World's Most Weird Animals [Part-2]

11. The Indian Gharial a critically endangered species and one of the longest of all living crocodilians, sometimes measuring over 20 feet.

12. The Slender Loris tropical moist lowland forests found in India or Sri Lanka. The species is threatened by habitat loss.

13. Hairy frog fish walks along the seabed hunting for food. This rare creature can be found in Indonesia.

14. Living at extreme depths, and among the rarest of octupuses, the Dumbo Octopus gets its name from its ears which loosely resemble those of the Disney character, Dumbo.

15. The shoe-bill is a very large bird found in tropical swamps of eastern Africa. It stands at an average of four feet with a wingspan of over seven feet. The species was only discovered by ornithologists in the 19th century.

16. The guinea fowl puffer, from the Pacific Ocean. When fully expanded, it can reach 50 cm in length.

17. The frill-necked Lizard, so called because of the large ruff of skin around its neck, runs on its hind-legs when frightened. This behaviour has earnt it the name 'bicycle lizard'in Australia.

18. The long-beaked echidna was named among the top-ten "focal species" in 2007 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project. Echidnas are one of two types of mammals that lay eggs.

19. The most distinctive trait of the proboscis monkey is the male's large protruding nose. It has been suggested that the female proboscis monkey prefers big-nosed males.

20. Hungarian Puli also has a coat of dread-lock-type cords. The breed rarely moults and is deceptively fast and acrobatic.

World's Most Weird Animals [Part-1]

1. The star-nosed Mole's snout has 22 fleshy tentacles that are used to identify food by touch. Often found in North America, it lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and molluscs.

2. The Hispaniolan Solenodon, a strange looking shrew-like creature with a long snout and specialised teeth capable of delivering venom. Only two solenodon species exist today, one in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the other in Cuba.

3. Sea pigs live on, or just underneath, the bottom of the ocean and feed on the mud of the seafloor. Scientists haven't yet worked out how they are such a successful deep-sea creature.

4. The blobfish is a fish that inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of the Australian mainland and Tasmania. It is sometimes known as a deep sea fish. Due to the inaccessibility of its habitat, it is rarely seen by humans.

5. Discovered in 2005 in the South Pacific Ocean, this creature was dubbed the "yeti lobster" or "yeti crab". It lives at a depth of 2,200 metres on hydrothermal vents along the Pacific-Antarctic.

6. The white Turtle, whose creamy colour is offset by a few hints of pink, features prominently in Chinese culture - a character in Journey to the West is turned into one for his wrong-doings.

7. The long-eared Jerboa is a nocturnal mouse-like rodent found in the deserts of China and Mongolia. It has a long tail, long legs and extremely large ears. Being such a rare creature, it is in danger of extinction.

8. The aye-aye shares a lot in common with the woodpecker - it taps trees to find grubs. When food is located it uses its rodent-like teeth to gnaw a hole, then digs them out with its long middle finger.

9. The saiga's unusually over-sized, and flexible, nose warms up the air in winter and filters out the dust in summer.

10. With their unusual feeding habits and slime-producing capabilities, the hagfish has been dubbed the most "disgusting" of all sea creatures.

Hungarian Puli and Komondor Dogs

The Puli is a medium-small breed of Hungarian herding and livestock guarding dog known for its long, corded coat. The tight curls of the coat, similar to dreadlocks, make it virtually waterproof. A similar looking, but much larger Hungarian dog breed is called "Komondor".

The Komondor is a large white colored Hungarian breed of livestock guardian dog with a long, corded coat. The Komondor is an old-established, powerful dog breed which has a natural guardian instinct to guard livestock and other property. The Komondor was mentioned for the first time in 1544 in a Hungarian codex. The Komondor breed has been declared one of Hungary’s national treasures, to be preserved and protected from modification.

Oscar - The Luckiest Dog

Meet Oscar "Phileas Fogg" Lefson, a dog we consider to be the luckiest one. Most dogs would be content to go for a little run around on a playing field fetching large sticks, or just nip down to the nearest off-license with their owner to get the day's newspaper and a pint of milk.

But Oscar is one of the luckier ones. This year, Oscar has visited 29 countries in continents, and visited the world's great sights such as the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Great Wall of China and the Eiffel Tower. He visited seven African nations, including Zimbabwe and Egypt, European nations such as France, Italy, Romania, Croatia and Russia, took in places such as India, China and Cambodia, visited several US states and traveled around central and south America.

Accompanying him was his South African/British owner Joanne Lefson.

Joanne rescued Oscar from a South African kennels five years ago. In May the pair began an epic journey hoping to inspire millions to help save his fellow canines living as strays on the streets.

On their worldwide travels, Joanne and Oscar also handed out 15,000 dog leads to needy hounds donated by the parcel company UPS.

At each location, Oscar, who seemed to have the time of his life, proudly had his photo taken.

