Pale penguins

National Geographic recently carried an account of tourists* on one of their sponsored expeditions to Antarctica spotting a mutant penguin - and thereby I learned a new word. These birds in less-than-formal dress are called "isabelline penguins" and they are rare, but not unheard of. "They do pop up from time to time, but they're not particularly common. They're very obvious when you do see them. Amongst all the black backs you suddenly see a white one,'' says Australian biologist Megan Tierney. Isabellinism affects approximately 1 in 50,000 penguins of most species, examples of which I have collected above: royal penguin (1st image), chinstrap penguin (2nd image, video here), gentoo penguin (3rd image), adelie penguin (4th image). The term refers to the light color, distinguishing isabellinism (a form of leucism in which all types of skin pigmentation are reduced) from albinism (in which just the melanin is reduced or absent). South African researchers spotted only 2 isabelline specimens among the king penguins on Marion Island. Magellanic penguins, which live on South American coasts, seem to have the lowest incidences of the condition, according to penguin expert P. Dee Boersma of the University of Washington. The Ornithological Society of New Zealand, clarifies that isabellinism has not been observed in the emperor penguin, Fiordland crested penguin, erect-crested penguin, Galapagos penguin, or little (blue) penguin. Although instances of ostracism have been documented among penguins with plumage aberrations, isabellines do not appear to experience "racism" and have been observed carrying out normal nesting behavior and living for years.

*More information on visiting Antarctica at Cool Antarctica and the United States Antarctic Program.

Spooner's speech

Spoonerism (spoo-nuh-riz-uhm) The transposition of initial
or other sounds of words, usually by accident, as in
"a blushing crow" for "a crushing blow"
[1895–1900; after W. A. Spooner (1844–1930),
English clergyman noted for such slips].

As indicated in the definition, this eponym is named after William Archibald Spooner, who is caricatured above in an 1898 Vanity Fair illustration. Spooner was dean of New College, Oxford, where he studied and stayed for 60 years. The quintessential absent-minded professor became known for muddling his words, but today would probably be diagnosed with dyspraxia. He disliked his reputation and said to an audience assembled to hear him speak, "You haven't come for my lecture, you just want to hear one of those...things." Of all "those things" he was said to have uttered, only 2 are more or less substantiated as his words: "The weight of rages will press hard upon the employer" and "Kinkering congs their titles take." Other Spoonerisms are apocryphal, but hilarious all the same:

• "The Lord is a shoving leopard."
• "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride."
• "Can I sew you to another sheet?"
• "We'll have the hags flung out."
• "Is the bean dizzy?"

To "Spoo," as he was known among Oxford's undergraduates, were also attributed the phrases "well-boiled icicle" (well-oiled bicycle), "queer old dean" (dear old queen), and "half-warmed fish" (half-formed wish). But according to Michael Quinion on World Wide Words, what Spooner did was transpose entire words or ideas more often than just initial sounds. He referred to a friend of a Dr. Child as “Dr. Friend’s child,” and spoke of a widow whose late husband had been “eaten by missionaries.” In fact, Quinion writes, "there is evidence to suggest that the Reverend William Archibald Spooner rarely if ever uttered a Spoonerism." All the same, one of the funniest examples of a Spoonerism will continue - probably because of its appropriate educational setting - to be associated with its namesake:

"You have hissed all my mystery lectures, and were caught fighting a liar in the quad. Having tasted 2 worms, you will leave by the next town drain."*

One thing is not disputed, and that is that Rev. Spooner was, oddly enough, an albino.

*Transposed from "You have missed all my history lectures, and were caught lighting a fire in the quad. Having wasted 2 terms, you will leave by the next down train."

Follow-ups

Vivisection 1/22/10 British scientists are blowing up live pigs to study the effects of bombs. A man in Oaklan Park, Florida, performs a "coffee-table operation" on a dog he was watching and kills it. Here is a video (caution) of a seriously twisted experiment by Russian scientists.

Gatorland! 1/21/10 Scientists have determined that a shared breathing mechanism indicates that alligators and birds shared a common ancestor.

Kite-fighting 1/19/10 Friend Franck Cordes notes that there is a chapter on kite-fighting in The American Boys Handybook of Camp-lore and Woodcraft by Daniel Carter Beard (orig. 1882).

