Weird animals

London, Jan. 1 (Reuters): Dogs went woof over a Brazilian puppy love motel, an Australian trained mice to surf the waves and an Indian village married off toads in bid for rain.

the world of the weird and wacky, the animal kingdom was the big winner in 2005. It handsomely defeated incompetent thieves and misplaced corpses to take the prize for the year’s most bizarre headlines.

Droppings

New York, Jan. 1 (Reuters): Would you pay $175 for a pound of coffee beans, which had passed through the backside of a furry mammal in Indonesia? Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up. Kopi Luwak beans from Indonesia are rare and expensive, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of palm civets, a nocturnal creature about the size of a large house cat.

Footprints

Berlin (Reuters): German police have captured two men suspected of stealing from 15 cars by following their footprints in the snow for several miles. Policemen were checking up on a car whose alarm had been set off just after midnight in the town of Hoentrop when they found a smashed window and two sets of footprints that they followed more than 10 streets. The footprints led them directly to the entrance of a flat where the burglars not only stored their booty but also left their shoes and gloves to dry.