According to this article five species of rare butterflies could soon be extinct. The annual survey of butterfly numbers in the UK has found that overall butterfly numbers are much lower than average. The problem is the wet summers we have experienced in the past few years which make it difficult for the insects to breed. Another wet summer could mean that species such as the Duke of Burgundy, High Brown Fritillary, Wood White, Lulworth Skipper and the Pearl-bordered Fritillary will become extinct. It seems there is not much we can do to save them other than hope for a long dry summer.

This is interesting its a scheme from the Co-op to try and rebuild honeybee numbers. Under the scheme people would be encouraged to keep bees in an urban environment. It would take advantage of areas such as allotments and roofs of buildings which can support bee populations. The Co-op aims to encourage 300 new people to urban beekeeping in Manchester, London and Inverness and will provide free training and equipment to those who are interested. In a trial of the scheme last year 60 people out of an initial 100 went on to become beekeepers. Honeybee numbers have more than halved in Britain in the period between 1985 and 2005 due to a number of reasons such as pesticide use, warmer winters and infections such as varroa mites. With their pollination of fruit trees and other crops being worth £165 million every year lets hops the scheme is successful. I would certainly be interested but am not sure my garden is quite big enough for a bee hive.

Police investigating the vandalism of a 200 year old statue were surprised to find it was carried out by squirrels. Staff at Darlington Hall in Devon had noticed serrated marks on the statue as though someone had tried to hack it was a saw. Shortly afterwards a bald squirrel was found suffering from lead poisoning. It was later found that squirrels were looking for food and had decided to nibble on the lead covering the statue causing the damage with their teeth. It is not known why the squirrels chose to eat the statue but it is thought is could be down to a shortage of nuts.

A planned cow farm has met with a great deal of opposition from campaigners. The farm would see 8,100 cows being kept in what animal rights groups say are battery conditions. The farm would be Britain’s largest dairy and would bring together a consortium of dairy farmers from Lancashire, Devon and Lincolnshire. They say the farm would be a flagship for the industry and that it would set new standards in animal welfare. Cows would be bedded on sand which would be continuously cleaned and recycled. They would be kept indoors when producing milk and put out to pasture when dry. The project would generate 80 jobs and produce close to half a million pints every 24 hours. Animal rights groups have condemned it as a "an environmental disaster, condemning animals to dark sheds for most of their lives". It has also been criticised because it would produce as much carbon emissions as 3,000 homes.

Ecologists have identified brown bears, wolves, lynx and elk as species that could potentially be reintroduced into the British countryside. A report compiled for Britain’s largest national park has indentified 23 species in total that once lived in Britain and could survive here again. Campaigners have been pushing for lynx and wolves to be reintroduced to Britain for some time. They believe that they could help to control deer numbers and protect woodland that can often be destroyed by large herds. Ecologists also believe that introducing large carnivores can be beneficial for tourism. The proposals have not been popular with landowners and farmers, however who believe the animals could pose a threat to people. It’s easy to see both sides here, on one hand it make sense to have larger predators to manage deer populations but on the other if not carefully managed then there is likely to be a significant impact on farmers and their livestock.

Food watchdogs are calling for CCTV to be installed in slaughterhouses to help improve animal welfare standards. Tim Smith of the Food Standards Agency is developing a plan for the industry within the next six months. It will recommend that cameras are installed to help ensure that the highest health, hygiene and animal welfare standards are followed. The calls come after a recent European Union veterinary inspection exposed poor hygiene at UK abattoirs and meat cutting plants. Animal Aid a welfare campaign group have also filmed cruelty to pigs and sheep at an organic certified abattoir in Devon. As a result of these findings  every aspect of welfare and risk is now being reviewed across the country’s 400 abattoirs to ensure more traceability in the meat industry. Although the agency would not be able to force meat companies to install surveillance cameras they hope to come to some voluntary agreement. The RSPCA on the other hand is backing compulsory cameras in all meat plants and hopes to make it a requirement for meat produced under its Freedom Food label.

According to this article the number of bugs in Britain’s soil has increased by 50% in the last ten years. In the first study of its kind scientists have analysed the soil. They took more than 2,600 samples from different geological and climatic areas across the country and measured them for invertebrates, nutrients, pollutants, acidity and carbon. They found that in the top 8cm of soil, there are 12.8 quadrillion living organisms. Whilst the number of invertebrates has gone up by nearly 50% it appears that the diversity of life (the number of types) has decreased. Scientists say that both of these things are caused by the rise of annual temperatures and rainfall, the warmer and wetter summers that we have been experiencing.

According to this article the government is considering introducing a competency test for dog owners. The proposal could mean that people will be forced to have their dogs microchipped and also take out third party insurance in case they bite anyone. The measures would be put in place mainly as a way of combating problems with dangerous dogs but could potentially cover all dogs. It might also be necessary for dog owners to take a competency test to ensure they have the relevant skills necessary to properly look after their dog. Critics have pointed out that the cost of establishing such a scheme would mean many irresponsible dog owners are likely to ignore it. It is thought that the cost would have to be met by either charging for the test or introducing a dog license fee, something which is likely to be seen to penalise those responsible dog owners and not tackle the problem.

A man from Norfolk has found a dinosaur bone in his garden. He has had the bone in his rockery for many years thinking it was simply an unusual shaped rock. It was only when he sent it to the local museum to be identified that he found it was in fact a 135 million year old dinosaur fossil. The bone is from a Plesiosaur a large marine reptile which fed mainly on fish. Mr Ruggles has now decided to donate the bone to the local Lynn Museum where it will go display as part of their permanent collection.

Some lucky chickens in Norwich are having jumpers made especially for them. The chickens are former battery hens that have been brought by a rescue centre rather than being slaughtered. They now live at the Little Hen Rescue in Norwich whilst they are awaiting new homes. Unfortunately many of the hens are rather bald as a result of the intensive battery environment they have previously lived in, hence why they need jumpers. The jumpers are being kindly provided by a Somerset craft club who have been busy knitting to help keep the chickens warm. The Little Hen Rescue currently takes in around 4,000 hens at a time and cares for them until they are fit enough to find a new home. Around 10% of birds have lost their feathers so it seems there is a quite a demand for chicken jumpers.

A hen in Suffolk has laid an unusually large egg. The egg which has a circumference of 21cm (8.3 inches) was laid by a hen called Matilda who has only ever laid four eggs before. Despite the size of the egg it is not large enough to make it into the record books. The largest ever hens egg was a five-yolked egg measuring 31cm (12.2in) around by  22.8cm (9in) and weighing nearly 340g (12oz). It was laid by a Black Minorca hen in Lancashire in 1896.

At a time when people are becoming conscious of where their food comes from supermarkets have been accused of putting misleading labels on sausages and bacon. The labels strongly suggest the animals have been raised in the British countryside when in fact they have been raised in cruel conditions outside the UK. Currently it is possible to label a product as “made in Britain” when the product may have simply been processed and packaged in the UK. In cases like this products labelled as Lincolnshire sausages might in fact be made from German pork. One problem with this is that welfare standards for animals outside the UK are often considerably lower. Other people may want to buy British simply to support the country in a time of recession. In what has been hailed a victory for clearer labelling a new code of practice will mean  only pork made from pigs that are born, bred and slaughtered in the UK can be labelled as British. However, manufacturers are still able to opt out of the agreement and campaigners are calling for the measures to be made compulsory.

I watched the Panorama programme about the impact of the palm oil industry on the environment with interest. I have long been aware that unsustainable palm oil impacts hugely on the environment and particularly on the habitat of the orangutan population. What I was now, made aware of, however, was the number of products that might contain palm oil without my knowledge. I prefer to source most of cosmetics from Lush because most of their products do not contain palm oil but the Panorama documentary made me aware that many food products might contain palm oil disguised as vegetable oil.

The problem with palm oil is that it causes a massive amount of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. The impact forces not only the indigenous people from their homes but also the ever vulnerable and fast depleted orangutan population. What the documentary highlighted was that many areas that are protected forest are being illegally logged and turned over to palm oil production. It seems, that because the business is so lucrative, the respective local governments turn a blind eye to this breech of the law.

Figures show that the orangutan population has declined by 50% in the last decade and around 50,000 orangutans have died as a result of de-forestation. At this rate there seems little hope for the remaining population. Currently only 3% of the world’s palm oil is certified as sustainable meaning it comes from a plantation that passes an environmental impact test. Most of the big manufacturers who use palm oil also have no way of tracing where it comes from because it is mixed with other oil so they are unable to trace the origin.

Whilst this might be the case what in my mind is inexcusable is the mislabelling of products. Manufacturers are allowed to list palm oil simply as “vegetable oil” without stating the actual content. Although their excuse that recipes can change and the oil can very from week is certainly plausible, surely they can label a product as “may contain palm oil” in the same way they would with a product such as nuts. That way as a consumer I can make an informed judgement as to whether to buy the product or not. Surprisingly the only supermarket which states whether a product contains palm oil and whether it is from a sustainable source is Sainsbury’s. Based on this I think I will make a conscious choice to switch to their own brand products. I wonder whether any others will follow suit.

When it comes to endangered animals many get a much higher profile than the Great White Shark. It seems, though that it is now more endangered than the tiger with only 3,500 left. The findings have led to marine biologists to call for urgent action to stop them going extinct. The population estimates come after a scientists studied and tagged the migration of the sharks using radio transmitters. What was surprising is that great whites travel much longer distances that previously thought, anything up to 12,000 miles in a nine month period. The researchers found that sharks seen in Hawaii were the same ones that were found in California just six months later leading experts to the conclusion there are far fewer sharks left in the sea. Whilst great whites have a bad reputation for attacking people most incidents are thought to be due to the shark mistaking people for seals. With so few left and the fact that most people have little love for sharks, it seems they might not be around for much longer.

Cat food is being used in Australia to stop the spread of invasive cane toads. It has been found that cat food attracts meat ants towards it. Meat ants in turn have quite an appetite for baby cane toads. Leaving cat food near the waters edge when the baby toads are emerging puts the ants right where they are needed. The idea is the latest attempt to try and control the cane toads which were introduced from Hawaii in 1935 in an attempt to control beetles on sugarcane plantations. Since then cane toads have become a destructive influence on the local wildlife population. Other methods of controlling them have included hitting the toads with golf clubs and freezing them. However, with tens of thousands of toads emerging from the water at any one time these methods have not proved effective. Meat ants, are well equipped to deal with the glut of extra food and it has been found that when ponds are lined with cat food, 98% of toads are attacked within two minutes. Of those that escape 80% die of their injuries within a day.

According to this article almost half of all primates face extinction. There are 634 primate species but 48% of these are on the red list of animals under threat. The main problems facing primates is the destruction of tropical forests and the illegal hunting trade. A recent report has highlighted the 25 most endangered primate species some of which are thought to be down to just a few dozen individuals. Among these are golden headed langur of which there are between 60 and 70 individuals left and the eastern black crested gibbons of which there are around 110. It is hoped that the report will go some way to highlighting the problems facing these creatures before it is becomes too late to save them.

A bald eagle with a broken beak has had it fixed in a rather unconventional way. The eagle had lost most of his beak after catching it in a fishing line. The resulting hole in his beak then stopped him from hunting. A dentist who was called in to help and filled the hole with putty which is usually used to fill holes in human teeth. He made it the right shape and size to fit the hole in the beak and although it is not thought the bird will return to the wild, he should now be able to survive in captivity.

A newly discovered species of big cat, the Sundaland clouded leopard has recently been caught on camera for the first time. The leopard which was only discovered to a be a distinct species three years ago is one of the more elusive cat species. The footage was caught by a team who were evaluating how changes to the forest in Borneo impacts on the carnivores. As part of the project they were placing camera traps in the forest and were lucky enough to get footage not only of the leopard but also a flat headed cat, bay cat and marbled cat. You can see the video and pictures on the original article here.

A horse sanctuary in Essex has seen a rise in the number of starving animals during the recession. Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary in Buttsbury has been inundated with thin and starving animals because people can no longer afford to keep them. They have also seen an increase in the number of horses being dumped in fields and left to die. The problem appears to UK wide and unfortunately is expected to get worse before it gets better. The sanctuary has urged people to look out for tethered animals as they may be unable to reach food and water and to report any animals which they have concerns about.

A group of hedgehogs at a wildlife rescue centre are being on a diet because they are getting a little too fat. The hedgehogs spent longer than usual in care over the winter period and as a result carry so much weight they are finding difficult to roll into balls. The 10 hedgehogs will now undergo a much reduced diet before they are deemed fit enough to be released into the wild.

This massive crab is about to go on show at Birmingham’s National Sea Life Centre. The crab who measures more than 5ft long has been dubbed Crabzilla by some. It has been flown to the UK on route to its new permanent home in Belgium all the way from Japan. The crab will be in Birmingham until the end of March sharing a tank with some of the centres smaller crustaceans.

A herd of wild horses has been released into the Kent countryside in a project to help improve biodiversity in the area. The horses have been released into the South Foreland Valley nature reserve at St Margaret’s Bay near Dover. The project is a collaboration between conservation groups and St Margaret’s parish council. The horses are a relative of the Tarpan, a wild forest horse that would have roamed Britain in prehistoric times. It is hoped that grazing the land will encourage the return of many species of wildlife which are under threat including butterflies such as the chalkhill blue and silver spotted skipper.