Gulp! 1/16/10 Moments after I published this post about the swallowing disorder pica, I was contacted by follower Lisa Wood, a gifted artist who collaged a series of plates based on the case histories of the swallowed objects in the very collection I mentioned. And her friend is writing a book on the same subject, due out later this year!

Disaster intensity scales 1/13/10 Here are some aerial photos of the earthquake damage in Haiti from National Geographic. As horrible as the tragedy and its aftermath is, unburied corpses do not pose much of a health risk. Scientists have identified a number of seismic zones throughout the world that are past due for an earthquake.

Mirror miscellany 1/17/10 Reader Kent Schnake points out the often overlooked observation that as long as a mirror is well-polished, we don't see it - we see what is reflected!

Sinkholes 1/12/10 Rubislaw Quarry in Aberdeen, Scotland - the largest man-made hole in Europe - has been sold.

Views from space 1/11/10 There are disputes over the ownership of a large meteorite that fell in Australia. Another meteorite fell through the roof of a doctor's office in Lorton, Virginia. Meanwhile, the Great Wall of China has been recreated in chocolate (although I don't usually link to weird chocolate).

Good cove, bad cove 1/6/10 Dolphins have taken up hydroplaning to catch the fish closest to shore. A French researchers suggests that heroic acts by animals like dolphins are more common than thought. Here is a story from this summer of a beluga whale carrying a struggling diver to the surface in China.

Snakes to the rescue 1/4/10 Federal officials have banned 9 species of constrictors from being imported into the U.S.

Parade floats 1/2/10 The plane that Capt. Sullenberger safely crash-landed in the Hudson River is for sale.

Bushmeat 12/27/09 A curious young chimp in the Congo investigates the remote video camera. The heart-wrenching tale of a humanized chimp named Jerry. A chimp is at the center of a custody battle in Sarasota, Florida.

Nipple shields 12/20/09 There is a strange time capsule in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada - a 1950s-era drugstore - and look what's on the shelf toward the end of the video!

Circus animals on the lam 11/13/09 Spanish photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez has been stripped of his title of photographer of the year because it was discovered that the wolf in his award-winning photo had been rented from a wildlife park. The hippo who escaped from the zoo in Montenegro has returned to her enclosure.

Humpback whales 11/10/09 Close encounters with beluga whales in the Arctic circle.

Odd animals 11/4/09 This strange creature that turned up in Texas has been identified as a hairless raccoon.

Engineering feats 11/1/09 A schematic drawing of the British warship H.M.S. Temeraire, built in 1793.

One man band 10/24/09 Here is a deft performance by a member of the Brooklyn-based chamber music ensemble Project Trio.

Lizard lore 10/17/09 Villagers in Indonesia are supplying Asian demand for geckos to be used in traditional medicines.

Dinosaur eggs 10/3/09 American paleontologists have announced that prehistoric velociraptors also spit venom at their prey. Australian scientists blame humans for the demise of the megafauna that lived 400,000 years ago.

Animal clarity 8/16/09 The unusual shell of the scaly-foot snail, discovered in 2003, may assist in the design of armor for soldiers and vehicles, say American researchers. Similarly, the silence of owls in flight (pictured) have inspired aircraft technology.

Jaws in 1916 8/8/09 A harrowing account of an Englishman being eaten by a shark while on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa.

Creative cremains 7/24/09 The far-flung posthumous travels of American adventurer Ralph White. Ongoing repairs at a crematorium in Coventry, U.K., are marring Sikh death rituals.

Bride and groom 6/1/09 A British teacher sacrificed himself and drowned to save his bride on their honeymoom in Egypt.

Cave paintings at Lascaux 5/27/09 Plans are afoot in Italy to breed the aurochs depicted in cave paintings back from extinction.

The art of David Teniers the Younger 5/22/09 Japanese macaques huddling together for warmth.

Chihuahuas in the weird news 5/2/09 What's a follow-up without a chihuahua story? This one was found by security staff at the Dublin airport being smuggled in a Bulgarian man's suitcase.

Emmett Kelly 4/25/09 An example and explanation of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, a form of synchronicity.

Bears in the news 4/24/09 The den of a black bear hibernating in Minnesota is being monitored by a remote camera that just captured the birth of her 3 cubs!

