SIDELINES...

IT’S A BIRD….

In the race to be named New Zealand’s “Bird of the Year”, the clear winner was in fact a bat, the endangered long-tailed bat, known as pekapeka-tou-roa in Maori. Opinion was divided as to whether this was the result of an attempt to rehabilitate the post-pandemic image of bats or just trolling. In 2019, the competition also attracted controversy when there were claims of Russian interference following a massive surge of international votes. 27 Oct 2021.

MONKEY TROUBLE

In Malaysia, a two-week-old dog, named Saru, was kidnapped and held hostage for three days by a monkey, who grabbed the puppy and fled into the trees with him. Rescuers eventually scared the monkey into dropping the puppy, who escaped unharmed. Meanwhile, in India another monkey grabbed a bundle of 100,000 rupees (£1,000) from a rickshaw passenger stuck in a traffic jam and scattered the banknotes across the street from a nearby tree as bystanders tried to grab them. D.Star, 22 Sept 2021; , 5 Oct 2021.

SHELL SHOCK

Answering a knock at their door, Jane and Peter Byrne of Snodland in Kent found a crab on their doorstep that then tried to barge in. “It was bizarre, like its claw was trying to keep the door open,” Mr Byrne said. The couple grabbed a flyswatter to drive the crab away, but the creature, believed to be a Chinese mitten crab, scuttled into a hedge. Five of the crabs had been spotted in their street in the previous two weeks. “I have no idea where they are coming from,” Mr Byrne added. Sun, 23 Oct 2021.