, has given rise to a host of theories explaining what this creature might be and how it washed ashore. The animal, roughly two foot long, was found by surfers on Father’s Day, but only now have the photos surfaced. One of the local men who came across the animal, Peter Atkinson, is at a loss to explain it. Countless others have also been stumped in making a positive identification. “It was found on the high water mark and we contacted National Parks, but it appears the animal was washed back out to sea on the next tide,” Mr Atkinson said. Suggestions have ranged from the credible to the ridiculous. One strongly supported possibility is that it’s a type of monkey. Others said it could be a South American sloth.” w/ photos

Crickets Have Huge Testicles

11/11/10 -- Odd Articles

“Scientists have found a bushcricket species with testicles that account for up to 14% of its body weight. It is the animal with the biggest testicles in relation to its body weight, they write in Biology Letters. In a study of their mating strategies, the team found they release only small amounts of sperm at each mating. That suggests the big testes are for mating with many females, not producing competitive volumes of sperm for each encounter. Significant research across the animal kingdom has shown that male testicle size is correlated to the degree of promiscuity within a given species. The more partners a female has, the larger the male’s testicles are likely to be. Larger testicles produce more sperm, and a long-standing assumption has been that a kind of numbers game is played out within the female to fertilise her eggs.” w/ photos

Marilyn Monroe Duck

11/11/10 -- Odd Articles

“Most ducks, when they want to express themselves, go quack quack quack. But looking at this delightfully coiffured creature, one might expect her to say boo boo bee doo. For her hairdo bears an uncanny resemblance to the beautiful blonde locks of Marilyn Monroe. While the screen legend went to great lengths perfecting her style, this bird’s look is entirely natural. It’s known as a crested duck, and the feather-covered growth is mainly formed of fatty tissue which emerges through a gap in the skull.” w/ photos

Elephant Walks Across Tightropes

11/06/10 -- Odd Articles

“This is the cruel moment an elephant is forced to walk across a metal tightrope to form a tourist attraction in Thailand. The fully-grown animals are being trained to teeter across reinforced ropes in front of hordes of tourists at the controversial Safari World on the outskirts of Bangkok. Trainers make the elephants climb on to a raised platform before they make their way gingerly across using their tails to balance. When they reach the other side, the animals then turn around ponderously before balancing on just three legs and walking back. Photographer Bronek Kaminski said: ‘I have seen elephants playing basketball and football; monkey riding motorbikes, but I have never seen anything like this before.” w/ photos

Mother Gives Birth To Black & White Twins

10/31/10 -- Odd Articles

“A mother has no problem telling her newborn twins apart – because one was born black and the other white. Shirley Wales, 21, who gave birth by caesarean section, was astonished when the midwife handed her her children. For while son Leo resembled his Grenadian mother, with dark skin, brown eyes and thick hair, her daughter Hope was the image of her father, with light skin, blue eyes and fair sparse hair. Leo was born first weighing 5lb 14oz closely followed by his sister Hope at 6lb 3oz at Dewsbury District Hospital, West Yorkshire. Shirley said: ‘I knew I was having twins, and I knew one was a boy and one was a girl, but I couldn’t believe it when the midwife told me they had different skin tones after I’d given birth to them.” w/ photos

The Only Treehouse In Manhattan

10/28/10 -- Odd Articles

“In the countryside, in the suburbs or even in the leafier districts of New York’s outer boroughs, a treehouse would hardly raise an eyebrow. But in a historic Manhattan neighborhood whose residents have included Mark Twain and Eleanor Roosevelt, it raised a lot of ire. Melinda Hackett put up the round, cedar treehouse for her girls in a broad-trunked London Plane tree in her tiny Greenwich Village backyard. But shortly after a neighbour called about ‘a structure in rear which is nailed to a tree’ and ‘looks unsafe’, with no construction permit posted, according to a complaint filed with the city. ‘I got home and the police were at the door,’ Miss Hackett, a 49-year-old artist, said. ‘Then firefighters came.’ But Miss Hackett was not one to back down – even for something as trivial as a treehouse. She took the issue to court. After months of legal battles, she triumphed. Her girls’ treehouse, apparently unique in one of America’s most densely populated areas, can not only stay – it’s been granted an official permit as part of a district with landmark status.” w/ photos

Halloween Hounds

10/27/10 -- Odd Articles

“It’s a dog’s life for some, as these pictures of much-loved pets seem to show. Hundreds of pampered pooches descended on Tompkins Square Park in New York City for the 20th annual Halloween Dog Parade. Dog owners pulled out all the stops to dress their cuddly canines in all manner of outfits, including Hannibal Lecter masks and even spray painted to resemble the Incredible Hulk. The motley collection of mutts even got the iPad treatment as one owner mocked up the ultimate phone pet accessory.” w/ photos

The Happy-Potamus!

