Giant swarm of flying ants spotted from space over UK
London: A 50-mile-wide swarm of flying ants has been making its way over the UK – and it has been spotted from space due to the massive size, it was reported on Sunday.
The enormous cloud of ants was picked up by the Met Office’s weather radar over Kent and Sussex on England’s southeast coast, Sky News said in a report. The weather service said smaller swarms could also be seen over London. A video was released by the Met Office, alongside a tweet saying: “It’s not raining in London, Kent or Sussex, but our radar says otherwise.
“The radar is actually picking up a swarm of #flyingants across the southeast. “During the summer ants can take to the skies in a mass emergence usually on warm, humid and windless days #flyingantday’.”
A spokesman for the Met Office said there were likely to be “thousands” of ants within the swarm.
“It’s not unusual for larger swarms to be picked up,” Sky News quoted the spokesman as saying. “A similar thing happened almost exactly a year ago on ‘Flying Ant Day’. “On days when it is sunny, the radar detects the swam but we are able to see they are not the same shape as water droplets, and in fact look more insect-like,” he added.
Large swarms of the insects appear – in what is widely known as “Flying Ant Day” – when males and new queens leave the nest to mate, with many ant colonies doing so on the same day.
The Royal Society of Biology points out there is not always one such day, with flying ants spotted on as many as 96 per cent of the days between June and September. (IANS)
Dubai-based Indian girl breaks yoga world record
Dubai: A Dubai-based Indian girl has smashed a world record for doing a hundred yoga poses in a small box within three minutes, the media reported.
This is Samridhi Kalia’s third yoga title, and the second in less than a month, the Khaleej Times reported on Saturday.
The 11-year-old entered the Golden Book of World Records once again on Thursday for executing the ‘fastest hundred yoga postures performed in restricted space’. She completed the challenge in three minutes and 18 seconds at the Burj Khalifa’s viewing deck.
Her third world record just weeks after getting the title for performing around 40 advanced yoga postures in one minute inside a small box.
She claimed the second world record on International Day of Yoga, which is observed on June 21 every year. The Grade 7 student of Ambassador School in Dubai believes that such incredible achievements are made possible with sheer hard work and perseverance.
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Work hard in silence, let success be your noise. I feel that my greatest asset is not my physical ability, it is my mental ability,” the Khaleej Times quoted Kalia as saying.
Apart from three hours of daily yoga practice, she plays lawn tennis, cycles, swims, enjoys ice skating, and is learning badminton as well. Samridhi is not only adept at various yoga asanas but has also won accolades in artistic and rhythmic yoga. (IANS)
Kansas dog makes 50-mile trek to her old home
LAWSON: A dog named Cleo who disappeared from her home in Kansas earlier this month turned up a few days later at her old home in Missouri, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away.
Colton Michael told television station KMBC that the 4-year-old Labrador retriever-border collie mix showed up on the front porch of his family’s home in Lawson, which is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Kansas City.
At first, she wouldn’t let anyone get near her, said Michael, who has lived in the home for nearly two years.
“She finds her way home, and there’s some strangers living in it. That would be scary for anybody,” he said.
Eventually, he was able to gain Cleo’s trust and to get her checked for a microchip, which showed that she belonged to the former owners of his house.
Cleo’s owners, who had moved to Olathe, Kansas, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Lawson, couldn’t believe it when Michael called and said the dog had turned up at their old home.
They had posted on Facebook a week earlier about the missing dog. Neither family knows how Cleo made the trip, which would have required her to cross at least one river. (AP)