Malaysian Post

This offbeat item was published in the Star today.

The moral of this true story is very obvious.

KUALA TERENGGANU: It could have been a scene out of the old favourite bedtime story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

A burglar actually helped himself to Chinese New Year delicacies at a house at the Petani Flats on Saturday evening and promptly dozed off on a bed, scaring the occupants when they returned home from a nearby shopping complex.

The unwelcome guest, in his mid 30s, was found sleeping comfortably on the bed with the blanket pulled over him.

The family called the police, who shook the burglar from his slumber and took him away.

V. Sathya, 39, and his 30-year-old wife Wong Chee Chu, had gone shopping for Chinese New Year at Kampung Cina at noon together with their children, Kavelan, nine, and Shalini, six.

The boy was shocked when he entered his room to see a man sleeping in his bed.

“He shouted and ran out of his room. Even then the burglar did not wake up and carried on sleeping while holding on to one of my wife’s purses,” said Sathya.

“I guess my wife’s cookies were just too irresistible for him,” he said.

“My wife had prepared various delicacies over the past few days but the rogue ate everything,” said the annoyed insurance manager.

Despite the loss, Sathya and his family plan to hold an open house for family members and friends.

Burglars are not welcome.

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Snapshot - on Obama & Hillary Clinton race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Guess Osama will have to fight with a woman or it’s Osama vs Obama

And the world’s most powerful country is on course for a historic first - either a black president or a woman president. My crystal ball tells me the Republicans are going to take a back seat this time round.

This is a sad story of a dying species from the BBC.

Now extinct frog filmed waving, wrestling and courting

Click on image to view video

A BBC film crew has captured footage of a rare frog waving, wrestling and courting for the first time. BBC film crew has captured footage of a rare frog waving, wrestling and courting for the first time.

The Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs by semaphore in the form of gentle hand waves.

It has evolved the mechanism to signal to rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams.

Shortly after filming for the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood, the frogs had to be rescued from the wild, due to the threat of chytrid fungus.

Hilary Jeffkins, senior producer of Life In Cold Blood, said the semaphoring behaviour of the Panamanian golden frog was very unusual.

“Normally, frogs would croak to get their message across but it’s too noisy,” she said. “An extra mechanism they’ve evolved is to wave to each other.”
‘Final wave’

The frogs (Atelopus zeteki) were filmed at a remote location in the Panamanian rainforest. The population had all but disappeared because of a fungus that grows on the amphibians’ skin and suffocates them.

The film crew was disinfected - to stop them from carrying the disease - and managed to capture unique footage of the frogs in the wild.

THE GOLDEN FROG   Locals believe the frogs turn to solid gold when they die Even a sighting of one is considered lucky Golden frogs are highly toxic

Just after filming was completed in June 2006, the location was overtaken by the chytrid fungus.

Scientists were forced to remove the remaining frogs from the wild and keep them in captivity.

Hilary Jeffkins added: “The whole species is now extinct in Panama - this was one of the last remaining populations. Its final wave was in our programme.”

Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is a major contributor to the decline of amphibian populations around the world, threatening many species with extinction.

Sir David Attenborough brings viewers the final chapter of his epic overview of life on Earth as he transforms perceptions of cold-blooded animals in the landmark BBC One series Life In Cold Blood. It starts on Monday 4 February at 2100 GMT