Sarah, a cheetah at the Cincinnati Zoo, set a world record for the 100 meter dash today by covering the distance in 6.13 seconds. The event was held at Mast Farm, the zoo’s cheetah breeding facility. The race is a remote contest between Sarah and Zaza, a cheetah at Cheetah Outreach in South Africa. Zaza is expected to run her race later this month. To compare, the human world record is 9.58 seconds, held by Usain Bolt. Link to story. Link to Sarah’s blog. -via Metafilter

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This picture of birds on wires by photographer Paulo Pinto looks like music notation. So Jarbas Agnelli naturally wanted to find out what that music sounded like.

Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes (no Photoshop edit). I knew it wasn't the most original idea in the universe. I was just curious to hear what melody the birds were creating.

-via Bits and Pieces

Phyllis Bacon of the London Borough of Croydon wasn’t even looking into the camera when she shot a photograph of her backyard in 2007. When she saw the picture, she couldn’t figure out what was flying around.

'I think it must be a fairy,' she said yesterday as she made the picture public for the first time.

'No one I've shown the photos to has come up with any plausible explanation as to what the figure is.' The photo reminds some of the Cottingley fairies, photographed in a West Yorkshire garden in 1917.

See the entire picture with the story. Link -via Unique Daily

Previously at Neatorama: The Cottingley Fairies in Five Hoaxes that Fooled the World.

Domestic cats normally come in solids, stripes, and patches (I have one of each). Some cats have been bred with spots, but the only naturally spotted house cat is the Egyptian Mau.

It is the only naturally spotted cat and has been used in the breeding programmes of other cat breeds, such as the British Shorthair, to provide the spotted gene the breeders require tointroduce the pattern to another breed.

This beautiful cat is part of the post “Fear Me, Love Me, Worship Me: A History of the Domestic Cat”. http://therealowner.com/cats/fear-me-love-me-worship-me-a-history-of-the-domestic-cat/ -Thanks, Roy Shechter!

(image credit: Flickr user Muffet)

If you are not thoroughly familiar with the history of cat videos on the internet, this collection of funny cats will get you up to speed. If you are, it will be a walk down memory lane. Either way, you’ll get a laugh on a day (supposedly) without cats! Link

(YouTube link)

All he really wants is a drink, but he was a distinctive way of getting it! -via Arbroath

Buzzfeed has a video of our favorite Japanese Scottish Fold trying out different faces, from a mouse to a cat to a man! Link

(vimeo link)

A short film by The People’s Republic of Animation. The musical instrument featured is a Katzenklavier (previously at Neatorama). -via Metafilter

This is part of Neatorama’s “A Day Without Cats Counter Protest” inspired by A Day Without Cats on the Internet.

Charles Darwin was a lifelong fan of flowers, but was unable to figure out how they evolved. There were fossils of flowering plants going back 66-100 million years, which didn’t help much because flowers evolved much earlier. Recently, however, scientists are turning to DNA analysis of contemporary plants to decode where they came from. They are also finding older fossils than ever before, as far back as 136 million years ago. Paleobotanist James A. Doyle says the fossil record is the only thing that will bring together the many theories of flower evolution.

If you could travel back to 130 million years ago, you might not be impressed with the earliest flowers. “They didn’t look like they were going anywhere,” Dr. Doyle said.

Those early flowers were small and rare, living in the shadows of far more successful nonflowering plants. It took many millions of years for flowers to hit their stride. Around 120 million years ago, a new branch of flowers evolved that came to dominate many forests and explode in diversity. That lineage includes 99 percent of all species of flowering plants on Earth today, ranging from magnolias to dandelions to pumpkins. That explosion in diversity also produced the burst of flower fossils that so puzzled Darwin.

Genetic research is providing answers to how plants can switch on genes that control how different plants parts grow, and to use sexual reproduction to increase genetic diversity. Link

The BBC’s natural history unit sent an expedition to Mount Bosavi, a volcano in Papua New Guinea. Scientists on the team identified 40 new species of wildlife which have called the crater home since its last eruption 200,000 years ago. These include the 3-pound Bosavi Woolly Rat which can grow up to 32 inches long! They also found colorful new birds, beetles, spiders, marsupials, and frogs, such as the Litoria sauroni pictured.

The habitat in the area is currently regarded as pristine, but less than 20 miles to the south of Mount Bosavi extensive logging operations are happening.

The mountain acts like an island in the vast sea of jungle, trapping different species on it.

Link

(image credit: BBC)

A few days ago, you read about Clonehenges, art installations that are made to resemble the original Stonehenge. You might not realize that Stonehenge is far from the only ancient stone circle in the UK, and there are some in Europe and North America as well. WebEcoist looks at 13 of these circles, including the pictured Avebury Stone Circle in England, which is bigger and older than Stonehenge! Link

Sherwood Forest Golf Course in Transylvania County, North Carolina offers a memorable golf experience every Tuesday. You can rent a llama to be your caddy! A llama from Fairway Friends Llama Farm will carry two sets of clubs for $40. This is a sure way to get kids interested in playing golf. http://www.llamacaddy.com/golf/ -via the Presurfer

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The Tama Zoo in Tokyo has unveiled their new snow leopard cub named Yukichi. The male cub was born on July 2nd. He is the fourth cub born to his mother Yuki and the first for his father Valdemar. And he's adorable! http://www.examiner.com/x-10430-Japan-Travel-Examiner~y2009m9d4-Baby-snow-leopard-cub-on-display-at-Tama-Zoo-in-Tokyo

The announcement in the Times of London told the world that Kate Pong had given birth to quintuplets named Beyonce, Tyra, Bobbi, Barrack and Earl. The small item prompted Robert Littlejohn of The Daily Mail to speculate on the mother’s marital status. But it turns out that Kate Pong is a chocolate Labrador! Kate’s owner, Fiona Wallace of Newport, Shropshire said a friend had placed the birth announcement but didn’t bother to mention that Kate is a dog.

“We have a lot of friends in the business all over the country and lots of people read about her on the website.

They keep logging on and it’s just snowballed from there.

“So many people were asking about her and the pups that we decided to put it in the Times so everyone around the country would know.”

Link to story. Link to website.

Architects from the University of Stuttgart in Germany constructed a treehouse with a difference. The nine meter tall structure is made from living trees! Some of the hundreds of White Willow trees are planted in the ground; others are in containers. They are all expected to grow together into one giant plant. The experimental tower will be open to the public beginning September 19th. Link -via Unique Daily