On a sugar cane plantation on Mauritius, just off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, scientists have discovered thousands of bones, including at least twenty complete skeletons, of the extinct dodo bird. Complete DNA has also been discovered, though bringing the dodo back to life is not practical at this point. The dodo went extinct in 1663, and the last remaining full preserved bird was destroyed in 1755.

Anthro is a new webzine whose first issue will be available for your reading pleasure on 1 September 2005. The force behind Anthro is the Webmaster and Editor In Chief of the Ursa Major-nominated webzine TSAT - Quentin "Cubist" Long, who has decided to try his hand at a purely fur-focused venture. And you can help! Anthro will be published bi-monthly: Jan/Feb (deadline, 20 Dec), Mar/Apr (20 Feb deadline), May/Jun (20 Apr), Jul/Aug (20 Jun), Sep/Oct (20 Aug), and Nov/Dec (20 Oct). Anthro's inaugural issue being the September/October issue, the deadline for this first issue is 20 Aug. Anthro is looking for fur-related material: Stories (at least five per issue), art (at least one illustration per story, plus one cover image per issue), reviews of furry books/movies/etc., factual articles on furry topics (hotel surveys for furcons, helpful fursuit hints, etc.), plus anything else you can think of. Submissions should be made to cubist@aol.com.

Not really news, but a collection of links to online animal webcams. National Zoo, which has an elephant, cheetah cub, ferret and giraffe cam, among others; National Park System cams, indexing their individual parks' cameras; Monterey Bay, with sharks, otters and penguins. Definitely worth checking out.

Starting on February 24, 2005, people all over the world will have the chance to bid on the rights to name a species of a Bolivian orange and brown monkey. The auction site, www.charityfolks.com will be offering this until March 3, and the funds will help fund the management of Madidi park. The high bidder will have the name of their choice permanently entered into scientific publications, field guides and such. More info at CNN.

A german couple contacted Guiness after reading that another basset hound had the world's longest ears. The one-year-old Jack's ears measure 33.2 cms. in length, or just over a foot, and he sometimes trips over them.

A woman who kept nine poisonous snakes died Saturday after she was bitten by her pet urutu pit viper. She had driven herself to the hospital, and later transferred to University Hospital, where she was listed in Critical condition on Monday, September 6. Police and zoo officials locating the rest of the animals also found large lizards, alligators, rabbits and birds at her place.

Findlaw reports that the Florida man who swung an alligator at his girlfriend during an argument was sentenced to six months in jail. David Havenner had been keeping the 3-foot alligator in his bathtub and had beat his girlfriend, before swinging the alligator at her when she tried to flee.

Kate Worley, part of the team who brought Omaha the Cat Dancer to life, has lost her battle with cancer. If you wish to help with any expenses left from her battle for her family, view this thread for details.

The new Sabrina Online strips are up. This month, Sabrina gets a custom paint job on her vehicle, and she and her boyfriend finish building their system.