A hippopotamus in Alkmaar, South Africa was desperate for a dip to escape the heat, and climbed over ten foot walls to bathe in a water tower! Once in, he couldn't get out on his own. A farm worker spotted him -or rather, spotted two big nostrils poking out of the water.

Equipped with a hydraulic crane and a cage, hippo hunter Chris Hobkirk and his team from the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Association set to work. In a four-hour operation, they drained the tank and used poles to gently nudge the hippo into the 3m-long (10ft) steel cage before winching it to safety.

Mr Hobkirk – who has rescued more than 180 stranded hippos in the past six years – said it was a tricky procedure but he was glad with the outcome.

'Maybe we got lucky with this one. In the past, I have removed hippos from small dams. In those cases, the water levels have always been much lower so this was different.'

Link -via Arbroath

Gimme A Hug is a documentary from the Protect the Sharks Foundation.

Sharks are one of the most important top-predators in our oceans and there is still a lot we don’t understand, or even know, about this fascinating animal.

This short documentary shows one of the most mysterious phenomena in the animal world; amazing animals, showing a totally different behaviour then most people would expect.

The DVD is available for purchase with subtitles available in several languages. See the trailer at the Protect the Sharks Foundation website. http://www.protect-the-sharks.org/about-sharks/gimme-a-hug/ -via the Presurfer

(YouTube link)
If you are ever lucky enough to get the chance to drive a Ford Model T {wiki}, keep in mind that they were a bit different from modern cars. Who knew it had three pedals, none of which was an accelerator? Henry Ford Estate volunteer Ed Hebb takes you through the process. -via Metafilter

Sylvilagus palustris hefneri is a now-endangered species of rabbit named in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. University of Central Florida graduate teaching assistant Rosanna Tursi is studying the genetic diversity of the species in the Florida Everglades, of which there may be only 300 rabbits remaining.

Hefneri is the most recently recognized subspecies of the marsh rabbit. It's small with short, dark brown fur and a grayish-white belly. Discovered in 1984, the subspecies was named in honor of Hefner after his organization donated money to support fieldwork on the rabbits. Good for Hef!

His namesake bunnies live in an island environment and are dependent on specific grasses and plants for feeding, nesting and shelter. Population growth and development in their area has led to the death of the bunnies at the hands of vehicles or domestic animals. Their natural habitat also is being destroyed.

http://blogs.discovery.com/news_animal/2009/06/playboy-bunnies-close-to-extinction.html -via Digg

(image credit: Rosanna Tursi)

Maps have always been good visual aids for political cartoons, since there's no question about who is referred to. BibliOdyssey takes a look at political cartoon maps of Britain and Europe through history. Twelve maps are featured, including this 1793 map by Robert Dighton (portrait artist, caricaturist, and thief). Portraying Britain as a person, often riding a fish, is a recurring theme in such maps. Link -Thanks, peacay!

Taking public transportation is good for the environment, but used-up Metrocards aren't -unless you find something useful to do with them. The Infrastructurist found nine wacky things people have made out of the cards, including this lovely suit. http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009/06/26/how-arts-and-crafts-can-save-the-planet-10-creative-uses-for-your-dead-metrocards/ -via Everlasting Blort

Well, isn't this cute? And it keeps the water from going down the drain while you bathe. Link -via Swiss Miss

The Garbage Pail Kids were collectible trading cards created in response to the Cabbage Patch Kids. The gross-out cards are back in print now, with the seventh series available in stores. How well do you remember the classic Garbage Pail Kids? Today's Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss presents a "Who's who" that will test your memory. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/27530

There, I Fixed It is a blog profiling the strange and imaginative ways people rig up what they need with what they have. You'll be forgiven if you thought this radiator repair job was supposed to be a still. Link -via Metafilter

Ciao Chow Linda served her family spaghetti and meatballs for dessert. It's a cake: A banana cake covered with frosting shaped like spaghetti noodles and topped with chocolate truffle "meatballs" in a strawberry sauce. Recipe and instructions are included with the post. Link -via mental_floss

Previously at Neatorama: spaghetti ice cream.

Author and illustrator Maira Kalman took a trip to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson and was moved to write a travelogue. But this is no ordinary travelogue. Kalman writes about Jefferson's life and philosophy as well as his home, with whimsical pictures that drawn you in to her experience. Link -via Everlasting Blort

You don't want to be around when a high-rise apartment building falls over! The unfinished 13-story building in Shanghai toppled Saturday morning and killed a 28-year-old worker.

"It was just like an earthquake," witness Zhang Supong told China Daily.

Construction of the building has been halted pending an investigation of the collapse, including reports that cracks had appeared Friday on a flood prevention bank near the apartment building, Xinhua reported.

Link to story. http://cache.daqi.com/view/2617990.html to pictures. -via J-Walk Blog

(YouTube link)

The dancing inmates of Cebu prison in the Philippines (featured previously at Neatorama) presented a choreographed tribute to Michael Jackson yesterday. 1,500 inmates participated. The best is the middle part, where you'll see dancing nuns and prisoners doing the Thriller dance to "I'll Be There". -via Buzzfeed

Here's another case of science proving what we all knew in the back of our minds. Men pretty much agree on what makes a woman attractive, while women have their own ideas about what is attractive in men. A survey led by Wake Forest University psychologist Dustin Wood showed pictures of people to 4,000 adults of all ages, and had them rate the photographs for attractiveness on a scale of one to ten.

Men's judgments of women's attractiveness were based primarily around physical features and they rated highly those who looked thin and seductive. Most of the men in the study also rated photographs of women who looked confident as more attractive.

As a group, the women rating men showed some preference for thin, muscular subjects, but disagreed on how attractive many men in the study were. Some women gave high attractiveness ratings to the men other women said were not attractive at all.

Link -via Digg

(image credit: Flickr user mod as hell)

How do researchers study the tops of rain forests? One way is to use a canopy raft, which is flown up and settled on the very tops of trees.

canopy rafts are extraordinary things. they're basically enormous nets attached to an inflatable frame and are dropped onto trees from airships, resulting in a viewing platform like no other which can also be used as a base from which to hang using climbing gear. the raft above is the solvin bretzel, a new design by gilles ebersolt which due to its pretzel-inspired shape is both safer to use and more effective than older versions. researchers can spend days at a time on the raft (hence the tent) and due to its extremely light weight the trees are left unharmed.

deputy dog shows us several other ways scientists can get to the tops of forests to study the ecosystems that sustain the majority of our planet's species. http://deputy-dog.com/2009/06/how-to-get-to-top-of-forest.html

(image credit: Pyot Laurent/Ocean Vert)