the buzz log
Little Pigs Are Big on the Web
Sorry, Miss Piggy: But when it comes to pigs in Britain, petite is where it's at. Celebs are going hog wild for the tiny teacup pigs. All together now: Awwwwwww.
Some serious science — and major cross-breeding — went in to the creation of this new, super-small piglet. Despite the name, they are only the size of a teacup at birth. Full grown mini piggies are about the size of a mid-sized dog. However, the pigs are shrinking with each new litter — the smallest is now 12 inches tall and could fit into a generous-sized handbag. Paging Paris Hilton.
We're not sure if this porcine craze will make it to Hollywood, but it sure has our attention on the Web. One-day searches on Yahoo! show a whopping 400% leap in queries for "teacup pigs." Lookups on "pig breeds" and "miniature pet pigs" both snorted their way to a more than 300% gain.
Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint is reportedly among the happy pet owners with two. According to the Daily Mail, the micro creatures are surprisingly clean and quiet — and a good choice for animal lovers with fur allergies. You can see a picture of the mini porkers here.
While these little piggies run small, their price tag is another story: A wallet dragging $1,100. Still, that snouty pout: priceless.
Watch a "Today" show video with the breeder here.
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Filed under: Animals
Fastest Mammal on Earth
Cheetahs always win.
Usain Bolt may get his share of million-dollar jackpots for being a world champ sprinter, but he's got nothing on 8-year-old Sarah. The Cincinnati Zoo's cheetah ambassador just beat the 2001 land-speed world record for mammals.
A male cheetah in South Africa covered 100 meters in 6.19 seconds. Sarah didn't beat that just once, but twice: She first clocked in at 6.16 seconds and then 6.13 seconds—which, by the way, bested Bolt's August sprint by more than 3 seconds. And that's from a girl who has been in captivity pretty much her whole life.
Sarah's feat helped call attention to the species' endangered numbers. According to the zoo, the spotted felines' population has dropped from 100,000 back in 1900 to about one-tenth that number. Cincinnati has been doing its part to nurture more cubs than anywhere else. Not so coincidentally, the zoo was home to another record holder: Moya, who died this past January, held the title for a year before his brother Nyana (over in South Africa) snagged it. Now Sarah's got bragging rights.
She may not rest easy for long. Zaza, an 8-year-old female in South Africa, will be throwing down the gauntlet over in South Africa when the weather clears up, either later this month or in early October. Meanwhile, here are two videos of Sarah's sprint—a quickie AP version and the Cincinnati Zoo's longer one.
A True Tale About a Whale
Dog may be man's best friend, but looks like woman can depend on the beluga whale.
That's what Yang Yun found out when she participated in a free-dive contest at China's Harbin Polar Land. The challenge was for divers to go down the aquarium's 20-foot pool and stay as long as they could stand it—without breathing equipment. Did we mention the water's freezing cold?
The 26-year-old's legs cramped up on her way up, and thought she wouldn't make it. Officials noticed nothing awry, but a beluga whale named Mila figured out the human being was in distress. This Fox News slideshow shows human Yun sinking and Mila the whale leaping in to assist. The Daily Mail lets you enlarge the two photos showing how Mila used her mouth to move Yun, then nose her up to the surface.
Only when Yun got pushed to the surface did anyone figure out trouble had been brewing in the deep. One organizer says Yun "owes her life" to Mila, a "sensitive animal who works closely with humans."
While neither of the whales are identified in this 2008 Polar Land photo (beluga are also called white whales), the underwater performance should give you an idea just how closely the water and land mammals work together. By the way, the Museum of Natural History also notes that, according to native lore, "beluga whales help each other give birth." Now that really sounds like a woman's best friend.
Solar Eclipse, New Dragon Species, and a Prehistoric Blast: Buzz Week in Review
Corruption probes, presidential regrets, and other breaking news occupied headlines this week, but a mighty big science phenomena dwarfed those earthly concerns. After a busy seven days, take a look at the latest—and some ancient news, too—in the Buzz Week in Review.
