Fish with human-like teeth

A fish with human-like teeth that’s native to South America and related to piranhas has been surprisingly showing up in several south-eastern lakes in Michigan.

The red-bellied pacus, which has mostly a vegetarian diet, has popped up on anglers’ hooks in Lake St Clair and Port Huron, the US.

Also known by its scientific name, the Piaractus brachypomus, it is rather popular among aquarium owners due to its odd, unusual square teeth that shockingly look human.

The piranha-like fish was caught at least three times last month by fishermen in those south-eastern lakes. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), it’s suspected that the pacus was introduced into the lakes by people who kept them as pets.

Pacus are native to the Orinoco and Amazon river flood plains and basin, the DNR says. Their unique bodies are similarly shaped to their piranha cousins, but their pointed teeth are used to crush seeds and nuts.

Balloon sculptures

If you were to stumble across the designs, which include a lizard, buffalo and octopus, you may think they’re alive; but they are not, they are the works of a talented artist, Masayoshi Matsumoto, from Chiba, Japan.

“I started making these seven years ago, I was really inspired by wildlife pictures and wanted to see if I could create realistic animals of my own,” he said.

The self-taught artist makes the animals from different coloured balloons without the use of any glue or seals and they take a lot of time to complete. Each one takes a minimum of two hours to bring to life with more complex projects lasting six hours.

Despite this effort, Masayoshi doesn’t sell his works or offer his services at events.

Sadly, he simply pops the balloons after he has posted the designs online.

Car destroyed to rescue kitten

A Florida woman whose newly-adopted kitten vanished into the dashboard of her car ended up allowing mechanics to destroy the vehicle with a chainsaw.

Denise Wilford-Neal of Vero Beach said she was driving the kitten home after adopting it when it crawled up into the dash console of her 1995 Monte Carlo and refused to come back out.

“We could feel him, but we couldn’t reach him,” Wilford-Neal said. She tried coaxing the kitten out of the dash with food and water, but it was of no use. Then she turned to Facebook for help after 20 hours passed and the feline still hadn’t emerged.

“Then people were calling and coming by with tools and mechanics came,” she told. The mechanics tried taking the dash apart, but found they still couldn’t reach the cat. They offered Wilford-Neal a choice.

“They could use a saw to cut out the dash, but it would destroy my Monte Carlo.”

Wilford-Neal said she decided to sacrifice her $800 car to rescue the cat, because it was “just a baby.”

Wilford-Neal said the kitten, now named Monte in honour of its temporary home, is doing well after being freed, but her Monte Carlo is completely destroyed.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 10th, 2016