The weekly weird

Published September 18, 2021

Surgery on puppy’s upside-down paws

Veterinary surgeons at Oklahoma State University successfully performed a corrective procedure on a puppy born with her paws upside-down.

OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, which previously performed a similar procedure on a dog named Milo, said the rat terrier puppy, Siggi, was born with her paws facing upward instead of downward.

As with Milo, Siggi’s problem was actually in her elbows,” Dr Erik Clary, who performed the surgeries on both canines, said in a news release.

“The CT helped us plan a more complex procedure that would require an intentional break high up in her ulna bone to de-rotate the limb,” Clary said.

Siggi’s splints have been removed and she is now learning to walk.


100-year-old female powerlifter

World Record holder Edith Murway-Traina, 100, was forced to step back from powerlifting during the pandemic, but is now back lifting at her remarkable age. She took up the sport nine years ago, “I saw all these other ladies lifting weights and it looked interesting.”

Edith took to powerlifting extremely quickly and soon started competing in senior events, often coming out on top.

Unfortunately, doctors made her step back from the hobby at the start of the pandemic, a wise move considering her age. She is now back preparing for a competition in November under the supervision of coach Bill Beekley, with her eyes on the prize once more.


Elvis Presley’s hair auctioned for $72,500

Kruse GWS Auctions, in Los Angeles, disclosed that, the “Elvis Presley jar of hair with extensive documentation” sold for $72,500 in an auction that also included the sale of the performer’s iconic jumpsuit from his 1972 Madison Square Garden performance for $1,012,500.

The baseball-sized clump of hair was collected over the course of multiple haircuts by Homer Gilleland, Presley’s personal barber for more than two decades. The hair was kept in a plastic bag by Gilleland, who gifted it to Thomas Morgan, a close friend of both the barber and the singer.

The “extensive documentation” included with the hair, in a sealed jar, includes plane tickets from occasions when Presley brought Gilleland on the road with him to cut his hair and a certificate of authenticity signed by John Reznikoff of University Archives, “the world’s most trusted authority in the field of hair collecting.”


Bizarre giant shark caught

A bizarre deep-sea creature with the body of a shark and the face of an animal has been pulled out of the water by Italian naval officers.

It was spotted by sailors on the naval vessel floating in the waters at the Darsena Medicea marina in the town of Portoferraio on the Italian island of Elba. Later, the creature was identified as an extremely rare Angular roughshark (Oxynotus centrina). It is also listed on the IUCN Red List as endangered, which means it is rarely spotted; it also normally lives up to 700 metres (2,300 feet) below the surface.

The angular roughshark is known to live in the East Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean. It is known for its broad, flattened head and its fat, blunt snout.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 18th, 2021

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