Weird News Files

SCIENTISTS have claimed a fearsome mutant fish has begun actively hunting people – after gorging itself on human corpses which have been dumped in rivers.

A huge type of catfish, called a goonch, may have developed a taste for flesh in an Indian river where bodies are dumped after funerals, reports The Sun newspaper.

Locals have believed for years that a mysterious monster lurks in the water. But they think it has moved on from scavenging to snatching unwary bathers who venture into the Great Kali River, which flows along the India-Nepal border.

The extraordinary creature has been investigated by biologist Jeremy Wade for a TV documentary.

He said: “The locals have told me of a theory that this monster has grown extra large on a diet of partially burnt corpses. It has perhaps got this taste for flesh by feasting on remains of funeral pyres.

“There will be a few freak individuals that grow bigger than the other ones and if you throw in extra food, they will grow even bigger.”

Jeremy discounted theories that crocodiles could be responsible for the carnage before turning his attention to goonches – among the world’s biggest freshwater fish.

He caught one which tipped the scales at 161lb and was nearly 6ft long – a world record weight and far bigger than any landed before.

He said: “If that got hold of you, there’d be no getting away.

An 18-year-old Nepali disappeared in the river last year, dragged down by something described as like an “elongated pig”.

But the first victim of a goonch attack was thought to have been a 17-year-old Nepalese boy.

He was killed in April 1988 as he cooled himself in the river.

Witnesses said he was suddenly pulled below the surface.

Three months later a young boy was dragged underwater as his father watched helplessly.

Source: CourierMail Link filed under Cryptozoology

Penang, Malaysia –  A woman made an unusual find when she bought a one-metre long shark from a fisherman at the Batu Maung jetty this week.

Mary Looi, 48, said she only realised the shark was different when she wanted to cook tomyam fish for her family.

“When I was about to cut the shark I found two webbed feet sticking out from the lower part of the body.

Looi said she dared not cook the fish after consulting her husband Gooi Man Kaw, 57, who told her that according to Chinese belief, eating fish with unusual features could bring disaster or ill luck.

“Immediately, I returned the fish to the fisherman that night at about 10pm.

“He threw it back into the sea,” said Looi.

Looi, who has been working at Malaysian Fisheries Development Board for 10 years, said this was the first time she had stumbled upon such an unusual find.

When contacted, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Muka Head marine research station head Prof Dr Zulfigar Yasin said this is the first time he had heard of fish with legs found in the Malaysian waters.

“There is a possibility that the fish could have swum from other waters into Malaysian waters.

“As far as I am concerned, fish species with legs or boney fins can only be discovered in the waters of North Sulawesi in Indonesia or South Africa,” he said.

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Source: UnderwaterTimes Link

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This Hyper-Sexual Orangina Ad Featuring an Animal Orgy, Lap Dances and an Orangina Money Shot
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Conflicts between baboons and humans in the suburbs of prosperous Cape Town have gotten so bad that monitoring teams have been deployed to keep the animals away.

Urban development has cut off a troop of 350 baboons from territory where they used to roam free and forage for food – so instead, they now hunt for food in the trash cans and kitchens of the humans who have taken over their former neighborhood. Some days, areas in the Cape peninsula look like they had been the scene of a massive food fight, with overturned trash cans and shredded garbage bags galore.

The large monkeys invade people’s homes, sometimes confronting people who try to scare the baboons off.
Some residents have retaliated by shooting and poisoning baboons and by running them over on local roads.

The situation has also caused rifts within communities. In a suburb ironically named Welcome Glen, rival societies have formed, with some trying to protect the baboons and others wanting them removed or killed.

Joan Laing is co-chair of a rival Welcome Glen Baboon-Free Neighbourhood Action Group. She says the animals are a menace.

“They break windows to get into houses,” Laing said. “They even know how to open doors. And once inside, they make a mess. They empty the fridge, ruin furniture, and defecate all over.”

And they’re not afraid of people, she says.

“I have had them in my house several times, even while I was there. They simply brushed past me. I had to get out of the way,” Laing said. “Even my husband got threatened by a baboon.”

Source: National Geographic Link Posted by Drew. Filed under Weird World News

A catfish met an unpleasant fate in Germany when it tried to eat a football floating in the river. Police patrolling the Main River say it’s the weirdest case they’ve seen in 30 years.

A police handout photo showing the catfish found in a sluice near the southern city of Würzburg.
A giant catfish died trying to eat a soccer ball and was found floating in a river with the ball wedged in its large snout, police in Germany said.

The two-meter long fish was found on Monday in a sluice in the Main River with its teeth sunk into the blue and white plastic ball.

“The catfish had evidently bitten into the ball and suffocated,” Bavarian police said in a statement. “Whether the fish was swept up in the current excitement about football in the wake of the EURO 2008 championship could not be ascertained.”

Reiner Jünger of the river police said: “I’ve never seen anything like this in 30 years on the job.” He said catfish are among the biggest freshwater predators. They lie in wait on the river bed and attack prey on the surface. They sometimes even attack ducks swimming past.

Source: Spiegel Online Link Posted by Drew. Filed under Weird Animals.

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