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Oddities

FILE - In a December 2013 photo taken in Los Angeles, Johnathan Walton, and Marianne Smyth pose during her tree trimming Christmas party. Smyth was later found guilty of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from Walton as part of one of several scams she was accused of orchestrating. (Johnathan Walton via AP, File)

Scammer who claimed to be an Irish heiress should be extradited to UK, judge rules

A federal court has ruled a convicted scammer who claimed to be an Irish heiress and who is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from several victims should be extradited to the United Kingdom.
 
This photo provided by the Regional Animal Services of King County shows the zebra Shug in a trailer after it was captured Friday, May 3, 2024, in Riverbend, Wash., about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Seattle. The zebra was one of four that escaped as they were being transported from Washington to Montana last Sunday. (Regional Animal Services of King County via AP)

Escaped zebra captured near Seattle after gallivanting around Cascade mountain foothills for days

 
This photo provided by Transportation Security Administration shows a bag detected by TSA agents that contained snakes hidden in a passenger’s pants at a checkpoint at the Miami International Airport on Friday, April 26, 2024. TSA said the snakes were turned over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (Transportation Security Administration via AP)

Snakes almost on a plane: TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger’s pants

 
FILE - Joie Henney hugs his emotional support alligator named Wally, Jan. 22, 2019, inside their home in York Haven, Pa. Henney credits Wally for helping relieve his depression for nearly a decade, says he's searching for the reptile after it went missing during a vacation to the coast of Georgia. (Heather Khalifa/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, File)

Man says his emotional support alligator, known for its big social media audience, has gone missing

 
In this photo provided by Carrie Clark of Lehi, Utah, is Galena, a 6-year-old house cat. Clark says Galena went missing after jumping into a box being returned to Amazon without its owners noticing. (Carrie Clark via AP Photo)

Utah cat with a fondness for cardboard takes surprise trip to California in an Amazon box

 

Colorado woman tried to steal a pickup, but couldn’t handle the stick shift, police said

Police say a stick shift thwarted a Colorado woman who tried to steal a pickup truck — shortly after she was released from jail on a car-theft charge.
 
Visitors take a photo in front of a convenient store at Fujikawaguchiko town, Yamanashi prefecture, Japan, with a backdrop of Mr. Fuji on April 28, 2024. The town of Fujikawaguchiko, known for a number of popular photo spots for Japan's trademark of Mt. Fuji, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 began to set up a huge black screen on a stretch of sidewalk to block view of the mountain in a neighborhood hit by a latest case of overtourism in Japan. (Kyodo News via AP)

To fend off tourists, a town in Japan is building a big screen blocking the view of Mount Fuji

Known for a number of scenic photo spots that offer a near-perfect shot of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, the town on Tuesday began constructing a large black screen on a stretch of a sidewalk to block the view of the mountain.
 
The Minnesota Twins' home run sausage is pictured in the dugout during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Friday, May 3, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

The Twins and their lucky home run sausage are home safely with the winning streak still intact

The Minnesota Twins are no stranger to unique home-run celebrations. They introduced a fishing vest and toy fishing pole to the dugout last season.
 
This image provided by the Washington State Patrol shows a zebra that got loose Sunday, April 28, 2024, when the driver stopped at the Interstate 90 exit to North Bend, Wash., to secure the trailer in which they were being carried. The Washington State Patrol said the four zebras made their way to the town before three were capture, and the fate of the fourth was not immediately known. (Rick Johnson/Washington State Patrol via AP)

Zebras get loose near highway exit, gallop into Washington community before most are corralled

There were many people doing double takes Sunday in North Bend, Washington, after four zebras got loose from their trailer and galloped into a neighborhood.
 
A white horse on the loose bolt through the streets of London near Aldwych, on Wednesday April 24, 2024. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

British Army says horses that bolted and ran loose in central London continue ‘to be cared for’

The British Army says the military horses that bolted and ran loose when spooked by construction noise in central London earlier this week “continue to be cared for and closely observed.”
 

When Danish police pulled a woman over, she locked herself in her car and refused to talk

Danish police say that a routine traffic stop on a highway south of the capital turned into an unusual standoff as a 26-year-old woman locked her car and refused to speak to the police officer who had pulled her over.
 
A white horse on the loose bolt through the streets of London near Aldwych, on Wednesday April 24, 2024. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

2 military horses that broke free and ran loose across London are in serious condition

A U.K. government official says two riderless military horses that bolted and ran miles through the streets of London after being spooked by construction noise are in serious condition after undergoing operations.
 
FILE - Chicago's iconic Rat Hole along the 1900 block of West Roscoe Street in the Roscoe Village neighborhood is seen, Jan. 19, 2024, in Chicago. The Chicago sidewalk landmark some residents affectionately called the “rat hole" was removed Wednesday, April 24, after city officials determined the section bearing the imprint of an animal was damaged and needed to be replaced, officials said. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)

Chicago’s ‘rat hole’ removed after city determines sidewalk with animal impression was damaged

Chicago’s so-called “rat hole” is gone. A Chicago sidewalk landmark some affectionately call the “rat hole” has been removed after city officials determined the section bearing the imprint of an animal was damaged.
 
Two horses on the loose bolt through the streets of London near Aldwych, on Wednesday April 24, 2024. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)

Rush hour chaos in London as 5 military horses run amok after getting spooked during exercise

Five military horses spooked by noise from a building site have bolted during routine exercises near Buckingham Palace in central London and ran loose through the heart of the city.
 