Eel passes such as the one shown in the picture have given a boost to the number of European eels in British rivers. The passes allow the eels to wriggle their way up and over the barrier on a bed of bristles so they can get to the other side. Two passes installed in Somerset have seen 10,000 eels queuing up to use them. The Environment Agency now plans to fit a further 100 gates across the country.

According to this article cat owners are more educated than dog owners. That’s according to a study carried out by Bristol University. A poll of 2,524 households found that 47.2% of those with a cat had at least one person educated to degree level, compared with 38.4% of homes with dogs. It is put down to the fact that those who work longer hours are generally in better qualified jobs but that these people find their lifestyle makes owing a dog impractical so opt for a cat instead.

If you have ever wanted to know which would win in a fight between a leopard and a porcupine then you might find this article interesting. It shows several images of a young leopard trying to hunt a porcupine. Despite the leopard trying out several different hunting techniques he is no match for his prickly opponent and after receiving painful spines in his paw decides this potential meal might not be worth the effort.

A vicious pheasant has been terrorising the residents of a village in North Yorkshire. There have been reports of people being attacked and even trapped inside their homes by the bird which is creating problems in Newsham. It appears the pheasant is simply protecting what he has decided is his territory as the breeding season approaches. One thing is clear, however, this is not a a pheasant to be messed with.

A German man has been jailed for 14 weeks after being stopped at an airport with geckos in his underwear. The man attempted to board a plane in New Zealand with more than 40 geckos and skinks concealed in his underwear. He was convicted of two charges under the Wildlife Act and five under the Trade in Endangered Species Act for taking the creatures from the wild gecko and skink populations.

This interesting looking creature is called the blobfish. The fish which can grow up to 12 inches in size lives at depths of up to 800m which means it is rarely seen. Unfortunately although the fish is not edible it lives close to others that are and so is often caught by mistake with other catches such as crabs and lobsters. Whilst other fish are protected the blobfish is not and so is now at risk of becoming extinct.

This is Amber the first cat to win the UK slimming champion in PDSA’s annual Pet Fit Club Competition. The cat has managed to lose 17% of her boy weight to win the title. She started off weighing 7kg in September 2009 and has lost 1.23kg. As you can see by the before and after pictures she is now a much sleeker pussy cat.

This is Missy the world’s first cat to receive a knee replacement. She was close to death after being run over by a car but after receiving pioneering surgery to rebuild her limbs and being fitted with a metal joint she is now recovering nicely. To repair her leg a collagen mesh made from a pigs bladder was used to re-grow tissue and cover the bone. The bones were then placed in a device called a spider which held them in place until the bone and tissue had healed. The implant itself was custom made to fit Missy’s measurements. It was made out of stainless steel and bonded to the thigh bone and shin bone using cement. The new implant should allow Missy to walk, run and jump around as normal.

That’s a question that some teenagers might struggle to answer correctly if this article is to be believed. It suggests that teenage schoolchildren think bacon comes from sheep and that oats grow on trees. Many also thought that eggs were the main ingredient in bread. The results comes from a survey conducted on behalf of the Home Grown Cereals Authority as part of the Farmhouse Breakfast Week awareness campaign. Whilst the majority of over 40s questioned knew the answers to the simple questions, the results found that 26% of children thought bacon came from sheep, 29% thought oats grow on trees, and 17% of both children and adults under the age of 30 believed eggs were a core ingredient in bread. Based on the findings it appears that are some shocking gaps in the knowledge of the younger generation.

According to this article a temple dedicated to an ancient cat goddess has been found in Egypt. The temple in Alexandria is thought to be around 2,000 years old. It is the first trace of the royal quarters of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be revealed in the area and confirms that the Greek dynasty of Egyptians worshipped ancient animal deities. The temple which is 60m high by 15m wide is thought to have belonged to Queen Berenike 11 the wife of Ptolemy who ruled in the third century BC. It is filled with statues of Bastet the feared lion headed goddess whose image gradually changed over time to resemble the domestic cat.

According to this article there has been a huge rise in the number of pets being abandoned over the Christmas period. UK animal charities are struggling to cope the number of unwanted animals on their books and many also have long waiting animals that need a place in the re-homing centre. Battersea Dogs and Cats home in particular have said they are unable to cope with the number of pets arriving and have had to create a waiting list for local authorities. Animals on the waiting list will have to be looked after by the local council whilst there wait for a place to become available at the home. The situation is unlikely to improve as this time of year usually sees a rise in more animals being abandoned as people find pets brought for Christmas are too expensive to keep. If you have space for a furry friend then it might be worth checking out those that need a new home at the Battersea website here.

A buffer zone has been put in place around a red squirrel reserve in Northumberland in a bid to protect the species. The reserve in Kielder Forest includes the Cumbrian woods of Kershope and Spaedadam. The buffer zone effectively cuts off the gap between the forest and the Solway Firth to try and slow the migration of grey squirrels to the Scottish border. Within the buffer zone Forestry Commission grants are available to support land managers in controlling grey squirrels by using humane traps. It is hoped that the zone will stop the spread of the pox virus which the grey squirrels carry and which is fatal to the endangered red squirrels.

According to this article many different types of animals exhibit heroic behaviour and it is not just limited to humans. The article suggests that dolphins, monkeys, fruit bats and ants will all rescue their fellow creatures when they are in danger. Dolphins have been know to rescue trapped and injured dolphin, often lifting them to surface to help them breathe. Monkeys will drive away attackers from vulnerable individuals such as females and infants and fruit bats will help other fruit bats that are in labour. Ants will offer help to other ants from the same colony if they are caught in traps although it appears this help does not extend to individual from outside their own colony. A group of scientists is now hoping to study and document this type of behaviour in more detail to try and determine whether the animal rescuers behaviour is indeed heroic.

The World Wide Fund for Nature has placed the tiger at the top of its list of the most endangered species. The charity is stepping up its efforts to save the animal as figures show there are only 3,200 tigers left on earth. Tigers are under threat from poachers, the destruction of their habit and climate change. A combination of these things has meant that the world population of tigers has fallen by 95% over the past century. The WWF have now classified it as the most at risk on its roaster of 10 critically endangered animals and will increase patrols and work with politicians to try and eradicate poaching and the illegal trade in tiger skins and body parts. With this year being the Chinese Year of the Tiger it seems like a time to focus on saving this magnificent animal.

The news has been full of snow related stories during the recent bad weather but this one deserves a mention for being one of the more unusual. It had never occurred to me that swans can get stuck on frozen lakes but it seems they can and do. This article highlights a case where a flock of swans had to rescued from a frozen lake by the RSPCA and some construction workers. The construction workers used their mechanical digger to break up the thick ice that has frozen around the birds. Although one swan died before they arrived the others were set free. It seems this is not an isolated incident with the RSPCA receiving around 100 calls reporting ducks and swans stuck on ice on ponds and lakes.

This interesting looking crab has recently been discovered of the coast of southern Taiwan. The crab which is bright red and covered with white spots is a new species.  Although it does resemble another species that lives in areas around Hawaii this one has a distinct clam shaped shell.

If this article is to be believed then our pets could have a bigger carbon footprint than the car we drive. According to the article the carbon footprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a sports utility vehicle. The analysis is based upon the fact that the average sized medium dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal in a year. The land required to generate this amount or food has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares, that’s twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4 by 4 driving 6,200 miles a year. It appears other pets are no better for the environment, with cats having an eco-footprint of around 0.15 hectares, a little less than driving a Golf for a year. A hamster’s carbon footprint equates to a plasma TV and a goldfish, the equivalent to running two mobile phones. There are ways to reduce your pets carbon footprint such as feeding your cat on fish heads and left over's rather than premium choice cuts of meat. Still, given the choice between giving up my cats or the car, I know what I would rather keep, my cats might not be very useful but my car could never give me the companionship and entertainment that my cats do.

Weighing in at 3,682lbs this is The Field Marshall a bull who has recently been named Britain’s biggest bullock. The bull eats more than 17lbs of feed every day and at the age of  8 is only a teenager so is likely to grow bigger yet.

According to this article the public will soon be able to shoot parakeets. The birds are due to be added to an updated list of pests meaning that people will be able to kill them on their own property without a licence. The parakeets have become something of a pest in parts of the UK and have been blamed for wrecking fruit crops and threatening the nesting sites of native birds. A total of 63 species will be added to the list of alien pests in April, these include the European eagle owl, Chinese water deer the wild boar and some plants such as the rhododendron.

We have lost lots of Christmas decorations over the years but so far none have ever ended up inside one of our cats. This cat, however, managed to eat a Christmas decoration and had to have it removed. The cat began suffering chronic sickness and an X-ray found a Christmas tree decoration in her abdomen. After surgery to remove it the cat seems to be doing fine but its worth being cautious with your decorations around your pets this Christmas.

According to this article rhino poaching is on the rise. The global surge is being driven by the the demand from Asian medicinal markets and a decline in law enforcement. Around 95% of rhino poaching since 2006 has taken place in Zimbabwe and South Africa according to data compiled by Traffic the global wildlife trade monitoring network. The most serious situation appears to be in Zimbabwe where rhino numbers are declining rapidly, however, the conviction rate for rhino crime is only 3% in this country. Poaching and illegal trading have also seen a huge increase in South Africa with 210 rhinos being illegally killed between 2006 and 2009. The African black rhino is now placed in the critically endangered category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and with the market for rhino horns in Asia still growing rapidly, its obvious that greater measures need to be put into place to in order to prevent poaching.

This article suggests that climate change could make some marine life such as lobsters bigger. A study has shown that more acidic oceans caused by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide can produce oversized shelled marine species including lobsters, crabs and shrimps. Whilst this may be good news for seafood lovers there is some bad news. Other species such as oysters, scallops and clams suffer in more acidic waters because they are unable to build their shells. Lobsters on the other hand thrive under higher CO2 levels because they can convert inorganic carbon in seawater into a form they can use to produce shells. However, they rely on the smaller creatures for food so in a situation where the predator is getting stronger and the prey weaker it seems only a matter of time before the predators are also severely impacted and the population becomes unsustainable.

A calf has been born in Sterling, Rhode Island that has a large white cross on its forehead. The calf’s owner believes that the animal is a message from above. Although Holstein cows do often have white markings on their heads it is thought that this is the first time one has appeared in the shape of the cross. It seems this really is a holy cow.

This rather oversized robin was spotted at Plymouth’s Burrator Reservoir. Surprisingly despite his size he was able to fly. The good news is with his extra bulk he should be well placed to survive even the harshest winter as long as he is fast enough to evade any predators.

This snake got into a spot of trouble when he tried to eat his own tail. Reggie the King snake mistook his tail for food and bit down on it. Unfortunately he couldn’t release his jaws and was stuck like it. His owner noticed what has happened before the snake started to digest his own body and rushed the snake to the vet where its jaws were pried open to release the tail. The operation took about an hour and the snake appears to be no worse off after his adventure.

According to this article hundreds of horses are likely to be shot this winter as owners find they can no longer afford to keep them. Animal charities and sanctuaries have already reported a rise in the number of animals needing new homes but as they are already flooded with demand many have been turning away unwanted animals for months. As a result euthanasia is often the only option especially for older animals. Currently around 10,000 horses a year are killed in British abattoirs with much of the meat being sold on the Continent.

According to this article thousands of microscopic worms have been sent into space. The worms which were collected from a rubbish tip in Bristol have boarded the Atlantis space shuttle for a mission to the international space station. It is hoped that studying the worms will help scientists explain how astronauts build and lose muscle as they circle the earth. The worms will be exposed to conditions in space for four days before being frozen and returned to the laboratory where they can be studied.

This video made by Simon Tofield appears to have become a hit on YouTube. Inspired by his cat the simple video features an animated cat trying to wake his owner up. Most cat owners will identify with the persistence of the cat which starts by prodding its owner before resorted to hitting him with a bat and then pretending to be asleep. Sometimes the most simple things make the best viewing. Simon’s cat now has his own website where you can check out his other videos.

A man has been arrested by Brazilian police after he was caught trying to smuggle 1,000 live spiders out of Brazil. The man who is a pet shop owner in London was stopped at the airport when police became suspicious about his luggage. He was found with boxes of live spiders in his suitcases. It could have been entertaining if one or two got loose on the plane.

It looks like its good news for water voles if this article is correct. The creature which was declared an endangered species in 2008 now appears to be becoming more common and there were twice as many spotted this year as there were last year. According to the article water voles have been the UK’s fastest declining mammal with numbers declining due to unsympathetic farming and watercourse management. Most of the recent sightings have been on the Kennet and Avon Canal between Reading and Bristol.

New legislation means that it will now be possible to create protected marine zones in areas which contains endangered species. The Marine Act will allow conservation groups to stop practices such as scallop dredging and trawler fishing in areas that are under threat. Species such as the Atlantic salmon, the pink sea fan (a type of coral), the harbour porpoise and seahorses should all benefit from the new protected zones.

It seems GPS has a wide range of uses. In this this case it has been used to pinpoint some rare ants nests in order to save them from destruction. The nests are located in forests in Northumberland, however, The Forestry Commission is due to remove 10,000 conifer trees from the forest. It was feared that the ants nests might be damaged in the process. Foresters will now be provided with the GPS co-ordinates of the ants locations so that they can be sure to avoid them.