An eclipse to remember
Earthlings won't see another solar eclipse like the one that darkened Asia this week for another 123 years, but that's soon enough for some. Millions ventured outside to enjoy the six-minute plus blackout, with astronomy experts gathering in Shanghai (which reportedly offered the "best views"), Japanese party planners setting up a music festival for the occasion, and passengers chartering a plane in India for a closer view. The prospect of being submerged in darkness, though, unleashed old superstitions, as some shut themselves indoors, cleansed their sins in the Ganges River, or prayed against bad omens. The event may have come and gone, but video and photos abound.
Another new Dragon species?
The Komodo dragon has had a busy year. First, studies of its venomous bite upgraded the lizard to an elite poisonous group occupied only by the Gila monster and the Mexican beaded lizard. Now the Komodo's got new kin: German scientists stumbled upon a new (to human beings) species of mangrove monitor lizard in the Talaud Islands. The discovery of the Varanus lirungensis (which is also related to the crocodile monitor) points to a huge predator diversity in Indonesia. So watch where you step!
The other big bang?
The theory about space rocks wiping out Ice Age species just got another boost: It turns out the first human inhabitants may have also been hit. Rare "nano-sized diamonds" that form under extremely hot fires are evidence that space rocks hit the North American continent about 13,000 years ago. Unfortunately, some pygmy mammoth (a smaller version of the woolly mammoth) and a group called the Clovis people happened to be in the line of fire. The galactic slam, plus "overhunting and climate change," created what one researcher called a "perfect storm" that wiped out the Ice Age population. The findings swelled searches on Yahoo! for the prehistoric "clovis people," so named because of artifacts first found in Clovis, New Mexico. For more on the mastodon hunters and the first Americans, check out this 2007 LiveScience article.
Also buzzing this week...
- China's been busy, caring for the first panda born from frozen sperm and making mice from connective tissue.
- The world's biggest telescope: Coming in about a decade to a Hawaiian volcano near you...
- Did a modern human accidentally kill a Neanderthal? The investigation continues...
Filed under: Animals, Science, Astronomy, Week in Review
Buzz Multiplex: Not Just a Test Animal
Not since the Kung Fu Hamster has a rodent shown such prowess. Among the strangely varied pickings in the Buzz Multiplex this weekend, elite guinea pig spies of Disney's 3D "G-Force" lead a surly orphan and romantically challenged woman.
Heroic mice have had plenty of screen time, but this particular critter hasn't had a chance at big-screen glory. In fact, guinea pigs don't get much respect. For one thing, they're neither porcine nor Guinean. (One possible answer to this etymological mystery explained here.) They're considered cheap pets for the home or classroom (subjecting them to much elementary school harassment) and subjects of scientific experimentation.
Even worse, sometimes people can't tell them apart from hamsters. SF Gate felt so aggrieved by this confusion that it came up with 11 distinctions between the Cava Porcellus and the Cricetinae critter.
Among them: Guinea pigs don't make cannibalism a practice. Admittedly, both hamsters and guinea pigs do engage in coprophagy (and if you have a weak stomach, don't click the link to find out what that means).
Despite the movie's popularity, there's yet another indignity: Searches on Yahoo! for "guinea pigs" and "guinea pigs for sale" are up (as predicted by leery guinea pig rescue groups), but still not yet enough to beat out the hamster. And that's not even including online lookups for the "hamster dance."
Filed under: Movies, Animals, Animation, Animated Characters
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nidal Malik Hasan | Breakout! |
| 2 | Fort Hood Shooting | Breakout! |
| 3 | Tyrannosaurus Rex | Breakout! |
| 4 | Fort Hood | 43518% |
| 5 | Tropical Storm Ida | 4377% |
| 6 | Willie Aames | 3325% |
| 7 | Shannon Dedrick | 3299% |
| 8 | Gretchen Rossi | 2702% |
| 9 | Epic Mickey | 2583% |
| 10 | Lee Harvey Oswald | 1907% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danica Patrick | +194 | 207 |
| 2 | Fort Hood | +185 | 185 |
| 3 | Angelina Jolie | +114 | 164 |
| 4 | Rihanna | +39 | 157 |
| 5 | New York Yankees | +54 | 154 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys | +139 | 153 |
| 7 | +1 | 153 | |
| 8 | NFL | +6 | 138 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.