Australia’s gastric-brooding frog, which has been extinct since 1983, actually incubates the eggs in its stomach. But just as bizarre, brought this freak back to existence through cloning an embryo from frozen remains.

Even though the gastric-brooding frog has been extinct for decades, it’s possible to do this because individual specimens were kept preserved in, believe it or not, everyday deep freezers. When going through somatic-cell nuclear transfer, the eggs began to divide and form into the early embryo stage.

The embryos didn’t survive much longer than that, but it was confirmed that these embryos contain genetic information from the gastric-brooding frog–that yes, in fact, they have brought it back to life. The researchers are confident that this is a “technical, not biological” problem at this stage to breed gastric-brooding frogs to adulthood. This is a big step forward for the worldwide attempts to revive extinct animals–the Lazarus Project researchers will soon meet with those working to revive the woolly mammoth, dodo, and other extinct beasties to share what they’ve learned.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: the gastric-brooding frog lays eggs, which are coated in a substance called prostaglandin. This substance causes the frog to stop producing gastric acid in its stomach, thus making the frog’s stomach a very nice place for eggs to be. So the frog swallows the eggs, incubates them in her gut, and when they hatch, the baby frogs crawl out her mouth. How delightfully weird!

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Case in point – At the tender age of 18 young foolish Kimberley Vlaeminck decided to cover her beautiful face with a tattoo…56 ridiculous looking stars. Now she wants them off…but almost three years and $14,000 after the 21-year-old decided to go under the needle, the constellation shows little sign of fading.

Though laser treatment has been shown to be an effective way of removing ink, even the most advanced technology would leave white marks across her face.

In June 2009, Miss Vlaeminck lied to family and reporters that she had asked tattooist Rouslan Toumaniantz for just three stars near her eye… hoping to con him into paying for half the procedure.

As her regret sank in, she claimed he kept adding more and more after she fell asleep at the Tattoo Box in Coutrai, Belgium…yeah right!

She promised to sue the tattooist for the cost of removal, claiming a language barrier meant the Flemish speaker had misunderstood when she gave instructions in French and English.

But a week later she confessed to a Dutch TV station that she had been awake throughout and had indeed asked for the full 56 markings. Mr Toumaniantz (pictured bellow) has since started asking all his customers to give written consent to his designs.

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The aptly named Transylvanian naked neck chicken looks like a strange chimera with a turkey head and a chicken body – Churkey.

The reason for its mysterious bald patch has continued to intrigue, with home-spun theories abounding.

Some like to think it is Mother Nature’s way of giving us something easier to pluck than the average bird. Others have archly speculated (bearing in mind the province the bird is named after) it is to give vampires easier access.

Finally, at last, the heated debate over its curious appearance can cease. For a DNA study by scientists at a British university has discovered the bird developed its distinctive look to stay cool.

Looking at genes from birds domesticated around the world, the researchers discovered a complex feather-patterning mutation that is enhanced by the vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid. Localised production of retinoic acid on the neck makes the skin susceptible to the mutation’s balding effects.

The birds, which likely originated in Romania hundreds of years ago, keep cool in the heat thanks to their unique appearance. The findings could help explain how other birds, such as vultures, dropped their feathers in exchange for a cool head.

Will they only be only half killed at Christmas or will they all go into the mix, hoping no-one notices?

[Cheers bbc.co.uk]

Because the mom refuses to feed the calf, Irakli Dzhgarkava has taken over the motherly duties for the two-headed, four eyes, three ears and two mouthed brown hairy baby.

While it’s not clear yet if the calf is healthy, it can apparently eat with both mouths, as seen in the video below. Just like anywhere else in the world, when a multi-headed creature comes to town, it gets attention. People from around the calf’s home of Martvili, Georgia, have come to see the creature.

While there have been other reports of two-headed cows, Paschal said it’s still very rare. Only one or two in the more than 35 million calves born each year come out with that kind of deformity. Many of the two-headed creatures, he said, are born dead.

Unvariably though, the cows shock their owners each time they come out of their mother.

According to Joseph Paschal, a livestock specialist at the Texas Agrilife Extension – “If the calf’s both heads are tied in physiologically, it could live a very long time, but typically, with something like that, there’s something wrong.”