World Briefs

Keepers at a wildlife park in the UK have been delighted to hear the patter of tiny trotters after the birth of two rare piglets.

Visayan warty piglets Pebbles and BamBam were born at the Cotswold Wildlife Park in Burford, Oxfordshire, to parents Fred and Wilma, a spokesman said.

The species is almost extinct in the wild.

The Visayan warty pig is native to six islands within the Philippines but they have become extinct on four of them due to deforestation and hunting. They are called warty pigs after the warts on their faces. (PA)

Skull in harbour

An excavation crew has made a startling discovery at the bottom of Pearl Harbour: a human skull that archaeologists suspect is from a Japanese pilot who died in the historic World War II attack.

Archaeologist Jeff Fong said the skull was unearthed during dredging of the harbour in April. Mr Fong says archaeologists have ruled out the skull belonging to an ancient Hawaiian burial site. And they also ruled out that it is connected to any missing person cases.

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii is trying to determine whom the skull belongs to. (AP)

Beware full moon

A lion is most likely to eat you just after a full moon, research has shown.

Other predators, such as wolves, may also be at their most dangerous when the moon starts to wane.

The discovery, from an African study of 500 lion attacks, could explain the full moon’s place in folklore as a harbinger of evil or disaster, and its association with werewolves and vampires. (PA)

Sporting Santas

Santas from all over the world lugged their overweight waistlines to this year’s 54th World Santa Claus Congress, throwing sacks of presents and firing canon balls in a new physical fitness contest.

The five-discipline event is the latest addition to the three-day conference at the world’s oldest amusement park, Bakken, just outside the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

Two teams of St Nicks – one from Denmark and the other from the US, Sweden, Russia, Germany and other countries – competed for the coveted trophy of Best Santa Team. The Danish Santas won. (PA)

Animals in freezer

A British taxidermist has been charged with hiding the bodies of a black bear, an orang-utan and a host of exotic species in his freezer.

Simon Wilson will appear in court accused of keeping a dead endangered tiger for commercial gain. He is also accused of illegally keeping a mandrill, a leopard skin, a peregrine falcon and an array of birds in the freezer at his workshop in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire.

The 49-year-old has been charged with seven offences linked to the trade of endangered species, as well as fraud and money laundering. (PA)

Bear stuck

A black bear is back in the woods in Tennessee after getting help with a problem – a plastic jar stuck on its head.

State wildlife officers looked for the bear for three weeks after reports he was caught in the unfortunate headgear before eventually spotting the animal and sedating it with a tranquilliser dart.

Dozens of people watched as the jar was removed from the bear which weighed just 115 pounds, when it should have weighed around 200. (PA)

Tortoise wheel

A 12-year-old African tortoise that recently had its front left leg amputated due to injury is now moving just fine, thanks to a swivelling wheel attached to his shell by doctors at Washington State University’s veterinary hospital.

The tortoise, named Gamera after the giant flying turtle of the old Japanese monster movies, is gaining weight and generally thriving with his new appendage.

“I don’t know whether he’d pass the hare, but he moves around very well,” said Charlie Powell, spokesman for WSU’s veterinary hospital in Pullman. (PA)