Our cat Oliver is notorious for being very timid, he usually hides when we get any visitors and get beaten up by our other cats. Bearing this in mind we were very surprised when a large fox wandered into the garden and approached him. Oliver and the fox regarded each other for a while before the fox rolled on the ground. It was obvious to us that the fox wanted to play but Oliver seemed to miss the point and chased him away. You can see pictures below of the encounter, click on the images for a bigger version.

If you are planning on building a bonfire this bonfire night, then make sure you look out for hedgehogs. Unfortunately this is just the time of year that hedgehogs are looking for somewhere warm to spend the winter and a pile of logs makes the perfect place to hibernate. If you are planning on building a bonfire the advice is to assemble your fire a few hours before the event rather than several weeks before hand. It is less likely that animals such as hedgehogs and frogs and toads will have chance to crawl inside. As scientists predict that hedgehogs could be extinct by 2025 they need all the help they can get, so taking this simple step could mean far less casualties.

This cute little guy was found in a bag of rocket salad in Edinburgh by restaurant manager David Neil. The salad had been imported from Israel along with the live eight inch long Lebanon lizard. The lizard which has been nicknamed Rocky is now living in a temporary enclosure whilst a new new home is found for him.

Two red squirrels have been found near Bangor, the first to be found in the area for a decade. It is thought the squirrels may have crossed the Menai Strait from Anglesey to Gwynedd using one of the two bridges. Scientists are waiting for the results of tests to prove that they came from the Anglesey colonies. Around 300 red squirrels live on Anglesey but this is the first evidence that they have started to colonise new habitats on the mainland. The discovery has been hailed as a breakthrough for the endangered species.

These cute little guys have been born at West Midland Safari Park in Worcestershire. They have been named Portia, Phoebe and Pandora. White lions are quite rare and it is thought there are only 130 of them worldwide so these ones are really quite special.

According to this article some parts of the UK could soon see an invasion of ladybirds. Numbers of the non native Harlequin ladybird have dramatically increased over the past few years. At this time of the year when the weather starts to get colder the ladybirds looks for cracks in walls to hide in and often find ways into the house in an effort to stay warm. Unfortunately whilst the ladybirds are fairly harmless the rapid expansion of the non native species is bad news for our native ladybirds which compete for the same food. Scientists have launched the UK Ladybird Survey to track the spread of the harlequins which are larger and have more spots than the native seven spot ladybird. If you see any you can email your pictures to the Harlequin Ladybird Survey website or text LADYBIRD to 83040 to receive a link to upload your photos from your mobile.

This is Scarlett’s Magic the new world record holder for the tallest domesticated cat. She stands 17.1 inches high from shoulder to toe making her a very large moggy. She may also be the worlds longest domestic cat although this is yet to be confirmed. Scarlett’s Magic is an 18 month old Savannah cat, a breed that is considerably larger than the average domestic cat and which seems to be becoming very popular.

Of course George the cat isn’t really a hypnotherapist but surprisingly he is registered as one. It appears the laws on becoming an accredited hypnotherapist are so lax that even George can become accredited. Not that I’m doubting his ability of course George might be particularly good at his job. Still I think the main point of the story is that George should not have been able register because he happens to be a cat. George in fact belongs to Chris Jackson a presenter of Inside Out. Chris registered George with three industry bodies and each accepted a certificate from the non existent Society of Certified Advanced Mind Therapists as prove of his credentials. From this it appears industry bodies are not running proper checks on their members.

Scientists are studying an outbreak of squirrel pox in the hope that it might provide information to help stop the red squirrel  from dying out. Whilst an epidemic of the squirrel pox virus may be bad news for red squirrels in Liverpool it is hoped that studying how the virus is spread and what makes the red squirrels particularly vulnerable to it may help to save the species and ensure its long term survival. The virus is carried by both red and grey squirrels but the greys seem to unaffected by it whilst it is lethal to red squirrels. In 2007 there was a major outbreak of the disease in Formby in Lancashire which caused a 90% fall in the number of red squirrels in the area and is still affecting the population today. Scientists from the University of Liverpool will monitor the squirrels as part of a four year project. They hope to find out how the squirrels became infected and whether the surviving squirrels have developed any immunity to it. They should then be able to determine how the infection progresses and look at how to halt the spread.

According to this article it could soon be legal to shoot parakeets. The birds have become very common in some parts of the country and there were certainly flocks of them in Egham when we used to live there. The problem is that the non native species eats much the same things as our native bird species and in some places have become so common that the native species are beginning to suffer. The birds have also been blamed for destroying crops with one vineyard owner losing enough grapes to make 3,000 bottles of wine in just a day. The London wildlife trust has criticised the proposed change because they say other birds such as green woodpeckers could be mistaken for parrots and might be shot in error. If the law is changed parakeets will join crows, gulls and magpies on the list of birds that it is legal to shoot if they have caused damage. Based on the fact that there are thought to be around 40,000 parakeets in the South East alone and some colonies have as many as 7,000 birds I think its time to go parrot shooting.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will have noticed the problems my cats are currently having with a neighbouring moggy who we have nicknamed MEGACAT. This cat whilst huge is simply a normal domestic moggy who uses his extra large size to terrorise those smaller than himself. If this article is to be believed, MEGACAT himself might soon have problems of own. It appears that some people are now breeding a type of super cat called a savannah cat. These are creatures that are a cross between a serval and a domestic moggie. The resulting cat is much larger that a normal domestic cat, more athletic and potentially more dangerous as it is likely to retain the characteristics related to its wildcat ancestry. I’m not sure I would be getting one, I have enough trouble trying to get my small cats in the cat carrier without losing a finger.

This is interesting its a watch that contains a satellite positioning system which can locate the wearer to within ten feet. Aimed at parents who want to keep an eye on their children, the brightly coloured watch costs £149.99. Parents will be able to see their child’s location on Google maps by texting a special number. They will also be able to set up safe zones in which the children can play and receive an alert when the children go outside the area. The device is made by a company called Lok8u. I’m not sure how practical it is for children as they would soon learn to take it off but I would be interested in getting one of these for cats. Having emailed the company that makes these I have found out that a cat version is due to be released in the new year.

If this article is to believed then jellyfish could soon be appearing on the menu at some restaurants. Carme Ruscalleda wants to add them to menu of her restaurant Sant Pol del Mar. Jellyfish are eaten in Japan and China but most Europeans seem reluctant to try it. It is, however, meant to have many health benefits such as improving the cardio vascular system and balancing blood pressure. Before she is allowed to serve the jellyfish she must first prove that the local variety is safe to eat. It seems she has eaten jellyfish many times with no ill effects and compares it to fresh squid. Would you fancy eating jellyfish?

When you look at a furniture coaster it might not be immediately apparent that it could double as an artificial leg but they can if you are a tortoise apparently. Lucky the turtle lost his front legs when he was attacked by a racoon. He has since been fitted with some furniture coasters that allow him to move around as normal and continue to do all the things that tortoises usually do.

This is interesting its some pictures taken by a man in Surrey of bats flying over his garden pond. To get the pictures he rigged up this rather elaborate set up using a digital camera that listens for ultrasonic squeaks and an infrared beam to trigger flash  lamps when a bat flew near the water. The first picture shows how he set up his equipment and the second is one of the pictures that he took.

According to this article short haired bumblebees are going to be reintroduced in Britain. The species has been extinct in Britain for almost ten years but now a conservation programme will try to reintroduce the species from a colony of insects in New Zealand. Conservationists will fly to New Zealand’s South Island to collect some queen bees from a colony that was exported there over a century ago. These bees from the native colony will be bred in captivity. They then hope to use the bees offspring to start repopulating the English countryside reintroducing the first bees next June.

This giant woolly rat is a new species that has recently been discovered in Papua, New Guinea. The rat was discovered near an extinct volcano. It measures nearly 3ft long about the size of a cat and weighs more than 3lb and has no fear of humans. It has provisionally been named the Bosavi woolly rat and it it thought that it is only found in this crater.

According to this article a loggerhead turtle has found in a rockpool near Tintagel in Cornwall. The turtle which has been nicknamed Steve is the second loggerhead turtle to be found in the area within the month. Steve appeared to be unharmed and he has been taken to Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium where he is recovering with the other turtle, Squirt. Both turtles will be released in the Canary Islands once they are fully recovered.

These cute little guys are part of a programme to release sand lizards in sites across the UK. The endangered lizards have almost disappeared from Britain due to loss of habitat caused by agriculture and building developments. Hundreds of sand lizards are to be released at five sites in Surrey, Dorset and mid Wales in an effort to reverse the decline of the creatures. The lizards have been raised in special hatcheries with minimal contact from the breeders so they do not become too tame. Their new homes are on nature reserves which have been assessed to make sure they provide the right habitat for the lizards to survive.

If you are scared of spiders you might have an excuse if you are a girl. According to this article girls could have a natural fear of spiders. Researchers came to the conclusion after conducting an experiment on a group of children. They showed pictures of spiders to 20 children, 10 girls and 10 boys who were 11 months old. The boys didn’t seem bothered by the pictures but the girls already associated spiders with being afraid. Based on the findings it is thought that girls are genetically more susceptible to fearing potentially dangerous animals.

Staff at a computer company in South Africa are using pigeons to transfer data between offices because it it quicker than broadband. They say that it takes six hours to transfer four gigabytes of encrypted data from Durban to their call centre 50 miles away. In contrast it takes a pigeon with a memory card attached to its leg, just an hour to make the journey. The pigeons do face some problems, however, such as getting eaten by predators on route.

This is unusual its a newt that is able to push its ribs through its skin to use them as weapons. The Spanish ribbed newt is able to force its bones through its skin when it is threatened. Surprisingly this does not appear to cause the newt any harm but it is quite an extreme method of protection.

According to this article giant pandas could be extinct within two to three generations. The warning comes from the WWF who say the destruction of the pandas natural habitat is the main threat facing the species. The problem is that the remaining living areas are becoming increasingly fragmented leaving most of the remaining pandas in areas of bamboo less that a mile wide. These areas are often separated by highways which make migration and mating difficult for the pandas. It is thought there are around 1,600 pandas left in six mountain ranges in southwestern China, with only 43% of panda habitats being protected areas.

A penguin called Ralph has recently been given a new wetsuit. Usually Humboldt penguins like Ralph gradually lose their feathers to be replaced by a new set. Ralph, however, lost all of his feathers in just one day leaving him at risk of severe sunburn. His wetsuit helps to protect him from the sun and allows him to do all of the things that penguins usually do.

This scary looking plant has recently been discovered in the Philippines. The plant which has been named after Sir David Attenborough grows more than 4ft long. It is able to eat prey such as mice and rats which it traps by secreting nectar. Once close enough the animals fall into a large pitcher within the plant. Unable to get out they then drown and acids in the fluid break down the remains.

This rare albino swallow was spotted in by Steve Copsey in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire. Apparently there is a one in 18,000 chance of a bird being albino making this little guy very rare.

A re-colonisation programme hopes to reintroduce sea eagles to Scotland. Under the scheme a group of 14 chicks from Norway were reared in custom built aviaries in Fife . They have now released at the Tay estuary. The project which is now in its third year has already been successful in the west of Scotland and there are now thought to be around 200 sea eagles in the region. Last year 44 pairs of breeding birds produced 28 chicks so it looks like a good sign for the species.

I feed the birds everyday but have never considered that the bees also might need some food. According to this article gardeners are being urged to leave out energy drinks for tired bees to try and help the declining bee population. The RSPB has been inundated with calls reporting bees lying on the ground unable to fly. They recommend leaving out an egg cup filled with two tablespoons of sugar and a tablespoon of water so that tired bees can boost their energy levels.

If you are looking for a new furry friend then you might want to contact Battersea Dogs Home. Whilst it might not be the first place you would expect to find cats, they do in fact also re-home other animals as well. At the moment they simply have too many cats with 143 of their 145 cat pens being full and 174 cats waiting for a place at the home. The shelter has blamed the recession for the 20% rise in the number of animals being dumped but there are also 10% fewer people who are taking on cats leading to the huge backlog. Some of the cats have been waiting for a new home for as long as a year. Unfortunately I already have fours cats so don’t have room for anymore but if you have room for another kitty in your life then you might want to contact them, you can see some the furries here.

A range of ice cream has been launched which is aimed at dogs. The ice cream comes in three flavours including Panting Peanut Mutter, Oaty Pawfection and Chase Your Tail Cheesecake. If you want to get your paws on some it is available from Frost and Hound desserts who are based in North Yorkshire. It is currently still in the development stage but its creators hope to launch it in the shop in time for next summer.

This little guy managed to survive a seven hour long 70mph journey attached to the front of a BMW. Mervyn Draper had swerved to avoid a hedgehog and noticed another creature by the road but had assumed he had missed it. The following morning he found the rather angry stoat wedged through the grille of his car. The stoat was later removed unharmed and is now recovering in a wildlife hospital.

According to this article cats can be left or right handed (pawed) in a similar way to people. Psychologists found that female cats are more likely to prefer using their right paws whilst males usually prefer to use their right. Tests were carried out on 42 pet cats with the animals being given complex tasks. One task involved fishing a piece of tuna out of a jar. Although the cats could use either paw for the task they tended to favour one paw more than the other. All 21 females used their right paw, 20 of the male cats used their left paw and one male cat was ambidextrous. I have two male and two female cats so will be conducting my own tests shortly.

This unusual albino blackbird was spotted by a bird watcher in South Wales.  Mr Jarman spotted the unusual bird in his garden and managed to get this picture of it. The bird which he nicknamed Snowy visited his garden for several months before it disappeared. Unfortunately with its unusual colouring it was probably picked off by a hungry pussy cat or other predator.

