Berlin lizards impede Lenin's resurrection

Lenin has lain in a sandpit at the southeastern edge of Berlin since 1991 when the city, desperate to rid itself of the painful reminders of its division, cut the 19-meter (62-foot) statue into more than a hundred pieces and buried them.

Now, after administrative battles with reluctant authorities and grumbling from Berliners who thought they had got rid of the old communist forever, a museum plans to resurrect the 3.5-ton, 1.70-meter head this summer for a planned museum of disgraced monuments from the city's tumultuous history.

There's just one little problem left to solve before it can finally glimpse the light of day: lizards. Sand lizards, to be precise, strictly protected by European wildlife conservation rules.

Approaching the site with the crane, bulldozers and truck that will be needed to shift Lenin would disturb the striped creatures just as they're getting ready for the mating season, during which they turn green. So they must be encouraged to move away before the exhumation can commence. That's the law.

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Dinosaur Bone Damaged in WWII Revealed with 3D Printing

The identity of a mislabeled fossil damaged in a World War II era bombing has finally been revealed as part of an enormous long-necked plant-eating dinosaur.

The fossil, tucked inside the plaster jacket paleontologist wrapped around it more than 100 years ago, belongs to the Museum of National History in Berlin. During World War II, a bomb fell on the museum's east wing, collapsing the basement where dinosaur fossils were stored.

Many fossils were reduced to dust in the bombing, and the ones that survived were scattered and mixed up. Making matters worse, bones from two separate expeditions had been housed in the same area. One expedition, in Tanzania, ran from 1909 to 1913 and brought back 235 tons of fossils, labeled with letters based on their locations. The other fossils came from a 1909 discovery in Halberstadt, Germany. Those bones also used a letter-based label system — but the letters referred not to locations, but to individual animals.

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Shetland pony takes a ride on Berlin subway

Commuters in Berlin got the fright of their lives last week when a woman boarded a subway train with her Shetland pony.

Footage of the unidentified blonde woman leading the pony onto Berlin’s S-Bahn subway and enjoying a ride together has been uploaded onto YouTube, where one clip has been watched almost a quarter of a million times.

Jarkko Riihimaki, one of the passengers who witness the bizarre event, is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: ‘This was supposed to be a normal trip home with the S-Bahn.

‘After one stop, a girl – pretty conventional looking – comes in with a pony. Yes, with a pony!

‘I don’t know what to say about the whole thing.’

The video on YouTube shows the well-behaved pony calmly standing in the carriage as its owner sits in silence.

Passengers on the carriage are shown looking bemused at the animal, while some try to capture the unique commute on their mobile phones.

While internet users have reacted with joy at the clip, S-Bahn spokesman Burkhard Ahlert was less than impressed.

‘One may smile but according to our transport regulations, this is clearly not allowed,’ he said.

‘This clearly violates our conditions of carriage.

‘A horse can be dangerous. What if it escapes? The S-Bahn is no place for such animals.

‘We have informed the police already.’

It is though the pony may belong to a local circus group that collects charitable donations.

http://metro.co.uk/2012/12/16/shetland-pony-takes-a-ride-on-berlin-subway-3318457/