USA TODAY - Aug 19, 1998 Michigan Hanover - A genetically rare baby white buffalo born on a Jackson County ranch three weeks ago has died. The female calf contracted pneumonia, owners said. One of every 40 million buffalo are born white, statistics show.
AMMAN (Reuters) - A Jordanian who stands just 25. 6 inches tall said Monday he hoped to be officially recognised as the world's shortest living man. ‘I'm optimistic about entering the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest man, ’ Kayed said at his home in Amman as his brother stood him next to a tape which appeared to measure him at slightly under 6 5 cm. Officials from the Guinness Book of Records told Reuters they needed an average of measurements at different times of day to register his official height, but said they had no record of anyone smaller than 6 5 centimetres. ‘Everybody likes to do something strange or unusual. If I'm the smallest man in the world, I'll be very happy, ’ Kayed told Reuters TV. Kayed gets about in an electric wheelchair and says his hobbies include collecting birds, travel, and reading. ###
COPIED FROM InfoBeat - Sept 2, 1998
Cancer claims Miami zoo's White Bengal tiger
MIAMI (Reuters) - Kanpur, a 15-year-old White Bengal tiger at Miami’s Metrozoo, has been euthanized after a long bout with cancer, a zoo spokesman said Tuesday. In the past week Kanpur had shown signs of depression, refused to eat and was struggling to breathe, spokesman Ron Magill said. She was euthanized Friday. Kanpur was originally diagnosed with skin cancer in 1992. A necropsy showed the cancer had spread to one lung and was scattered throughout her chest. ‘Though we are all saddened by Kanpur's death we are grateful that the special care and medically advanced treatment that she received after her initial diagnosis were able to extend her life years beyond what she would normally have been able to survive, ’ a zoo statement said. Magill said white Bengal tigers were extremely rare in the wild, if not extinct, but many lived in captivity and had been bred by zoos. Kanpur was born in the Cincinnati Zoo. Metrozoo has two other white tigers.
Victoria (BC) Times-Colonist, 30 August 1998
Gardener Finds Rare Gold Frog
NORTH BAY, Ont. (CP)- While mowing his grass in his backyard, John Bradley nearly ran over what he thought was a magical amphibian. But the gold-coloured frog didn't turn into a prince.
‘I had to look twice. I couldn't believe it. . . a gold frog, ’ Bradley said.
After discovering the glittering critter, Bradley and his wife May called experts to find out what kind of frog was hopping in their backyard.
Science North in Sudbury, Ont., told them the frog couldn't be native to Ontario. When they took the frog to Bryan Eade, who owns a pet store in North Bay, he was able to identify it.
‘An albino leopard frog. Very, very rare, ’ said Eade. ‘It's the first one I’ve ever seen other than in a photograph.‘ The frog had a typical albino trait- pinkish eyes.
Eade was surprised the frog had made it this far in life simply due to his lack of camouflage and the fact he had been grazed by the lawnmower blade. Since the frog had a small cut on its abdomen, Eade said it might have been hit by the lawnmower. ‘But I've been giving it crickets and it's eating them so I think it will be OK, ’ he said. ‘I've also placed some healing ointment on the cut. ‘
The Bradley’s won't get to keep the frog. A biologist and two research centres want to examine the golden creature.
FOUR-CLAWED LOBSTER GETS FURLOUGH FROM LOBSTER POT
09/17/98 GEORGETOWN, Maine (AP) _ A four-clawed lobster plucked from a trap in Five Island Harbour has escaped death in boiled water and will spend the rest of its life in an aquarium.
James Lang, who caught the rare crustacean, recalled how his boss used to tell him about the three-clawed lobster he once pulled from the sea.
So imagine Lang's surprise when he counted not three, but four, pincers on a lobster. He was so excited he called it a day and returned to shore.
‘I finished hauling right then and there, ’ said Lang. ‘I said, `I gotta show this to everybody. ‘'
His lobster had one normal claw on one side and three claws on the other, each of them just a little smaller than usual. Each pincer had its own knuckle, and could bend and work on its own.
He brought the crustacean to the Five Island Lobster Company, where it was put in a tank until the Department of Marine Resources could take it to its aquarium in Boothbay Harbor.
Five Islands placed the unusual lobster in its own tank, away from the others. ‘They are cannibalistic, ’ said Shellfish Warden Jon Hentz, who once caught a three-clawed lobster himself.
Kevin Kelly, a scientist from the Department of Marine Resources, said the lobster caught by Lang probably became deformed during regeneration and was not the result of pollution or radiation. The now-closed Maine Yankee nuclear power plant is near by. Lobsters, he said, often lose their claws but have the ability to regrow them. Such a genetic deformity is something he's seen from time to time. ‘Basically, it's just an abnormality like you would see in any other animal population including humans, ’ he said. ‘Sometimes we have genetic deformities and so forth when things just don't grow quite right. ‘
Ironically, another lobster was pulled from the water with two claws on one side within 24 hours of the four-clawed creature. It, too, was on display at the Five Island Lobster pound.
The Department of Marine Resources displays such unusual creatures at its Boothbay Harbour aquarium.
‘We have multicoloured lobsters, too, ’ said Kelly. ‘We actually have one that has both its sex organs. There are some strange things that happen, but they are the exception. ‘
Yahoo! News Ohio Headlines Wednesday 12 August 1998 White Lioness Headed For Cincy Zoo - (CINCINNATI) - A seven-month-old white lioness is coming to the Cincinnati Zoo today. It's a gift from Siegfried (SIG-freed) and Roy, the popular animal act. The two performers say it was a hard decision tosend the female lion to the zoo. But she will be joining two male white lions. . . and there are hopes the threesome will begin a new bloodline Siegfried and Roy are calling ‘the pride of the Millenium.‘