A loved-up seal couple who beat the odds to conceive two pups while on the contraceptive pill are keeping their romance alive by FaceTiming each other on iPads.
Mother Sija and father Babyface fell for each other while living together at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary. The couple surprised staff by falling pregnant despite Sija being on the pill and Babyface’s old age of 37 – one of the oldest seals in captivity.
The pair were separated this summer and moved into sanctuaries 160 miles apart to avoid them conceiving any more pups. But they are using the latest in technology - dubbed SealTime - to keep the spark in their relationship.
New species of wasp discovered
A species of wasp which has never been recorded in the country has been discovered at a British nature reserve.
The parasitic wasp, Lymantrichneumon disparis, now known to be a genus and a new species to Britain, was found by a butterfly collector at the RSPB’s Broadwater Warren near Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
But is has taken two years for experts to confirm the 2013 discovery made by Tony Davis, of Butterfly Conservation, who was undertaking a moth monitoring programme when he came across the specimen.
Inventor hopes to be flush soon
A British inventor has raised more than £20,000 in ten days to fund an invention that will “revolutionise a chore that we all love to hate”.
Garry Stewart, from Dunfermline, Fife, has invented a new toilet brush that has eight silicon blades and germ-killing chemicals to replace the traditional bristle brush. He said the LooBlade will make cleaning quicker and more hygienic, and he came up with the idea after his young child used a toilet brush as a hair brush.
The 52-year-old took to crowd funding site Kickstarter to raise funds for tooling and manufacturing and passed his £20,000 target with a fortnight remaining.
Beer money could soon be on tap
A settlement is brewing in a lawsuit that would give cash to drinkers of US-brewed Beck’s beer over misleading packaging emphasising its German origins.
A judge is set to consider approving the settlement. It could mean up to $50 for each household with proof of Beck’s purchases and $12 dollars for those without receipts. A website to file claims is at www.becksbeersettlement.com.
Beck’s was brewed in Bremen, Germany, for more than 100 years before its 2002 purchase by the company now known as Anheuser-Busch InBev. Although the beer was made in St Louis, Missouri, beginning in 2012, the lawsuit contended that US connections were downplayed in packaging that continued to boost links to Germany. Lawyers say consumers were unfairly charged higher import prices for an essentially US beer.
Extreme vegetarianism festival
Thailand’s Vegetarian Festival is more than sprouts and tofu – it is an assault on the senses, and for the most devout, on the body itself.
The most striking element of the nine-day Taoist celebration has little to do with food. In sacred rituals, devotees known as ‘Mah Song’ or ‘Spirit Horses’ work themselves into trances to have all manner of items pierced through their cheeks, from daggers and swords to a bicycle. Then they dance as massive strings of fireworks explode all around them.
The annual festival in Phuket has become a tourist attraction, with several large, noisy processions complete with fireworks, gongs and drums passing through the streets. Many Phuket residents have Chinese ancestors, and devotees to the many Chinese temples on the island parade their shrines’ emperor gods on hand-carried carriages.