Trainer who beat his animals receives taste of his own medicine

If only he’d remembered the old expression ‘monkey see, monkey do’. . .

When this animal trainer handed out a beating to one of his performing animals, he quickly found himself on the receiving end of a revenge attack that saw him being scratched, bitten and hit with his own stick.

The man works at a market in Sizhou, China, where he has taught three monkeys to ride bicycles.

But after he thrashed one, the animals struck back.

One twisted his ear, then another sank its teeth into his head.

A third monkey snatched up the trainer’s cane and beat him over the head until the stick broke.

The man said: ‘They were once wild and these performances don’t always come naturally to them.

'They may have built up some feelings of hatred towards me.’

Police are investigating allegations of animal cruelty.

Ancient city discovered in Peru that dates back to Wari culture

The ruins of an entire city have been found in northern Peru which could provide the 'missing link' between two ancient cultures, researchers have said.

Researchers digging at the Cerro Patapo archaeological site made the discovery 14 miles (22km) from the Pacific coast city of Chiclayo.

They say the ruins likely date back to the Wari culture, which existed in what is now Peru between about 600 AD and 1100 AD.
If initial assumptions prove correct, the discovery would connect the ancient Wari civilization to the Moche culture, which flourished from about 100 AD to 600 AD.

The buried city includes ceramics, bits of clothing and the well-preserved remains of a young woman.

The sprawling site, which stretches over 3 miles (5km), contained cells and rooms that were used for human sacrifice.

A team led by the project's chief archaeologist Cesar Soriano, discovered special spots designated for the act of killing and a heap of bones at the bottom of a nearby cliff, an indication that the victims were thrown to their deaths.

'It provides the missing link because it explains how the Wari people allowed for the continuation of culture after the Moche,' Soriano told Reuters.


He said the discovery provides the first evidence of Wari culture, which expanded from the country's south, at the northern site.

The Wari people lived and ruled for 500 years and made their capital near modern-day Ayacucho, in the Andes, but travelled widely and are known for their extensive network of roads. They conducted multiple burials and sent their loved ones into the afterlife with provisions and tools of their trade.

The discovery appears to back-up historical comment that believed the Wari people produced strong, well-built stone buildings.

The structure of the buildings were often made up of vast rectangular enclosures laid out in strict patterns. They were also designed to be earthquake resistant.

Earlier this year, archaeologists at the Huaca Pucllana ruins in Lima, located some 500 miles (800km) south of Chiclayo, discovered a mummy that is also thought to be Wari.

The mummy - named Lady of the Mask - was assumed to be a noblewoman and was found in a crouching position surrounded by ceramics and textiles.

Peru is a country rich in archaeological treasures and has hundreds of sites that date back thousands of years and span dozens of cultures.

These include the Incan empire that was in power when Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500s.

Big mamma hippo shows off adorable new calf Paula in her first public outing

Shifting the baby weight after a pregnancy can be tough and judging by this picture it looks like Kathi the hippopotamus is struggling a bit.

Nevertheless things seem to be going just swimmingly for the mother who showed off her two-week-old calf on her first public outing at Berlin Zoo in Germany yesterday.

Little Paula was born underwater on November 29 and mother and baby are happy, healthy and bonding nicely, say zookeepers.

The calf is Kathi's second baby and the first hippo to be born at the zoo in three years.
She might seem tiny but Paula already weighs 40kgs (88lbs) and will soon catch up to her mother's full figure, weighing up to a whopping two tons.

Lost world: More than 1,000 species discovered in a decade in diverse Mekong

More than a thousand new species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong Region of Southeast Asia in the last decade, according to a new report from WWF.

Among the 1,068 new species discovered between 1997 and 2007 were the world’s largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimetres, and the hot pink cyanide-producing 'dragon millipede'.

Most species were discovered in the largely unexplored jungles and wetlands. However, the Laotian rock rat, thought to be extinct 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market.

