Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

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Mexico’s “lost” rabbit resurfaces after more than a century

If we're being honest, the Omiltemi cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus insonus) is not much to look at. It's a fairly conventional bunny: long ears, strong hind legs, short tail, a little chubby. Except that this particular rabbit had not been seen by scientists for more than 120 years – until now. A five-year-long expedition led by José Alberto Almazán-Catalán, ecologist and president of Instituto para el Manejo y Conservación de la Biodiversidad (INMACOB) turned up conclusive camera-trap evidence that the elusive lagomorphs are still hiding out in the conifer forests of Mexico's Sierra Madre del Sur mountains.

The research team began their search in the forested areas around Chilpancingo, the capital city of Guerrero, where the Omiltemi cottontail rabbit was first documented by Edward William Nelson in 1904. However, they turned up rabbit-less. A year or so later, they shifted their focus to high-elevation conifer forests where they were more confident they would be successful, especially after locals in the area told the team that they regularly hunt Omiltemi cottontail rabbits before handing over several carcasses.

When the hunted rabbits were compared to museum specimens and Nelson's original description, the fur colour, body measurements and cranial characteristics were a match. All that was left to do was strategically set up remote camera traps to confirm the find. The area's Omiltemi cottontail rabbits came to the party. They hopped into frame in seven of the ten areas that the expedition team surveyed. The find marks the 13th species rediscovered as part of Re:wild’s Search for Lost Species – a global effort to find and protect species that have not had a scientifically documented sighting in at least 10 years, but are not considered extinct.

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Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra earns world record by playing with food

The world's first — and possibly only — orchestra to exclusively make music from vegetable instruments was awarded a Guinness World Record after playing 344 concerts over the course of 27 years.

The 11-piece Vegetable Orchestra formed in Vienna, Austria, in 1999, when musicians of various backgrounds came together with the idea of carving veggies into instruments.

"It all started as a joke," founding member Matthias Meinharter told the BBC in 2019.

He said the founding four members had been signed up for a performance art festival in Vienna.

"We were brainstorming what we could do, and we thought: 'What is the most difficult thing to play music on?'" he said. "We were making soup together at the time, and one idea led to another."

The performers have now perfected the art of playing with their food. Their instruments include carrots carved into recorders and leeks into mandolins.

The orchestra was awarded the Guinness World Record for the most concerts by a vegetable orchestra after playing their 344th show.

The musicians said they carve fresh vegetables before every performance, as their instruments only last for about 6 hours before starting to rot or losing their shape.

Any unused vegetables are made into a soup to be served at the concert, and the spent instruments are turned into organic waste to keep the concerts eco-friendly.

The orchestra told Guinness World Records that only one subject is off-limits during their concerts: asking whether the musicians are vegetarians.

"No we are not. Don't ask again," they said. "We've heard this question 3 million times."

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Canadian man eats 25 Carolina reaper peppers in under 5 minutes

An iron-stomached speed eater broke a Guinness World Record by eating 25 Carolina reaper chili peppers in 4 minutes and 36.26 seconds.

Mike Jack, a Canadian YouTuber famous for his high tolerance for spicy food, broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to eat 25 Carolina reaper chili peppers at Goatfest in Kitchener, Ontario.

Carolina reapers have a Scoville Heat Units measurement of about 1,641,183, compared to about 4,000-8,500 for the average jalapeno pepper. Reapers were considered the hottest chili peppers in the world until the debut of "Pepper X" last year.

"I might make it look a little easier than it is but I'm burning up here, I really feel it," Jack told Guinness World Records. "The peppers, they really hurt a lot."

Jack holds multiple Guinness World Records titles, but not all of them are spice related — he broke a record last year by drinking a Capri Sun juice pouch in 21.71 seconds using a paper straw.

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Michigan police help round up 15 escaped horses

Multiple agencies responded in Michigan's Kent County after 15 horses absconded from a barn and went out for a run, with some of them making their way onto a highway.

The Kent County Sheriff's Office said on social media that deputies "found themselves in an unexpected roundup" Wednesday morning when the horses escaped from a barn at a boarding facility.

"What we're hearing from the owner is that one of the smaller horses got one of the doors open somehow, which let all 15 of them out of this barn and then they just started running from there," Sgt. Scott Dietrich told WZZM-TV.

The sheriff's office said the equines escaped near Wilson Avenue and 76th Street, near Byron Center, and some of them ended up spreading out over several miles of the M6 highway.

Michigan State Police, Kent County Animal Control and members of the community joined in the chase, which lasted for about an hour and a half.

Multiple roads were temporarily closed.

"We want to make sure that those horses are not going to cause an accident, so we're shutting down roadways if needed. We're getting as many deputies out there as we can that are available to try to get these horses off the roadway, and make sure they're out of the public's way," Dietrich said.

The horses were all safely returned to the barn and the roads were reopened.

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Toddler playing with old cellphone calls 911 for 'emergency doughnuts'

An Oklahoma toddler called 911 with a report of "emergency doughnuts" and local police sprang into action to deliver.

The Moore Police Department shared the audio of a 911 call involving a toddler who was allowed to play with an old cellphone and discovered it still had emergency calling enabled.

The boy requested "emergency doughnuts" before telling the dispatcher to "have a good day."

