A mechanical cow that breaks wind on the hour has become Edinburgh’s latest tourist attraction.

The bovine backside has been attached to the side of the Rowan Tree pub in the city’s historic Old Town.

It lifts its tail and shoots out a cloud of white smoke at passers-by throughout the day.

Pub landlord Norrie Rowan, a former Scotland international rugby star, said the cow was becoming as popular with tourists as nearby Greyfriars Bobby.

It was installed on the side of the pub earlier this year, but the mechanics that allow it to break wind at 1100 GMT, noon and 1300 GMT are a new addition.

A dry ice machine ensures the flatulent beast is regular and helps locals keep track of time in a similar way to the city’s famous One O’clock Gun.

Mr Rowan said the cow was a bit of fun that had already become a popular landmark in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh.

He added: “The cow is already famous around Edinburgh and I get hundreds of tourists coming by and taking pictures of it.”

A drunk Cambodian man became embroiled in an unfortunate genital incident when, as he was urinating through a fence, a happy little puppy on the other side bit onto his penis.

News reports in Phnom Penh said that Kann Veasna was relieving himself through a hole in the fence after a hard day drinking wine when the incident occurred.

The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper suggested that the puppy may have thought Veasna’s penis was toy.

HERE’S a moggie with a look that’s straight from the catwalk.

He’s modelling the latest in pampered petware - a wig for your cat.

They’re available in a range of colours to suit their owner from a new American website.

And are bound to be a hit with dippy owners who already spend thousands every year on gifts for their animals.

Cat-mad Julie Jackson came up with the designs to spice up her cat’s wardrobe and give the animals a more exciting choice of outfit.

The designs - called The Kitty Wigs - are available in blue, silver, blonde and pink.

We recently told how a barking mad store had started flogging wigs for dogs on the web.

Cats probably prefer wearing them because they’re arti-fish-ial.

If the diamond-studded JooZoo MP3 player wasn’t enough for your spoiled pup, why not treat them to a luxurious soak in the automatic dog washing machine.

This machine is the latest craze for spoilt pooches in Poitiers, France and at $30,000 it’s an expensive one!

To prove that the machine is safe for dogs, the machine’s owner climbed in too! The $30,000 automatic dog washing machine takes just four minutes to wash and dry pets.

Although it may be the latest craze in France, I don’t see it catching on!

A Michigan couple narrowly escaped death when a 600-pound cow fell 200 feet from a Washington state cliff and landed on the hood of their moving minivan.

Charles and Linda Everson miraculously were unhurt, but the cow had to be euthanized.

The couple was driving through Washington to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

Charles Everson said that he didn’t see the cow coming and that he kept repeating, “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe this.”

India - A troupe of trained Indian elephants has taken up drama to save their brethren in the wild, performing tear-jerking plays with elaborate death scenes to arouse the sympathy of villagers.

The conservation officials behind the performances hope to defuse a low-level war between dwindling numbers of endangered elephants and growing numbers of humans.

Villagers are increasingly encroaching on forest land, while elephants are increasingly barging into villages, killing dozens of people each year, often by trampling on them.

The villagers’ tactics involve building makeshift electric fences from electric pylons around villages, which electrocute elephants on contact. A dozen elephants have been killed in this way in eastern India so far this year, conservationists say.

“The objective of using trained elephants to enact electrocution scenes is to evoke sympathy for their wild friends,” said Manindra Biswas, an official from the Forest Department of West Bengal state.

The play opens with six elephants looking tense after hearing gunfire. One elephant walks up to a prop wire, touches it, and crumples into a heap. This starring role is often played by an especially talented elephant-actor called Mainak.

The five elephant friends desperately try to revive their fallen comrade. In the final act, the elephants realize all is lost, salute their dead friend, and walk away. Humans are on hand to narrate the moral of the story.

Hundreds of villagers have enjoyed the free, half-hour-long play since the run began last month, Biswas said, although it is too soon to know how much of a difference the play will make.

“The elephant play is something unique, but there needs to be a more concerted effort to save the elephants which is surely lacking now,” said Shakti Ranjan Banerjee of the New Delhi-based Wildlife Protection Society of India.