According to this article dormice in Devon and Cornwall are crossing some of the regions busiest roads and making their home on the central reservation. The rodents have been found living on verges in the middle of the A30 and the A38. The findings come after 50 animals were electronically tagged to study their movements. The study by the Highways Agency was looking into how the busy roads affected population numbers. Although it is not known how many dormice are killed crossing the road it appears once they are established they prefer to stay put on the central reservation and seem to thrive.

This two headed cow has been born in Bogota, Colombia. Called Jenifer it has two heads but only one brain. The weight of her head means that she cannot stand without help but the farmer has built a hammock to support her.

An orphaned elephant called Nellie has got a new lease of life after he was fitted with a false foot. The elephant lost his foot when he was caught in a poacher’s snare. The foot had become infected and it was thought that Nellie would never walk again. His rescuers cut away the infected tissue and cleaned his wounds before fitting the prosthetic limb. It will need changing as he grows bigger but it appears this elephant is very happy with his new foot.

Moving house can be quite stressful especially if you have pets. Having four cats this was one of the main concerns we had about the move. Not only did we have to get four cats into four boxes (a miracle at the best of times) we had to do it whilst they were stressed out because of the strange people in the house and we had an hours drive ahead of us to get to our new home. One thing that made the move easier was that we had decided to do it over the course of two days. On day one we locked our furry friends in one room in the old house. The removal men then moved everything out of the the other part of the house. Once they had left for the day we moved all the remaining furniture out of the “cats room” so that the following day the removal men could take the rest of our stuff and just leave us four cats in an empty house.

On day two the rest of the house was cleared very quickly and the removal lorry set off to the new house with all our belongings packed up. We then proceeded to catch the cats starting with Willow and Oscar, the most docile and leaving Lucy and Oliver (evil hissing balls of fur) until last. Surprisingly we managed the near impossible feat of getting all four cats into boxes within the hours and even more surprisingly we still had all of our fingers. We then packed the boxes complete with cats into the car and set off to the new house accompanied all the way by Oliver howling at the top of his voice. Just over an hour later we arrived at the new house, with Oliver still howling in protest. Once again we put aside a small “cat room” and put the cat boxes into the room. We set up a clean litter tray and some food and water, opened the doors of the cat boxes and put a sign on the door on the room reading “do not open cats”. With the cats taken care of we moved all of our things into the new home.

We then used the “cat room” as a base for the cats. Once the house was free of removal men we opened the door and gradually one by one the cats plucked up the courage to come out and explore. They were initially very nervous but curiosity quickly gets the better of even the most nervous cat. Now nearly a week later all of the cats have left the “cat room” and now spend most of their time sitting on the windowsill hunting the fat pigeons in the garden. The next step will be to let the cats outside to explore but we will leave it a few weeks before we introduce them to the outside.

If you often have a sneaking suspicion that your cat has more power over you than it should do, then you might be right. According to this article cats have found a way to manipulate humans by using a special type of purr. Unlike a regular purr the sound incorporates a cry that has a similar frequency to a human babies. Apparently unlike meowing which people usually find annoying the purring sound is very hard for people to ignore and they generally give into the cats demands. The particular cry does occur in low levels in cats normal purring but it appears the devious little creatures have learnt to exaggerate it dramatically in order to get want they want from people. My cats certainly have a loud purring noise that they use when they want their ears rubbed and it usually works.

According to this article rhino poaching is set to reach a 15 year high. The warning comes from conservation groups who warn the animals are at risk due to the demand for their horns which are used in traditional medicine. It is estimated that the number of rhinos being killed in southern Africa has risen four fold over recent years. Although there have been recent successes in conservation efforts it is now feared that these are being undone by the huge increase in poaching.

I saw this story a few months ago about a hedgehog named Spud who has mysteriously lost all his prickles. At the time no one knew what was wrong with him and he looked rather strange. Staff as St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital are still baffled as to why Spud lost all his prickles but the good news is that he has now started to grow new ones and looks a little more like a hedgehog again.

According to this article Amur tigers are on the brink of extinction. There are currently thought to be only 500 tigers left in the wild. The results come after a genetic survey of wild Amur tigers. At the start of the 20th century there were nine subspecies of tigers with a total population of around 100,000 individuals. Three subspecies, the Javan tiger, Bali tiger and Caspian tiger are now extinct and world tiger numbers have fallen to fewer than 3000. The Amur tiger was also nearly driven to extinction due to habitat loss and poaching and in the 1940s only between 20 and 30 individuals survived. Since then the Amur tiger has seen a slow recovery with about 500 tigers thought to survive in the wild. The problem is that the remaining population of tigers is behaving as though it were the size of only 27 to 35 individuals due to factors such as non-breeding individuals and a skewed sex ratio. The remaining Amur tigers are also split into two populations that rarely intermingle reducing the size of the world population further.

If this article can be believed then climate change is responsible for shrinking sheep. The article is based upon a study of Soay sheep in Scotland. It found that since 1985 sheep have decreased in size by 5%. In addition to this their legs have also got shorter. The change has been put down to the fact that milder winters help smaller sheep to survive resulting in a decline in size. Younger sheep also tended to give birth to smaller lambs and eventually smaller sheep start to become more common.

Something that has been puzzling researchers for some time is the amount of frogs that are found around the world with missing legs. It was originally thought to have been caused by chemical pollution but it appears it might have a more natural cause. According to this article dragonfly nymphs are rather partial to eating the legs on developing tadpoles. The nymphs rarely eat the tadpole whole and instead grab it and chew on its limbs often removing them altogether. The tadpole usually survives and later turns into as adult frog with missing legs. It appears that the adult frogs are able to survive for a long time with missing legs which goes some way to explaining why there are so many legless frogs hopping around.

Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of worm charming but it appears it is popular enough to have a World Worm Charming Championship. For those who don’t know what worm charming is, it is the art of coaxing worms out of soil. Apparently this can be done in a number of ways including playing them music or sticking a fork in the ground and hitting it with a stick. It appears that vibrations in the soil cause the works to come to the top of the ground. One worm charmer called Stan who charms them by playing music claims that rock music work best, apparently worms don’t like easy listening or classical music. The best technique for charming worms might be a matter of debate but what is clear is that the Worm Charming Championships are taken very seriously. In the past competitors have been disqualified for underhand techniques such as concealing worms in their trousers legs and sprinkling them on the ground and chopping worms in half to double their totals. Both of which have led to disqualification. There are no rules for worm charming but the code of conduct dictates that the worms must be treated kindly and that competitors must respect each others plots. This years winner was Sophie Smith who managed an impressive record of 567 worms.

If you have a bit of extra cash to spend then you might be interested in one of these T Rex models. They cost £29,000 and measure 33ft long. They are hand made out of fibreglass and resin and are produced in the Philippines. They also feature a row of 8 inch teeth to make them extra scary.

This is Miss Ellie the winner of this years ugliest dog competition. She is a pure breed Chinese created hairless and her unique feature include only having a few teeth, cataracts in both eyes and only limited hair. She definitely does deserve her title.

This is one of the more bizarre stories I have come across recently. It suggests that stoned wallabies are responsible for making crop circles in parts of  Tasmania. Apparently the wallabies have been getting into fields of poppies which are being grown for medicine. The problem is that they quickly become intoxicated by the legally grown opium which makes them run around in circles creating the crop circles in the fields. Other animals such as sheep have also been spotted acting unusually in the fields so it appears the effect is not restricted to the kangaroos.

This cute little guy is one of three baby Fennec fox cubs that have been born at a zoo in Tokyo. They are only a few months old and are being raised in human care as their parents were unable to raise them. The cubs will grow up to 75cm long when they mature. Unfortunately the article has unhelpfully compared them to the Pokemon character Pikachu, I can see there are going to be a lot of children wanting one of these but although they are meant to make good pets I think they are better off in the zoo or even better in the wild.

According to this article a 2,500 bird’s nest has been found on a cliff in Greenland. The nesting site is used by gyrfalcons and includes three other nests all of which are more than 1,000 years old. Ornithologists discovered how old the nests were when they were trying to find out long the birds return to the same site. They used carbon to date the bird droppings and debris left behind and were surprised to find out how the nests actually were. One of the nests also contains feathers from a bird which would have lived more than 600 years ago.

Well its not really a giant parrot, but it is a new type of dinosaur that looks a bit like one. It has been discovered in Mongolia and has been called Psittacosaurus gobiensis which means parrot lizard. The dinosaur is thought to have lived around 110 million years ago and is one of the latest finds in the Gobi Desert. When alive the creature would have had, strong jaw muscles and a powerful bill for crushing and biting, similar to parrots that live today. It would have been much bigger, however, measuring about three feet long. It is thought it would have mainly eaten a high fibre diet such as nuts and seeds and that it was a good runner.

I came across this article about these adorable little panthers. They have been born in a zoo in the Tierpark Zoo in Berlin on the 26th of April and seem to be creating something of a sensation. They are certainly very cute.

A dog called Toby has survived despite swallowing 12 fishing hooks. The dog ate the hooks which were loaded with bait whilst his owner was out. He was later rushed to the vet and the x-ray pictured left clearly shows the hooks which had passed through into his stomach. Toby was kept at the vet until the hooks passed safely though his system and appears to have felt no long lasting effects.

According to this article a bustard has bred in the wild in Britain for the first time in 200 years. In fact three chicks have hatched at two sites on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. The exact spots are being kept secret in order to protect the bird but the news is the first sign that an reintroduction programme might be working. In 2004 forty chicks were brought to Britain from Russia to their new home on Salisbury Plain. Bustards, however, are slow to mature and the first known nest in 2007 produced infertile eggs. The presence of chicks is encouraging and there are hopes that the population will now be able to become self sustaining.

Beavers have been released into the wild in Scotland for the first time in 400 years. The 11 beavers have been released in Knapdale Forest, Argyll. They are part of a reintroduction production that could soon see beavers becoming a more common sight in the UK. The beavers have been fitted with tracking devices and their progress will be closely monitored. The programme has gone ahead despite some concerns that the beavers will have a adverse affect on fish stocks. It will be interesting to revisit this in a few months and see how they are getting on.

This is an interesting idea that appears to be quite popular in Japan. It’s a cat cafe. That’s not a place where you eat cats but more a place where you go to drink tea and play with the cats. Customers wanting to spend some time with a cat can stroke and play with with one of the 20 resident cats at a cost of around $9 for an hour. It is aimed at people who want a pet but who have busy lifestyles or work long hours so can’t have one. I wonder if this would work over in the UK, I have four cats that can I rent out for a few hours and I’m sure they would love the attention.

According to this article there is an increasing demand for squirrel pie. Apparently a pest controller who has been supplying top chefs with grey squirrels is finding it difficult to meet demand. He has culled around 22,000 grey squirrels in the North East but now has plans to work with landowners in the south of England in order to maintain supplies of squirrels and meet the increasing demand for squirrel meat. It seems the squirrels are so popular that as soon as he kills them they are sold. I haven't tried squirrel pie but it sounds as though I might be missing out.

According to this article the cuckoo has featured of Britain’s list of endangered birds for the first time. The latest assessment of Britain’s native birds puts the cuckoo as one of 52 species which are now considered to be at risk. Numbers of the bird have fallen by as much as 37% in the last 15 years. Other birds on the list include the lapwing, tree pipit, wood warbler and yellow wagtail. Once common species such as the song thrush, house sparrow and starling have also seen a drastic decline mainly caused by loss of habitat.

This article is interesting it suggests that rooks are as intelligent as monkeys and that they are able to perform complex puzzles in order to source food. Four birds were given a puzzle with a small basket of worms inside a plastic tube. The worms were out of reach but the birds were also given a piece of straight wire. In each case the rooks bent the wire to make it into a tool and then used it to hook the basket of worms out of the tube. Unlike other animals which can learn how to solve a problem by using trial and error the rooks all solved the problem immediately despite never been shown how to do it. Researchers at Cambridge University believe that these results show that rooks have an intelligence to rival chimpanzees who are also able to craft tools using their hands.

According to this article £300,000 of taxpayers money was spent on research into finding out which kind of water ducks prefer. This hugely important and ground breaking research was carried out by Defra with the aim of making sure that ducks kept on farms are properly treated. During the three year study by Oxford University scientists offered the ducks different types of water including a trough, a pond, a shower and a nipple drinker. It was found that the ducks preferred standing under a shower and that they spent twice as long under the shower as they did in the other water.

According to this article numbers dormice and water voles are starting to recover thanks to some conservation programmes which have been set up to save them. The creatures which used to be common have been threatened by intensive farming techniques, pollution and climate change which have threatened to wipe them out. The decline of the dormouse is mainly due to the loss of hedgerows and meadows which have caused then to halve in numbers in the last 100 years. Water voles are also affected by loss of habitat as well as polluted rivers. These factors have caused a 90 per cent drop in their numbers in a ten year period between 1990 and 2000. As well as working on projects to improve the creatures habitat conservationists have been asking the public to monitor numbers of dormice and provide boxes for them to sleep in. There have also been successful reintroduction programmes of over 600 dormice to 12 counties over the past 16 years. It appears all of these measures combined mean that the furry creatures are starting to make a comeback.

