Hungry weaver bird chicks literally sing for their supper by making uniquely recognisable calls to their parents, scientists have learned.
Their distinctive voices allow parents not only to single out their offspring in a big colony, but also to assess how hungry they are.
German and Swiss scientists studied a population of Jackson’s golden-backed weaver birds on the shores of Lake Baringo, Kenya.
Water music
A grand piano has appeared on a sandbar in Miami’s Biscayne Bay, about 200 yards from homes on the shore. The piano, which weighs more than half a ton, was placed at the highest spot along the sandbar and remains out of the water during high tide.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said unless it becomes a navigational hazard it will be left there.
Paddy power
A crop circle is drawing thousands of curious onlookers to a rice field in central Indonesia.
The 70-yard-wide circle has drawn so much attention that villagers have started charging entrance fees. Officials from Indonesia’s space agency, astronomers and nuclear agency officials all agreed it was not left by an UFO.
Puppy love
One in seven American animal owners would rather dump their partner than their pet.
According to a poll, the unmarried are more apt to choose their pet over their mate – 25 per cent among versus eight per cent. Women are far more likely than men to say the choice would be a tough one, 40 per cent to 26 per cent.
Communist entertainment
A new Polish board game reminiscent of Monopoly has been launched to help young Poles understand the hardships of life under communism.
Players try to buy basic goods but food supplies run out before they reach the counter. If a bed is needed, they are offered stools instead.
The makers said it was conceived to show hardships previous generation endured before communism ended in 1989.
Weight gain
A man who weighs 20 stone says he intends to put on weight because he is not fat enough to qualify for weight-loss surgery.
Darin McCloud was told he did not qualify for a gastric bypass because he did not meet the criteria for the operation.
The 45-year-old, from Portsmouth, now plans to go on a get-fat-quick diet to tip the scales at more than 21 stone - the weight deemed necessary by his local NHS primary care trust.
Convict records
More than 42,000 records of British convicts who were transported to Australia in the 19th century are being published online for the first time.
Family history website Ancestry.co.uk said the new details, including parole documents granting freedom to UK convicts, add to a collection of more than 2.3 million criminal and convict records.
The records include details of Joseph Backler, a British artist who was sentenced to death for forging cheques in 1831 before his conviction was commuted to transportation. (PA)