The Siamese Peninsula pitviper was found slithering through the rafters of a restaurant in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

'This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin,' said Dr Thomas Ziegler, Curator at the Cologne Zoo.

'It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time… both enigmatic and beautiful,' he said.

The findings, highlighted in First Contact in the Greater Mekong report, include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, 4 birds, 4 turtles, 2 salamanders and a toad.

The region comprises the six countries through which the Mekong River flows including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.

It is estimated thousands of new invertebrate species were also discovered during this period, further highlighting the region’s immense biodiversity.

'It doesn’t get any better than this,' said Stuart Chapman, Director of WWF’s Greater Mekong Programme.

'We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books. This reaffirms the Greater Mekong’s place on the world map of conservation priorities.'

The report stresses economic development and environmental protection must go hand-in-hand to ensure the survival of the Greater Mekong's astonishing array of species and natural habitats.


'This poorly understood biodiversity is facing unprecedented pressure… for scientists, this means that almost every field survey yields new diversity, but documenting it is a race against time,' said Raoul Bain, Biodiversity Specialist from the American Museum of Natural History.

The report recommends what is urgently needed to protect the biodiversity of the region is a formal, cross-border agreement by the governments of the Greater Mekong.

'Who knows what else is out there waiting to be discovered, but what is clear is that there is plenty more where this came from,' said Chapman.

8 Largest Giants of the Deep

The deep, dark ocean is a scary place, and it’s teeming with creatures that can inspire many a horror flick. Here’s our round-up of real-life monsters, animals that exhibit what’s known as abyssal gigantism, or the tendency for deep-sea dwellers to be much, much larger than their shallow-water cousins. It’s not known exactly why this type of gigantism occurs, but one thing’s for sure, we’re lucky that a close encounter with any of these eight giants in their natural habitat is rare!

1. Japanese Spider Crab
The Japanese spider crab can be found skulking around the bottom of the deep, dark sea floor. It can weigh up to 44 pounds, possess a leg span of almost four metres and boast a body size of 15 inches. It’s also incredibly long-lived, with a lifespan of up to 100 years.

2. Giant Isopod
It’s a pill bug on steroids! The giant isopod is a scavenger that thrives in deep, cold waters. At up to 14.5 inches in length and up to three pounds in weight, this creepy crustacean is a meaty dish that’s sometimes boiled and served in Northern Taiwanese oceanside restaurants.

3. Giant Tube Worm
If the thought of accidentally crushing an earthworm on a rainy day makes you cringe, you don’t want to know about the hordes of giant tube worms that live miles deep under the sea. These animals can grow to more than two metres long, and love the extreme heat and sulfurous environment near hydrothermal vents called ‘black smokers’.

4. Seven-arm Octopus
According to all known records, this 75 kg, four metre-long beast is the largest octopus on our planet, though some say the North Pacific Giant Octopus can grow even larger. Male octopuses have a specialized egg fertilization arm that’s coiled-up by the right eye, making it look like the octopus only has seven arms.

5. North Pacific Giant Octopus
Although the title of ‘world’s largest octopus’ is disputed, there’s no mistaking that the North Pacific giant octopus is a formidable killer. Watch this video and you’ll see that even sharks aren’t safe in its company.

6. King of Herrings
At up to 11 metres, the king of herrings is cited in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the longest fish alive. But even though it can grow to be quite large, it is very elusive; it wasn’t until 2001 that it was filmed alive.


7. Bigfin Squid
We’ll focus on two of the many monstrous squid species here, including the alien-like bigfin squid. This squid’s got huge fins that resemble dumbo-ears as well as extremely long arms and incredibly elastic tentacles that are held at strange angles to it’s body. Check out this eerie video:



8. Colossal Squid
No round-up of deep-sea monsters would be complete without recognition of the largest invertebrate in the world - the colossal squid. It’s estimated that this animal can grow up to an impressive 14 metres long, and has a body that’s both wider and heavier than the giant squid.