I am used to seeing butterflies in my garden but in the last week have noticed an unusual concentration of painted lady butterflies. The usual butterfly population in my garden tends to consist of a mix of cabbage whites, small and large tortoiseshells, comma and peacock butterflies so I was wondering if there was a reason for this high concentration of painted ladies. This article just might explain it. It suggests that there is a mass migration of the butterflies this year with around 18,000 of them arriving on the north Norfolk coast from North Africa. Apparently the migration began last Thursday when large numbers of the butterflies were found in Dorset but since then they have been spotted pretty much everywhere. If you don’t know what one looks like, there is a picture on the left but chances are you could be seeing quite a lot of them this year.

I am always very careful to unplug all the appliances in the kitchen from the wall in case curious paws should accidently turn something on. Until now I thought I was being a little overcautious but if this article is anything to go by, my fears might be justified. Its about a dog who managed to switch the oven on whilst his owners were out causing a fire to start. Luckily the fire was quickly put out and there was only minor damage to the kitchen but it goes to show that unsupervised pets can cause damage.

I am frequently amazed at my cats climbing ability and the places they manage to end up. My cats, however, have a fair way to go to match this cat who can scale a stone wall. The cat called Charlie manages to climb a sheer 13 foot wall in order to get into his home which is on the second floor. You can see him in action left but to fully appreciate the skill that is spider cat you really need to see the video.

This fox cub had to be rescued by the RSPCA after he got his head stuck in a glass jar. The cub had licked the contents from the glass jar but then found he could not get his head out again. He was found in a garden in Ilford and animal officers were called who removed the jar from his head. After being sprayed with water to cool him down, he was released apparently none the worse for his adventure.

An enterprising orangutan managed to escape from her enclosure after short circuiting the electric fence. She first built a ladder so that she could climb up to reach the electric wires on the fence. She then used a stick to twist together the two electric wires short circuiting the fence so that she could escape. Once through the fence, however, she was met by keepers with tranquiliser guns and after regarding them for a while she decided to jump back into her enclosure.

This is slightly odd its a story about a man called Mr Humphreys and his one eyed cat, Midge. Midge, however, is no ordinary cat, he likes to race. Mr Humphreys first realised Midge had a talent for racing when the cat raced him from the shops one day. Since then, Midge waits for Mr Humphreys to race him home. It appears, however, that the cat is much faster than the man as the cat always wins.

According to this article gardeners are increasingly starting to use wallabies as an alternative to lawnmowers. Apparently private orders for wallabies have jumped recently as landowners choose to use them on their land. Traditionally people with large gardens have used sheep to graze their lawns but it appears that wallabies are a friendlier alternative. Wallabies are not cheap at around £150 for a male and £650 for a female but it appears that demand for them is rising with Waveney Wildlife Britain’s biggest private supplier reporting orders doubling in the last five years. If you are looking to keep a wallaby they need about an acre of land and fences at least 5ft high so they cannot escape.

This article highlights the importance of microchipping your pets. Its about a cat called Kofi who went missing from its home in Nottingham four years ago. When his owners moved away they thought that was the last they would see of their pet. Luckily, however, they had decided to have him microchipped. When a black and white cat was found in Ipswich this year he was scanned by the RSPCA and was identified as Kofi. He was later reunited with his owners and doesn’t appear to have been traumatised by his ordeal.

This is interesting, its an new airline due to launch in the US which will cater exclusively for pets. The airline named Pet Airways claims to be the first designed specifically for the transportation of pets. All the animals will travel in the main cabin and owners are not allowed on board. The airline aims to make air travel much less stressful for pets and offers an alternative to conventional airlines where pets are treated as baggage and have to travel in the cargo area. The seats inside the plane have been removed to make way for pet carriers. Pets or pawsengers as they have been dubbed can be booked in online and then checked in at the Pet lounge at the airport. Pet attendants give the animals a toilet break before take off and monitor them throughout the flight promising that they will never be left alone. The airline has scheduled its first flight for cats and dogs for 14 July and will serve five US cities - New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.

New research has found that if the population of grey squirrels are controlled red squirrels do return the area. The Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST) have found red squirrels in Cumbria, Northumberland and parts of Wales where they have been absent for more than twenty years. The return of the red squirrels in attributed to a grey squirrel control zone, in which the grey squirrels are trapped and killed in order to let the red squirrels re-colonise. Animal rights activists, however, insist that killing grey squirrels is not the answer and that red and squirrels could live side by side if a vaccine is developed against the fatal pox virus that the greys often carry. The results of the grey squirrel control zones do appear to be encouraging Dr Craig Shuttleworth SST adviser says: "Ten years ago there were fewer than 40 red squirrels on the island of Anglesey, and their prospects were bleak. However, through a strong local partnership, grey squirrels have almost completely been removed from the island, and the red squirrel population has increased to 300. Significantly they have spread from the conifer trees to the broadleaf areas – showing that reds are happy in a whole variety of habitats providing they are untroubled by greys. Anglesey has turned the grey tide." It appears from this that grey squirrels do need to be controlled in order to help the red thrive. I have also heard that squirrel tastes a bit like chicken, so perhaps they can be put to good use in local restaurants.

A gardener from Anglesey who has a rather a lot of snails in her garden has started turning them into food. Oriole Parker-Rhodes has been making meals out the snails that she finds in her garden and has now devised several recipes for them. She has developed her own preparation methods which include feeding them lettuce, onion and stale bread to clean out any grit in their guts. The snails are then purged fro 48 hours before being plunged into boiling water to kill them. They can then be boiled in stock or cooked with parsley or butter sauce. Whether this is a sign of the credit crunch setting in or that the creatures are actually quite tasty I’m not sure, I do have rather a lot of snails in my garden, however.

Below is her recipe for snails in wild herbs and you can find other ideas on her blog.

SNAILS IN WILD HERBS
Using a good book, collect seasonal weeds. Wash and chop finely, then Blanch for 5 mins the wild herbs you can lay your hands on. I used the following: Water parsnip, Wild sorrel, Water cress, Nettle tips, A little ribwort plantain. Sieve , pressing out the water. Finely chopped ramsons (if in season, otherwise use onion or garlic with the blanched herbs) Add all these to melted butter. Put a snail in each hollow of a snail plate and add as much paste as possible. Bake for 20 mins. Serve with cubes of bread and salad.

If this article is to be believed then this could be Britain’s first vegetarian cat. According to his owner Dante will only eat fruit and vegetables ignoring plates of meat or fish. It is not clear why he refuses to eat meat and experts are baffled as cats are natural carnivores and so are unlikely to exclude meat from their diet. In fact cats need to eat meat because it is a source of taurine which is essential to their diet. Without it the cats retina will degenerate and it can become blind. Dante’s owner has started to sneak scraps of meat into his food so that he gets a more balanced diet but it appears this cat just loves his veg.

This is interesting its a Tweeting cat door (pictured left) that has been made by a programmer to track his cats. The cats each have a RFID tag attached to their collars. When they go near the cat door the RFID reader reads the tag and if the cat is authorised a servo unlocks the cat door. Each time there is a cat door event a Twitter message is sent as well as a picture of the cat that has activated the flap. You can check out the updates at the following link.

This is interesting, its an idea from Bristol City Council to raise their own herd of cattle to provide beef for schools and restaurants. The council intends to buy 200 acres of parkland next to the M32 which they will use to graze a herd of beef cattle. The council’s “British Beef” project will then supply meat to local schools under the healthy schools meals programme. It seems like quite a good idea and I’m all for sourcing produce from the local area, the plan has met with some resistance, however, from local vegetarian groups.

I came across another big cat story today, a man in East Anglia has found what he claims are claw marks in a tree. Shaun Baxter says that he saw a large animal making the marks whilst he was out shooting rabbits between North Walsham and Edingthorpe. He says “I was standing next to a tree in my camouflage gear and about 70 yards away was a big black panther-like cat.” and “It was scratching on a tree, like a normal household cat would do at its scratching post.”  According to the story the gouges reach about 4ft off the ground and cut half an inch into the wood of the tree. Once again I remain unconvinced. What do you think are there big cats in the UK?

Like many people I had a punt on the Grand National last weekend without success. My tried and tested method of picking horses with funny names evidently failed again and none of them came anywhere. It appears that some people are more lucky then me, however. James Darmody from Swindon selected three horses to finish in the top four of the race and put down a £30 bet. At odds at 11,848 to one it seems to have little or no chance of coming in but he ended up winning £65,000. Perhaps I need to work on my technique or give up gambling. 

If this picture is genuine then it could be the best evidence yet that large cats are roaming the countryside. The picture was taken in New Denham near Uxbridge by Paul Keehn and appears to show a large black cat sitting by a fence near some homes which back onto fields. Britain’s leading big cat expert said of the photo "If this photo is genuine it is the best ever photo of a British Big Cat taken in Britain.” and "It's a photograph that would be hard to disprove. I would prefer to have seen another photo of it to see that there's some movement to be sure.” I’m not entirely convinced. What do you think?

This is Ziggy the Pekingese with a difference. Ziggy unlike other dogs can paint. He does this by using a paper towel roll attached to a paintbrush which he grabs in his teeth to create his masterpieces. Not surprisingly Ziggy favours abstract art such as the pieces pictured to the left. There does however, appear to be a demand for Ziggy’s work with his paintings selling at auction for around $250. Now I wonder if I can teach my cats to paint.

This cute little guy is the Spud the spineless hedgehog. He is being cared for at St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital after he was found in someone’s garden. What makes Spud unusual is that he doesn’t have any spines at all. Other than that he behaves like a perfectly normal hedgehog. Due to his lack of spines he cannot be released into the wild because he would get too cold in the winter so he has a permanent home at the hospital. The cause of his condition continues to be a mystery and staff at the hospital are appealing for people to come forward with ideas about what might have caused the problem and offer potential solutions.

This picture shows what happened to one poor pigeon when he bit off a little more than he could chew. The pigeon must have at first considered himself to be very lucky when he found a whole bagel, however, it wasn't long before things when a little wrong and he ended up the bagel around his neck. As the pictures show the unfortunate pigeon was still able to fly but sadly unable to reach the bagel in order to eat it. The pigeon is now likely to be stuck with bagel around his neck until it becomes wet and falls off, he might have a rather long wait for that meal.

A lady in Washington got a surprise when she found that the second hand sofa she had brought had a cat inside it. A few days after buying the sofa she noticed that it was making mewing noises and after searching for the source she found a cat inside. It appears that the cat had crawled inside through a small hole before the sofa was donated to the store. The cat was later reunited with its owner.

It’s a conversation you might have in a pub after a few beers, if a crocodile and a shark has a fight which will win? This question appears to be answered if this article is to believed. It highlights an incident (pictured left) where the two creatures did indeed fight with the crocodile coming off better. In fact the 15ft saltwater crocodile proceeded to eat the shark after disabling it, proving that on this occasion the answer to the question is clearly crocodile.

Frogs in a part of Edinburgh will soon have their own frog hotel. The structure will be built alongside a pond in Redhall Walled Garden in Edinburgh. It is designed to protect the frogs from predators during the mating season. The structure will include a ramp that leads up to a protected area and a lower ground area which has been nicknamed the Compost Cafe. It’s an interesting idea, I wonder whether I should built a frog hotel to protect the frogs in my garden from my curious cats?

Cat owners in Leicestershire have been urged to sign their pets up to a blood donor scheme. Currently only four cats are signed up to the Loughborough based Pet Blood Bank UK (PBBuk)  which stores and collects dog and cat blood for use in transfusions. Under the scheme the PBBuk will go to the cats home in order to reduce any stress to the donors. It's an interesting idea but unfortunately I think my cats are more likely to take blood rather than give it.

This is Ugly Bat Boy and he has been given the dubious unofficial title as the most hideous cat ever. The cat who is eight years old was born without fur except for one shaggy part around his neck giving him an interesting appearance to say the least. He certainly is odd looking. Do you have a cat that is uglier than Ugly Bat Boy?

According to this article this is Britain's fastest ever police dog. He has been nicknamed The Stig after the Top Gear racing driver because at only three months old he can already outrun dogs that are twice his size and age. Following the completion of his training in 2010 the dog will be used to catch fleeing criminals.

This is the first and perhaps the last picture of a rare Worcester's buttonquail. The quail which is thought to be extinct was photographed for the first time before being sold for food at a poultry market. It seems that a TV crew had enough sense to photograph the bird but not enough to stop it from being eaten. It is possible the that the species may still exist undetected in other regions of the Philippines but for now the last known specimen appears to have become someone's dinner.

This cow was unfortunate enough to be struck by lightening. Surprisingly she survived although has some nasty burns. It is apparently very rare for a cow to be struck by lightening and most die so it appears this is one very lucky cow.

This article is interesting, it suggests that whales used to live on the land. Fossilised remains of an ancient whale from 47 million years ago seem to prove that the creatures were dependant on the land for resting and breeding and may have once lived completely on the land. The fossil found was a female whale that was pregnant with a calf when she died. The calf's position in the womb appears to back up the theory that at this point whales were not totally aquatic. Looking at the position of the calf in the womb it would have been born head first like land mammals rather than tail first as the norm in aquatic mammals. It is this that in the words of Phillip Gingerich of the University of Michigan shows “They clearly were tied to the shore".

