Lonely Penguin In Kiwi Land

The loneliest penguin in the world: 'Lost' Emperor swims on to beach in New Zealand after 4,000-mile wrong turn

Somewhere along the way, as it swam through the icy waters of Antarctica, a young emperor penguin took a wrong turn - and ended up in New Zealand.

The black and white bird came ashore on a beach in the south of the North Island nearly 4,000 miles away from its usual habitat.

There are two dozens colonies of the penguins in Antarctica, but this is the first time for 44 years a 'vagrant' bird has turned up in New Zealand.

A long way from home: An Emperor Penguin waddles along Peka Peka beach in New Zealand after becoming lost while swimming in the Southern Ocean

The creature's astonishing journey was witnessed by a woman walking her dog as the 2ft bird waddled out of the water in front of her.

Christine Wilton stumbled across the nautical wanderer on Peka Peka beach.

She said: 'It was out of this world to see it.

'It was this glistening white thing standing up on the sand and I thought I was seeing things.'

The tale of the lost penguin is similar to the 2006 children's film Happy Feet, in which a young penguin finds himself far from home during a voyage of discovery.

Which way to Antarctica? The 2ft bird is believed to have become lost while hunting for squid and krill among ice floes and its epic journey may have taken up to a month

Pippa's bottom goes viral on YouTube

Pippa Middleton's bottom looks set to go viral after pranksters posted a cheeky music mash-up on YouTube.

Set to the song Shake Ya Ass by Mystikal, the video highlights Pippa's most eye-catching moments from the Royal Wedding.

At one stage, it appears as though a clergyman is nodding in approval of the maid of honour's derriere, reports the Daily Mirror.

Pippa caused a real stir in her bridesmaid dress and a Facebook group praising her assets has already attracted more than 10,000 fans.

Her 'bum' also seemingly has its own Twitter account, @pippasass, which has just under 800 followers.

The YouTube clip has already notched up nearly 60,000 hits in just one day. It is one of dozens of clips of Pippa at the wedding posted on the video-sharing website.

Man Finds Unusual Mother After 33 Years

Long-lost son finds out, after 33 years apart, his mother is a bearded hermaphrodite who used to be a hit at the circus... thanks to George the Giant

 Motherly love: Bearded Vivian Wheeler has been reunited with her son, Richard Lorenc, after 33 years

For a 33-year-old man who was looking for his biological mother, it was the last thing he expected to find.

Following a series of back problems Kansas-based Richard Lorenc decided to find out more about his family tree.

And six weeks after asking the authorities in Kansas, he had his answer: His mother was a 62-year-old bearded hermaphrodite who performed at circuses. Vivian Wheeler and Richard's maternal grandmother, he was informed, both suffered from hypertrichosis, or were wolf syndrome - meaning they had facial hair, even as children.

This intrigued Richard, and he was determined to find out more - and meet his long-lost mother. And, having searched on the Internet, discovered pictures of a woman with the same name working at sideshows and circuses.

'I knew it was her as soon as I saw the picture online,' he said. 'We have a resemblance.' He had no way to contact her, though, and he pestered a number of people who knew her in the trade, including George 'The Giant' McArthur, who at 7ft 3ins is the world's tallest sword-swallow er. Only a few weeks later Vivian happened to attend an event George was performing in, and the giant was able to tell her about her boy wanting to contact her.

A Seventh-Day Adventist, she was overjoyed and thought it a miracle. 'The Holy Spirit told me to go,' she said. 'He told me George had something to tell me that was very important.  'I hollered at him from behind, and he turned around and told me my son was looking for me. 'I told God I wanted to know if I had grandchildren and if my son was alive. Then, like snapping your fingers, his wife called me.'

 DNA test: Vivian and Richard on the Maury Povich show, where the results of the DNA tests they took will be revealed this week 

Richard's wife, Jessica, contacted Vivian to check some details before he agreed to meet up with her and find out more about her life. They met for three days in Bakersfield, California, in June and now wheelchair-bound Vivian told her son about her life.  They have had a DNA test on the popular American chat show Maury Povich to ascertain whether they are actually mother and son, and the results will be revealed on Wednesday.

'I want to share the story, and I want to know for sure if it's my son,' she said. 'Even if not, I still love him.' As she was born with both male and female reproductive organs, her mother, who wanted a girl, instructed the doctors to remove the masculine parts.

Her father, however, was humiliated by his hairy daughter and made her work at sideshows from an early age, forcing her to send back money she earned. When she embarked on relationships with men, she would often shave back her fluff so as not to embarrass - or undermine - them.

 Performer: Vivian in her younger years, when she would perform at circus sideshows and cultivate her beard

The father of Richard was a carnival ride operator she had met in Nebraska and took the baby away from her soon after the birth. She desperately wanted her son back and the stress caused her to have a mental breakdown on stage.

And when Vivian's mother died in 1990, she decided to stop shaving her beard entirely - it's now 11 inches long. 'I let it grow back to be myself,' she said. 'Without my beard, I'm not me. I'm pretending to be someone I'm not.'

