The UK's only male giant panda has celebrated his 12th birthday.

Yang Guang (Sunshine) feasted on a two-tiered cake made from ice and bamboo in his enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo. He was also given plenty of his preferred species of bamboo, as well as his favourite treat honey.

The keepers placed the large, green cake in Sunshine's outdoor enclosure so he could wander out and look for it, and also fashioned a large number 12 out of bamboo.

Primary teachers seeing double

Teachers face seeing double in one area of Scotland this school year as a record 19 sets of twins prepare to start primary one.

When the bell rings to begin the new term on Monday in Inverclyde, there will be a total of 72 sets of twins in primary schools across the region. It has left education leaders wondering if there is “something in the water”.

Of the new intake, 17 of the 19 sets of twins have met in their school uniforms at Ardgowan Primary School in Greenock.

‘Humans to blame for extinction’

Humans have been found guilty of wiping out extinct beasts such as the woolly mammoth and giant armadillo, despite earlier seeming to be in the clear, scientists say.

Only last month research published in the journal Science claimed that the human race had been unjustly accused of megafauna genocide. Instead, climate change was said to be chiefly to blame for the loss of large mammals in the last 80,000 years.

Now another team of experts claims to have settled the debate by showing that, with a few exceptions, wherever prehistoric humans went megafauna died out. The study is published in the journal Ecography.

Police selfie after drug arrest

A US police officer has said he “happily obliged” a motorist who asked to take a selfie with him after the man acknowledged that he had smoked marijuana before driving.

Gilbert Phelps, 20, of Iowa City, was arrested last week after being pulled over for speeding. The officer wrote in a police complaint that, after taking Phelps in for alcohol and marijuana intoxication tests, Phelps “requested to take a Snapchat selfie with me, to which I happily obliged”.

Holiday woman stays to find cat

A Florida woman’s love for her cat is leading her to extend her holiday in Alaska.

Robin Wiesneth and her husband Charles were involved in a traffic crash on August 5 in the remote US state, when a pick-up truck crashed into their motorhome. The two people in the truck died and the Wiesneths suffered minor injuries.

Ms Wiesneth’s black and white male cat Tucker was reportedly on her lap at the time of the incident and disappeared after the crash. Mr Wiesneth is returning to Florida, while Mrs Wiesneth says she will stay until Tucker is found and is offering a $500 reward for his return.

Baboon stolen for deaf son

The mystery of a baby baboon abducted from a zoo in Skopje, Macedonia, had a bittersweet resolution – a mother says she stole it as a gift for her deaf son.

The woman said that she took Luka, an 18-month-old crowd favourite, as a belated birthday present for her seven-year-old son. The woman said frequent visits to the zoo had left her boy “in love with the monkey”.

Police said Luka was taken by two people who cut nets at his enclosure and rescued about four hours later. Two people have been charged with burglary-related offences.