MelSkunk's stories

Snow in Australia holiday gift for polar bears
Sun 22 Dec 2002 - 14:07

Kanook, Ping Ping, Lia and Lutik live a very warm Sea World in Brisbane, Australia. But a little Christmas magic, and a snow machine, will provide them with icy snow for the next month. Though it's the dog days of summer in Australia, the holiday season inspired the zoo to try out a winter landscape to keep their bears happy and healthy, both physically and mentally.
Polar bears are very smart, and need a wide variety of stimuli to keep them from suffering problems in captivity. Among other stimulating things the four have, there are even wind generation fans designed to entertain the bears with a wide range of interesting smells.

Oldest faux fir
Sat 21 Dec 2002 - 19:58

As Christmas approaches, many people insist on a real tree. But for Janet and Graham Parker in Wiltshire, England, only a fake one will do. Their artificial tree is 116 years old, the oldest in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records. Purchased in 1886, the tree has been handed down in the family ever since. A Guiness Book spokesman said that other submissions have been "60 or 70 years old, but this one beats them hands-down."

I'm dreaming of a white... penguin
Fri 13 Dec 2002 - 20:02

Snowdrop, perhaps the first albino penguin in captivity was hatched at Bristol Zoo reciently, just in time for the holidays.

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Nature leads the way again for science
Thu 12 Dec 2002 - 13:55

Science is constantly looking to the natural world for clues on how to built the better machine. The flight of the butterfly is paving the way for tiny aerial machines . The erratic looking flight of the butterfly, on closer examination, is a total mastery of the air, where the insect can use 6 different sorts motions of the wings to stay aloft, changing as needed from wingflap to wingflap. It was compared to the way a horse can change gait effortlessly.
The beautiful brittle star isn't where most people would look to for superior eyesight, but they are literally covered with perfect lenses, allowing for a total wrap around view. The lenses are much better than what we can make, thanks to the perfect use of chalk-like calcite crystals in its skeleton.

Man bites crocodile
Thu 12 Dec 2002 - 13:47

You know what they say. "Dog bites man, that's just gossip, but man bites dog is NEWS!". Well, I can only imagine man bites croc is even better. Mac Bosco Chawinga was swimming in a lake in northern Malawi when the crocodile attacked him. Fighting back, with his arms pinned, he decided to chomp on the beast's snout, which caused the surprised croc to retreat.

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Yerf is back
Wed 11 Dec 2002 - 01:48

Yerf, that popular archive of PG-13 furry art, has returned, after a long battle of the DNS with Verisign.

And the masses rejoice...

A merry Christmas for zoo animals
Tue 10 Dec 2002 - 22:27

Christmas starts early at the San Fransisco Zoo, where animals got presents of fun food and toys to unwrap, sponsored by visitors. Frozen fish blocks proved very popular with the polar bears, for example.

Bigfoot 'creator' dies, family admits to hoax
Sat 7 Dec 2002 - 01:56

It might disapoint many people to find out, but Ray L. Wallace, who died of a heart attack on November 28th and was one of the early stars in the Bigfoot story, used monkey suits, tapes of weird noises and a pair of large, wooden feet to perpetrate one of the biggest hoaxes in Cryptozoology. Now that he's gone, his family admits to taking part in various suit wearing exploits over the decades, even claiming to be involved in the famous Patterson film. The confession doesn't phase true believers. "To suggest all these are explained by simple carved feet strapped to boots just doesn't wash," says Jeff Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University.
Believe it or don't.

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Reporter discovers "the dog's life" of mascoting
Wed 27 Nov 2002 - 13:57

Many 'suiters wish those smarmy reporters would step inside the big, foam head and see what hot, hard work it is. Seth Stern has stepped up to the challenge and decided to walk a mile in another man's large, cartoon paws. It takes style and grace to pull off being a floppy eared canine, and our reporter friend goes through the full mascot bootcamp with sporting pros before trying out his skills in front of the crowd. "I'm actually disappointed that there's no one else to entertain", he notes as he finished up his last assignment in Mascot U, a Halloween parade.

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Hi-tech jobs resemble 19th century factories
Wed 27 Nov 2002 - 13:57

Many people have gotten into hi-tech work, seeing it as the perfect job. But the workplace of the future, with "flexable hours, no supervisors and no cubicles" is a different place in reality. The 'white collar factory' is a place of long, tireless hours, high pressure with low returns and low security. Isolation and insecurity rule the day, a fact too many people reading this will know already.

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