Underdog rescued from hole
A massive rescue operation succeeded in saving a dog who had gotten stuck at the bottom of one of the world’s biggest manmade holes, Metro reports. The pooch — nicknamed “Underdog” — was spotted last week swimming in the lake at the bottom of a gigantic South African crater known as the “Big Hole,” having somehow survived the 700-foot fall to the bottom of the unused mine.
He managed to get to a ledge and was stranded there for eight days after emergency workers found out their ropes weren’t long enough. Passers-by threw down food to keep the dog alive, and he was finally saved yesterday by a seven-person team who made their way down with ropes and pulleys. The workers say the dog was in pretty good shape considering his ordeal—and he is now up for adoption. (Newser)
For whom the bell cracks
Harvard University has sued an Ohio company, saying a defective bell clapper sold by the company broke an 81-year-old, 5,000-pound (2,268 kg) bell dedicated to the memory of its students who died in World War I.
The 377-year-old Ivy league university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sued Commercial Music Service Co of lancaster, Ohio, contending that a new clapper it installed in 2011 produced a two-foot crack that changed the deep, resonant tone of the bell, creating a louder and harsher sound. In papers filed on Monday in US District Court in Boston, Harvard said the company, formerly called Chime Master, had started servicing the bell in 2006 and persuaded the university to buy a new, custom-made clapper even though it knew there was a spare.
“Harvard has incurred costs in determining the cause of the crack in the Memorial Church Bell and will incur great expense for its replacement,” the university said in court papers. The mouth of the bell measures 5 feet across. An attorney for Commercial Music Service, John Jarosak, declined comment.The suit, which charges negligence and breach of warranty, seeks unspecified money damages. (Reuters)
Patch the hitler puppy
A dark mark on his top lip mirrors the Fuhrer’s famous moustache which another large brown area over his left ear completes the look of the dictator. The puppy, a cross between a French bulldog and a Shih tzu, has two brothers and lives with owner lynda Whitehead in York. She said no one calls him by his real name any more and Patch is starting to obey orders as “Adolf” or “Hitler”. Ms Whitehead said: “None of us noticed the likeness until we put a photo on Facebook and my eldest daughter saw it and said ‘You've got a little Hitler there’.
“Although he’s called Patch, everybody calls him Adolf now. “My grandsons are the worst for doing the goose-step when the puppy’s around.” Patch’s mother Betty, a French bulldog, and father Teddy, a Shih tzu, both belong to lynda’s daughter Clare, and Patch belongs to Clare’s 17-year-old son Dan. The three puppies in the litter are being reared at lynda’s home until they reach 12 weeks old. Ms Whitehead added: “He is a lovely little thing. All of them are, but he is the gentlest of them all. He will sit on your lap and just look at you until he falls asleep.
“One of his brothers should be Hitler as he has the attitude. That one’s the runt of the litter so he’s had to fight a bit more.” (Telegraph, UK)
Darwin’s frog croaks its last
A frog named after Charles Darwin has gone extinct because of a deadly amphibian skin disease, scientists believe.Darwin’s frogs were named after the father of evolution, who discovered them in 1834 in Chile during his voyage around the world on the ship HMS Beagle.
They are notable for having evolved to escape predators by looking like a dead leaf, with a pointy nose, and the fact that the males carry young tadpoles around inside their vocal sacs. Researchers think the northern Darwin’s frog, one of two species, has been killed off completely by a fungal disease called chytridiomycosis that infects their skin. Numbers of the related southern species have plunged dramatically. An analysis into the spread of the disease by a team from the Zoological Society of london (ZSl) and Chile's Universidad Andres Bello found that habitat loss contributed to the decline, but this alone could not explain the animal’s demise.
“Only a few examples of the ‘extinction by infection’ phenomenon exist,” said Andrew Cunningham, from ZSl’s Institute of Zoology.“Although not entirely conclusive, the possibility of chytridiomycosis being associated with the extinction of the northern Darwin’s frog gains further support with this study.” (Reuters)