This image provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in April 2024 shows bioluminescence in the sea whip coral Funiculina sp. observed under red light in a laboratory. Most animals that light up are found in the depths of the ocean and they might have been doing it longer than thought. In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, scientists report that the first animals that glowed may have been coral that lived 540 million years ago. “Light signaling is one of the earliest forms of communication that we know of _ it’s very important in deep waters,” said Andrea Quattrini, a co-author of the study. (Manabu Bessho-Uehara/MBARI via AP)

The first glow-in-the-dark animals may have been ancient corals deep in the ocean

A new study suggests that the first animal that glowed in the dark was a coral that lived deep in the ocean about half a billion years ago.
 
A periodical cicada nymph is held in Macon, Ga., Wednesday, March 27, 2024. This periodical cicada nymph was found while digging holes for rosebushes. Trillions of cicadas are about to emerge in numbers not seen in decades and possibly centuries.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Cicadas are so noisy in a South Carolina county that residents are calling the police

Emerging cicadas are so loud in one South Carolina county that residents are calling the sheriff’s office asking why they can hear sirens or a loud roar.
 
This photo shows Phish fans walking through the lobby of the Sphere on Saturday, April 20, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Josh Cornfield)

Phish fans are famously dedicated. What happens when they enter the Sphere?

The 20,000 fans walking toward the glowing Sphere in Las Vegas last week were there for a band that many visiting the Strip have no idea exists.
 

Canadian family receives wrong body after father died on Cuban vacation

A family in Quebec is searching for answers after discovering that their father’s remains didn’t make it to Canada from Cuba, where he died while on vacation, and instead received the remains of another man.
 
Kaffa Roastery's founder Svante Hampf shows package of "AI-conic" coffee blend generated by artificial intelligence in Helsinki, Finland, Friday April 19, 2024. Kaffa, an artisan roastery based in the Finnish capital has introduced a coffee blend that has been developed by artificial intelligence in a trial in which it's hoped that technology can ease the workload in a sector that traditionally prides itself on manual work. (AP Photo/Jari Tanner)

A coffee roastery in Finland launched an AI-generated blend. The results were surprising

An artisan roastery based in the Finnish capital has introduced a coffee blend that has been developed by artificial intelligence in a trial in which it’s hoped that technology can ease the workload in a sector that traditionally prides itself on manual work.
 
FILE - This undated photo provided by the Boone County Sheriff's Office shows Andrew Wilhoite. Wilhoite, 41, who won a primary election for a township board position while charged with killing his estranged wife has been found guilty Thursday, April 18, 2024, of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. (Boone County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Man who won primary election while charged with murder convicted on lesser charge

A central Indiana man who won a primary election for a township board position while charged with killing his estranged wife has been found guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
 
Tunde Onakoya, 29, a Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate, plays a chess game in Times Square, Friday, April 19, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours — a new global chess record

A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate has played chess nonstop for 60 hours. Tunde Onakoya was attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
 
This image provided by researchers in April 2024 shows views of some of the vertebrae of Vasuki indicus, a newly discovered extinct snake from about 47 million years ago, estimated to reach nearly 50 feet (15 meters) long. The scale bar at the center of each row showing rotated views of an individual vertebra indicates 5 centimeters (almost 2 inches). (Sunil Bajpai, Debajit Datta, Poonam Verma via AP)

This ancient snake in India might have been longer than a school bus and weighed a ton

Researchers in India have found fossils of an ancient giant snake that could have been longer than a school bus.
 
This image taken from video shows dozens of young dancers waiting to hear if they have broken a world record for dancing on pointe in one place in the Plaza Hotel, Wednesday, April 17, 2024, in New York. The spectacle was organized by Youth America Grand Prix, a ballet scholarship program that is celebrating its 25th anniversary with three nights of performances at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. (AP Photo)

How many ballerinas can dance on tiptoes in one place? A world record 353 at New York’s Plaza Hotel

Hundreds of young dancers in white tutus and tightly coiffed hair gathered in New York’s Plaza Hotel to break the world record for dancing on pointe in one place.
 
This image provided by Matayah Utrayle-Shaylene Smith shows an escaped elephant crossing the road in Butte, Mont., on Tuesday, April 17, 2024. The sound of a vehicle backfiring spooked a circus elephant while she was getting a pre-show bath leading the pachyderm to break through a fence and take a brief walk, stopping noontime traffic on the city's busiest street before before being loaded back into a trailer. (Matayah Utrayle-Shaylene Smith via AP)

A vehicle backfiring startled a circus elephant into a Montana street. She still performed Tuesday

The sound of a vehicle backfiring spooked a circus elephant while she was getting a pre-show bath in Butte, Montana.
 
This undated photo taken by Cameron Clifford, shows Terrance, the pet octopus his son Cal adopted at their home in Edmond, Okla. The family soon learned that Terrance was female as she laid 50 eggs that later hatched, with nearly half of them surviving. Although female octopuses usually die soon after laying their eggs, Terrance is still alive four months later. (Cameron Clifford via AP)

A 9-year-old boy’s dream of a pet octopus is a sensation as thousands follow Terrance’s story online

Nine-year-old Cal Clifford had always wanted a pet octopus. His dream recently came true when his father Cameron Clifford helped him adopt Terrance the octopus and set it up in a saltwater aquarium at their home in rural Oklahoma.