Mushrooms that Glow-in-the-dark

No, you’re not hallucinating; you really are seeing bright green mushrooms, but if you are partial to the odd magic mushie, these images won’t faze you in the slightest.

These neon green mushrooms, or Mycena chlorophos, to use the technical term, emerge during the rainy season in Japanese and Brazilian forests, scattering the floor with glowing spores. The bases of tree trunks, fallen branches, leaf litter and moist soil provide perfect breeding grounds for the mushrooms.

Found mostly on Mesameyama island in Ugui, Japan and Ribeira Valley Tourist State Park, Brazil, the appearance of these garish looking fungi is due to bioluminescence, one of the weird but wonderful reactions that happen naturally in many plants and animals.

Bioluminescence occurs when the natural chemical energy produced within an organism is converted to light energy. The result is an amazing display of natural fluorescent light, or ‘cold light’ (as opposed to red hot light). The color of bioluminescence is normally at the blue/green end of the visible light spectrum.

This organic light display can be seen in the late summer months, and although there are nightly visits to the forests in Japan, these rare shrooms only thrive where they are because they’ve been relatively undisturbed by humans. So, for now it’s probably best to enjoy them from the comfort of your own home, that way they’ll be around for a while longer. And, no, you can’t get high on them, although no doubt someone has tried!

The smile in the sky: Rare cosmic alignment sees Venus and Jupiter grin in the heavens

British tourists enjoying a spot of winter sunshine down under were able to look up and see the heavens smiling back down on them last night.

A rare cosmic alignment of the planets Venus and Jupiter meant they produced a smiling face with the crescent moon in Australia's western sky.

The unusual phenomenon, with Venus as the left eye and Jupiter the right, took place between 8pm and 11pm (Western Australia Time).

It was visible to the naked eye, even in built-up areas, with the moon just 252,000 miles away.

Unfortunately, due to the curvature of the earth, the smiley face did not beam down from European or U.S. skies, although it was possible to see the planets.

Venus and Jupiter appear close to each other from time to time, but are often obscured by their proximity to the sun.

Sydney Observatory astronomer Nick Lomb earlier told the Sydney Morning Herald: 'The three brightest objects in the night sky will all be in the same patch of sky.'

The last time a similar alignment was seen in the Southern Hemisphere was more than 10 years ago in April 1998 when an upside-down 'sad' face was visible.

The cosmic cheer is not due to reappear in the skies over Australia until 2036.

Sound asleep and serene, Siamese twins Faith and Hope are surviving despite the odds

Their arms are wrapped around each other as they sleep peacefully. But this picture of serenity is one Faith and Hope's parents might never have seen.

For when Laura Williams was told she was pregnant with Siamese twins, she and her husband Aled, 28, were advised to abort them. Although the survival rate for conjoined babies is very low, the couple, from Shrewsbury, refused on moral grounds.

On Wednesday their girls were delivered by Caesarean section, with a combined weight of 10lb 8oz. Mrs Williams, 18, the youngest woman to give birth to conjoined twins, told The Mail on Sunday: 'They wheeled me in to see them.

'They had tucked Hope's arm underneath and it was Faith's arm that I could see. I took her hand and she was grasping my hand.

'They were both blowing bubbles. They were so beautiful. After everything everyone said, I'm so glad to have proved them wrong.'

Conjoined twins are caused when the single egg from which identical twins develop fails to divide fully.

The survival rate is between 5 per cent and 25 per cent. Faith and Hope, joined from the breastbone to the navel, were delivered at University College Hospital, London.

The delivery involved a medical team of 30, with two sets of implements. Obstetric consultant Pat O'Brien said: 'The birth went as well as we could possibly have hoped for.'

They were then taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Although the girls are stable, they have abnormal hearts, share important blood vessels and are joined at the liver and intestine, said paediatric surgeon Agostino Pierro. 'The current concern is that the two hearts and joined circulation raise a risk that the children might suddenly deteriorate and need emergency separation surgery.'

