Odd News
100-year-old giant tortoise “Diego” retires after saving his species
About 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego’s species alive on Espanola, and they were too spread out to reproduce.
Diego the giant Galapagos tortoise whose tireless efforts were credited with almost single-handedly saving his once-threatened species, was put out to pasture Monday on his native island after decades of breeding in captivity, Ecuador’s environment minister said.
Diego was shipped out from the Galapagos National Park’s breeding programme on Santa Cruz to remote an uninhabited Espanola.
“We are closing an important chapter” in the management of the park, said the minister Paulo Proano on Twitter, adding that 25 tortoises including the prolific Diego, “are going back home after decades of reproducing in captivity and saving their species from extinction.”
Espanola welcomed them “with open arms,” he said.
Before being taken back by boat to Espanola, the 100-year-old Diego and the other tortoises had to undergo a quarantine period to prevent them from carrying seeds from plants that were not native to the island.
Odd News
Texas woman’s tongue is the world’s widest at 3.11 inches
A Texas woman was awarded a Guinness World Records title for the surprising contents of her mouth – a 3.11-inch-wide tongue.
Brittany Lacayo told the record-keeping organization she decided to apply for the title after learning about the former record-holder, Emily Schlenker, whose tongue measured 2.89 inches wide.
Lacayo’s tongue is exactly as wide as the average length of an adult woman’s tongue: 3.11 inches.
Her tongue actually is wider than it is long when measured from the epiglottis, the flap of cartilage located behind the tongue.
“It is neat and kind of funny,” Lacayo told Guinness World Records.
The male version of the record belongs to American Brian Thompson, whose tongue measures 3.49 inches wide.
Jokes
One day a mom noticed that when her son was logging onto a favorite website, he typed a very long password. She asked him what it was, and he replied, “MickeyMinnieGoofyPluto.”
She asked him why he would use such a password. “Because,” he explained, “it says your password has to have at least four characters.
Odd News
Ohio man’s dog license number earns him $50,000 lottery prize
An Ohio man used the numbers from his beloved dog’s license tag to play a Pick 5 lottery, drawing and scored a $50,000 prize.
Roger Sours of Tiffin told Ohio Lottery officials he bought a ticket for Wednesday’s Pick 5 drawing at the Pit Stop on N Washington Street in Tiffin and selected a special set of numbers: 1-0-8-2-2.
“I play two sets of numbers for Pick 5 and this number, the number that hit was actually my license number for my German Shepherd that I played. She’s no longer with us anymore,” he said.
Sours said he was shocked when he watched the lottery results on TV.
“I just sat here. I watched the lottery when I can, when it’s on TV and I just sat here. It was like, I froze. I just couldn’t believe that it hit,” he recalled.
Sours said his winnings will go toward taking care of some bills and giving a boost to his savings account.
