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Today's Paper | December 23, 2024

Published 23 Sep, 2017 06:00am

The weekly weird

Monkeys ‘scared to death’ by a roaring tiger

A dozen monkeys suffered simultaneous heart attacks when they were ‘scared to death’ by a roaring tiger, it has been claimed.

Locals were initially baffled after the dead monkeys were discovered in a forest clearing in the Kotwali Mohammadi area of north India.

Vets thought that the animals were poisoned so post-mortems were carried out. However, the tests apparently revealed that the primates had all died from heart attacks. Vets concluded that the only explanation was that the monkeys were scared to death by the roar of the tiger. Villagers reported tigers were seen in the area and were heard roaring at the time of the deaths.


Rare pink African elephant caught on camera

A visitor to a South African wilderness area captured rare footage of an albino baby elephant with unusual pink skin.

The video, recorded at Kruger National Park, shows the pink elephant playing in the water with other members of its herd.

African elephant sightings are extremely rare, with only three or four being previously recorded in photographs. Albino elephants can be difficult to spot due to keeping their skin caked in mud and dirt to protect them from the sun’s rays.

The baby seen is the first albino African elephant to be caught on video.

“It’s important to note, right through the video, that there was no lack in attention, love or care for the little pink one from the other adults,” the filmer wrote.


A lost huge cat

Chatham County Animal Shelter shared a photo of the tubby gray tabby cat that was one of the biggest the shelter had ever seen.

“Does anyone know this cat? He is 31.4pounds! He clearly had someone feeding him but was brought in as a stray cat,” the shelter said.

The shelter was unable to locate an identification chip inside the cat after using two different scanners and said there were no lost reports and no owners had attempted to contact the station.

“We have never had a cat this big in the 10 years I’ve been here,” Ginny Jenrette of Chatham County Animal Services told.

The shelter said the cat far exceeded the maximum weight for its breed, indicating it likely hadn’t spent much time alone in the wild.

“He has had someone looking after him,” Jenrette said.

If no owners come forward to claim the massive cat within a week, he will be placed for adoption. He already has so many suitors that the shelter has organised an auction.


Four tonnes of Ferrero Rocher stolen from lorry

The growing number of sweet-toothed thieves is alarming. Recently, a gang of thieves stole a whopping four tonnes of Ferrero Rocher chocolate in Sweden.

They broke into a lorry overnight while the driver slept in the cabin, smuggling the chocolate out of the back of the vehicle.

In total, a million krona’s worth of Ferrero Rocher was stolen, according to local newspaper — equivalent to £96,000.

When the driver woke up at about 8am in Astorp, southern Sweden, he realised his haul was gone.

Italian confectionery company Ferrero produces Ferrero Rocher, Nutella and Kinder.

Published in Dawn, Young World September 23rd, 2017

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