Fossil hunters have discovered the fossil of a snake which they believe would have measured 45ft long. The snake would have been longer than a bus and would have been able to swallow an animal the size of a cow. The creature named Titanoboa would have lived on a diet of crocodiles and giant turtles which it would have squeezed to death before eating them whole. It would have lived in South America and would have weighed around 1.25 tons. This is an artists impression of what it might have looked like. It makes me think of the film Anaconda. I wonder whether there might still be some huge snakes living in remote locations today.

I came across this picture of a cool hedge whale today. It was created by Nicki Leggatt who decided she wanted to do something a little different with the hedge in her front garden. I have a large hedge in my garden I wonder if my husband will let me turn it into a whale.

According to this article over a billion frogs each year are taken from the wild for human consumption. This figure was arrived at by analysing UN trade data although it appears that the global trade in wild frogs could actually amount to many more frogs appearing on our plates. France and the US are the two main importers of frogs but other countries in East Asia also consume large amounts of the creatures. With one third of all amphibians now listed as threatened species the article suggests that we might have to start looking at how many frogs are taken from the wild and limiting this number before we start to see a decline similar to the situation with global fisheries. Poor Froggies.

This article suggests that it could be a dark day for grey squirrels as black squirrels become the more dominant variety. Black squirrels are now rapidly wiping out their grey cousins in parts of Britain, much as the grey squirrel has already done with our native red squirrels which are now only found in a few remote locations. The black squirrels are thought to be descended from just one individual that was released into the wild about 130 years ago. Black squirrels are faster, fitter more aggressive and more territorial than the greys meaning that they can compete better for food and mates. According to the article this is the biggest change in squirrel demographics since the native red squirrels were almost wiped out by the grey squirrel 50 years ago. It seems the grey squirrel could now suffer the same fate.

Sainsbury's have announced that they will stop selling eggs from battery hens making it the first of the big four supermarkets to do so. Under new EU legislation which comes into force in three years battery cages will be banned, but farmers will be able to use larger enriched cages. Sainsbury's, however, will do away with cages altogether and will also stop using eggs from cages hens in its own label food ranges. Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-op have already banned eggs from caged hen in their stores. I have been choosing eggs from what I call "running about chickens" for a long time because they tend to taste better, its good to know that only these eggs will be on sale in Sainbury's in the future.

I came across this picture today which likens the situation in one village to a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. The picture simply shows hundreds of pigeons which have descended on a village in the West Midlands. At one point there were so many that they turned the sky black as they landed. It is not known why there are so many of the birds but it is possible that it is due to the scarcity of food in the countryside during this years cold winter. Apparently they are no threat to people but they certainly look slightly menacing and they do remind of the movie The Birds.

If you like dressing up your pet then you need to be careful. Animal welfare charities have claimed that forcing pets to wear clothes can be harmful and that in some case there could be grounds to prosecute. Many top fashion designers now produce clothes for dogs but experts have said that clothing should only be put on pets when it is necessary, such as protecting short haired dogs during cold weather. Animal welfare officers have also warned that in some cases dog clothing can cause your pet to overheat and that owners have a duty of care towards their animals. Well I think I am safe here, I would be lucky if I could even get a hat on any of my cats without losing a finger or two.

I see a lots of articles about people who simply have too many cats. This latest one looks at a case where a lady had 48 cats in her house. RSPCA inspectors found two dead kittens in a kitchen cupboard at her house with the other cats living in poor conditions. Three of the cats had to put down whilst the others were signed over the RSPCA who hope to find them new homes. This leaves the question how many cats are too many cats? I have four cats (pictured) which is quite a lot and they tend to take over the house, generally two sit on each sofa and you have to kick them off if you want a seat yourself. I think four cats is at the top end of the normal scale before you start turning into one of these crazy cat ladies that has 30+ cats. Saying that I did see a rather cute little kitten this morning......

This is quite interesting its an article about a cat called Leo who's job is to walk past potential guide dogs to try and get a reaction. The cat is an important member of staff at a training school for guide dogs. If the dog passes the training exercise it will not pay attention when the cat walks past it. If in the worst case scenario the dog chases the cat then it is not deemed to be a suitable guide dog and fails its training. The dog in this picture doesn't seem to be too bothered by the cat, I think he probably passed the test.

I came across this interesting article about people who put their pets on the animal equivalent of Prozac. Apparently some pets can become so depressed that the only solution in to give them the drug. The article looks at the cases of a dog, a cat and a parrot all of whom were prescribed the drug and showed a distinct improvement. The dog called Amber was experiencing panic attacks and dark moods but after being prescribed sertraline and animal anti-depressant regained all of her previous confidence. Tigger the cat became depressed when the family had a new baby. He started spraying in the house and spent hours howling. However, after being prescribed Clomicalm Tigger was once again back to his old self. Whilst the case studies are quite interesting I do wonder whether in most of these cases the same effect could be achieved simply by making changes to the animals lifestyle rather than resorting to giving them drugs. However, I may be wrong, having never had a depressed pet its hard to judge.

The Forestry Commission has confirmed that big cats have been caught on camera in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. The animals were spotted by rangers who were filming a deer survey. The sightings have been confirmed by experienced rangers who would be unlikely to mistake deer for big cats. On both occasions the cats were observed in low light using heat activated vision equipment. Whilst it couldn't be determined what sort of cats there were, it is confirmed that there are certainly cats out there.

I have been reading with much amusement over the last few days articles related to the cold weather and all the confusion it seems to be causing. I'm not saying its not cold, after all this article points out that temperatures in some parts of the country have reached -12C and that it is colder here  than in Antarctic. It does seem to me, however, that people have forgotten that going back 10 or 15 years ago it was this cold every winter and that most years we had at least some snow. Perhaps the last few years of mild winters mean a little bit of cold weather comes as a shock but in some ways I think it makes a change to have a good cold winter. I have enjoyed all of the pictures of snow that I have seen posted on various websites but my favourite winter picture so far has to be this one of the Meerkats under a sun lamp at Marwell Zoo. 

An escaped beaver has been gnawing his way through trees along a Cornish riverbank. Beavers no longer live in the wild in Britain after they were hunted to extinction five hundred years ago. This beaver is one of three that escaped from a wildlife sanctuary in October when an electric fence broke. The other two female beavers were quickly recaptured but the large male beaver remains on the loose. It was only when residents in Cornwall began to notice felled trees that it became clear where the beaver might be hiding. So far, the beaver is still on the loose mainly because of a shortage of beaver traps but it is hoped it might be possible to recapture him by baiting a trap with scent from the females.

I woke up this morning to find there had been some snow in the night. Its not very much but its quite a rarity to see any snow in Egham so it was a surprise. The cats spent about 10 minutes outside digging holes in the snow and then pouncing on them before it got a little too cold for them and all came back aside to find a warm spot to spend the rest of the day. It seems cats don't like snow very much because it makes their paws wet.

Every night for a few weeks my four cats have been running up and down by the window shaking their tails and making hunting noises. It took a while to find out the cause of all the excitement and it was only after a week or so that I discovered Mr Nibbles (pictured) as I have named him. After several days of sitting by the window with my camera and using a little cheese as bait, I finally managed to get a picture of our elusive night time visitor. At least we know the cats are not crazy now, there really was something out there. Mr Nibbles only visits when all the cats are closed in for the night so for now he is perfectly safe and its great entertainment for the cats.

This article suggests that otters are now starting to become much more common in Britain. Otters have previously struggled to survive in Britain and have been restricted to isolated parts of the countryside. Although they were widespread in the 1950's they were nearly wiped out by the 1970's due to the use of pesticides which poisoned both the otters and the fish they depend on for food. It appears that improvements in the water quality of rivers and increasingly fish stocks now means that the creatures are becoming more common. Some otters have also started to adopt an urban lifestyle with reports of them being seen in gardens, parks and churchyards.

This huge crab was caught by fishermen in Norway and was put on sale at a fish merchant in Swansea Market. At 3ft by 1ft and weighing in at 3kg, the crab which is as big as a table would cost you £75. I'm not entirely sue what you would do with all that crab meat, but this is one seriously large crab.

I found this picture of a cute duck who is recovering from a broken beak at an animal rescue centre in Essex.

These cute little guys are Amur leopard cubs who have been born at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Smarden, Kent. The foundation support rare and endangered big cats and runs some captive breeding programs. There are only around 40 Amur leopards left in the wild and the species is facing extinction due to the burning of forests to make way for agricultural land.

According to this article Mischief could be the world's oldest cat. At a grand age of 27 human years that makes him around 125 in cats years. There are records of a 29 year old cat which has since died but there is currently no record holder in the UK for the oldest cat. Mr Thorne, Mischief's owner got him as a kitten in 1981. 27 years later he is now an indoor cat and despite losing clumps of his fur is still going strong. The oldest cat ever was Creme Puff, who was born on August 3, 1967 and lived until August 6, 2005 an amazing 38 years and three days.

This is interesting its a sat nav collar for dogs. The sat nav device in integrated into a waterproof collar. It uses satellite, telecom and radio frequencies to pin point the location of the dog and then alerts the owner once the animal is on the move. The collar can also send a text message if the dog goes beyond a pre programmed range. Whilst at home the collar can be switched off to save the battery life but it can still send an alert if the dog wanders out of range. The collars which  are made by a company called Retrieva will be available in January and start at £250. I wonder whether they will make a version for cats.

This is interesting, it suggest that lizards attract attention by doing push ups when the forest is noisy. Researchers found that Puerto Rican lizards put on elaborate displays of push ups and send signals by bobbing their heads up and down and unfurling flaps of skin under their chins. The push ups are only used when the lizards are trying to communicate with another lizard that is far away or when the light is bad.

I came across this story about a two headed kitten that has been born in Australia. The kitten can meow from both mouths at once although it can only eat through one of its mouths. Unfortunately the kitten is not likely to live very long.

Fred the parrot was so traumatised when his owner died that he was prescribed an animal friendly version of the drug Prozac. When his owner died Fred bit off all of his tail feathers before being prescribed the drug which he takes twice a day. After his owner George died, Fred was unable to understand the sudden disappearance and sat on his perch all day bobbing his head up and down. Animal experts believe that the parrot went into a deep depression after the unexplained loss of his owner and was unable to cope with the loss. Poor parrot.

This article suggests that the number of sparrows in Britain has fallen by as much as 68% in the past three decades. The decline has been put down to the fact that many people pave over their gardens and remove trees causing a decline in the the insects that the birds eat. The article suggests that sparrows have disappeared from cities such as London, Bristol and Edinburgh. The problem is that many chicks are starving to death in the nest because they are not getting enough food to become strong enough to fly. Chick survival was found to be higher in areas where there were more insects such as aphids. There are things you can do to encourage sparrows such as growing honeysuckle, wild roses, hawthorn and fruit trees and leaving some untidy areas in your garden to encourage more insects. I have noticed that we don't have a lot of sparrows in our area, but they do seem to like the berries in our hedge and this time of year we tend to have a small community that take advantage of the seasonal food. After reading this article I don't think I will trim the hedge until the birds have had chance to take full advantage of all the berries, it might look a little untidy but I'm sure the sparrows will appreciate the extra food this winter.

We have all had those conversations in the pub where we ponder over which animal would come off better if the two had a fight. In a case of a crocodile versus a toad it should be something of an easy question. Not, however, if the toad is a poisonous cane toad. It appears that these toxic toads are responsible for halving the population of freshwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory of Australia. The toads are fatal when eaten and a recent survey shows that in just one year 77% of crocodiles have died as a result of eating them. So if you thought the crocodile would win in a fight between a crocodile and toad you might want to rethink your answer, it appears the ultimate winner could be the toad, despite the fact he gets eaten first.

This Shetland pony could be Britain's smallest horse. Lucy is just 19.5 inches tall and weighs only 100 pounds. Surprisingly Lucy is now fully grown so will always be tiny, but it is not known why she is so much smaller than other Shetland ponies which usually reach an average height of 40 inches according to the Encyclopædia Britannica.

If your cat has been giving you evil looks recently, then it might be planning to kill you. This useful checklist will help you find out whether your cat is plotting your demise. It includes useful tips such as when the cat pummels you with its paws, it is not a sign of affection, they are actually checking your internal organs for signs of weakness and digging in the litter box is practice for burying bodies.

According to this article owners of fat pets could be fined or jailed under new government rules. The rules set out a pet code of conduct and owners could be penalised with a fine of up to £20,000 if they fail to follow it. The rules are designed to protect animals from cruelty but many of them are just common sense. They include providing mental stimulation for pets, giving animals somewhere suitable to live and to go to the toilet and making sure upstairs windows are cat proofed. It all seems a little simplistic and in my opinion any responsible pet owner will already know they need to take these measures.

This is interesting, it suggests that ants are far better at managing traffic congestion than humans. They are able to move around their colony very efficiently and never get caught up in queues. In a study an "ant motorway" was set up with two routes of different widths. The ants used the routes to get from the nest to some sugar syrup. After a while the narrow route started to get congested. Researchers found that if an ant returning along a congested route collided with another ant just starting out it would push the new ant onto another less congested path. However, if the ant had experienced a trouble free journey it would not redirect the new ant and would carry on as normal. The result was that before the shortest route to the syrup became clogged the ants were diverted to a new rout meaning traffic jams never formed. Interesting, now how to do this with cars.

Scientists have filmed a shrimp on a treadmill as part of an experiment to see how far the crustaceans travel for food. The treadmill was built into a tank of water and enabled researchers to measure the shrimps activity levels. They found the shrimp can move at speeds of 66ft per minutes and that it can run for three hours before needing a rest. The shrimp in the film doesn't look too impressed. 

