On the heartwarming scale this rates as a positive scorcher.A forlorn tigress, heartbroken because her own cubs have died, is fooled into adopting a litter of piglets when zoo officials in California wrap them in tiger skins.Such a thing had never been tried before, according to the email which accompanied these pictures as they were sent around the world.Unfortunately, there was a twist in the tiger's tale.
High on the hog: Five piglets in their tiger-skin coats doze peacefully across their surrogate mother at the zoo in Thailand. The tigress suckled and cared for the brood
Though the pictures have not been faked, an animal welfare pressure group investigated and discovered they were actually taken at a zoo in Thailand.The Sriracha Tiger Zoo, an hour's drive from Bangkok, has been accused of causing its exhibits unnecessary suffering, and of using stunts to gain publicity.These pictures must have been part of such a set-up, say experts, because it was unnecessary to wrap the piglets in their cute little tiger-skin coats.
It is apparently common practice in Thailand for tigers to suckle pigs, and for pigs to adopt orphaned cubs.
Pork scratching: A persistent piglet nuzzles up to the tigress as it tries to sleep The tigress in these pictures was herself brought up by a sow, and sees pigs as family.Though she had been given these babies to bring up, it is unclear whether she had lost a litter of her own, as the story claimed.In another twist, the zoo has been investigated for allegedly breeding tigers for export to China - where tiger parts command high prices for use in traditional medicines.Sommai Temsiripong, one of the zoo's owners, was charged with breeding tigers without a licence. On another occasion 23 tigers died of bird flu after being fed infected raw chickens.Critics say that behind the scenes tigers are bred in poor conditions and the the London Zoological Society has been critical of Sriracha's animal husbandry.
Piggy in the middle: One baby takes cover
Adam Roberts, an investigator with Animal Welfare International, the respected American pressure group which investigated the pictures, wrote in its quarterly magazine that the zoo - with more than 400 tigers, a handful of Asian elephants, of crocodiles, camels, snakes and other exotic animals - had many troubling exhibits.It also houses a circus, he said, where he saw tigers leaping through rings of fire, walking across a double tightrope, parading around the ring on hind legs, and riding on the back of a horse."Up close, however, one could clearly see the animals' debilitation and fear," he added."All of the animals awaited their turn to perform in a gated tunnel, keepers constantly poking them with a steel pole through the iron mesh."Behind the scenes, bored elephants swayed at the end of 2ftlong chains anchored to the ground.One had a long, deep scar across his ear - another was scarred across her trunk."After the show, the elephants stood in frot of the seats taking money from people with their trunks and passing it to the trainers astride their backs," Mr Roberts reported.The zoo denies any wrongdoing.
The tiger who adopted a litter of piglets (but is it a tale full of porkies?)
Gemma Atkinson vows to regain her curves after losing A STONE in the jungle
Gemma Atkinson has revealed she dropped a stone during her brief time in the jungle, but she has already vowed to get her car crash curves back.The former Hollyoakes actress admitted she indulged in a chocolate feast after she was axed from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here earlier this week.
Thin: Gemma, soaking up in the sun in Australia yesterday, has revealed she lost one stone while on I'm A Celebrity...
She said: "I lost a stone in there, so I need to stock up on food now. Thankfully I didn't lose my breasts, which is the main thing. I didn't want to lose them.""I noticed my shoulders, spine and collarbone were looking a bit bare but I'm hoping to put it all back on."The model, who dates football star Marcus Bent, says size zero holds little appeal to her.
Beach babe: Gemma, who indulged in chocolate and pasta after leaving the show, celebrates her post-jungle freedom with a surf
Making a splash: the model takes a dive after briefly standing up on the board
She told The Mirror: "I don't like the thin Victoria Beckham look. I like a bit of junk in your trunk."I think curvy girls are easier on the eye. And with me being so tall, if I go too thin I look a bit silly. I look like Olive Oyl, so I prefer to keep a bit of weight on."After leaving the show, which wraps tonight, Gemma indugled in a little pampering and after more than two weeks of basic rations, a few treats.
