Parrot sets colour recognition world record

A pet parrot in China has earned a Guinness World Record for the fastest time to identify 10 colours. Xiaogui, owned by Qin Feng, sorted coloured straw balls into matching bins in just 33.5 seconds.

The bird briefly placed a dark pink ball into the wrong bin, but corrected the mistake and secured the title. Feng, who adopted Xiaogui as a chick in 2020, said the parrot’s early fascination with coloured balls inspired him to begin training.

First orange shark documented

Angler Garvin Watson caught a rare six-foot, six-inch nurse shark near Tortuguero National Park in August 2024, marking the first documented case of an orange shark.

Scientists said the colouring is due to xanthism, a condition causing yellow or gold pigmentation, while the shark’s white eyes suggest partial albinism. Their report in Marine Biodiversity confirms it as the first recorded case of total xanthism in the species and the first such record from the Caribbean Sea.

Watson, who owns the Parismina Domus Dei Hotel, called the catch “incredible” and shared photos online.

Gold threads found in a woman’s knees

Doctors in South Korea found hundreds of pure gold threads in the knees of a 65-year-old woman treated for osteoarthritis.

She had turned to gold thread acupuncture after painkillers, anti-inflammatory and steroid injections failed to help. The alternative procedure, meant to relieve pain, only worsened her condition as she increased her visits to several times a week.

X-rays later revealed not just osteoarthritis damage, but countless gold threads embedded in her knee tissue. Doctors warn that the treatment has no proven benefits and carries serious risks, including cysts, tissue damage and complications during MRI scans.

Lawyer named Mark Zuckerberg sues Meta CEO

An Indiana bankruptcy lawyer named Mark Zuckerberg is suing Meta, claiming he’s repeatedly banned from Facebook and Instagram for “impersonating” the company’s CEO.

The lawyer, who has practised since before the tech mogul was out of preschool, says his ad page has been disabled five times since 2017, costing him about $11,000. He also receives hundreds of misdirected emails and struggles to make reservations because of his name.

After his latest ban, he filed suit, sharing years of ignored complaints to Meta. The company has now acknowledged the issue, saying it will work on a fix.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 4th, 2025