Giants 4/17/09 A German model stands 6' 9" tall.

Centenarians 3/26/09 Here is a fantastic video of people aged 1 through 100.

Spider prey 3/7/09 Video of a giant centipede eating a bat. And watch this toad's defense when it is about to be eaten by a tarantula!

Megafishes 2/15/09 A blind British woman landed a 214lb catfish in Spain, after which she released it back into the river.

Disturbing decapitations 1/23/09 A human head and a red flower were found at the tomb of a Mexican drug lord.

Caves 1/15/09 A BBC video of the Crystal Cave of Giants in Chihuahua, Mexico.

More mammoths 1/6/09 DNA analysis of frozen soil by an international team of scientists shows that woolly mammoths existed for thousands of years longer than previously thought.

Dr. Seuss 12/25/08 A disagreement in Minnesota parallels the plot of Dr. Seuss's story The Zax.

Blizzard of 1888 12/14/08 Many wondrous photographs of ice caves around the world. A long-predicted form of stable ice has been confirmed in the lab by British scientists. Scientists have assessed that the ice in the artic Beaufort Sea is "rotten." Pioneering 19th c. images of snowflakes by American photographer Wilson A. Bentley have gone on sale. Photos and an explanation of hair ice. And a live audio feed from under the ice in Antarctica.

Conjoined twins 11/29/08 The world's oldest conjoined twins, Ronnie and Donnie Galyon of Ohio, are moving in with their brother rather than into an assisted-living facility.

Albinos 11/18/08 "White Bambi" spotted in the Italian Alps.

Oldest zoo in the world 11/10/08 A neighborhood association has stopped the Oakland Zoo from its practice of cutting down non-native trees and feeding the crunchy snacks to elephants and other animals. An Asian elephant has been born for the 1st time at the Melbourne Zoo. A Norwegian man who is trying to collect 1 million giraffes to win a bet is nearly halfway there.

Animal extinction 11/9/08 The eel population in London's River Thames have dropped precipitously (98%).

Follow-ups

Good cove, bad cove 1/6/10 The Japanese are big tuna-eaters and that species is also facing extinction. A 512lb bluefin recently sold for $175,000 at a Tokyo fish market, although Japanophiles don't find that weird.

Follow-ups 12/22/09 In my last set of follow-ups, I linked to instances of birds wearing clothing, and up pops a story about members of a Welsh knitting circle who make sweaters for chickens.

Bob Waldmire 12/17/09 A follow-up about the "king of the road" in the Wall Street Journal.

Octopus achievement 12/15/09 Octopuses are inexplicably washing up dead on the beaches of Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.

Toenails (or lack thereof) 11/7/09 A toenail has been put up for bid at a charity auction in New Zealand that is raising money for the local food bank!

Birds in fable and fact 10/22/09 British scientists have found that fish will punish other fish for bad manners.

Lizard lore 10/17/09 Someone has invented a way for humans to walk on water like the basilisk lizard - behold the Aqua Skipper. In other lizard news, it has been getting so cold here in Florida that the iguanas are falling out of the trees.

Birthing and hoarding bunnies 6/18/09 A man in Chelsea, Massachusetts, has been convicted of animal cruelty for having sex with his roommate's rabbit.

Stain 8/6/09 Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only person officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings at the end of World War II, has died at age 93.

Capitol cornerstone 7/26/09 The opening of a 1952 time capsule in Virginia has been postponed indefinitely after it was found that the floor tiles surrounding it may contain asbestos.

Frogs, deformed and fanciful 6/26/09 A salmonella outbreak that affected 85 people across 31 states has been linked to the improper handling of frogs.

Skellies 4/29/09 Bone trophies from Yale University's mysterious Skull and Bones society - including a skull that was used as a ballot box - go on auction in New York this month.

Pirates 4/15/09 The state archaeologist of North Carolina has admitted that he did not follow proper procedure when he unearthed the remains of a man believed to be a member of Blackbeard’s pirate crew.

Footprints 2/28/09 Paleontologists have found footprints of the 1st marine creature to emerge from the ocean and walk on land - and they date back 20 million years earlier than previously thought.