The babies would normally be separated when older and stronger but doctors will decide whether to operate this week.

Jetpack stuntman makes history by flying across 1,000ft deep canyon

A daredevil wearing a jet pack has flown across a 1,500-foot wide canyon in southern Colorado.

Eric Scott took 21 seconds to cross the Royal Gorge at 75 mph on Monday. It says he didn't use a parachute while flying across the 1,100-foot deep canyon.

He was wearing a jet pack powered by hydrogen peroxide and developed by Jet Pack International. The company developed it for stunts, promotions and other events for Go Fast.

'There is no parachute. There is no safety net. There is no air bag. But there is 800 horsepower on my back,' said the former TV stuntman.

It took just 21 seconds of deafening thrust to take the 45-year-old across the chasm, setting all kinds of world records.

Scott had never flown more than a couple of hundred yards and had never been that high.

The stuntman had just 33 seconds of fuel on his back, and some of those seconds were needed for starting and hovering to land.

'Fear either makes people suck it up and get it right or they lose it,' Scott told the Denver Post newspaper. 'I'm the Evel Knievel that makes it to the other side.'

'He knew if he didn't make it, he wasn't going to make it,' said Troy Widgery, founder and chief executive of Denver's Go Fast energy drink company, which sponsors Scott and Jetpack International.

'I've always, since I was a kid, wanted a jet pack,' Widgery said. 'Who hasn't?'

At 135lbs, Scott's pack is the most technologically advanced flying machine in existence, said Eric Strauss, the Boulder aerospace engineer who designed it.

The pack wobbles at around 60 mph — and Strauss knew Scott would need to reach at least 75 mph.

'I knew he would have to reach his highest speed ever - his highest and the pack's highest speed,' Strauss said. 'He is so amazing. He is the best jet-pack pilot in the world.'

In Search of the Mysterious Sea Serpent

Rocking gently on the waves, a small fishing boat watches the swell of the seas, waiting for the day’s catch to willingly swim into the waiting trap. A fog closes in and the day turns dark before it’s time. Suddenly, they feel a thud against the boat. The waters stir and a creature like nothing they’ve ever seen before emerges from the depths. Petrified, they look up, up a long neck to see bright flashing eyes, the head of a sea-turtle and the lithe, smooth body of a snake. And they forget about their catch of the day, for this is the dreaded sea serpent.

Sea serpents have been sighted for centuries, there are a number of records in Europe dating back to the mid 16th century, at least. The secretive creatures were known to ancient cultures in the Near East; Aristotle was aware of them, and they make an appearance in the Bible. Most sea serpents are reported as large and reptilian; many types have been seen in lakes (‘Nessie’ in Loch Ness, Scotland) and oceans.

Oar Fish

Assuming that most sightings are ‘real’ and not hoaxes created for publicity purposes, precise identification is a difficult and fascinating problem. We can set aside theories that rest upon improbable events such as the survival of a small breeding population of marine dinosaurs (plesiosaurs). A few sea serpent sightings may be mis-identifications of rare, very large, unusual fish such as the oar fish, that can only be accurately identified by a professional ichthyologist, but this still leaves the majority of sea serpents mysterious and without precise identification. To add to the challenge, excitement, fascination and fear will cause many observers to exaggerate the size of a sea serpent that is only seen for a few minutes.

If Not a Sea Serpent, What Then?

Many sea serpent sightings can be matched to sightings of either a giant octopus or giant squid by people unaware of these very rare creature’s complete body form and habits. It is impossible to obtain a view of the entire body of these giant cephalopods unless the observer is underwater or a dead animal washes up on a beach. The known giant octopus of temperate oceans reaches 23 ft in length and can weigh up to 157lbs. The largest octopus species is the seven armed octopus, which can reach 4 m in length and a weight of 75kg. A large octopus has tentacles that it might raise into the air when swimming just below the surface of the ocean. These tentacles might then look like the long neck of a large reptile with a small head. Although early prints of the Kraken, which have allegedly been seen off the coasts of Norway and Iceland, often depict the creature as a giant octopus, it is now believed to be the giant squid of the North Atlantic.

