MelSkunk's stories

The world Poitou population just went up by one. And where there's less than 200 of you, that's a big deal.
The very rare and prehistoric looking variety of donkey was born to a mother mare, using a new technique which helps trick the surrogate mother into thinking the implanted embryo is her own pregnancy, vasty reducing complications and miscarrage.
The embryo had to be 'relocated' when the mother donkey's knee problems put it into doubt whether she could sustain a baby to term.
Scientists say the technique, used first here to help a similar species become a surrogate for a rare cousin, will be a boon to endangered species reproduction, as well as rare breeds. Like the Poitou.

U.S. runner Tom Johnson went all the way to the United Arab Emirates to prove that when it comes to man versus horse in a test of desert endurance, man can win...barely.
Johnson beat al-Buraq, an Arabian rode by fellow American Jennifer Nice, by just 10 seconds in a 50 mile desert endurance challange.
Bothered by the heat and sand, as well as stray camels, Johnson kept his pace slow until the last few meters of the race, finishing in a sprint to pull in just before the stallion.
Al-Buraq was allowed rest periods and water as par endurance race rules. No one was on hand to make sure of the humane treatment of the human runner.

The volcanic eruptions in the Congo are not only a threat to people, enviromentalists are worried that the two eruptions (with possibly more to come) may be the last blow to the wild population of moutain gorillas. Between refugee movement, lava flows and enviromental contamination, the mountain gorilla habitat might be damaged beyond the level needed to support the 650 or so remaining animals.

What an Austrian conservation group spent 3 years trying to get permission for, unsucessfully, a beaver created overnight.
The group was trying to get a dam to help divert water into a dried out tributary vital of the local river ecology, and the baver built his dam in just the right spot for that to happen. The human dam builders think the beaver did a spot on job, and hope his good work will land the little fellow a mate come spring.