All stories about "Animals"

Paris rat-catchers tackle rodents. Officials in Paris have launched a citywide campaign to eliminate the 8 million rats living below the City of Lights' surface. Ew, nothing cool or cute about that (except maybe a BBC photo editor's choice of putting a Ratatouille still as the article's accompanying image).

Beaches in Spain and the Mediterranean are bracing for an "assault" of jelllyfish that's expected to hit the region this summer. The Economist says the massive jellyfish bloom in Southern Europe is just the latest evidence of a steep rise in the number of the stinging creatures caused by overfishing. [via]

South Korean customs officials will soon be working with a team of cloned sniffing dogs. The country's customs service has managed to clone "their best sniffer dog," Chase, seven times. The Canadian Labrador Retriever puppies are in their second round of training and will report to duty in June. [ Gadling]

Endangered donkeys have brought together a divided Cyprus thanks to a little help from Facebook. After 10 of the wild beasts were shot dead, an initiative launched on the social networking site brought together both Greek and Turkish Cypriots to help save the rest. [BBC]

Monkeys on Gibraltar are being treated to lethal injections since they've become a huge nuisance to tourists visiting the island's famous rock. Twenty-five of the macaques are slated to be shot full of poisonous chemicals following widespread incidences of people receiving monkey bites and having their homes vandalized by the troublesome apes. [Reuters]

Would you pay $100 for a cup of coffee? What if it was made with cat poo? Peter Jones, who is in charge of the in-store coffee shop at Sloane Square in central London, will soon be selling a 50-£ cup of joe. The blend is a mix of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee beans and Kupi Luwak -- beans from Indonesia that have first passed through the alimentary canal of a palm civet, a cat-like marsupial. In the process the beans become deliciously, er, musky . Proceeds from this very special coffee will go to a cancer charity. [via]

Japan has been hit with a wave of cute baby animals, the likes of which the world has rarely seen before. This new video shows the cubs behind this shocking cuteness epidemic: Raja, a 7-week old lion Yokohama Zoo, and a rare litter of newborn baby cheetahs from Tokyo. The cheetahs are cute and all, but Raja seems to have the star power necessary to earn him a place in the Baby Zoo Animal Hall of Fame alongside Flocke and Knut. The clip shows the lion cub squealing, sniffing the camera, and drinking from a baby bottle. For God's sakes people! The wion is dwinking fwum his widdle biddy baby bottle!

I can't even handle all this cuteness. It's melting my brain and turning me into a senseless pile of goo. I'm going to go read about the election for a few minutes until I regain my composure. [via]

In what some may argue is yet another aspect of the Curse of the Bambino, a schoolgirl was attacked by a hawk at Fenway Park. The red-tailed hawk, which has taken in many a game from behind home plate, lost its longtime ballpark home as a result of the incident. Seated some 40 feet from the hawk's nest (which had a single egg inside), the girl, who had attended the Red Sox game with her Bristol, Connecticut, middle school, was cut on her eyebrow by the hawk's extended talons. The girl was taken to the hospital, and the hawk's nest moved by the Boston Animal Rescue League. No word on the hawk's whereabouts. Video of the hawk from earlier this week after the jump.

In another case of urban evolution, city-dwelling songbirds are actually changing the tunes they communicate with, says the New Scientist. It's become more difficult for birds to make themselves heard over the noise of most cities, so they are adapting by trading a "rich mix of enchanting melodies and calls" for "a strangely depleted music--abrupt, high-pitched and sometimes ear-piercing." [via]

Last week we brought you the Liger. This week, it's the Wolphin, the Zony, the Geep and the Shetbra. The Telegraph has a slide show featuring all of those animal hybrids and more. While scientists speculate that some distinct species may mate out of an instinct to diversify their populations, "most hybrids are born in captivity -- which may suggest sexual frustration and proximity are stronger factors." [The Telegraph]

Americans have long harbored an unhealthy fascination with Hollywood child stars. From Shirley Temple to Britney Spears, Corey Feldman to Macaulay Culkin, those that have skyrocketed to fame prior to hitting puberty have faced an uphill battle, often dabbling in drug abuse, overexposure, and the attempt to resurrect their careers via terrifying reality TV shows. But is that phenomenon now taking hold of an entirely different species?