Giant Squid

Squid tentacles make up more than half the total body length, and, like the octopus, could easily be mistaken for something more ominous. The writhing limbs of a giant quid can reach up to 43 ft in length and weigh a whopping 610 lbs, and as with many species in the animal kingdom, the female is larger than the male.

Closely related is the largest squid species of all, the colossal squid. They can be found in Antarctic oceans and the deep Southern Pacific Ocean, and, as with the giant squid, is preyed upon by sperm whales. The largest known specimen weighed more than half a ton.

Fossilised skeleton of 114-foot long Hydrarchos, 1845

Nonetheless, there are sea serpent sightings that cannot be easily attributed to giant cephalopods. The next time you are walking on a beach, sailing or on a cruise ship, keep your camera ready. You might have a chance to contribute to the sea serpent legend that has fascinated the world for many centuries, and whose mystery has yet to be completely solved.

'Pregnant man' shows off five-month-old daughter on U.S. TV and says baby No.2 will complete our 'American dream'

The transgender man who gave birth to a baby has showed off his daughter on an American television show.

Thomas Beatie shocked the world earlier this year when he gave birth to daughter Susan, despite having had a sex change operation.

Now Beatie, from Bend, Oregon, has revealed he is 10-weeks pregnant with his second baby.

We are living the American dream right now and I couldn't be happier.

'I have my loving wife and this miracle of a baby, I couldn't be happier,' he told Good Morning America.

Beatie, 34, was a former lesbian who had chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy, but chose to keep his female reproductive organs.

Beatie, who was born Tracy Lagondino, gave birth to Susan in June amid a blitz of media scrutiny.

He had been inseminated at home by his wife Nancy, 46, with sperm from a donor.

'She (Susan) is such a happy baby, she loves to smile and laugh,' he said.

'I had a natural birth. People do recognise me now, I am really surprised, New York is a big city but people recognise us instantaneously now I think.

'They say "That's the pregnant man".

'It is absolutely positive, 99 per cent positive. People when they meet us they just see us as a regular family.

'It is easy for people to see us as a family, because that is what we are, a husband, wife and child.'

Asked if he can understood why some people did not see his situation as 'normal', Beatie said: 'I think everyone is trying to find their own definition of normal.
'With all the differences in the world, different is clearly normal.'

Asked if he is still happy to be a man, he replied: 'Oh absolutely. There is nothing wrong with a pregnant man.

'It is just normal for us, it was completely the best decision for me to carry our child and we did not even give it a second thought.'

Beatie was also asked if he felt he could have given birth to Susan more 'privately'.

'I don't think it could have happened that way (privately),' he said.

'When I wrote the article for the Advocate, we were experiencing medical discrimination and we had legal questions we needed answers for.

'So we were talking to a gay and lesbian audience hoping to find answers and we couldn't find any. In our pursuit for answers this ensued.'

Beatie admitted that he had not spoken to his father since the birth of his daughter, but hoped to eventually introduce them to each other.

Asked if his family's negative attitude towards the pregnancy had been hard, he replied: 'Yes it has been hard.

'But Nancy's family has been incredibly supportive, her father and her brothers and sisters and children.'

And Nancy said that she was 'excited' about the couple having a second baby, even with the publicity that would surround it.

'I am so excited. Hopefully things will calm down and we can get on with our lives,' she said.

'It is neat to be able to educate people about different families and that is really what we are.

'There are so many different families out there and we are just another one.

'I have done this before (she has two other children) and what is wonderful is that I got to be on the other side of this and could support him through the labour experience and right through the pregnancy.

'I got to breast feed the baby, we are so closely bonded with her. He was able to carry her and I was able to breast feed her.'

The robot that can pull faces just like a human being

Scientists have created the first 'humanoid' robot that can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being.