List of countries Oscar visited:

May - South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt
June - Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Italy
July - Switzerland, France, Russia
August - India (a month in India)
September - Thailand (a month in Thailand)
October - Cambodia, Malaysia, China
November - USA (Seven states: California, New York, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Florida), Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Peru
December - Argentina, Brazil

Great Sphinx , Giza (Egypt)


Botswana


Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa (Italy)


Switzerland


Eiffel Tower, Paris (France)


St. Petersburg (Russia)


Taj Mahal, Agra (India)


Kerala (India)


Great Wall of China (China)


Hollywood studios, Los Angeles (USA)


Statue of Liberty, New York (USA)




Macchu Picchu (Peru)

10 most Dangerous Roads in the World

1. The Death Road (Bolivia)

The North Yungas Road, also known as The Death Road, is a 61 to 69 km road leading from La Paz to Coroico (Bolivia's capital, to the Amazon region) in the Yungas region of Bolivia. It is legendary for its extreme danger: in 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank christened it as the "world's most dangerous road. " One estimate is that 200-300 travelers were killed yearly along the road. The road includes crosses marking many of the spots where such vehicles have fallen.

2. Guoliang Tunnel Road (China)

The road in Taihang mountains was built by local villagers: it took five years to finish the 1,200 metre long tunnel which is about 5 meters high and 4 meters wide. Some of the villagers died in accidents duringconstruction; undaunted, the others continued. On May 1, 1977, the tunnel was opened to traffic. It is located in the Taihang Mountains, in the Hunan Province of China.


3. Ruta 5: Arica to Iquique Road (Chile)

The road from Arica to Iquique is renowned for being dangerous; you drive past very deep valleys and wind your way through, spotting ever so often tell-tale vehicle skeletons at the bottom. The few times you can see cars and buses passing by, they were doing so at such a speed that you may think they are either tempting fate very foolishly or perhaps they are just ghosts whizzing past. The mono-hued and isolated scenery is well capable of endowing you with the capacity to have such visions, so concentrating and avoiding the use of any form of hallucinatory substance is essential here.


4. Siberian Road to Yakutsk (Russia)

The Russian Federal Highway connects Moscow to Yakutsk, where the coldest temperature ever recorded outside Antarctica was recorded. Yakutsk is also the largest city built on continuous permafrost. Most houses are built on concrete piles because of the frozen ground.


5. Sichuan-Tibet Highway (China)

In China, the number of deaths caused by car accidents has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, climbing from 3.9 to 7.6 per 100,000 of the population between 1985 and 2005. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, a high-elevation road between Chengdu and Tibet where landslides and rock avalanches are common, is undoubtedly part of the problem.

The 2,412km long Sichuan-Tibet Highway starts from Chengdu of Sichuan on the east and ends at Lhasa of Tibet on the west. The road stretches into Lhasa passing Ya’an, Garze and Chamdo. Sichuan-Tibet highway traverses 14 high mountains which average 4,000-5000m, spans dozens of famous rivers (Dadu River, Jinsha River, Lantsang River, Nujiang), crosses primeval forest and numerousdangerous sections. It has spectacular views along the line, with unique ethnic customs.

6. James Dalton Highway (Alaska)

The James Dalton Highway is a 414-mile gravel road. It heads straight north from the Livengood turnoff of the Elliott Highway, through arctic tundra to the farthest north reaches of Alaska. Alyeska built the 360-mile haul road, now known as the Dalton Highway, from the Yukon River to Prudhoe Bay, for $150 million to supply the oil facilities onthe North Slope. The pipeline bridge across the 1,875 mile Yukon River is the only span across that river in Alaska.


7. Patiopoulo-Perdikaki Road (Greece)

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This is a narrow busy dirt track that stretches from Patiopoulo to Perdikaki in Greece. This road is a steep climb or decent, it isdangerous because it has huge pot holes and very little grip for the vehicles that travel on it. It is a narrow road with a sheer drop on either side of its slope with no guard rails or an prevention to stop a vehicle from going over. Many people die on his road every year, it is used by pedestrians, livestock and trucks, buses and cars. A verydangerous road that has gravel for grip in most places and there are no lines to determine where the edge is, this is especially dangerous at night, most of the accidents happen at night on this road.


8. Trollstigen (Norway)

Trollstigen (The Troll Ladder) is a mountain road in Rauma, Norway, part of Norwegian National Road 63 connecting Åndalsnes in Rauma and Valldal in Norddal. A popular tourist attraction due to its steep incline of 9% and eleven hairpin bends up a steep mountain side,the road up is narrow with many sharp bends, and although it has been widened in recent years, vehicles over 12.4 meters long are prohibited from driving the road . At the top there is large parking place which allows visitors to leave their cars and walk for about ten minutes to a viewing balcony which overlooksthe road with its bends and the Stigfossen waterfall. Stigfossen is a beautiful waterfall which falls 320 meters down the mountain side.


9. The A682 Road (England)

The A682 between junction 13 of the M65 and Long Preston is the worst road in England as it has claimed almost 100 fatalities over the last ten years. The 14 mile single lane A682 between junction 13 of the M65 near Nelson, Lancs, and Long Preston in North Yorkshire, had 22 serious accidents in the past threeyears - two of them fatal. Experts say it has an average of 0.5 deaths per 10 miles annually. It is a favorite for motorcyclists, especially early on a Sunday morning.


10. Stelvio Pass Road Trollstigen (Italy)

The highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps --and the second highest in the Alps, after the Col de l'Iseran (2770 m)--, the Stelvio Pass Road connects the Valtellina with the upper Adige valley and Merano. It is located in the Italian Alps, near Bormio and Sulden, 75 km from Bolzano, close to Swiss border.

While it might not be as risky as other deadly routes, it's certainly breathtaking. The tour books advise that the toughest and most spectacular climbing is from the Prato side, Bormio side approach is more tame. With 48 hairpins, this road is regarded as one of the finest continuous hairpin routes in the Alps.