Graduate weird news 2/5/09 The University of Victoria, Canada, will finally be allowed to evict a man from its dorms - 13 years after he graduated. Meanwhile, a proprosal by Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, to build a senior citizen residential and educational complex - to be considered student housing - has been struck down.

Polydactyly 2/3/09 A 4-year-old Chines girl has 5 fingers on her left hand and 6 fingers on her right hand (pictured) - no thumbs.

Diagnosing the canvas 1/2/09 An Italian doctor sees signs of high cholesterol in the "Mona Lisa."

Ice swimmers 11/20/08 In contrast to ice swimmers and members of "polar bear" clubs, a man from Brookfield, Massachusetts, does his ice fishing through a hole in the floorboard of his cozy limousine.

Albinos 11/18/09 Aside from the threat to albinos in Burundi and Tanzania, there is a danger to children in Uganda, who are being snatched and sacrificed by witch-doctors.

Animal extinction 11/9/08 Here is a list of the top 10 most endangered species in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund. On another note, researchers at Oregon State University have determined that during the Cold War, there was less species invasion.

Skulls & Skeletons 9/18/08 My very first post was about my favorite peace-loving musician John Butler, who plays a mean banjo (and looks and sounds cool doing it). This Denver man, on the other hand, used his banjo as a weapon and has been charged with second-degree assault.

More follow-ups

Odd animals 11/4/09 An Australian girl is injured attempting to rescue an echidna from a storm drain.

Leonardo's lion 8/17/09 A portrait of Cosimo I de Medici (not by da Vinci) features the earliest depiction of a watch.

Adventurers Club 8/9/09 Neighbors of a man in Worcester, U.K., object to the multi-level treehouse he built.

Stain 8/6/09 Scientists prove that the ashes of the dead still emit radiation 60 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Weird watercolors 8/1/09 A 10-year-old British piano prodigy has been compared to Mozart.

Cenotaph 7/31/09 A recent article about the measures undertaken to conserve the cenotaphs at Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Creative cremains 7/24/09 A series by Irish photographer Maeve Berry takes as its subject the reduction of the human body in the crematory retort.

Bog bodies 6/19/09 The preserved remains of 17th c. Gunnister Man are returned from the National Museum of Scotland to Shetland, where he was discovered in 1951.

Birthing and hoarding bunnies 6/18/09 It's not hoarding yet, but a 20-year-old British woman has acquired 24 of these pygmy hedgehogs.

"Seven Pounds" 6/14/09 A blood-red jellyfish that has recently come to the attention of scientists.

Elusive animals 6/4/09 Three new species of caecilians - something between a snake and a worm - have been discovered in India. Some 850 new invertebrates have been found in the Australian outback. And 40 new species are discovered in a remote volcano in Papua New Guinea.

George Gaylord Simpson 5/25/09 An independent assessment has refuted the idea that the fossil known as "Ida" is the so-called missing link.

The house that May (re)built 5/23/09 A woman in Lawshall, Suffolk, England, has built an extension to her historic home using human hair.

Chihuahuas in the weird news 5/2/09 Nine chihuahua puppies are led down a busy highway to a Texas animal shelter by their dad.

Robo-animals 4/9/09 Prosthetics for a calf that lost its hind legs to frostbite.

Fossil fuels 3/25/09 Swedish researchers find that it does not require fossilized animals and plants to generate crude oil and natural gas.

Poisonous fumes 3/17/09 An illustrated list of the 33 deadliest substances on earth.

Spider prey 3/7/09 Biologists have discovered the largest orb weaver spider yet. And British Airways cancelled a domestic flight in late October after a passenger had an unconfirmed sighting of a tarantula.

The Mole People 3/4/09 Like those living in the subway tunnels of New York, people are setting up house in the drains beneath Las Vegas.

Tool use and innovation in wild bottlenose dolphins 2/10/09 Dolphins play, using jellyfish as a ball! Unfortunately, a tourist died while swimming with dolphins in New Zealand in October.

Morbid motorcycles 1/28/09 Like the motorcycle hearses in this post, a psychelic hearse fills a certain niche market. Meanwhile, the family of an avid racing fan arranges for him to make a final lap around the local racetrack in his hearse.

Hedgehogs 1/8/09 In Edinburgh, a pregnant hedgehog wandered into the lobby of a luxury hotel and gave birth to triplets!

