DAWN.COM

Today's Paper | December 23, 2024

Published 18 Nov, 2017 07:00am

The weekly weird

Dozens of octopuses appear on a beach

Dozens of octopuses suddenly spotted crawling ashore on a Ceredigion beach on the Welsh coast, and no one could explain why.

The curled octopuses spotted are only about 20-inches long. It is uncommon for curled octopuses to be seen on land, and particularly rare for there to be as many as 25 in one place, which Brett Stones said he saw on the beach that night.

Brett, who runs dolphin tours in Ceredigion bay, told the BBC: “It was a bit like an end of days scenario. There were probably about 20 or 25 on the beach. I have never seen them out of the water like that.”

It is believed that overfishing of Atlantic cod, which eat curled octopuses, means that their numbers have been increasing in recent years, however, it is unclear why so many washed ashore in one place. Brett said he tried to move as many as he could back into the water, however, the next day he still found many dead ones washed up on the beach.


‘Alien-like’ creature, is it real?

A terrifying ‘alien-like’ creature flexing its hairy tentacles has been captured in horrifying video footage.

The monster insect, filmed in Indonesia, was seen wiggling its huge orange body up and down, while it moved its four thick tentacles about. Thousands of people reacted in horror after the footage was shared on Facebook.

However, creature in question is actually a Creatonotos gangis moth, which is found in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, New Guinea and Queensland. Despite its eerie appearance, the animal is not harmful to humans — but it is known for wreaking havoc on pomegranate trees, according to a report from lazerhorse.org. The moths also have a wingspan of about 4cm.


World’s most expensive shoes

Recently, the world’s most expensive pair of shoes have been unveiled — with a $15.1 million dollar price tag.

The footwear was created by a UK designer Debbie Wingham. She is famed for her opulent and luxurious creations for celebrities, royalty and the well-heeled. The world’s most expensive shoes are valued at £11.4 million and were commissioned for a birthday gift. They are perfectly symmetrical and feature extremely rare large pink and blue diamonds, these stones alone are worth in excess of £980,000.

To top that off, a further four, three-carat flawless white diamonds and another 1,000 pointer diamonds framing the piped and quilted details, which are techniques used in traditional cake artistry.

All diamonds are set in platinum while the zips and the plaque underneath the shoes are solid gold. The shoes themselves were hand-made, taking up hundreds of man-hours and stitched together using 18-carat gold thread.

Even the leather coating process was painted in 24-carat gold paint. And lastly the insides of the shoes are adorned with a real gold thread embellished inlay.


Britain’s largest litter with 15 cute puppies

A two-year-old Rottweiler stunned its owners when she gave birth to 15 puppies and became one of the biggest litters ever born in Britain.

The tiny dogs have been sheltered in a makeshift bed made by the owner and are set to be sold on in six to eight weeks. Since the birth, Jessie (the dog) has become a ‘fiercely independent’ mother, refusing to let anyone else feed her litter. She’s even looking after seven-year-old cat Mini. All 15 puppies have been quietly cuddling up to one another at night.

Eleanor, the owner of Jessie calls the smallest puppy Daisy and the biggest Walter. But all the others do not have names as they look too similar.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 18th, 2017

Read Comments

May 9 riots: Military courts hand 25 civilians 2-10 years’ prison time Next Story