The weekly weird

Published January 22, 2022

Light show by drones for dog’s birthday

A Chinese woman celebrated her dog’s 10th birthday by hiring a team of 520 drones to put on a canine birthday-themed light show in the sky.

Footage from the dog’s birthday party in Changsha, Hunan Province, shows a crowd of well-wishers singing Happy Birthday to the canine while hundreds of drones prepare for take-off nearby.

The drones launch into the sky over the Xiangjiang River and arrange themselves into shapes, including the dog’s likeness and a birthday cake. The drones also spell out the phrase “Happy birthday to Doudou” in Chinese. It would likely have cost the woman about $15,700 to rent the drones and have them operated.


Cockroach trapped in man’s ear!

A New Zealand man, who initially thought he had water trapped in his ear, was shocked to find it was a live cockroach!

Zane Wedding, of Auckland, went swimming at a local pool and later felt the sensation of blockage in his ear. He used some drops to clear it up, but it didn’t help. So the next day he went to see a doctor, who advised him to use a hairdryer to dry up the water inside his ear canal. But when the feeling persisted, he went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist, who was shocked find a live cockroach inside the ear. It took the doctor about five minutes to extract the cockroach and Wedding felt “instant relief”.


Tortoise declared oldest ever at 190 years

A tortoise previously declared the world’s oldest living land animal by Guinness World Records has been awarded a second title — the oldest tortoise ever.

Jonathan, who lives on St Helena, a British overseas territory in the Atlantic Ocean, is believed to be at least 190 years old, as the animal was fully mature, at least 50 years old, when he arrived on St Helena in 1882.

The tortoise’s latest Guinness World Records title is officially “the oldest chelonian,” a category including all turtles, terrapins and tortoises.

The previous record-holder died at the estimated age of 188 in 1965. Jonathan is blind and has lost his sense of smell, but eats well when hand-fed. Jonathan is still active, and often enjoys the company of fellow giant tortoises.


Rare fish found for the first time since 1939

Wildlife officials in Ohio said a rare fish, believed to have been extinct in the state, has been found in local waters for the first time since 1939.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife said in a Facebook post that two longhead darters were caught by fish management crews conducting electro-fishing bass surveys in the Ohio River.

This striking creature, native to Ohio, was thought to be locally extinct the post said.

“Throughout its range, this fish is uncommon and the American Fisheries Society lists the longhead darter as threatened in all states where it occurs,” the website says.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 22th, 2022

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