Shrinking: Gemma's quickly lost her curves while in the jungle
She revealed: "I had a shower and had my nails done and I had a pan of macaroni-cheese and a kilogram of chocolate."Gemma says that by the time she was evicted, she was more than ready to leave the jungle: "I wanted to stay in for two weeks without throwing in the towel. To be honest I thought I would be out a lot earlier as it got a bit hard."I was getting more hungry and tired and I really missed my mum."
Curves ahead: the former soap star has carved out a career as a model
Chantelle gives herself a post-divorce lift - a boost in the bust area
It's an unusual way to put the past behind you - but following the swift end to her ten-month marriage to singer Preston, reality TV winner Chantelle Houghton has opted for a post-divorce boost - in the bust area.Determined to cheer herself up after her split from Ordinary Boys frontman Preston, Chantelle spent £4,000 on boosting her cleavage from a 32B to a bountiful 32DD.
She showed off her new look in a revealing corset at the opening of a new Ultimo store in - where else - Essex today.Chantelle had wanted to go under the knife while still married, but Preston forbid her, calling breast implants "absolutely grotesque."But now that the couple, who met on Celebrity Big Brother, have called time on their fairytale marriage, Chantelle went ahead with the operation.A source said: "It's a big change – she's gone from a 32B to a 32DD but they don't look ridiculously out of proportion and Chantelle feels fantastic."Chantelle added: "I'm so happy with them – I absolutely love them and can't stop touching them."The former Paris Hilton lookalike is also rumoured to have a new man – electrician Chris Neal, 26 who is said to have dumped fellow BB contestant Nikki Grahame, 25, in favour of the Essex-born model.Chantelle said she immediately fell in love with her ex-husband but revealed that moving away from her family to live in Brighton following her fairytale marriage last August, was one of the main factors that led to the breakdown of the relationship.But now she says she is glad the hell of their ten-month union is finally over.She revealed: "I was married to a stranger. I'm happy it's over – we had nothing in common and nothing to talk about.""I found living in Brighton very hard...I had no family, no friends and it was a really hard time for me."Chantelle said at the time it was a mutual decision: "We both said, we can't do this any more, we can't go on hurting each other like this."The pair are expected to be split their assets 50-50 despite her earnings being significantly higher than his.The Ordinary Boys singer Preston, 25, has since rekindled his romance with Camille Aznar, 26 — the woman whom he dumped for Chantelle.
Bustier babe: Chantelle is dating again following her divorce, and old love Preston has returned to the girl he left Chantelle for - Camille Aznar
Giant Sea Scorpion Discovered; Was Bigger Than a Man
A fearsome fossil claw discovered in Germany belonged to the biggest bug ever known, scientists announced Tuesday.The size of a large crocodile, the 390-million-year-old sea scorpion was the top predator of its day, slicing up fish and cannibalizing its own kind in coastal swamp waters, fossil experts say.Jaekelopterus rhenaniae measured some 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) long, scientists estimate, based on the length of its 18-inch (46-centimeter), spiked claw.
The find shows that arthropods—animals such as insects, spiders, and crabs, which have hard external skeletons, jointed limbs, and segmented bodies—once grew much larger than previously thought, said paleobiologist Simon Braddy of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom."This is an amazing discovery," Braddy said."We have known for some time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, supersized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies," he added. "But we never realized, until now, just how big some of these ancient creepy-crawlies were."The newfound fossil creature is estimated to be at least one and a half feet (46 centimeters) longer than any previously known prehistoric sea scorpion, a group called eurypterids.Braddy and co-author Markus Poschmann of the Mainz Museum in Germany report the find in the latest issue of the journal Biology Letters.Poschmann uncovered the fossilized claw in a quarry near Prüm in Germany.Rock layers encasing it suggest the creature lived in a brackish coastal swamp or river delta, the researchers said.
