4-Legged Duck, $68,000 Snake, Spider Loses his Wang, & other CRAZY Animal Stories!

[Prognosticator]

Crazy News Day!

4 Legged Duck

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17217248/

It doesn’t walk like a duck
Meet Stumpy, a tiny duckling in England with a rare mutation — four legs

FREE VIDEO


• Mutation leaves duck with 4 legs
Feb. 19: A rare mutation has left a duckling in England with two nearly full-sized legs behind the two he runs on. His four legs not only saved him from the chopping block but also brought him world-wide attention.
NBC News Web Extra


Updated: 7:39 a.m. MT Feb 19, 2007
LONDON - Webbed feet run in Stumpy's family, but a rare mutation has left the eight-day-old duckling with two nearly full-sized legs behind the two he runs on.

Nicky Janaway, a duck farmer in New Forest, Hampshire, 95 miles southwest of London, unveiled the duckling to reporters on Saturday.

"It was absolutely bizarre. I was thinking 'he's got too many legs' and I kept counting 'one, two, three, four,'" Janaway said.

Story continues below ?
advertisement

Stumpy would probably not survive in the wild, but Janaway, who runs the Warrawee Duck Farm in New Forest says he is doing well.

"He's eating and surviving so far and he is running about with those extra legs acting like stabilizers," Janaway said.

The mutation is rare, but cases have been recorded across the world. One duckling named Jake was born in Queensland, Australia, in 2002 with four legs but died soon after.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[Prognosticator]

Illegal Snakes Totaling $68,400

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17499570/

Snakes (almost) on a plane — 2,400 of them
'Slithering sounds' heard by cargo workers; snakes were meant for diners

Updated: 9:46 a.m. MT March 7, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Workers at a Malaysian airport cargo complex found 2,400 snakes of a protected species in crates bound for Hong Kong sent by smugglers in Thailand, news reports said Wednesday.

The banded rat snake — rarely found in Malaysia and protected under local laws and international wildlife treaties — is an expensive delicacy in some Asian countries, the New Straits Times and The Star reported.

Workers handling cargo at the complex near the Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang grew suspicious when they heard hissing and "slithering sounds," the Times reported, and alerted wildlife officials.

Story continues below ?
advertisement

The officials found the snakes, worth an estimated $68,400 on the market, tied up in plastic sacks in a total of 86 crates, the Times added.

The fate of the snakes was unclear in the reports. Phone calls to the wildlife department office in Penang went unanswered Wednesday morning.


Click for related content
View profiles of select threatened species
Endangered lions killed for claws, bones
Gorilla birth raises hope for species
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[Prognosticator]

SPIDER loses WANG

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17468999/

Researchers discover spider 'chastity belt'
Male spiders break off part of genitalia in female to deter other suitors


Updated: 2:08 p.m. MT March 5, 2007
BERLIN - A new study by German scientists of spiders' copulation techniques found that males leave part of their sex organ inside their female partner as a sort of "chastity belt" to deter rivals.

"By breaking off parts of their intromittent organs inside a virgin female, males can reduce sperm competition and thereby increase their paternity success," the Bonn University researchers wrote in the journal Behavioral Ecology.

After setting the tone by shaking the female's web, the male has only seconds to have sex before the larger female kills him. In over 80 percent of cases, the tip of the male's genital organ breaks off inside the female.

Story continues below ?
advertisement

This appears to be the result of a hasty getaway — but also leaves behind a sort of chastity belt that keeps other males away, the study showed.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

 

[Boom]

This is why I luv aminals.