10/26/10 -- Odd Articles

“When Jay Parker told his wife Lauren to say cheese, it seems someone else was listening, too. Otis the hippo pressed his face against the glass of his tank and produced what appears to be a beaming smile. And when the couple exchanged positions, the three-ton beast duly obliged with another grin. The Parkers, from Little Rock, Arkansas, took their extraordinary photographs during a holiday visit to San Diego Zoo in California. After posting them on the internet, they soon found them popping up on blogs and chatrooms from Chattanooga to China.” w/ photos

Hermit Crab Finds New Home

10/26/10 -- Odd Articles

“With a sturdy metal roof and glass walls to make the most of the coastal views, this discarded bottle neck is the perfect home for a hermit crab. This ingenious little fellow has taken advantage of our propensity to litter – and added his own modern twist to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. But really, it’s a message in a bottle to anyone too lazy to put rubbish in a bin. Hermit crabs normally fight one another to make homes in shells discarded by other crustaceans, but on a beach in Thailand, 11-year-old Alex Marttunens snapped this picture with his parents’ camera. The Finnish boy’s photograph, titled Home Sweet Home, got him to the finals in the under 16 section of the prestigious Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s environmental photography competition. Judges said it was a stark reminder of man’s often damaging impact on the environment.” w/ photo

The Chimp Suffering From Alopecia

10/22/10 -- Odd Articles

“Other males may worry that losing their hair will make them less appealing. But for Guru the chimpanzee, his baldness has turned him into a star attraction. The 20-year-old, who is suffering from alopecia, has lost the hair from all over his body. But the mischievous chimp still brings hundreds of visitors flocking to Mysore Zoo in southern India – despite greeting them by throwing stones. Dr Suresh Kumar, a zoo vet, said: ‘Everybody wants to see his biceps and triceps. ‘He beats his chest, and claps a lot when children come near his enclosure.’ Guru had lost his hair before being rescued from a circus and moved to Vandalur Zoo in Chennai. He lived there for almost a decade, but was transferred to Mysore Zoo seven years ago so that specialist vets could monitor his condition.” w/ photos

Other males may worry that losing their hair will make them less appealing.

But for Guru the chimpanzee, his baldness has turned him into a star attraction.

The 20-year-old, who is suffering from alopecia, has lost the hair from all over his body.

Missing link: The chimp's muscle definition can be seen, making Guru look almost human

Missing link: The chimp’s muscle definition can be seen, making Guru look almost human

Popular: Guru is very popular with the visitors to Mysore Zoo in southern India - though he does cause mischief from time to time, making noise and throwing stones and faeces at them

Popular: Guru is very popular with the visitors to Mysore Zoo in southern India – though he does cause mischief from time to time, making noise and throwing stones and faeces at them

But the mischievous chimp still brings hundreds of visitors flocking to Mysore Zoo in southern India – despite greeting them by throwing stones.

Dr Suresh Kumar, a zoo vet, said: ‘Everybody wants to see his biceps and triceps.

‘He beats his chest, and claps a lot when children come near his enclosure.’

Guru had lost his hair before being rescued from a circus and moved to Vandalur Zoo in Chennai.

He lived there for almost a decade, but was transferred to Mysore Zoo seven years ago so that specialist vets could monitor his condition.

Dr Kumar said: ‘He came to us with alopecia, so we don’t know how he got it originally.

Hairless: Guru, the 20-year-old male chimp suffering with alopecia, is a star attraction at an Indian zoo, as he looks like a human

Treated: Guru is taking medication for the alopecia, but Dr Suresh Kumar, a zoo vet said: 'There have been no positive results and as a last resort we are planning to consult a human skin doctor.'

Treated: Guru is taking medication for the alopecia, but Dr Suresh Kumar, a zoo vet said: ‘There have been no positive results and as a last resort we are planning to consult a human skin doctor.’

‘However, with chimpanzees being so much like humans, we think it could have been caused by factors in Guru’s life such a stress or trauma, which can induce alopecia in humans. We have tried a number of medicines on him, but to date there have been no positive results, and as a last resort we are planning to consult a human skin doctor.’

Fortunately, Guru’s baldness doesn’t seem to have affected his popularity among his own species. To stop him getting lonely, zoo officials have allowed a female chimpanzee, Manila, to move into his enclosure.

But although Guru plays cheerfully with her, he hasn’t taken things any further – to the surprise of his handlers.

Dr Kumar said: ‘He got separated from his parents at a tender age and most probably this could be a reason that he hasn’t learned to mate.’

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Looking at these pictures of this hairless ape, outlines much more clearly the structure of its body and we can see just how closely we are related to these animals.

Just look at those arms, almost identical to any muscular man.

- Amoke, London, 22/10/2010 12:12

Click to rate Rating 22

Serves to remind me that zoo’s are inherently cruel for the animals trapped forever in them. God gave them the freedom of the earth, man imprisons them for his own amusement……

- Ptolemy Dwyer, Lancs, 22/10/2010 11:50

Click to rate Rating 10

Poor poor boy… Clearly lost his hair due to stress of being in a circus all his life!

Truly amazing how human like this animal is! The fore arms and biceps are identical to that of a mans!

i really hate to see any wild animal living in captivity, just for the entertainment of humans! I know zoo’s do a lot of good but i just find it very upsetting! It must drive those poor animals crazy!

- Me, Here and there, 22/10/2010 11:25

Click to rate Rating 18

Poor poor boy… Clearly lost his hair due to stress of being in a circus all his life!

Truly amazing how human like this animal is! The fore arms and biceps are identical to that of a mans!

- Me, Here and there, 22/10/2010 11:24

Click to rate Rating 8

Bring the poor thing to this country to Monkeyworld where he can behave like a natural animal and live with others. He will surely have hair growing in no time……he looks SO unhappy and lonely :(

- Jackie, England, 21/10/2010 15:47

you are joking?????? how can any animal locked in a cage behave naturally?

- bob, wirral, 22/10/2010 11:18

Click to rate Rating 9

Poor thing – this captivity of an intelligent being is so cruel.

- RB, Aberdeen, 22/10/2010 10:21

Click to rate Rating 65

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