Cleaning skulls is a dirty job 12/7/08 Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" has launched a website to help people find work.

Albinos 11/18/08 In September, 3 Tanzanian men were sentenced to death by hanging for killing a 14-year-old albino boy. And a story about a Brazilian woman who has given birth to 3 albino children.

Follow-ups

Gossamer 9/27/09 The oldest spider web on record has been found encased in amber found on an East Sussex beach in the U.K. Scientists at the University of Wyoming have determined exactly what makes cobwebs so sticky. And about my Gossamer post, my sister's delightful comment: "The idea of forcing spiders to work in sweat shops is sort of deliciously sinister. Yes, many frights have occurred thanks to the rc tarantula. I had to draw the line at bringing it in the car."

Pig butchering 9/1/09 Reuters reported that one of the fastest growing do-it-yourself trends is butchering.

More mystery 8/23/09 Follower Kent Schnake was prompted by this Agatha Christie post to look up the most prolific authors, and was surprised by the answer.

Surviving rabies 8/18/09 Follower Megan McCabe sent me the link to this incredible story that aired on "This American Life" (Act I) last Halloween.

Ripley's Seeing is Believing 8/14/09 A story about Lee Redmond, who no longer holds the world's record for the longest fingernails, due to an auto accident.

Hummingbirds 7/28/09 An American designer has developed the eye2eye mask, a helmet with a built-in hummingbird feeder.

Dali and Disney 7/11/09 A photograph has just surfaced (above) showing Salvador Dali exiting the Paris Metro with his pets - a dog and an anteater! And this summer, a Houston, Texas, Salvation Army thrift store was auctioning off several Dali originals that had been donated anonymously to benefit the adult rehabilitation center.

Up in the air 7/5/09 More about fireworks and the Founding Fathers.

Spontaneous human combustion 6/9/09 Over the weekend, a very mysterious death that has the classic signs of SHC occurred here in Brevard County, Florida.

The art of David Teniers the Younger 5/22/09 I mention stolen works of art in this post, and read about the recovery of Picasso's "The Naked Woman" from a house in Iraq.

Iron lung 5/12/09 June Middleton of Australia, who spent 6 decades in an iron lung (and is pictured wearing a portable version) has died at the age of 83.

Marlin Perkins 4/21/09 My Dad had a major sighting to report from his home in Arizona late this summer: "There have been reports of a bobcat in our little community and today I SAW IT! I've never seen one in the wild, only in zoos. He was larger than I expected. He walked along rather casually, then jumped up on a 6 foot high wrought iron fence and leaped toward a couple of rabbits near a big bush. The rabbits and the bobcat went into the bush. I don't know if he made a kill. We were playing golf and had to keep going. Had we not been on the course I would have stayed and waited for him to come out..."

Robo-animals 4/8/09 Video of elephants being outfitted with prosthetic legs.

Albinos 11/18/08 An albino otter was spotted on the Moray coast in the U.K.

Lying in state 11/7/08 In August, longtime reader Angie McLachlan awoke to find that someone had blocked her door, preventing her from answering any calls for embalming until the vehicle had been moved.

Petrified wood 9/30/08 The prize artifact displayed as a moon rock in a Dutch museum has proven to be just a piece of petrified wood.

Kutna Hora ossuary 9/29/08 A descriptive quote from Body of Work by Christine Montross, one of the first books I read on my Kindle: "Without question it is not the bodies that unnerve the most, or even the piles of bones that, if one begins to count how many lives are represented by each sacrum or jawbone, cause the mind to spin and reel. The most disconcerting element of the crypt is that the bones are used not just as memorials or relics but omni-presently as decor, which is injected with a creepy kind of whimsy. From the ceilings hang illuminated chandeliers of cantilevered arm bones and clavicles. The doorways between the chapels are outlined by a filigree of looping ribs. Half pelvises on the walls and ceilings overlap at a central point, flowering out in petaled whorls, and vertebrae are gathered in clusters, forming oddly beautiful wreaths. In some spots the collages of bone convey portentous, tempus fugit-style messages of mortality: The pointed base of one sacrum abuts the base of another so that they, outlined by matching clavicles, form the shape of an hourglass. Two scapulae branch out from the sides of a skull, like wings. On one ceiling the skeleton of a child is mounted - one of three nephews of Pope Urban VIII on display in the crypts. In one small hand, he holds a grim reaper's scythe. In the other the scales of justice, whose chains are made of finger bones, interlaced and dangling."

