Beware! There’s a lion at home

Lion

Aleksandr and Maria Dmitriev, a young couple from Penza, Russia, have been living with a mountain lion in their tiny one-bedroom apartment for the past three years. Messi is a three-year-old cougar. In the wild, it is considered an apex predator, but Messi was born in a petting zoo and has spent most of his life as a house cat, so he basically behaves like an overgrown cat, for now.

Messi the domesticated cougar tied to a leash like any ordinary pet, Aleksandr Dmitriev cuddling Messi

The Dmitrievs are aware that Messi is a predator that will, at some point, test their strength to establish, who is in charge of the house, but they have taken steps to keep his wild side in check. Aleksandr and Maria, both trained psychologists, have always loved cats. Their hairless Sphynx, Kira, had always been enough for them, but in 2018, when they heard that a newborn cougar cub at the local petting zoo in Penza was in serious need of medical attention, they couldn't just sit by.

Messi the cougar with Maria Dmitriev

Since the animals at the zoo live in small enclosures, they decided to give this ill cub a better chance at life. So they decided to buy him, and were surprised when the petting zoo actually accepted. They brought Messi home and managed to nurse him back to health, but it didn't take long for them to realise that if they wanted to keep him, they had to make some adjustments around their home.

Messi is seen sitting comfortably in his new home

Aleksandr and Maria converted the hallway of the apartment into the feline's headquarters, lining the walls with bamboo panels, which are better suited to withstand its sharp talons and can easily be replaced. The big cat has gained a huge following on social media.

Is this the greenest building yet?
Georgia Tech's Kendeda building has been certified as a ‘living building'

A Building in Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) does more good for the natural environment than harm. The Kendeda building has proved over a year of operation that it meets the standards of the International Living Future Institute. In the building, there's no conventional flushing, with the toilets consuming only a teaspoon of water per use. And the waste is composted in digesters in the basement.

The building does not have conventional air conditioning, and mostly relies on dehumidifying the humid air, making it more comfortable and less sticky. Finally, there is a piping system that can pump cold water through concrete floors to cool the building if it gets above 78 degrees Fahrenheit. "Kendeda's goal was not really to build a building. Our goal was to be a catalyst for changing how buildings should be designed," said the foundation's sustainability advisor, Dennis Creech.

Godzilla shark from New Mexico gets a name

A 300-million-year-old Godzilla shark discovered in New Mexico in 2013, is finally named Dracopristis hoffmanorum, or Hoffman's Dragon Shark, by discoverer John-Paul Hodnett. He was a graduate student when he unearthed the first fossils of the shark. The shark's teeth were the first sign that it might be a distinct species. The shark is named in honour of the New Mexico family that owns the land where the fossils were found.

Goats, pigs are passengers on a Chinese train

Bizarre new video shows pigs, goats and sheep strolling the aisles of a train in China, coexisting peacefully with regular riders. The low-speed train-trip takes nine hours to traverse Sichuan Province, allowing rural farmers to load their livestock and sell them both on the train, and other places in the city.

Creature stuck in tree is a croissant

A woman in Krakow, Poland, had quite a fright when she saw a bizarre looking animal that had been hanging in the lilac tree outside her home for a few days. The woman called for help. When the officers showed up at the scene, they realised that the animal in question was a croissant, according to a Facebook post by the Krakow Animal Welfare Society.

Creative director turns homeless man into model

Ali Olakunmi, a young homeless Yoruba man from Nigeria's Osun State, was sleeping under the same bridge that creative director, Afolabi, chose as the backdrop for a fashion shoot. Since Olakunmi had the features he was looking for in a model, he approached Ali, overnight changing his fortunes.

K-pop artiste's bangs are turning heads

A member of a popular South Korean K-pop group has been getting a lot of attention because of his unusual hairstyle - long bangs that completely covers the upper half of his face, including his eyes. Junji is one of the seven members of OnlyOneOf, an all-male K-pop group founded in 2019.

He's easy to identify among his bandmates, as he's the one with the face half covered with long, blonde bangs. He's been sporting the bizarre hairstyle since January 2020, and has managed to generate quite a lot of buzz in South Korean entertainment business, because of it.

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