World’s tallest horse dies:
The world’s tallest horse has died in Wisconsin.
The 20-year-old Belgian named Big Jake lived on Smokey Hollow Farm in Poynette. Valicia Gilbert, wife of the farm’s owner, Jerry Gilbert, said Big Jake died two weeks ago but declined to give the exact date of death when The Associated Press reached her Monday via Facebook.
“We would rather not remember him by a date - it’s been a traumatic event for our family,” she said.
Big Jake was 6-foot-10 (nearly 2.1 meters) and weighed 2,500 pounds (1,136 kilograms). The Guinness Book of World Records certified him as the world’s tallest living horse in 2010.
Jerry Gilbert told WMTV that Big Jake was a “superstar” and a “truly magnificent animal.” He said Big Jake was born in Nebraska and weighed 240 pounds (109 kilograms) at birth, about 100 pounds (45 kilograms) heavier at birth than a typical Belgian foal.
NZ records warmest June: New Zealand has recorded its warmest June since recordkeeping began, as ski fields struggle to open and experts predict shorter southern winters in the future.
A range of factors led to the record, including more winds coming from the milder north rather than the Antarctic south, and unusually warm ocean temperatures, said Gregor Macara, a climate scientist at the government-owned National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
He said the vagaries of weather will change from month to month. “But the underlying trend is of increasing temperatures and overall warming,” Macara said.
The average temperature in June was 10.6 degrees Celsius (51 Fahrenheit), the research agency reported Monday.
Paul Anderson, the chief executive of NZSki, which operates Coronet Peak, Mt Hutt and The Remarkables ski fields, remained upbeat. (AP)