Water Bug
Smaller sea scorpions are known to have crawled ashore to mate or shed their outer skins. But "there's no way this monster bug would have been able to do that, because it was just too big," Braddy said. "Its legs were relatively flimsy compared to the size of its body," he added. Without water buoying the big beast up, its legs would have collapsed under the weight of its body, Braddy said.The arthropod was top of the food chain, he said."They were cannibals but they also would eat some of the early armored fish that were around at the time."Some researchers think that some primitive jawless fish evolved protective bony shields because of predatory pressure from sea scorpions, he added.Though J. rhenaniae has been known for many years, no one realized the species grew so huge, according to paleontologist Paul Selden of the University of Kansas."It would pretty much have eaten anything smaller than itself," Selden said.The animal's claws were armed with long sharp teeth that "would have grasped even a slippery fish."Held at the ready on two long, folding arms, those claws would have been used to ambush prey, Selden said."I think they were designed for shooting out when close to prey, like the arms of a praying mantis," he added.Eurypterids, the relatives of modern-day land scorpions and spiders, likely reached such massive sizes due to lack of competition from fish and other vertebrates—animals with backbones—study author Braddy said.
Top Predator
"The backboned animals hadn't stepped up a gear yet in their evolution, so they weren't any real threat to the arthropods," he said."When they did, that's when the arthropods had to downsize."Jason Dunlop, arthropod curator at Berlin's Museum of Natural History, agrees."You didn't have so many jawed fish offering competition," Dunlop said."When fish evolve jaws during the Devonian period [416 to 359 million years ago]—afterwards the sea scorpion fossil record does tail off."
Biggest Bug
The new fossil represents the largest arthropod so far discovered, he added.The next biggest fossil arthropods were massive millipedes that grew more than 2 meters (6.5 feet) long, Dunlop said.The giant sizes of these and other land-dwelling prehistoric arthropods—including dragonflies with the same wingspans as seagulls—have been linked to increased levels of oxygen in the atmosphere.But as sea scorpions were water animals, "atmospheric oxygen probably wouldn't have played such an important role," Dunlop said.Eurypterids disappeared from the fossil record during the Permian extinction some 250 million years ago, when about 95 percent of marine species were wiped out.The largest arthropods living today include lobsters and spider crabs, both of which would have been bite-size snacks to J. rhenaniae.
Hulk Hogan’s wife wants her money
Linda Bollea, the wife of wrestler Hulk Hogan, is seeking half of the couple’s assets after filing for divorce last week. She also wants an unspecified amount in alimony and health insurance for their son Nick Bollea, according to People:Linda is seeking to split the couple's assets, which include the 17,000-square-foot Bel Air mansion where the family primarily lives and a 3,474-square-foot home in Clearwater Beach, Fla., as well as a condo under construction in Las Vegas. The two existing homes alone are worth nearly $9.5 million. Linda has an obsession with houses which a source for Page Six says caused rifts in her marriage to the Hulkster:
"She just goes nuts and acts like Hulk has Tom Cruise money - when he doesn't. She wanted to buy a $12 million house in LA, and when Hulk refused, she went ahead and rented a $35,000-a-month house. They already have four to five houses and she wants more?"
This is exactly why I’ll never get married. I don’t want some woman spending my hard-earned cash. I like things the way they are now. Where my girlfriend pays the rent and I steal money out of her purse to get drunk at the strip club while “looking for a job.” It’s an honest living. I don’t like to brag about it too much except to a couple/all of my guy friends, my parents and one time to my girlfriend. Wait, that’s why she put my Xbox in the oven. And here I thought the shoe store didn’t have her size or something. I dunno, I tend to drift in and out of consciousness whenever she talks. You know, because she completes me and had me at "hello" and [other romantic lines from Jerry Maguire here.
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