Dog walking is a familiar sight to most people, but visitors to London Zoo may spot keepers taking a more unusual walk on the wild side – with a pair of vultures.
Black vultures Guido and Jaffar are being taken for a daily stroll around the zoo with their keepers, to encourage the newly paired males to establish a firm friendship before starring together in the “Deadly Birds” demonstration when it returns in the spring.
Nine-year-old Jaffar is a new arrival at the zoo, and will be joining 10-year-old pro Guido in the demonstration. The daily walks are proving popular with the vultures, who hop along next to their keepers, though they have attracted some strange looks from visitors.
Pitch perfect thanks to drug gangs
Lincoln City are to become the latest football club to keep their playing surface in trim using heat lamps seized from cannabis growers.
Lincolnshire Police have given three confiscated lamps to the Conference club, which hopes to emulate the success of similar initiatives at Notts County and Rochdale. Capable of heating soil to replicate warmer weather conditions, the lamps will be mounted on a mobile framework at Lincoln’s Sincil Bank ground.
Head groundsman Phil Kime said: “Over a season the playing surface gets a lot of wear and tear, especially the South Park goalmouth which doesn’t get any sunlight for at least four months of the year, so this would make a great difference to the pitch.”
Species of insects are in peril
Dozens of species of insects have been put on a “red list” over fears they could become extinct in Britain.
Research into two groups of scarce and threatened insects has led to 35 out of 283 species collectively known as leaf beetles being placed on the red list as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction.
Three have already become extinct in Britain in the last 100 years, while seven are critically endangered and possibly extinct in Britain as they have not been seen since 1950, the analysis showed.
Parents fume at X-rated puzzle
Parents in a Pennsylvania school district are turning 50 shades of red over word search puzzles given to their children based on an erotic novel and film.
The students were given puzzles based on Fifty Shades of Grey. The puzzles contained terms including spanking, submissive, leather cuffs and bondage.
Officials in the Monessen school district said they could not say who handed out the puzzles or how many students received one because they had just learned about it. Parents complained about it at a school board meeting.
TV series gets an early showing
House of Cards fans got a brief glance at the third season when Netflix accidentally posted its hit series online, two weeks early.
The online video company called it a “technical glitch” and pulled the episodes of the political thriller. The House of Cards Twitter account cheekily posted: “This is Washington. There’s always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27.”
Boat breakdown in middle of city
Drivers in Boston were all at sea when a large truck towing an even bigger boat broke down, snarling traffic in the heart of the city’s bustling financial district.
The 13-metre yacht Maggie Mae was being taken to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Centre for the New England Boat Show, which starts on Saturday, when the truck stalled, according to WCVB-TV.
Boston’s narrow streets are tighter than usual because of heavy snow accumulation over the past two weeks.
Workers eventually shipped the truck and boat out of the congested neighbourhood.