Wood-Eating Catfish Discovered In Peru
telegraph - Scientists from the US National Science Foundation made the discovery during an expedition last month to a national park in the Alto Purus area of northeastern Peru.
The fish, which reaches 70cm long (2ft 3 ins), have evolved "spoon-shaped teeth" specialised in scraping tree logs that fall into the river waters.
The indigenous people have long eaten the fish which they catch by shooting them in the water, but it is the first time a specimen has been caught alive to be studied by scientists.
Paulo Petry, a zoology professor at Harvard University, said the fish was found in an area bursting with biodiversity but also under threat from development.
"The particular specimens that we captured are the first that are fresh specimens, so we have the entire fish from which to take tissue samples," Dr Petry explained.
"They seem to be really tough to find and catch. You have to catch them with gill nets or cast nets, or shoot them. Since they eat wood, you're not going to catch them with a line."
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Elephant Arrested For Murder
In Chhattisgarh, India the police of Dhamtari district have arrested an elephant for killing a man.
The elephant had been brought from Allahabad to a park for joyrides.
Locals at the park started teasing the elephant and climbed onto its trunk.
In spite of repeated warnings given by the elephant's handler, the locals did not stop. Finally, in a rage the elephant flung a man in the air with his trunk.
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NASA Calls Igor 'Monstrous Hurricane'
livescience - Hurricane Igor, currently churning across the Atlantic as a major Category 4 storm, has been followed by NASA satellites, and dubbed a "monstrous hurricane," in a NASA statement.
Igor is so large that it is the same distance from one end of the storm to the other as it is from Boston, Mass., to Richmond, Va., some 550 miles (885 kilometers). That's a 10-hour drive.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were so impressed by Igor's immensity that they nicknamed it, "Igor the Terrible."
Igor's winds have weakened slightly, hitting a maximum of 145 mph (233 kph), but it remains a major Category 4 hurricane. While it's projected path is somewhat uncertain, it could make a direct hit on Bermuda in the next three or four days.
But even if it doesn't make a direct hit, Igor is so large that the National Hurricane Center noted that Bermuda can be buffeted by winds of hurricane-force or tropical storm-force on its current track. Hurricane-force winds extend outward from the center of the storm up to 45 miles (72 km), while tropical-storm-force winds extend as far as 225 miles (362 km) from the storm's center.
Igor is accompanied by Hurricane Julia, also a Category 4 hurricane, in the Atlantic, and Tropical Storm Karl in the Gulf of Mexico, which made landfall at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula earlier today (Sept. 15). Julia is not expected to be a threat to land, but Karl is expected to move over the Yucatan and back out over the Gulf before hitting the coast of mainland Mexico.
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Body Falls From Sky...Then Disappears
pressofatlanticcity - Police suspended the search for a person who witnesses say fell from a plane without a parachute Tuesday afternoon.
An extensive aerial and ground search for the person was halted at dusk.
Egg Harbor Township police received reports from three "credible witnesses" at Shore Veterinarians North on the Black Horse Pike that a person appeared to be free-falling from the sky, but did not have a parachute, Capt. Michael Morris said. A news release further described the person as falling headfirst, with the body at a slight angle.
Police launched a ground search. But after finding nothing, authorities began searching from the air using State Police and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters, Morris said.
The search centered on the area bordered by the Black Horse Pike, the Atlantic City Expressway, Uibel Avenue and English Creek Avenue. An orange Coast Guard helicopter hovered just above treetops for hours and smaller State Police helicopters whizzed a little higher in the sky. The witnesses said they last saw the person slightly northwest of the Black Horse Pike, closer to Tilton Road, Delilah Road or Westcoat Road, the news release said.
Atlantic County Emergency Management set up a command post in the parking lot behind the King Pin Bowling, where Egg Harbor Township police directed operations. Officials from the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office also were on the scene and are investigating, spokeswoman Madelaine Vitale said.
On Tilton Road, the Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company set up its ladder truck on the side of the road and firefighters stood atop the aerial platform. At least a dozen police officers were canvassing in the area. The search was suspended at about 7:30 p.m. because of darkness, but Morris said the investigation is continuing and may resume this morning.
Police are asking for any additional witnesses who may have seen similar activity in the sky over the Cardiff section of the township at about 3:20 p.m. Tuesday.
Morris said there were no reports of missing skydivers or similar incidents from area airports.
"This is not an area where we see skydivers," he said.
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'Fake' Football Team Allegations
BBC - Togo's football authorities are investigating allegations that a fake national team played a match against Bahrain earlier this month.
Bahrain won the friendly match 3-0, but said they were surprised by the poor quality of the Togolese team.
Togo later said it had never sent its national team to play in the game, staged at the national stadium in Riffa on 7 September.
Togo's sports minister said he would ask Fifa to investigate.
But Fifa says it has not yet received any official complaint and so has not launched its own investigation.
The match took place as Bahrain prepares to play in the West Asian Football Championships, which begin on 24 September.
The Bahrain Football Association (BFA) said it had been arranged under all the usual official procedures, and through an agent they had known for several years.
"Everything seemed to be in order until after the game, when we began to hear that some people are wondering about these players and this Togo team. We ourselves were surprised when we heard this," a BFA spokesman told the Gulf Daily News.
He said they had received all the official documentation for the match, including the players' passports.
The spokesman rejected reports that the match was organised by a fake football agent, saying the agent in question had always been "100% alright" and was now co-operating with the investigations.
Togo's Sport Minister Christophe Tchao told the Jeune Afrique magazine nobody in Togo had "ever been informed of such a game".
"We will conduct investigations to uncover all those involved in this case," he said.
Bahrain's head coach, Josef Hickersberger, told the Gulf Daily News the match had been a wasted opportunity for the team to practise before the West Asian championships.
"They were not fit enough to play 90 minutes - the match was very boring," he said.
"Basically it was not good for us because we wanted to get information about the strength of our team, especially playing with many of our professionals."
Fortean / Oddball News - 9/15/2010
