A TAXIDERMIED lion in Shanghai, China, became an unlikely Internet celebrity due to its quirky facial expression, China Press reported.
Tourists are queuing up at the Shanghai Natural History Museum just to see the stuffed lion.
According to museum staff, the specimen used to be an adult male lion from the Hangzhou Zoo which died in 1977 before being sent to the museum to be preserved.
When it was first completed, the lion had looked imposing and carried a majestic gaze.
However, due to limitations in taxidermy techniques at that time, the specimen deteriorated after spending nearly five decades at the museum.
At present, the lion’s eyes bulge and point in opposite directions, paired with an awkward smile that gives it a goofy expression.
Even so, the lion became an online sensation and museum merchandise featuring the lion, such as stickers and toys, have been flying off the shelves at the museum’s gift shop.
> A pet cat in China became a hero after it broke its owner’s kidney stones and allowed her to pass them out naturally without surgery, Kwong Wah Daily reported.
The woman shared the experience online, saying that she was diagnosed with kidney stones but was terribly fearful of surgery, which made her procrastinate in getting treatment.
However, one day, her cat leapt from a high spot at home and slammed into her body, causing her so much pain that she “felt like dying”.
Miraculously, on her next medical checkup, doctors informed the woman that she managed to pass out all of her kidney stones.
The doctor was in disbelief when she said it was all thanks to her cat.
However, when presented with a photo of the feline, the doctor laughed and said he now believed her.
The woman shared the photo online, which showed her carrying an orange cat the size of her torso and head combined.
Many netizens suspect that the cat’s weight and the force from slamming into the woman helped to break her kidney stones.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
