News of the weird
| 11 November, 2010 | Adie Chan |
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Something strange seemed to be in the air on Thursday. First news came in over the transom about a California gentleman who bought an animal skin at a garage sale for the lowly sum of USD $5. So what, you say? Well, consider the possibility that the skin may have at one time belonged to a Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), a species that is now believed to be extinct, and the story takes on whole new meaning.
According to a San Diego newspaper, an Australian auction house is negotiating a deal to buy the pelt from the man, one Bill Warren. The last thylacine skin they sold went for the handsome sum of $68,000. Don’t get too excited yet, though. Some internet commenters are claiming that the hide could be that of a small African antelope called the zebra duiker, which has a similar striping pattern but still exists in the wild.
And then there’s this…
Legendary actor Dick Van Dyke was saved from a slow and painful death yesterday by porpoises. You read that right. The octogenarian actor who starred in the cinema classics Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang would have shuffled off the mortal coil yesterday if it wasn’t for the apparent kindness of a pod of marine mammals. It turns out that Van Dyke fell asleep on his surfboard after launching off his local beach. When he awoke, he paddled with the swells and saw fins surrounding him. Van Dyke feared the worst and prepared to go to that big chim-chimmeny in the sky. But no! Those weren’t sharks, they were friendly porpoises who gently nudged Van Dyke back in the direction of shore.
You can’t make this stuff up!
— Bob Grant, Associate Editor – The Scientist
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Yes, cetaceans will come to the rescue of humans, although one wonders why. Consider how some human cultures treat dolphins and whales. Think The Cove.
These ‘fisherman’ are slaughtering our fellow mammals while good proper, moral societies allow it to happen. How remarkably uncivilized on all fronts.
The porpoise part is credible and their “life-saving” of humans has been reported from other places. But “falling asleep” on a surfboard?
Falling asleep on a surfboard at 80? My old dad could fall asleep playing tennis with me. (Which I hope wasn’t a commentary on my tennis skills or conversation. Although mostly I’d say, “Nice swing dad!” or “Great backhand dad!”) Yeah, believe it.
Lie down in the sun with a light rocking on a longboard? My old dad would have floated all the way to Cuba before he woke up. He might have gotten as far as Morrocco.