This is probably the single weirdest piece of animal cuteness porn that I've ever come across, and since we like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of critter clips here at Gridskipper, that's really saying something! The video stars Lira, a three-month old Liger cub who lives with her owner in a small apartment in Yekaterinburg, Russia. As seen inNapoleon Dynamite, ligers are a hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger. They look like ordinary lions with stripes, but the crossbreeding results in a genetic tic that makes ligers grow up to twice as large as their lion and tiger ancestors. Lira already weighs almost sixty pounds, but she eats almost five pounds of meat per day and she'll only be able to stay in the apartment where she lives for another month or so. For now, Lira's handlers have to keep her leashed or caged because "if you let her off the leash she'll turn everything upside down and tear everything apart." She does get to go out for walks through the city streets on her leash. It looks like it might suck a bit to live with a liger, but from where I'm sitting, her mischief-making, romping, and cavorting is just ridiculously adorable.

Twin polar bears that were born at the Moscow Zoo four months ago have just made their first public appearance. Mother Cora, and her two not-yet-named cubs made their debut this past Tuesday. Here, some more polar bear porn complete with nursing (and in turn cute little polar bear paws kneading mama's tummy), playing with a bird carcass and channeling Narcissus. Since this video is a bit brief, if your appetite for cuteness isn't quite satiated after finishing it, click here for a full eight minutes (which includes a bout with a tire swing and Cora posing gracefully on a gate).

Easter gives Londoners a rare opportunity to spend quality time with their loved ones in airport departure lounges while their flights are delayed or stuck on gridlocked roads. The four-day weekend is a green light to escape -- but with the school Easter holidays and an entire country trying to get out and back in at the same time, it's not such a wise move. You could stay in, gorge yourself on some low-quality egg shaped confectionery and watch bad 80s films on TV. Or you could get out there and meet some little fluffy bunnies, adorable lambs and the occasional pig or donkey. Yes, London has many city farms -- some are of the We Only Have Three Animals But There's A Nice Café variety and some are more like proper working farms. They're at their best in spring and are the perfect destressing activity (provided your visit doesn't coincide with that of the screaming child who has just made the connection between the lamb on the farm and the lamb on the lunch table). Fill up a bucket of feed and go pet your new furry friends; if your inner kid is lucky, there might even be an Easter egg hunt. (photo)

Nuremberg Zoo's Knut may soon be a star of the silver screen (and be responsible for upping the Berlin Zoo's revenue by 30%), and Flocke is surely following suit in terms of international popularity, but they're no longer the only unbelievably cute polar bears in town. Video and photos of the Stuttgart's Wilhelma zoo's most recent addition, Wilbaer, were just released despite the fact that the now young cub was born back in December, just one day before Flocke. Turns out the zoo wanted to take the high road and prove that it wasn't "out for the big money" by not immediately pawning off press material of little Wilbaer. We here at Gridskipper love all animals, but if this video of Wilbaer with his mother, Corinna, is any indication, Knut and Flocke better watch their backs when it comes to cutest cub in town.

Move over Godzilla, the real threat to Tokyo these days involves crazy people in animal costumes. This video shows two people in a papier mache zebra outfit attacking zookeepers and visitors at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo. Luckily, this disturbing scene isn't evidence of a real-life kaiju invasion or another case of a zoo animal killing spree-- it's all part of safety procedures. Each year, the Tokyo zoo staff conducts these drills with a different simulated species in order to prepare for beast-related emergencies. It's hard to imagine that shooting a fake horsey with a cap gun would help anyone deal with a major crisis like a rampaging wildcat, but what the hell do I know? These people are zoo professionals. They are like the Delta Force of poo-raking and animal husbandry.

Just because it's been awhile since the last one -- time for a new clip of Flocke, the polar bear cub at the Nuremberg Zoo. In this episode: brushing, rubbing, palpating, aggressive cuddling, suckling, tongue, German. Goes without saying it will blow your brains out with cuteness, as per usual.

Raccoons are running rampant all over Brooklyn. Brooklyn's raccoon epidemic started in the historic Green-Wood Cemetery where the beasties have been ransacking garbage cans, digging up plot grass, and invading crypts. Recently, the raccoons threat has expanded to nearby neighborhoods like Park Slope and Williamsburg. The increase in raccoon sighting is largely due to the fact that NYC's Center for Animal Care and Control no longer accepts healthy raccoons trapped in the cemetery, they'll only capture and care for rabid animals. [via]

A baby Humboldt penguin -- also known as the Peruvian penguin, native to Chile -- was born at the Brookfield Zoo last month. The unnamed chick is currently being cared for by zookeepers as a result of its having difficulty growing properly. While the penguin's parents Allegro and Batata (yes indeed) "may miss their chick and have not left their nests to catch food as they would normally," the change suits the baby penguin just fine. Thanks to a strict "weight-gain regimen of fish shakes six times a day," the chick seems to be flourishing. Video of the chick crying, then momentarily dozing off before crying again, is here. [via]