After decades of solitude, "Lonesome George" may finally save his species of Galapagos giant tortoise from extinction, his keepers said yesterday.
George, a Pinta island tortoise who has shown little interest in reproducing during 36 years in captivity, stunned his keepers by mating with one of his two female companions of a similar species of Galapagos tortoise.
Park rangers found a nest with several eggs in George's pen and placed three in incubators. It will take about four months to know whether the eggs bear George's offspring.
"Even if these three eggs are fertile and the born tortoises survive it will take several (genetic) generations to think of having a Pinta purebred... even centuries," the park said in a statement.
After trying almost everything from artificial insemination to having George watch younger males mate, his keepers had nearly lost hope. At 60 to 90 years old, George is in his sexual prime and should be able to reproduce. George, considered by many the world's rarest creature and a conservation icon, was thought to be the last of his kind after fishermen and pirates slaughtered his species for food.
Nudist resort 'blacklist'
France's data protection authority has given permission for a nudist resort to keep a "blacklist" of guests barred from its facilities, the organisation said.
The Rene Oltra nudist centre in southern France was obliged to seek permission after a person complained of being denied a reservation, the authority said on its website. French law requires organisations to seek authorisation to keep lists of individuals denied use of their services.
Contacted by Reuters, the resort declined to give further details regarding individual's exclusion from its site. The centre's rules require guests to abide by its "naturist ethic" of nudity at all times, weather permitting, and bans upsetting other guests or failing to observe hygiene standards.
"But nudity is not exhibitionism. Any indecent behaviour will be sanctioned by immediate exclusion," the rules say.
Mother kills daughter over homework
A Chilean woman beat her daughter to death after she refused to do her homework, police said yesterday.
Erna Rivera, 26, admitted losing her temper on Monday when her nine-year-old daughter refused to read a book her teachers had assigned as a holiday task. She kicked and beat the child at their home in the Chilean capital, Santiago, police said. The girl died shortly after - on the eve of her 10th birthday. Ms Rivera has been charged with murder.
Lesbians are not just from Lesbos
A Greek court has dismissed a request by residents of the Aegean island of Lesbos to ban the use of the word lesbian to describe gay women, according to a court ruling made public yesterday.
Three residents of Lesbos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poetess Sappho whose love poems inspired the term lesbian, brought a case last month arguing the use of the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.
In a July 18 decision, the Athens court said the word did not define the identity of the residents of the island, and so it could be validly used by gay groups in Greece and abroad. The ruling ordered the plaintiffs to pay court expenses of €230.
Russian bears trap geology survey crew
At least 30 hungry bears have trapped a group of geologists at their remote survey site in Russia's far east after killing two of their co-workers last week, emergency officials said yesterday.
The team of geologists on Russia's seismically active Kamchatka peninsula refused to leave their camp after the bears showed up, a press spokesman for the Kamchatka emergency services ministry said.
"In the interests of safety they didn't come out to work - the people are scared by the invasion of bears," the spokesman said.
Officials said a helicopter ferrying officials and hunters could not fly in bad weather, but an all-terrain vehicle was on its way to the camp, where it would await government approval to shoot the bears.