Meanwhile Richard moved into an orphanage before his father, Richard James Chambers Snr. regained custody of him and took him to Kansas. When teachers at his school began to notice abuse marks on his body, he was moved to a foster home.

Aged seven he was adopted and became Richard Kevin Ryan, and when he married, he took his wife's surname, Lorenc. 'I am lucky,' he said. 'Having this life story attached to it, it's cool. It's something I would've never imagined in a million years. 

'But for this story to bring attention to Vivian is something else. It's a dream come true, I know, for her. 'Whatever happens, I want to be there with her. It's a great adventure. It's an unbelievable story, and I just want to be there for the ride with her and spend time with her.'

Row over ham lands four in hospital

Four people needed hospital treatment in Italy after a dispute over the thickness of a supermarket's ham slices turned violent.

The row broke out when a 50-year-old woman shopping in the Tuscany town of Livorno protested that the ham slices being cut by a counter assistant were too thick.

A scuffle unfolded involving the shop assistant's father as well as the woman's husband and two sons, reports the ANSA news agency.

Police were called and three ambulances were also sent to the scene.

The shop assistant, the disgruntled ham shopper and her husband all suffered bruises and were treated in hospital.

The shopkeeper's father was also hospitalised after feeling ill, the news agency said.

Magnet Boy's big attraction

A six-year-old Croatian boy astounds his family and friends with his 'magnetic' body.

Ivan Stoiljkovic is reportedly able to stick metallic objects such as spoons, mobile phones and even frying pans to his body.

And his family, who live in a village near Koprivnica, say he can carry up to 25kg of metal stuck to his torso at a time.

He demonstrated his special talent to local journalists by taking off his shirt and sticking cutlery, a frying pan and even dumbbells to his body.

And his family claim he also has the ability to heal people with his hands, alleviating his grandfather's stomach pains and taking away the pain of a neighbour who hurt his leg in a tractor accident.

Ivan's grandfather, Ivo Stoiljkovic, said when his grandson laid his hands on his stomach they became extremely hot and the pain simply went away.

Ivan is also said to be much stronger than other children his age and is able to easily carry bags of cement as heavy as 50lbs.

Amazing Pics OF Car Fall into a Well in Saudi Arabia

There is not so much water in Saudi Arabia, so people are digging special wells that can be up to 320 ft (100 m) deep. This one was built near the city of Ryad and it was 200 ft (60 m) deep. An unfortunate Toyota Land Cruiser driver fall down in the well while he was drifting in the desert with his friends. The rescuers were able to get the man and his car out of the well.

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

car fall_into well

Drying Aral Sea

Once the world’s fourth-largest inland saline body of water, the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s, after the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya that fed it were diverted by Soviet Union irrigation projects. By 2004, the sea had shrunk to 25% of its original surface area, and a nearly fivefold increase in salinity had killed most of its natural flora and fauna. The once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed, and former fishing towns along the original shores have become ship graveyards.


















Aral Sea from space, August 1985
Aral Sea from space, July 2009

Amazing facts-Cannibalism

Cannibalism is as old as mankind and we certainly weren’t the first to come up with the idea. Animals have been eating members of their own species since the dawn of time and think nothing of it. To them it’s perfectly natural. Many species of arachnid, for example, instinctively begin to chow down on their mothers as soon as they are born and some mammals have been known to do the same thing. In fact, in some cases mammalian mothers will eat their own offspring if they feel the conditions needed to rear offspring have not been met. Ever seen a hamster do this? It’s pretty disturbing.

Of course, the introduction of civilization, the very thing that separates us from the animals, makes it impractical and morally objectionable to kill and eat your kinsmen. When living in a group structure it is much better to let your friends and family live so they can help you carry that massive mammoth carcass back home. But what if your intended victim is not a member of your tribe? By making a meal of a rival tribesman you not only rid yourself of a troublesome neighbor, you also get yourself a family sized bucket of tasty man flesh as a special treat for the kids. This is one widely accepted answer to the question of where all those pesky Neanderthals went. That’s right, we ate them (or some of them at least – the rest probably ate each other).

Here are some examples of cannibalistic societies in recorded history:


The Carib
The Carib people of the Lesser Antilles not only had the entire Caribbean Sea named after them; their name is also the origin of the word cannibal. Christopher Columbus was the first to report cannibalism among the Carib, whom he referred to as the Caniba (a mispronunciation of ‘Karibna’, the Carib word for ‘person’). Following this many Europeans formed the belief that the Carib practiced general cannibalism but this was not true, the Carib practiced ritual cannibalism and only ever against their enemies.

Any conquistador to stumble across a society of cannibals would have been utterly thrilled. At the time it was considered a Christian’s duty to punish and subjugate any society known to practice cannibalism. This led to many tribal cultures in the Africa and the Americas being falsely accused of cannibalism and may have precipitated the slave trade.