Follow-ups

I've let these pile up again, so here's the 1st segment of 2 or more...

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Piper negrum 9/24/09 Man arrested for sneezing fetish.

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Pig butchering 9/1/09 Another painting has been restored to reveal a surprise.

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World's heaviest insects 8/28/09 A "hotdog-sized" caterpillar found in Florida pool.

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Messel pit 8/24/09 Dinosaur fossils found in China have the earliest known feathers. And feather fossils found in Messel have vivid iridescent colors.

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Mona Lisa(s) 8/12/09 Mona Lisa comes to life in Beijing. A list f Mona Lisa parodies was published a week after my post.

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Victor Noir 8/10/09 The vault above Marilyn Monroe, mentioned in a follow-up to this post, has been sold to the highest bidder.

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Castaways, real and imagined 8/6/09 Treehouses have become a trend in France.

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Strange stories about teeth 7/13/09 A pacu fish, like the one in this post, has been living in the same pet store for 41 years.

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Oscar Mayer dies 7/9/09 Ohio State University graduate hired to drive the weinermobile.

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Two of a kind 6/12/09 Photo of a 1-year-old echidna.

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Pied Piper of Hamelin 5/5/09 The rats have finally been eradicated from Alaska's Rat Island.

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Prosimians 4/25/09 Lemurs killed as bush meat.

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Vlad the Impaler 4/11/09 A sequel to Dracula by Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew has been published.

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Robo-animals 4/9/09 A box turtle gets substitutes for its missing legs. A duckling that had fractured its leg was given a sandal, but has since died.

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Kunstkammer 3/21/09 More dentistry: the dentures of George Washington.

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Camelopard 3/6/09 Art project to collect 1 million handmade images of giraffes.

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Snake handlers 2/21/09 Snakebite victims in India die because they do not seek treatment in time, believing that charmers can counteract the toxin.

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Killer chimpanzees 2/17/09 The defense tactic in the lawsuit about the chimp attack in Connecticut.

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Corpse flower 1/30/09 Scientists measure the cost and benefit of the diet of carnivorous plants and analyze the chemical contents of the pitcher plant's fluid.

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Birds and dogs 12/15/09 Maori legend about a man-eating bird has been proven true.

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Albinos 11/18/09 Trainer gets in the water with albino alligator. A photo of the strange-looking axolotl - this one an albino - that is nearing extinction.

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Animal extinction 11/9/09 Biologists discover 163 new species in China, all at risk of extinction, and paleontologists wonder if we will ever run out of new dinosaur species to discover.

Follow-ups

Mexican novelist Mario Bellatin wearing one of his designer prostheses.

I want to follow up on my posts, but the news items and comments are coming so fast and furious that I have opted to discontinue my time-consuming practice of many small illustrations in favor of the one I consider the best, so be sure to check all the links for associated photographs. Enjoy!

The narwhal 8/19/09 Here are some extraordinary images of an ocean photographer's encounter with a 50' humpback whale in the South Pacific.

Leonardo's lion 8/17/09 Relating to my post about Leonardo da Vinci's inventions is this Smithsonian slideshow of the instruments of discovery used and improved upon by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), including another of my favorite words to say - the astrolabe.

Mona Lisa(s) 8/12/09 Among these replications of Leonardo da Vinci's iconic painting, I forgot to include the work of Scott Wade - Mona Lisa's image on a dirty window.

Victor Noir 8/10/09 Speaking of sex symbols, Marilyn Monroe can be your postmortem bunkmate. The woman whose husband's body is entombed above hers at Westwood Village Memorial Park in L.A. is moving his body and auctioning off the crypt on e-bay to settle her Beverly Hills mortgage. (Thanks to reader Elena for the link!)

Jaws in 1916 8/8/08 Thanks to reader Michael Keighery for this link to an Australian mystery from 1935. The Shark Arm Case followed 3 shark deaths off the coast of New South Wales. A 3.5M tiger shark was caught and put on live display at the Coogee Aquarium Baths. The visitors who flocked to see the man-killer were not disappointed - it disgorged a tattooed human arm. But the owner of the arm was the victim of a murder rather than the shark...

