“Meet Lu Lu, the ultimate in diva dogs. While most pampered pooches are happy to being carried around in a hand bag Hollywood-style, Lu Lu prefers to carry her own. Forget the catwalk – it is all about the dog-walk. Lu Lu walks around on her hind legs, just like a human. The one-year-old pup has taken to using just her two legs to walk, leaving her other two free to carry a handbag. The miniature pinscher has won the hearts of locals in Zhumadian, in the Henan Province where she can often be seen walking upright.” w/ photos

“Barely able to see through squinted eyes that would turn Clint Eastwood green with envy, this dog’s chiselled expression hides a serious condition. Over-breeding has left Molly the pedigree Shar Pei with a painful disease which left her unable to see and, if left untreated, could have caused permanent blindness. That was, until she underwent an ‘extreme’ facelift. Molly, 12 months, was unable to see since birth because she suffered from a entropion, a congenital disease which causes folds of skin to rub against the eye. Her owner Louise Walsh, from Romford in Essex, said: ‘When I first got her all she did was sleep because she was in so much pain. ‘Now she is so happy all the time – playing, exploring and she loves chasing crows.” w/ photos

“For anyone who’s had to leap out of the way of a passing mobility scooter, it’s the stuff of nightmares. Colin Furze has adapted a conventional electric model into a petrol-engined speedster which has reached an astonishing 69mph. ‘You hear people complaining about scooters going slowly around supermarkets and blocking aisles so I thought it would be a laugh to make a really fast one,’ said Mr Furze, 31, a plumber from Stamford, Lincolnshire. Guinness World Records said he would be considered for the first mobility scooter speed record if he could hit 100kph – 61.4mph. He is now planning a time trial at the Santa Pod Raceway in Northamptonshire to claim his place in the record books, and says: ‘My aim is to hit 70mph.” w/ photos

“He’s got the attitude, the charisma and the bequiffed look of a rock’n'roll star. The world’s last remaining mountain gorillas are known to share 97 per cent of DNA with humans. And as this cheeky youngster romped in Rwanda with his devoted mother, he gave further proof of the striking similarities between the two species. Whether he spent hours backcombing his hair that morning and screaming out ‘Brown Sugar’ is anybody’s guess. But this baby gorilla could be the Elvis, the Gary Glitter or the Amy Winehouse of the Virunga mountains, a chain of extinct volcanoes that stretch through Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.” w/ photos

“This Chinese boy tips the scales at a massive 114lbs – five times the average weight of the three-year-olds in his class. Such is the concern over his size that Xiao Hao was banned from several pre-schools because staff believed his size posed a risk to classmates. He has now found a nursery in Guangzhou, southern China, which is happy to accommodate him but his mother Xiao Lin has asked doctors to help him lose weight. ‘He means no harm he is just big and likes to play. I take him swimming for exercise but it is hard finding trunks to fit him and even the rubber rings are too small,’ she said. Medical staff believe he may have ballooned to the weight of a small adult as the result of a growth hormone disorder. Others say he is a victim of China’s ‘Little Emperor’ syndrome where the families are allowed only one child – who is then spoiled rotten by doting relatives.” w/ photos

“A hotel chef preparing breakfast was left shell-shocked today after discovering this perfectly round egg. James Church was working the early shift  in Newquay, Cornwall, when he made the billion-to-one discovery. James, 27, was about to crack the freaky egg to make a fry-up for guests at The Hotel Bristol when when he noticed it wasn’t oval as he would have expected. ‘I’ve probably cracked at least 100,000 eggs in my time as a chef but I’ve never seen one like this,’ he said. ‘I managed to save it from the frying pan and I’m definitely going to keep it.’ The two-and-a-half inch oddity is now in a special plastic case for its own protection.” w/ photos

“Wading through the muddy waters this rare pink-o-pottamus stands out from the crowd. British brothers and wildlife photographers Will and Matt Burrard-Lucas captured these images of the brightly coloured hippo in the Masai Mara, Kenya, last week. Visiting the African country on the hunt to photograph the legendary wildebeest migration the Londoners were in for a treat when rumours of a pink hippo surfaced. ‘Our guide had mentioned that he had heard rumours of this rare hippo from a fellow guide, however, he was not told where it lived and he had never come across it before,’ explains 26-year-old Will. ‘After a rather uneventful morning, we stopped on the banks of the Mara River for a picnic breakfast. ‘After a while, to our great surprise, we spotted the pink hippo emerge on to the far bank of the river. ‘We dropped everything and reached for our cameras!’ Racing up to a bank on the river, the brothers positioned themselves a few hundred yards from the young hippo, so not to disturb it. ‘It was a young one as it is much smaller than the other hippos and always stayed close to its mother,’ said Will. ‘It was nice to see the other hippos treated it no differently to any other.” w/ photos

“The emerald green waters of this mountain lake offer some of the most unique diving in landlocked Austria. On the bed of the lake underwater explorers will discover fish swimming though the branches of trees, a floor covered in grass, benches, bridges and a landscape that looks like it belongs overground. And that’s because for half of the year it is overground. This is the Green Lake in Tragoess, Styria, which sits at the foot of snow-capped Hochschwab mountains. Throughout the frozen winter months the area is almost completely dry and is used as a county park. It is a particular favourite site for hikers. But as soon as the temperatures begin to rise in spring, the ice and snow on the mountaintops begins to melt and runs down into the basin of land below. The park fills up with ice-cold crystal clear water, which gets its distinctive green colouring from the grass and foliage beneath. The water levels rise from about one or 7 meters deep in the winter to as much as 33 meters in the late spring and early summer.” w/ photos

“When he spotted a mark on his apartment window, this chap just had to pop out to give the glass a quick wipe with a squeegee. Nothing odd about that – except that he lives 400ft up on the 34th floor of a tower block in Jumeirah Beach, Dubai. He stepped out on to the narrow ledge and, holding the frame, stretched across to wipe away the annoying smudge. As he takes his life into his hands, at least he has the sense to hold on to the window frame, even if it is by his fingertips, as he goes about his task. He was snapped making sure the windows were sparkling by a resident in a neighbouring apartment block.” w/ photos

“Springs were in the air yesterday when the world record for human mattress dominoes was broken. The attempt was made by Palantine Beds, in Newcastle, and saw 400 mattresses toppled – beating the current world record set by a team in America. After four months of planning, the team behind the event were last night  celebrating in style. The firm’s sales and marketing manager Andrew Waters, is now awaiting official confirmation from the Guinness Book if World Records that his team are now the current world record holders in human mattress dominoes.” w/ photos