The Aztec
The Aztec were without a doubt the most brutal society in pre-Columbian America. They made thousands of human sacrifices each year, ceremonially slaughtering their victims in a variety of grim ways. Typically, victims had their beating hearts torn out but being burned alive was also quite common. So what did the Aztecs do with the bodies after the party was over? While there is no academic consensus on whether or not the Aztecs practiced cannibalism it stands to reason that they did. Cannibalism, while not necessarily a cultural norm, was not uncommon in pre-Columbian societies and many scholars argue that the Aztecs would have thought little of rummaging through the temple bins for a snack. Others theories that human flesh would have been a delicacy eaten only by the aristocratic elite. The lack of animal proteins in the Aztec diet would have made human flesh a healthy and desirable treat, especially considering the novelty value.

The Native Americans
There is evidence to suggest that many Native American peoples, including the Sioux, the Cree, the Comanche and even the Iroquois, may have once practiced ritualistic cannibalism. Of course, this is a highly charged and highly political debate. Many argue that the accusation of cannibalism is an attempt to depict Native Americans as brutal and uncivilized peoples, thus justifying their subjugation. However, some argue the opposite, saying that Native American cannibalism has been denied or even covered up by some historians in the name of political correctness. Whatever the truth, it would seem that cannibalism was once practiced by at least some Native American cultures, particularly those of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The now extinct Karankawa of Texas are a prime example. In 1768 a Spanish priest witnessed and recorded a Karankawa ritual in which a captive was tied to a stake. The Karankawa danced around the man, occasionally slicing off a piece of his flesh to be roasted and eaten in front of him.

Africa
While no single society in Africa can be cannibalistic, the practice of cannibalism in Africa throughout history has been frequent and widespread. Even today there is thought to be an underground trade in human body parts. Some believe that eating certain human organs and body parts will have a magical healing effect and some witchdoctors are thought to run black market operations, actively harvesting, proscribing and selling bits of other people as supposed ‘natural treatments’. As a result, thousands of people across Africa go missing each year after falling prey to the collection gangs. Most cruel of all is the fact that many victims are not killed but have parts of their bodies removed whilst alive. Sickeningly a human penis can be sold as a cure for impotence but there is a market for everything from a victim’s fingers to their lips.

Cannibalism has also been reported in several recent African conflicts, including the Second Congo War and the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is usually directed against social or racial groups that are thought to be vulnerable, such as the Congolese Pygmies.

Fiji
Cannibalism seems to have once been widespread in many Polynesian and Melanesian cultures. For example, Fiji was once known as the cannibal isles. One Fijian tribal chief claimed to have eaten 875 people and boasted of his achievement.

The native inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia were also thought to be cannibals. When a waling ship capsized near the islands in 1820 the captain decided to lead the survivors 3000 miles upwind to Chile rather than risk taking on the cannibals. Ironically, the survivors themselves later resorted to cannibalism as a means of survival.


The Korowai
The Korowai of Papua, Indonesia may be the only tribe left in the world to practice ritual cannibalism. It is said that they kill and eat members of their tribe that have been convicted of witchcraft, although this may just be a ploy to attract tourists. Apparently the brain is most tasty part of the victim’s body and is eaten raw while still warm. Korowai houses are built high on stilts. It is thought that this design evolved through a need for protection, owing to the once rampant practice of cannibalism on the island. Members of the Fore tribe, who live on the opposite side of the island to the Korowai in what is now Papua New Guinea, are thought to have contracted the degenerative brain disorder Kuru (also known as laughing sickness) through the ritual consumption of their own dead tribesmen.

The Maori
One of the most well documented instances of cannibalism involves the Maori people of New Zealand. Cannibalism has been a part of Maori warfare since time immemorial and they didn’t stop at killing and eating their rival tribesmen. When the crew of a British ship, the Boyd, were accused of unjustly flogging the son of a Maori chieftain, his father’s warriors took revenge by killing and eating 66 of the ship’s passengers and crew. The event became known as the ‘Boyd Massacre’. The Maori also cannibalized European settlers in the ensuing wars and rebellions against the British Empire, as recently as 1869.

Of course, the Maori kicked the habit long ago and now live a healthy flesh-free lifestyle. The same can also be said of all the cultures on this list, with the possible exception of the Korowai. But it cannot be said that the archaic act of cannibalism has completely disappeared; every now and then it rears its ugly, flesh-chewing head to remind us of our gruesome and barbaric past. Sometimes this occurs in extreme survival situation (which can perhaps be forgiven) but it can also take the form of a single crazed lunatic.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa
The self declared Emperor of the Central African Republic, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, has been tried, but never convicted, of cannibalism. In 1979, when a number of school children protested against the introduction of new, mandatory school uniforms Emperor Bokassa gobbled the naughty children up. Some one hundred school children were massacred and, while Bokassa clearly could not have eaten all of them, he is thought to have beaten many of them to death himself. Bokassa’s Ugandan contemporary, Idi Amin, is also rumored to have eaten his enemies.


Dorangel Vargas
Dorangal Vargas, otherwise known as the ‘Hannibal Lecter of the Andes’, killed and ate at-least ten men while homeless and living in a park in San Cristobal, Venesuala. Vargas used the park as a hunting ground for two years before being arrested in 1999, after which he has spoken openly about his crimes. “I make a very tasty stew out of the tongue” Vargo told reporters “and I use the eyes to make a healthy and nutritious soup.”