Eunuchs 8/7/09 In India, thousands of male members of a cult devoted to Radha dress as this female lover of Krishna, baffling religious leaders.

Stain 8/6/09 My former boss Jim Schaefer sent me this link to an incredible story and slideshow of photographs of Hiroshima taken by the Physical Damage Division of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey and accidentally rediscovered in a pile of junk on a Watertown, Massachusetts, street. On this year's anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, a piano that had survived Hiroshima was played at a performance in Tokyo.

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Death worm and bloodworm 8/5/09 Follower Kent Schnake liked the worm post and recommended the film Dune. He also points out that the guinea worm and similar parasites common in Africa are - even though they don't spit acid and shoot lightning out of their ass - horrible in their own way.

Weird watercolors 8/1/09 This post mentions the painting Rembrandt did as a child. Here you can listen to a piece of music written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) at the age of 7 or 8.

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Hummingbirds 7/28/09 Follower Megan McCabe said this post reminded her to tell me about the work of graffiti artist Dan Witz, who paints lifelike hummingbirds in public spaces.

Creative cremains 7/24/09 I heard from a reader who offers another creative alternative to stashing ashes in a columbarium - adhering a small portion of them to a photograph - an "ashprint," as she calls it on her blog Final Photograph. In other ashen news: Earlier this month, a man in Vershire, Vermont, borrowed a wheelbarrow, disinterred the cremated remains of his father, and brought them - along with the man's headstone - home with him, a crime punishable by a prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

Happy Father's Day! 6/21/09 In a follow-up to my Father's Day post, I referenced this story about fighting finches. I just learned that partridge-fighting is a popular gambling sport in Afghanistan.

Placing of rocks 6/20/09 I had not heard of the Durdle Door in Dorset, England, until I researched this post, but once seen, it is most recognizable. It has been used, however, to lure tourists to a resort in Dubai.

Bog bodies 6/19/09 Workers at Gilltown bog in Co. Kildare, Ireland, uncovered a 3,000-year-old oak barrel of butter. Museum director Padraig Clancy calls the Iron Age practice of sinking the butter in the bog "piseogary."

Obama likeness 6/5/09 A similarity to Michael Jackson is seen in this Egyptian statue at Chicago's Field Museum.

Elusive animals 6/4/09 Researchers have just discovered that the Tasman booby is not extinct after all - it has been masquerading as the masked booby for years!

Barnacle geese 5/30/09 A sea monster with writhing tentacles that washed up on shore in Wales turned out to be a seething mass of goose barnacles attached to a log!

Cave paintings at Lascaux 5/25/09 Archaeologists believe they have identified the earliest map - a 14,000-year-old representation of the area landscape found on a tablet in a Spanish cave.

Birds! 5/21/09 Like the goose flying upside-down in this post, here is a remarkable photo of an eagle (unsuccessfully) attacking a goose larger than itself in mid-air.

Mortsafes 5/20/09 My friends Valerie and Roger were vacationing in Scotland recently and send me this snapshot from one of the graveyards indicating how the caretakers have responded to a gravestone that apparently fell over on someone.

Species named after Stephen Colbert 5/8/09 Related to this post only because it's about a bug, here's a story about the discovery of the rarest insect on earth, not seen in 70 years - the 6" Lord Howe Island stick insect, also known as the "land lobster." The article was written by fan Dylan Thuras of Curious Expeditions and Atlas Obscura.

Bears in the news 4/24/09 There have been numerous stories in the news of bears being struck and killed by cars, but here is a more uplifting item (with video) of a bear that took a swim in a residential pool in San Dimas, California.

Robo-animals 4/9/09 A duck with a fractured leg that healed badly has been outfitted with a sandal. A Thai elephant that stepped on a landmine 10 years ago now has a prosthetic; here's another article about "Motola" with a few more photos. An elephant suffering from abscesses in an English zoo has received a pair of slippers. And a wetsuit has been tailored for a featherless penguin.

Flannery O'Connor 4/9/09 After roaming free for 6 weeks in the town in which I grew up - Springfield, Illinois - 2 peacocks have been reunited with their owner.

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Taxidermy art 4/6/09 I recently made the on-line acquaintance of artist Lisa Wood - check out her wonderful website here.

