– – The real naked mole rat is even less attractive than the CG one featured in a recent MiO commercial, featuring wrinkled skin, stubby legs, and poor eyesight. This rat native to East Africa is however a longevity champ, living 10 to 30 years as opposed to the three year life span of the common rat. Although not pretty, the rat also ages well, showing little of the slow decline in mental and physical health commonly associated with aging. “Senior” naked mole rats maintain high levels of physical activity, strong bones, and can even continue to reproduce in their golden years!
The reason for this according to new research conducted in the U.S. and Israel seems to be unusually high levels of the NRG-1 protein, which is thought to protect the integrity of the body’s nerve cells. This research could lead to new insights about human aging, and lest we feel too superior to them, rodents’ genes are 85% similar to humans!
– – A Texas graduate student researcher suffered multiple and severe bite wounds when attacked by chimpanzees at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden in South Africa. 
– – Chester Cheetah for “Cheetos” is one cool feline, almost unflappable.–Oh, I know, he can mess with people’s heads at times, but that’s part of his appeal, and he can put it to good use! In a recent commercial, he’s working as a teller at a bank with a human, and they’re on their lunch break, which we all know is sacred, me time.- -Well, some robbers are stupid and inconsiderate enough to hit the bank at that time, so they more than deserve the disrespect that they receive from Chester, who repels the thugs by firing rubber bands at them! “On your way!,” 
– – He’s not to be confused with “Courageous Cat” or “Rocket Man,” but Progressive Insurance currently features a commercial in which a Progressive associate tries to “bundle” a sweet mewing cat with a rocket in a miniature pod that is reminiscent of the concept and device in the sci fi/horror classic, “The Fly.” 
– – I think that the appeal of giant mollusks, cephalopods in particular, is that they are 
– – Imagine your favorite plush childhood companion coming to life and maturing with you into adulthood, and you have the premise for Ted, a live action/CG movie written, directed, and produced by Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame. Ted the bear is voiced by MacFarlane himself, and sounds much like his Peter Griffin character would sound like if reincarnated as a teddy bear. Ted, however, is both outrageous and foul-mouthed; this is not a movie for the kiddies! Ted is rated “R” for language and content.
– – In a recent series of Geico commercials, the gecko is traveling across America, his journey leading him in this installment to the American Southwest where 
– – We all know that some parents can be quite cheap, so when his kids asked him for a puppy, one big-spending father depicted finding that puppies can be really expensive got them a possum instead! We see this guy in a Geico commercial working over his barbecue while his son and daughter stand over their “pet” possum, which is lying motionless at their feet; the son appears to prod the possum with his foot. “Dad, I think he’s dead,” advises the daughter. “Probably just playin’ possum,” reassures the father.
– – Me-ouch! Call me old fashioned, but I’m not too keen on the idea of turning a deceased cat into a mini-helicopter, finding the idea unsettling and perhaps gruesome; I like bizarre and creepy, but in a good way. PETA likewise dislikes the notion, with a spokesman calling the postmortem transformation
– – A group of high school students on a class project in the Idaho wilderness captured a dark, mysterious creature on a short video taken near Mink Creek before the unknown creature retreated into the treeline. 
FOXSYLVANIA 
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