This is quite strange, its a short news story about a jogger who ran for a mile with a rabid fox attached to her arm. The fox bit her foot whilst she was running along a trail, so she grabbed it by the neck and it bit her arm. She wanted to get the fox tested for rabies so ran a mile to her car with the fox still on her arm. She then pried it off and tossed it into the trunk of the car. The fox was later tested and was found to have rabies. It also bit an animal control officer. The woman and the animal control officer were given rabies vaccinations.

A chef in Devon has started offering squirrel in his restaurant in a bid to save the native red squirrels. Whilst red squirrels are very rare in the UK the grey squirrels are all too common and carry a virus that can be lethal to the endangered red squirrels. Chef Ed Chester has started offering squirrel kebabs on his menu as well as squirrel pates and squirrel fricassees. He believes ones of the best ways to control the population of grey squirrels in the UK is simply to eat them. Its not a bad idea and I heard that squirrel tastes a lot like chicken.

This is rather strange its a snake massage. Basically the snakes are placed onto the persons skin and as they crawl around they produce a massage sensation. Smaller snakes are used for delicate areas such as the face and larger snakes for other parts of the body. The snakes are all none venomous. If you fancy it prices start as £30. If you don't fancy a snake massage you can also get a rodent style message where mice and rats are placed on your feet. 

It appears that some red squirrels are starting to develop an immunity to a virus which threatens to wipe out the population. Britain's native red squirrels are now only found in on the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island. They have been under threat from a killer virus which was introduced by the non native but much more common grey squirrels. Recently eight red squirrels have been found that had an immunity to the squirrelpox virus which threatens the species. The red squirrels that were found with the immunity had died from other causes but were clear of the squirrelpox disease raising hopes that red squirrels have now developed a natural immunity.

Police have issued a warning to home owners in Surrey after a number of incidents where thieves have used cat flaps to steal valuables. In one incident a suspect was arrested after he went around the back of a house in Betchworth and reached through the cat flap to try and steal valuables. Police have advised home owners not to leave any valuables within easy access of cap flaps and to make sure they are adequately secured.

This article suggests that pets are good for you. Apparently owning a pet can reduce the owners chances of developing cancer by nearly a third. Studies carried out at the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University in California have found that pets can help protect against cancer by boosting the immune system. Previous studies have also found that children that have pets take fewer days off school because they are much more resistant to infections. Based on this I should be very healthy I have lots of cats.

Dolphins in a Japanese aquarium have been put on a diet because they have become too fat to do tricks. Kinosaki Marine World in Japan has put all of its 19 dolphins on a weight loss plan because they have been failing to hit jumping targets or keep upright whilst they are trading water. Under the plan they will eat more white fish and fewer fatty mackerels. They will also be put on a new exercise regime to help them try and shed the extra pounds.

This is interesting, its an article that describes how ants display a preemptive response to danger. In a Brazilian ant colony some ants choose to sacrifice themselves for the good of the colony. At sunset, the colony will protect itself by sealing off the entrances with sand. The problem with this is that a few ants must choose to remain outside to complete the job. These ants will be unable to reenter once the nest is sealed and so will die when the temperature drops overnight. A behavioural ecologist found that as many as eight ants would remain outside the nests. The remaining ants, however, were not stragglers they stayed outside the nest to deliberately help to hide the entrances and would spend up to 50 minutes carrying sand into the hole until it was sealed. By the time the morning came the ants that had stayed outside were dead. It is thought that the ants who remained outside were old or sick ants that chose to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the colony.

With my husband working hard on important project at work I find myself spending more and time at home alone with my four cats. Generally I have quite a few TV shows that I like to watch but when there is nothing else on I like to treat the cats to a nature documentary. Whilst this might make me sound like a crazy cat lady I do quite like nature documentaries. Not as much as my cats, though. They especially like documentaries about birds and watch every moment intently with their ears flicking constantly. They also make hunting noises at the TV when they see certain types of birds, usually songbirds which I guess they are familiar with seeing in the garden. Rather confusing, however, is that my cat Oliver has recently started making hunting noises when he sees Alan Titchmarch of the TV, why I don't know, but for some reason my cat wants to hunt him.

This blue lobster was caught near the Isle of Man. He is unusual because only one in every two million has is blue. The unusual colouring is caused by a genetic defect that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of protein. This particular lobster has been deemed too interesting to eat. The fishermen are now looking for a suitable home for him.

I have mentioned screaming frogs on my blog before when my cats have caught them. For those who are unfamiliar with them, frogs tend to let out a high pitched scream when cornered by a curious cat. Today Oliver caught a frog and brought it back through the cat flap where he decided to deposit it in his food bowl. I'm guessing he was then about to eat his latest victim. What actually happened was I heard the now familiar high pitched scream of a cornered frog and found that I had a very large frog hopping around my dining room with four cats in pursuit. This frog was lucky I got to him whilst he was still alive and he is now safely back in the pond.

Regular readers will know by now that I hate spiders, so I read this article with horror. Obviously I know that spiders have lots of babies but the article mentions a tarantula at Longleat wildlife park that successfully hatched 95 babies. My first thought was have any those giant spiders I keep finding in my house left behind any baby ones. Perhaps I am being paranoid.

This two headed turtle has been found at the Water World aquatic farm in eastern China. It arrived in a shipment of babies from a local farm and is now growing faster than all of the other turtles because it can more food with its two heads. The aquatic farm plan to keep the unusual turtle and study him as he grows bigger.

I was reading this article about a cat called Dixie that was reunited with its owners after a surprising nine years. Dixie went missing nine years ago and her owners assumed that she was dead. She was later found by the RSPCA less than half a mile from home on the 24th of August. Because Dixie had been fitted with a microchip she was returned to her owners within half an hour of being found. No one except Dixie knows where she has been for the last nine years but she appears happy to be home. I have microchipped all of my furry friends and will continue to do so with any further additions to our family. At a one off cost of only £20 it gives the peace of mind that if they ever get lost there is a good chance they will be found and returned to us.

I read this article today about a firefighter who revived a cat by giving it mouth to mouth resuscitation. He has rescued the moggy from a burning apartment in Massachusetts but finding that it needed air he performed mouth to mouth on it as he carried it outside. The cat soon revived and recovered soon after. Asked what it tasted like to give mouth-to-mouth to a cat, the firefighter laughed, grimaced and said: "Like fur." I'm not sure I would fancy doing this, my cats always smell of fish.

A fisherman in Birmingham got a surprise when he caught a snapping turtle. He was fishing for carp in Earlswood Lake and thought he had just caught a big one. It turned out to be a rather vicious snapping turtle. The turtle ripped through two nets whilst the fishermen were trying to remove the hook from its mouth. They managed to get this picture of it before releasing in back into the lake. Experts later identified the creature as an alligator snapping turtle which is native to the US. It is thought this particular turtle was imported as a hatching and either escaped or was dumped in the lake.

A dog which has been nicknamed Scooby is thought to be the first animal witness to appear in a murder trial. The animal is believed to have been present when his owner died. She was found hanging from the ceiling of her Paris flat and although police believed the death to be suicide Scooby was called on as a witness. He was led into the witness box and asked to identify a subject. Scooby "barked furiously" in response. The aim was to decide if there is enough evidence to launch a full murder investigation.

A herd of wrongly imprisoned goats have been released from a Congolese prison. The goats were found during a routine prison inspection. They had been imprisoned for being illegally sold on the roadside and were awaiting trial. Deputy Justice Minister Claude Nyamugabo who found the goats said the mistake had arisen because police office had gaps in their knowledge of the law and that they would be sent for retraining.

A worried dog owner took his pet to the vet after he a heard a rattling noise from the dog. It later emerged that Oscar the Labrador had a total of 13 golf balls inside this stomach. He has apparently been eating the balls when he went for walks near a golf course and has swallowed them over a period of several months. Oscar now wears a muzzle when he goes for walks to prevent him eating more balls.

I hate spiders so have had a rather nervous couple of days. It appears that as the weather has got a bit colder all the spiders in the local area have decided to move into my house. Whilst that may be a slight exaggeration we have certainly found a lot of spiders this week. It started two days ago when I was sitting watching the TV. My husband (with none of the sense of urgency needed where spiders are involved) said "move your foot". Looking down I saw the most enormous spider about to crawl over my foot. Naturally this led to much screaming whilst my husband moved all the furniture trying to locate the spider which I guess must have been scared off by the noise. Later that night I got ready for bed and was fast asleep when I was awoken by my husband pottering around the bedroom for no apparent reason. Thinking nothing of it, I quickly fell asleep again. The next day my husband informed me that he had "found another one of those giant spiders on the wall above your head" and that "he didn't want to wake the neighbours" so had removed it discretely. Whilst he was probably right not to mention it at 1am ever since then I keep thinking there are spiders crawling on me. I'm probably just being paranoid as I have found no more giant spiders, only smaller ones which to me are just as bad. I just hate spiders.

Three polar bears at a Japanese zoo have been dyed green after swimming in water contaminated with algae. The bears have been attracting rather a lot of attention from visitors due to their unusual colour but are expected to go back to normal once the algae growth subsides in November.

I came across this article about a man who has had surgery to make himself look like a cat. Dennis Avner has had his lip spilt and has undergone surgery to change his face to try and look more like a tiger. He also files his teeth to give himself a more cat like appearance and has piercings on his cheeks that he can attach whiskers to. I'm not really sure why someone would want to do this.

If you have a lot of spare cash lying around burning a hole in your pocket then you might want to splash out of some co-coordinated dog accessories. A Cheshire based company has launched a range of dog collars and matching belts. They cost around £10,000 for a collar and lead which is studded with real jewels and garnished with gold but you can also get a matching belt for yourself. The products are made by the Gladstone Collar company and are being billed as the present for the dog owner who has everything.

I still don't know what bit me last weekend but the good news is that the rash has nearly gone and so has most of the swelling. Whilst this bite was different to the usual mosquito bites that I suffer from on a regular basis, it still seems to respond to the same treatment. Generally I find the best thing to is to open up the bite wound every evening and squeeze out as much of the pus as possible. Whilst this does really hurt, in my experience getting rid of the poison helps the bite to heal more quickly. It also seems to reduce the infection making the bite feel less hot and reducing the itching sensation. In combination with this I also find that using tea tree oil or a bite cream that includes tea tree overnight  tends to work quite well. Saying that the best thing to do is try to prevent getting bitten in the first place. Whilst I never know when the critters are going to get me at home, when going abroad I take a course of garlic tablets. These are available from most health food shops and I find taking them for a couple of weeks before you go abroad and whilst you are away does cut the amount of bites I receive, although some of the more determined insects will still get you.

I came across this picture of a cat biting a cactus. Whilst I'm not entirely sure that it hasn't been photoshopped, it looks really painful and just the sort of thing my cats would do. Cats are crazy.

This is Yoda, a cat who has four ears. He has extra ear flaps behind his regular ears making him rather unique. Yoda's owners adopted him as a kitten and after speaking to several vets have realised they have a somewhat unusual cat as no on seems to have seen anything quite like him before. A quick google search brings up this article on a few other four eared cats but it appears they are few and far between. Despite the extra ears Yoda is still quite cute.

If you want to earn a bit of extra cash you might want to look into starting a snail farm in your spare room. That's what one enterprising lady from Littlebourne has done. She spotted a gap in the market for locally produced food and is now supplying local restaurants. She keep 2,000 breeding snails and is finding that demand from restaurants is outstripping supply. Apparently the snails are good served with a garlic sauce.

I came across this website today that has that has these interesting new cat toys. They are made out of cardboard and come flat packed. When assembled, however, they become cool fire engines, planes and tanks. As you can see by the pictures from the site the models have holes for the cats to crawl inside and play. They start at £15.00 each and look like they will be great fun for playful moggies. One word of caution the website does say that cats may need your help to assemble the models.

These clouded leopard cubs have recently been born at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury. The two male and two female kittens were born in April and have recently made their first public appearance at the wildlife park. Clouded leopards are difficult to breed but the breeding program at Howletts has been quite successful with 30 births since 2003. The leopard is currently threatened with extinction in the wild due to the demand for it coat.

The recent wet weather seems to have encouraged the frogs in the garden to leave the pond and start hopping around looking for food. Unfortunately this means that in our garden they are almost certain to come into contact with one of the cats. The cats obviously think frogs are lots of fun. You can pounce on them and they jump, let them go and then they jump again. Frogs also scream when they are cornered and stressed. They make a very high pitched screaming noise which doesn't seem to deter the cats. It does, however, alert me to the fact that the cats are playing with another poor frog. So far this morning I have rescued two frogs and returned them unharmed to the safety of the pond. My cat Oliver has also learnt this morning (after picking a frog up in his mouth) that whilst frogs are great fun, they actually don't taste that good. I wonder whether he will remember this when the next frog comes along, my guess is that the urge to pounce on another jumping frog will be stronger than the memory of the bad taste.

When Hector the great dane started drooling and looking unwell, it was obvious there was something wrong with him, so his owner took him to the vet. It was only when, he was given an X-ray, however, that it emerged he had managed to swallow a 63cm stick. The stick was so long that it stretched over two thirds of the dogs body. It was later removed under anaesthetic and Hector appears to be fine despite the sticky situation.