Poisonous plants 3/30/09 A German supermarket has removed all bags of mixed salad after a customer found a poisonous weed called groundsel in with the greens.

Rosamond Purcell 3/22/09 I have attached this story to my post about Rosamond Purcell because she photographs such collections. Almost 300 rare tropical birds have been stolen from cabinets in the Natural History Museum in Tring, Hertsfordshire, England. Police believe the irreplaceable specimens may be ripped apart so their colorful feathers can be used to make jewelry and fishing lures.

Designer legs 3/15/09 Like amputee Aimee Mullins, who owns several pairs of designer legs, Mexican novelist Mario Bellatin has more than a dozen attachments for his prosthetic arm.

Seahorses and sea dragons 3/14/09 Researchers at the University of Zurich found that male seahorses choose the largest females as mates, which contradicts earlier assumptions that the females do the choosing.

Footprints 2/28/09 Paleontologists from the Natural History Museum in Basel, Switzerland, have discovered - halfway up a mountain in the Alps - the largest dinosaur footprints to be found to date in Europe. My Dad and stepmother Sarah recently happened on a dinosaur museum while traveling through Blanding, Utah, so I have uploaded them here.

Preserved in amber 2/24/09 A new species of an ancient gecko was found in the forest of Myanmar (Burma) preserved in amber in 2008. The amber preserved its toes, with their characteristic sticky hairs, and part of its tail. Here is another article about all of the new species discovered in the Himilayas.

Man on Wire 2/23/09 A priest dressed in traditional garb took part in a daredevil stunt in East Sussex, England, to raise money for charity - he walked a tightrope 80' in the air with no net and no training.

Corpse flower 1/30/09 I haven't specifically blogged about carnivorous plants, but here's a story too good to pass up: a newly discovered species of pitcher plant large enough to eat a rat!

Ancient animals 1/19/09 "Billy," a 110-year-old Galapagos tortoise, has finally mated with 47-year-old "Tammy" after spurning her advances for 15 years! Their 7 eggs are due to hatch in 8 to 12 weeks.

Follow-ups and followers 1/9/09 In the follow-up to my frozen reindeer post, I added the photo of the moose that got strung up on a telephone pole. In the weird news recently was the story of a live ram that was rescued from a telephone pole in Norway when his horn got caught and he abseiled down the wire!

Internal decapitation 12/28/08 Chris Stewart, a 14-year-old boy from Hampshire, England, is the first person to completely recover from (and only the 6th to survive) having his skull separated from his spine, and is back on the track - but in a go-kart rather than a racecar.

Albinos 11/18/08 More albino animals: A porcupine named "Blondie" lives with her sister at the London Zoo. A rare albino swallow made an appearance in Aberdeenshire, England.

Fatal tiger maulings 11/10/08 The 2 brothers who survived the Christmas Day 2007 tiger attack described in this post were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and giving false identification to police after they were stopped when swerving on the highway and found with an open bottle of vodka in the car.

Zeppelin 10/26/09 Here is a great slideshow of the construction and destruction of the dirigible Hindenburg.

Amputation 10/19/08 Riam Dean of London has won an employment suit against Abercrombie & Fitch. The 22-year-old amputee had been taken off the sales floor and made to work in the stockroom because her prosthetic arm did not meet with the store's image.

Alive! 9/25/09 The survivors of the plane crash in the Andes, whose survival cannibalism was documented in books and films, are urging fellow Uruguayans to sign up for a government-run organ donation program.

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Phew, I've got to do my follow-ups more often...

Albinos

People with albinism are being targeted in Burundi and Tanzania because of the superstitious belief that their body parts can be used by witchdoctors to make magic potions. This has sparked a lucrative trade in albino limbs, hair, and skin, and has caused albinos to abandon their homes or live in fear. Dozens have been killed, many of them children. One woman had her legs hacked off and died afterward; another woman's hand was cut off, but she survived. Most recently, a family had just returned to their home after fleeing to a provincial center in Ruyigi, Burundi, when attackers tied the parents up, shot their 6-year-old albino daughter in the head, dismembered her body, and took away her limbs and head. Albinos have long suffered discrimination in Africa, but an albino woman appointed to Tanzanian Parliament hopes to change that.