Three tiny baby crocodiles that are only 11 inches long have made their public debut at a zoo.

The African dwarf crocodiles, which are around six months old, recently arrived at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in Devon. The animals weigh no more than 170g each.

Mike Bungard, curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at the zoo, said: “They may be small but they still come with a nasty bite.

“They have a mouthful of pointy, pin-sharp teeth, as young crocs tend to eat a lot of insects.”

A zoo official said dwarf crocodiles rarely exceed two metres in length. (AP)

Hero gets burgers for life as reward

The man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for a decade in an Ohio house will never have to pay for another burger in his hometown.

Charles Ramsey has been promised free burgers for life at more than a dozen Cleveland-area restaurants. The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reports that the restaurant where Mr Ramsey worked as a dishwasher initially created a special burger in his honour, but eateries in the city decided a larger tribute was due.

Mr Ramsey was called a hero after helping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight break out of the house on May 6. Ariel Castro is now facing charges. (PA)

For sale – island with a troubled history

The US government is going ahead with plans to sell a tiny island east of New York where experiments on dangerous animal diseases have been conducted since the 1950s.

Officials plan to close the lab at Plum Island and move to a new site in Kansas by 2018.

No-one knows what the island may sell for, but one property expert said if development there was banned it could knock tens of millions of dollars off the value. (PA)

Bees to look for unexploded mines

Unlikely heroes may be coming to the rescue to prevent people being killed or injured by landmines in Croatia.

Sugar-craving honeybees are being trained by researchers to find unexploded mines littering the country and the rest of the Balkans. About 466 square miles are still suspected to be filled with mines from the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

Nikola Kezic, a professor at Zagreb University and an expert on the behaviour of honeybees, said bees have a perfect sense of smell that can quickly detect the scent of the explosives and they are being trained to identify their food with the scent of TNT. (PA)

Titanic’s little sister is refurbished

The boat used to take people to the ill-fated Titanic is set to welcome passengers on board again after a refurbishment that took seven years to complete.

The SS Nomadic – the last remaining vessel of the White Star Line – opens its doors to the public for the first time this week.

Built by Harland and Wolff shipyard workers in 1911 at the same time and using the same Thomas Andrews designs as its mighty big sister, the Nomadic is Belfast’s latest offering to the lucrative Titanic tourist trail.

The refurbished ship, which was bought at auction in France in 2006 for €250,000, still retains many of the original features. (AP)

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