This is one crocodile that didn’t want to become a handbag. Police in Sacramento, California, captured the four-foot creature near a TJ Maxx store in a small shopping mall.
It apparently escaped from a box left in front of a reptile shop called The Serpentarium with a sign saying ‘Nile Crocodile. Contact Rescue’.
Authorities say the crocodile is feisty but had duct tape wrapped around its jaws. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is looking for a zoo or other facility to give it a home.
Hero parrot is squawk of the town
Wunsy the wonder parrot flew to the rescue after saving its owner when she was pushed to the ground in a park.
The heroic African grey was being taken for a walk – and a fly – in Sunny Hill Park, north London, when his female owner was grabbed by the shoulders and shoved.
He flapped his wings and squawked, causing the attacker to take flight towards Great North Road, Hendon.
Sly tactics delay baby’s competitors
Sibling rivalry may extend to breastfeeding infants who keep their mothers up at night to prevent them getting pregnant, an expert has claimed.
Babies who constantly wake up demanding to be fed are trying to delay the birth of a brother or sister, according to evolutionary biologist Professor David Haig.
Breastfeeding widens the gap between births by undermining fertility. Over millions of years, human infants have evolved the feeding strategy to reduce competition and improve their chances of survival, Prof. Haig believes.
Service e-mail trapped laptop thief
When a US man got an e-mail from Apple thanking him for calling customer service about his laptop computer he was puzzled – someone had stolen it from him a year earlier.
Police eventually arrested Casey Wentworth, 24, and charged him with burglary. He is accused of taking the laptop from Mike Witonis’s home in Dover, New Hampshire, in February 2013.
When the break-in happened, police said they could not identify any suspects. Detectives contacted Apple and the laptop’s serial number was flagged.
Witonis got the e-mail and contacted police, who said the person who called customer service used the serial number of the stolen computer.
Chinese cough up €700 for fresh air
Beijing artist Liang Kegang returned from a business trip in France with a small item of protest against his home city’s choking pollution – a glass jar of clean, Provence air.
He put it up for auction before a group of about 100 Chinese artists and collectors and it fetched 5,250 yuan (€700).
“Air should be the most valueless commodity, free to breathe for any vagrant or beggar,” Liang said. “This is my way to question China’s foul air and express my dissatisfaction.”
There is widespread dissatisfaction over air quality in China, where cities are often enveloped in harmful pollutants many times what is considered safe by the World Health Organisation.
The chronic problem has spurred brisk markets for dust masks and home air purifiers. China’s senior leaders have pledged to clean the country’s air.