Sainsbury's will launch a new range of chickens that are kept in better conditions meaning that a third of its stock will no longer come from battery farms. It will also start phasing out chickens from battery farms completely so that all of its stock will meet RSPCA standards. Sainsbury's have said that sales of poultry reared in better surroundings were up 60 per cent since January so I wonder whether this move is simply in response to consumer demand for better quality chicken.

These little guys are so adorable. They were born at the West Midlands Safari Park and are unusual because white lions are very rare. According to African folklore white lion cubs are a lucky charm and are born just once every 100 years. These cubs belong to two lionesses who gave birth within a month of each other and are the only white lions in the UK. White lions are thought be extinct in the wild and at the last count in 2004 there were only 300 left, all in zoos.

I always loved going to the doctors surgery when I was younger because it was one of the few places around that had a rocking horse. This gadget has been described as a rocking horse for the wealthy. It is in fact a simulator which lets people ride in their own home. The virtual reality riding machine includes a mechanical horse with electronic sensors and a screen. It allows users to trot, canter and perform various dressage manoeuvres but unlike a real horse produces no mess and does not require feeding. Its an interesting concept but personally I think the real thing is much better. For me part of the joy of riding was building up a mutual relationship with my horse and of course the fact that you can never predict what a real horse will do, no matter how well you know it. Its an interesting variation on the rocking horse, though but not cheap at just under £40,000.

Selfridges have launched a very expensive teddy bear that costs £43,000. The bear has eyes made of emeralds and diamonds, its nose is made of of 24 caret gold and its fur is entwined with gold leaf. It also comes with an ink pot filled liquid gold. The bear is part of the stores first ever toy collection and is a limited edition. If you want one it is made to order and is available from August this year. I think its quite ugly.

Devon fishermen have caught a lobster which could be 100 years old. The lobster was so heavy that it broke the winch on their fishing boat. It weighs 12.9lbs and is 81cm long. The lobster has been saved from ending up on a dinner plate and will now live at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, Devon.

I came across this unusual article that shows pictures of a leopard attacking a crocodile. Apparently this sort of behaviour has never been captured on camera before. The leopard filmed in the Kruger National Park, stalked the crocodile before dragging it out of the water. Although the crocodile fought back the leopard managed to get the crocodile by the throat before suffocating it. Surprising, my money would have been on the crocodile.

A koala survived after being hit by a car and dragged several miles before getting stuck in the cars front grill. He was late found with his head stuck in the grill and was taken to a wildlife hospital in Queensland. He was not found to have any serious injuries and has been named Lucky.

This article suggests that children now spend so little time outdoors that they are unable to identify most of Britain's common wildlife. Apparently one in three cannot identify a magpie whilst half couldn't tell the difference between a bee and a wasp. However in contrast nine out of ten could identify the Daleks from Doctor Who. You can take the survey here. I got them all right.

This interesting looking slug has been found in a gardens in Cardiff and Caerphilly. It is thought to be a new species but is similar to slugs found in Turkey and Georgia. The difference with this slug is that it is carnivorous and eats mainly worms. It also lives underground and only comes out to hunt at night.

In an experiment to find out whether octopuses have a preferred arm out of the eight they use scientists have given them a Rubik's Cube. 25 octopuses have all been given one of the toys and the scientists will record their behaviour to see whether the creatures use a specific limb to pick up the toy. I have never managed to solve a Rubik's Cube, I wonder how long it will the octopuses to figure it out.

This article suggests that smaller dogs are more likely to be aggressive than bigger ones. A study on animal behaviour published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that smaller dogs were more likely to show aggressive behaviour. Dachshunds topped the list followed by the Chihuahua and the Jack Russell Terrier with a large dog the Akita only making number four in the list. I guess what the smaller dogs lack in size they make up for in attitude.

Insects really like to bite me and every time they do I seem to suffers quite bad reactions. I don't know when they got to me this time but today I have at least three insect bites on my thigh. The combination of the three bites has meant that my entire upper leg has swollen to about twice its normal size, and it really is painful and itchy but also numb in places. In fact I think this might be my worst insect bite so far, it looks so hideous that I'm not going to post a picture this time but if you check out the last time I got bitten and imagine this but much redder and four times as big, then you are nearly there. Needless to say I am in a really bad mood today.

This is Gus. He is this years winner of the World's Ugliest Dog competition. He certainly is ugly.

An elephant that lost its leg when it stepped on a land mine has been given a new prosthetic leg. Mosha lost her leg when she stepped on a landmine in 2006. Her leg was severed by the explosion and had to be amputated. She is now getting used to her new leg which is made from a sack packed with sawdust. So far she appears to be adapting well to the device.

A cane toad managed to survive despite being eaten by a dog. The dog ate the toad which can release a poison known to kill a dog within minutes. The dogs owner immediately called a vet who gave the dog an injection to induce vomiting. After 40 minutes the dog then vomited a live cane toad. Dog and toad are both doing well.

When a kitten became stuck in a drain it was rescued by firefighters using just a vacuum cleaner. They put a sock on the end of the nozzle and this little guy was soon freed from his hiding place.

We had to take Oscar to the vet the other day because he had a problem with his right eye. He had been unable to open his eye for most of the day and was obviously in quite a lot of pain because he was not his usual happy self. The vet said that he has a eye ulcer and has given us some drops which we need to use three times a day. Oscar is now starting to look a bit better, he can open his eye and is bouncing around as usual. We have to take him back for a checkup at the end of the week but hopefully it will have cleared up by then. As to what has caused the ulcer, apparently it is commonly caused by fighting so I'm guessing one of my other cats is responsible.

A man in Suffolk has found a baby tarantula in a bunch of grapes he brought from Asda. He caught the spider which was later rehomed at a local reptile centre. I hate stories like this, they always make me a little wary when buying fruit.

This is Ollie, fast asleep.

I took a picture of Willow today whilst she was using this large box as a new cat tent.  Isn't she cute?

This resourceful robin laid her eggs in a hard hat in an electrical firm's warehouse. Staff found the eggs when they were clearing out some old equipment and decided to leave it to see if any chicks would hatch. Four eggs hatched out of original six that were laid and the mother is now busy flying back and forth with offerings of worms for the babies. Unusually the robin also chose the only red hard hat out of a row of 14, the rest being white.

Naturalists have discovered that orangutans can not only swim but that they also know how to fish. The orangutans in Borneo were previously thought to be non swimmers but they have learnt how to swim across the river to get to the best fruits. They have also learnt how to use a tree branch as a spear in order to catch a fish after watching fishermen using rods. However, they have also worked out that it is less work to steal fish from unattended fishing lines rather than going to the effort of catching the fish themselves. At this rate they will quickly be overtaking some of the lesser intelligent human individuals among us.

Some rats are now becoming resistant to normal poisoning techniques and have been dubbed "super rats". The rats which have been found in the West Country have a mutant gene which helps them develop resistance to the poisons. If all else fails I guess they will have to resort to using an army of cats to counteract the problem.

According to this article pets are the latest victims of Britain's throwaway society. Figures from the RSPCA show that 7,347 animals were rescued from the street last year. Half of this figure were cats, a trend which the article describes as disturbing because cats are traditionally thought of as easy to care for. It appears that many people give up their pets for rather strange reasons with some examples being “My cat doesn’t match my new carpet.” Another said: “I’ve just bought a new leather sofa and I don’t want the cat to scratch it.” There is also a rise in people abandoning animals such as dogs and rabbits when they go on holiday and then not claiming them when they return. Tim Wass of the RSPCA says “It is an offence to abandon an animal and there is never any excuse for doing so. If people have pets they cannot care for, for any reason, then help and advice is always available from the RSPCA.” Reading this article I wonder why people get pets if they are unwilling to care for them.

Pierre the penguin had a problem with his feathers leaving him with bald patches. Unfortunately, penguins need their waterproof fathers to keep warm whilst in the water. This meant Pierre would sit on the side of the penguin tank shivering whilst the other penguins played in the water. Pierre now has a special penguin wetsuit which is designed to keep him warm but has openings for his flippers so he can still swim. It also allows his feathers to grow back at the same time and he can play happily with the other penguins.

According to this article we are likely to see fewer butterflies around this year because of last years wet summer. 2007 was the worst year for butterflies for more than a quarter of a century with numbers at a record low. This was mainly because butterflies do not fly in the rain and therefore they cannot reach plant nectar to feed or fly to breed. The charity Butterfly Conservation is hoping that we have a long hot summer this year so that numbers can recover. Unfortunately I think my cats are to blame for the lack of butterflies in my garden.

If you want a dog but don't have the space, then you might be interested in this rent a dog service. The service offers canine companions for rent at the cost of £279 for four days a month. It's an interesting idea but I think it would be hard to establish a relationship with a dog that you only see a few times a month. It has, also been criticised by the RSPCA who say that moving a dog from owner to owner makes the dog stressed and unhappy. Judging by the comments left at the bottom of the article the majority of people agree with this view.

Police in Texas were a little surprised when they came across this motorist with an alligator in the back of his car. The driver had found the alligator by the side of the road and decided to put it into his car. Reptile experts were called in to release the alligator into a wildlife reserve. The driver of the car was charged with illegal possession of an alligator.

This huge lobster was reportedly caught off the south coast of England. It is five times the size of a normal lobster and weighs over 4 kilograms. He certainly looks tasty.

A man on a hunting trip had the humiliation of actually getting shot by his dog. The man was shooting pheasants and had put his gun on the ground to collect a bird from over a fence. As he climbed the fence one of his hunting dogs stood on the gun, shooting him in his left leg. Officials are now investigating whether the dog was provoked.

The deputy mayor of Delhi has died after being attacked by wild monkeys. SS Bajwa suffered head injuries after falling from a first floor terrace whilst trying to fight off the monkeys. The city has long been plagued by monkeys which invade government complexes and temples and often attack passers by. They have tried to combat the problem by employing monkey catchers to move them into the forest and training larger langur monkeys to scare off the much smaller Rhesus macaques. Culling is not an option because the monkeys are seen as a manifestation on the monkey god Hanuman by devout Hindus.

Lucy is always finding new places to hide and we can often lose her for an entire day before discovering her latest hidey hole. She managed to find a small space under the stairs the other day and when we located her, Rory took this picture.

Rory has been busy with work this week, so has been working from home most evenings. This means his cat Willow has not been getting as much attention as usual. Generally when this happens she drives us mad by running around the house howling at the top of her voice. As you can see Rory has come up a solution to keep Willow happy. A well placed cushion and she settles down for the evening, whilst Rory can still get his work done.

Pygmy elephants in Borneo are under threat because of the loss of their natural habitat. There are currently only around 1,000 of the elephants left in Sabah which is much less than previously thought. The elephants depend of the forest for their survival but over the past forty years 40% of the forest cover has been lost due to logging and human settlements. Environmentalists are calling for measures to save the elephants remaining habitat.

Its good news for the black footed ferret, North Americas most endangered mammal. A key population that had only five individuals in 1997 has now grown to more than 220. This massive rise is attributed to the large prairie dog population in Wyoming which is the ferret’s main source of food.

There seem to be a lot of stories at the moment where animals have been hurt and in some cases killed by airguns. The latest story is about Fergus the cat (pictured) who was targeted with an air gun. The pellet narrowly missed his spine. Fergus is lucky not be hurt more seriously. He is currently recovering from his injury.

Scientists looking for a rare Chinese river have concluded after a six week search that it is likely to be extinct. The last time the dolphins were counted was in 2006 when only 17 individuals were found. This time when scientists looked for the dolphins they found none at all. If the dolphin is now extinct it will be the first large vertebrate to become extinct for 50 years. Scientists had hoped to find some Yangtze river dolphin’s to transfer them to a protected breeding program but it appears they are too late.

A tiger census to see how many wild tigers there are in India has suggested that there are now only between 1,300 and 1,500 left, that’s half the amount there was in 2002. Among the problems facing tigers is that whilst they do well in protected reserves, they do not appear to do so well in other forest areas. This survey suggests that efforts should now be concentrated on the tigers that currently live within unprotected areas.

Environmentalists are concerned about a vulnerable colony of porbeagle sharks after a fisherman caught 60 in a day. The sharks, although rare are currently not a protected species. A catch of this size could be enough to wipe out a whole colony due to the fact it would be likely to contain most of the colonies breeding females. The decline of this species is likely to continue until they are listed as a protected species. If this doesn’t happen soon it may be too late.

Jersey’s population of Agile Frogs has just been given a large boost due a captive breeding programme. The programme was started to try and stop the decline of the frog which was facing extinction in Jersey. 800 frogs have now been released into the wild with a further batch due for release as soon as a suitable site can be found.

The mixture of the wet weather we have had here in the UK recently, followed by a period of warm weather has created the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Experts have warned that we could see the insects arriving in large numbers within the next few weeks. As someone who has gets an allergic reaction to insect bites, I am not looking forward to a summer of swollen and itchy arms and legs.

Futher to my post yesterday about putting kitty on a diet, here is a picture of my fat cat Oscar. Oscar unlike most fat cats is a very active cat, he is always jumping around and playing with his friends but he has always been a rather large cat.

Most UK residents know that swans are protected. It appears that new arrivals to country, however, are unaware there is a law protecting them and are catching them for food. Polish and Lithuanian immigrants have been seen dragging the birds away. The remains of swans have also been found along the towpath in Leighton Buzzard.  Luton Angling Club has now come up with a sign which they hope will make it clear that swans are not for eating. Killing a swan is currently subject to a £5,000 fine and six months in jail.