The UK’s giant pandas could be ready to mate within the next month, according to zoo experts.
Both the female, Tian Tian (Sweetie) and the male, Yang Guang (Sunshine), have already started to show important changes in their behaviour, indicating their readiness to mate soon, including handstands against trees, walls and rocks, scent-marking as high up as possible, according to panda specialists at Edinburgh Zoo said.
The zoo – where the pandas have lived since their arrival from China in December 2011 – has employed a number of measures to synchronise the breeding cycles of the pandas, including controlled lighting, urine testing for hormone levels and enclosure swapping. (PA)
Bird flu outbreak in Berlin
About 14,000 ducks at a German farm are being slaughtered following a bird flu outbreak.
A federal laboratory confirmed the H5N1 virus was detected at the farm near Seelow, east of Berlin - the first such finding in Germany in more than three years.
Yesterday officials started slaughtering the farm’s ducks. A local council spokesman said all poultry within a half-mile radius of the facility will be kept under observation for the next 21 days, with owners told to keep their birds where they are and report any symptoms.
The H5N1 virus normally spreads between sick poultry, but it can spread from poultry to humans. Bird flu has killed 367 people worldwide since surfacing in 2003. (AP)
Rabbits run riot in Denver
Rabbits are wreaking havoc on cars parked at Denver International Airport by eating spark plug cables and other wiring.
Federal wildlife workers are removing at least 100 bunnies-a-month while parking companies install better fences and build perches for predator hawks and eagles in a bid to tackle the problem.
KCNC-TV reported there is another way to stop the damage that can cost thousands of dollars to repair. Mechanics say coating the wires with fox or coyote urine can rob the rabbits of their appetite. Fox urine can be purchased at many hunting shops. (PA)
Hugh Grant is father again
Actor Hugh Grant has become a father for the second time and announced the news on his Twitter account – but warned the press to leave his family “in peace”.
The Notting Hill and Bridget Jones star is “thrilled” to have welcomed a baby boy, a brother for his one-year-old daughter Tabitha, with Chinese actress Tinglan Hong – a relation-ship that started out as a “fleeting affair”.
The 52-year-old film star has almost been more famous for his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry and his campaigning for a more responsible press of late than for his films. (AP)