Unusual Animal News

  Animal antics from around the world often make global news stories whether they are becoming extinct or being discovered, are displaying uncharacteristic behaviours for their species, or have simply baffled the scientific world.

With so much animal news today focusing on the devastating impacts that the encroachment of humans is having on numerous eco-systems around the world, we thought we would share some of the more unusual animal stories that have been globally publicised in the past couple of months.

In 2010, two whales were found stranded on a beach in New Zealand that turned out to be incredibly rare Spade-Toothed Beaked Whales. Over the past 140 years only three partial skulls have been collected from the species, so very little is known about these deep-sea dwelling creatures. This remarkable (although devastatingly sad) situation can allow science to find out more about the species and how they can be protected in the future.

Over in the Middle East, a 6ft long crocodile has been recaptured after escaping from a local zoo two years ago. After no sightings of him, waste-water workers discovered the crocodile in a sewer pit two months ago where he appeared to be very healthy and full of spirit. Named by locals as Rock, the rescue operation saw a team of six policemen and fisherman spend two weeks in a boat in the pit before they eventually drained it and were able to capture and return him to his enclosure in the zoo.

However, in South Korea, an Asian elephant has astonished scientists by his ability to mimic a number of Korean words. By placing the tip of his trunk in his mouth, the elephant known as Koshik, is able to turn his natural low rumble into an accurate impression of the human voice and has learnt to say five words in Korean which are: Hello, No, Sit Down, Lie Down and Good.

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