"Old cell phones may be unable to use high-speed data networks, take photos or play music, but they can still call 911 in an emergency," the department said. "As long as an old cell phone is functional, it can be used in an emergency."

In the case of the toddler, named Bennett, his request for "emergency doughnuts" did not go unheeded, as police visited his home to deliver some snacks from Dunkin'.

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Brothers become youngest to earn 171 NPS Junior Ranger badges

A pair of Idaho brothers are believed to be the youngest people to earn Junior Ranger badges at all 63 U.S. national parks — as well as 108 other National Park Service Sites.

David Rush, the man who holds the most concurrent Guinness World Records, said he and his family visited their first national park, Death Valley National Park on the California-Nevada border, in February 2020, when his sons Jeremy and Peter were 3 years old and 1 year old, respectively.

The boys, now aged 8 and 6, have now completed the Junior Ranger program at all 63 national parks, as well as 108 other NPS sites.

"Interested youth complete a series of activities during a park visit, share their answers with a park ranger, and receive an official Junior Ranger patch and Junior Ranger certificate," the NPS' Junior Ranger website explains. "Junior Rangers are typically between the ages of 5 to 13, although people of all ages can participate."

Rush said Jeremy and Peter are believed to be the youngest brothers to complete the Junior Ranger program at every national park.

"When we visited our first national park 5 years ago as a family, we didn't imagine we'd make it to all of them, let alone in just 5 years. But the joy it brought us and our family, and the joy that the national parks bring with over 300 million visitors per year, justify them as America's best idea," Rush said.

The father said he has submitted information to the NPS as well as Guinness World Records to see if Jeremy and Peter can get an official record for being the youngest brothers to earn 171 Junior Ranger badges, and if Peter can get recognized as the youngest overall to complete the feat.

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Wedge-shaped 'pie house' sells for $350,000 in Chicago suburb

An unusual Illinois home dubbed the "pie house" due to its wedge shape sold for $350,000 shortly after being put on the market.

The home in Deerfield, a northern suburb of Chicago, was built in 2003, and initially drew the ire of neighbors who complained about its unusual appearance.

The house, which boasts 1,600 square feet of living space despite being only 3 feet wide on its short end, has since become a point of local pride for neighbors who have grown to appreciate its uniqueness.

The pie house includes two bedrooms, one upstairs and one in the basement, as well as 2 1/2 bathrooms, a paver brick walkway, a storage shed and a parking pad with room for up to four vehicles.

The listing included a set of brand-new stainless steel kitchen appliances.

The house previously sold for $300,000 in 2004, $284,500 in 2007, $260,000 in 2020 and $295,000 in 2021.

The pie house was featured on a 2020 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The host joked the home was "the only thing in America that stayed skinny during quarantine."

The Village of Deerfield shared the clip on social media and hailed the pie house as a "local architectural gem."

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Overdue book returned to New Jersey library after 99 years

An 81-year-old woman going through boxes of her mother's belongings made a surprising discovery: an overdue library book checked out by her grandfather 99 years earlier.

Berkeley Township resident Mary Cooper said she was going through a box of items that had belonged to her mother when she came across the book, Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys by A. Neely Hall, and discovered it had been borrowed from the Ocean County Library in March 1926.

Cooper learned her grandfather, Charles Tilton, had been the one to check the book out one year before he died.

"I thought, I don't have grandchildren, and my kids are getting older. Even if my son took it, I didn't know what they'd do with it," Cooper told CNN. "I figured it belongs to the library."

The Ocean County Library said the book's return comes at a serendipitous time, as the library system is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Librarians said the facility no longer imposes late fees, but they jokingly estimated it would have racked up about $18,000 in fees over the past 99 years.

The book has a new permanent home in a glass display case at the Ocean County Library's branch in Toms River.

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Night at bar earns Michigan man record-breaking lottery jackpot

A Michigan man cut his night out at the bar short when he won a record-breaking $677,141 jackpot from the Michigan Lottery's Club Keno The Jack.

The 54-year-old Wayne County Man told Michigan Lottery officials he bought his ticket while having a drink at JP's Trolley Stop on Pelham Road in Taylor.

"I don't usually play The Jack, but when I saw how high it had gotten I decided I better give it a shot," said the 54-year-old player. "When I checked the ticket on my phone and saw I won, I immediately left the bar. It was overwhelming and emotional to win such a huge amount of money!"

The man's ticket matched nine of the winning numbers in draw 2438250, earning him the largest jackpot in the game's history: $677,141.

The previous record of $503,254 was won at Fletcher's Pub #2 in Kalamazoo in August 2023.

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Pi Day: British boy lists 280 digits of pi from memory in one minute

A 10-year-old British boy celebrated the run-up to the math-themed holiday Pi Day by breaking a world record for the most decimal places of pi recalled in one minute.

Bristol student Alberto Davila Aragon said his memorization of the mathematical constant pi started with a March 2024 contest at his school.

"In March 2024, my school organized an exciting pi digits competition with an amazing prize: the chance to pie our headmaster in the face," Aragon told Guinness World Records.

Aragon won the contest by memorizing 150 digits of pi, but he kept working on it even after smashing the pi into his headmaster's face.

He has now broken the Guinness World Record by rattling off 280 digits of pi in just one minute.

Pi Day is celebrated annually on March 14, a reference to the first digits of pi: 3.14.

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