'Jules' - a disembodied androgynous robotic head - can automatically copy the movements, which are picked up by a video camera and mapped on to the tiny electronic motors in his skin.

It can grin and grimace, furrow its brow and 'speak' as his software translates real expressions observed through video camera 'eyes'.
Jules mimics the expressions by converting the video image into digital commands that make the robot's servos and motors produce mirrored movements.

And it all happens in real time as the robot can interpret the commands at 25 frames per second.

The project, called 'Human-Robot Interaction', was devised at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), run by the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol.

A team of robotics engineers - Chris Melhuish, Neill Campbell and Peter Jaeckel - spent three-and-a-half years developing the breakthrough software to create interaction between humans and artificial intelligence.

Jules has 34 internal motors covered with flexible rubber ('Frubber') skin, which was commissioned from roboticist David Hanson in the US for BRL.

It was originally programmed to act out a series of movements - as can be seen in the video - where 'Jules' talks about 'destroying Wales'.

The technology works using ten stock human emotions - such as happiness, sadness, concern etc - that the team 'taught' Jules via programming.

The software then maps what it sees to Jules's face to combine expressions instantly to mimic those being shown by a human subject.

'We have a repertoire of behaviours that somehow is dynamic', Chris Melhuish said.

'If you want people to be able to interact with machines, then you've got to be able to do it naturally.

'When it moves, it has to look natural in the same way that human expressions are, to make interaction useful.'

Peter Jaeckel, who works in artificial emotion, artificial empathy and humanoids at BRL, said: 'Realistic, life-like robot appearance is crucial for sophisticated face-to-face robot-human interaction.
'Researchers predict that one day, robotic companions will work, or assist humans in space, care and education.

'Robot appearance and behaviour need to be well matched to meet expectations formed by our social experience.

'Violation of these expectations due to subtle imperfections or imbalance between appearance and behaviour results in discomfort in humans that perceive or observe the robot.

'If people were put off, it would counteract all efforts to achieve trustworthiness, reliability and emotional intelligence.

'All these are requirements for robotic companions, assisting astronauts in space or care robots employed as social companions for the elderly.

'Unlike most research projects, the focus lies on dynamic, subtle, facial expressions, rather than static exaggerated facial displays.

'Copycat robot heads have been created before, but never with realistic human-looking faces.'

But not everyone is impressed by Jules's mastery of mimicry.

Kerstin Dautenhahn, a robotics researcher at the University of Herefordshire, believes that people may be disconcerted by humanoid automatons that simply look 'too human'.

'Research has shown that if you have a robot that has many human-like features, then people might actually react negatively towards it,' she said.

'If you expose vulnerable people, like children or elderly people, to something that they might mistake for human, then you would automatically encourage a social relationship.

'They might easily be fooled to think that this robot not only looks like a human and behaves like a human, but that it can also feel like a human. And that's not true.'

It is hoped that the technology developed in Jules will help create robots for use in space, to accompany astronauts on solo missions, and in healthcare settings and nursing homes.

Amazing feeding frenzy as sharks, dolphins and gannets gang up on a shoal of sardines

Swirling in panic thousands of silvery sardines flash past as they strive to escape a horde of predators.

While a pod of dolphins chivy the fish into a 'baitball' from beneath, black-tip and tiger sharks marshall them upwards and ganets dive bomb them from above.

As the sardines move in unison towards the surface a feeding frenzy breaks out, with the entire shoal obliterated in minutes.

The incredible spectacle occurs every year off the rugged east coast of South Africa.

Known as the Sardine Run, billions of fish migrate up the KwaZulu-Natal coast in search of tasty cold water zooplankton in June and July.

The fish instinctively group and move together to try and confuse predators but their hunters have honed an impressive technique in which they work together as an unlikely team to pick them off.

Such events once took place regularly in the seas of Europe and the oceans of the Americas but these areas have long since been fished out of sardines.