About 50,000 wild Asian elephants lived in India a century ago. That number had dropped to around 21,300 elephants in India’s reserves in 2005, according to the environment ministry, although numbers have been rising in some areas.

Much of the decline comes as elephants’ forest habitats are destroyed to make way for agriculture, homes and infrastructure, although illegal poaching for ivory still continues.

Only about 120,000 square km (46,340 square miles) of India’s landmass — less than four percent of the total — is suitable for elephants, according to a survey by the environment ministry last year.

Instead of flushing leftover medicine down the toilet, the federal government is urging consumers to mix unused drugs with kitty litter, dog feces or sawdust before they toss it in the trash.

The goal is to make controlled substances unappealing to drug abusers without adding dangerous substances to the environment, as often happens when prescription drugs are flushed through the sewer system.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says in a press release: Consumers should always check patient information accompanying the product to see if it contains specific directions for disposing of unused medication, and follow those directions. If no specific information is provided then unused medication should be properly disposed of by mixing it with undesirable substances (e.g., old coffee grounds, used kitty litter), sealing the mixture in a container and placing it in the trash. Whenever possible, unused medication may also be donated to authorized community prescription drug take-back programs.

The agency is working with a private contractor to distribute flyers at 6,300 pharmacies across the USA. They’ll evaluate the results at the end of the 26-week pilot project, which is costing the government about $700,000.

India — Presenting a unique bond of love between simians and human beings, a monkey in Orissa’s Dhenkanal area has adorned a baby-sitter’s role by taking care of an infant human baby when its mother is busy doing household chores.

Every morning, the monkey arrives at the 21-day-old baby’s house and spends rest of the day taking care of the baby boy. At times, the monkey goes asleep with the infant in the house.

“Initially, I was scared by this unusual affection shown by the monkey towards my baby. But today, the monkey takes care of him the whole day when I am busy with my household work. Sitting next to my baby son, the monkey looks after him as a mother and never harms,” said Kamalini Khuntia, the mother.

Rohit Khuntia and Kamalini Khuntia, the parents of the infant were scared and reluctant to allow a monkey to come near the child. They even tried to shoo the simian away. But it did not stop the monkey from visiting their house and play with the baby.

Both of the parents have now given up their fear and now treat the monkey as family.

The unique incident showcasing an astonishing relation of love and care between a monkey and human child has become the talk of the town.

“Look this is an animal but showers love and affection like a real mother to a human baby. For the past 15-16 days, it is taking care of the baby as a mother would do,” said, Shantanu Das, a neighbour

Khuntia’s home has today become a favourite tourist spot of sorts, as several curious people keep visiting to witness the unique bond. Who knows the sight may influence the general mindset that usually perceives the presence of monkeys to be a menace for the human world?

You always thought it was a myth, but Professor Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, England, says it’s a fact: pets and their owners are just like married couples and they get more alike over time.

He asked 2500 pet owners to complete online questionnaires and found they shared such traits as happiness, intelligence, independence and a sense of humour with their companions.

“For years owners have insisted their pets have a unique personality” he told London’s Daily Telegraph. “Not only does this work suggest they might be right, it also reveals people’s pets are a reflection of themselves. Similarity promotes liking in humans. Research has shown couples that are like each other stay together longer.

“Extending this to the animal kingdom, I think it is likely someone who is fun and playful is more likely to go for a dog, for example.”

Wiseman says cat lovers are dependable and emotionally sensitive, reptile owners are independent and fish owners stand out as the most contented of individuals. “Around 60 per cent think their fish have a sense of humour,” he said. “I’m not sure how that works. On the other hand, people who keep lizards and snakes don’t think their pets have a sense of humour, and those owners are pretty humourless, too.”

The One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) is toying with a novel source of power for its low-cost XO laptops: cows.

“We plan to drive a dynamo (taken from an old Fiat) through a system of belts and pulleys using cows/cattle,” wrote OLPC’s Arjun Sarwal, in an e-mail dated Oct. 21 and posted to one of the group’s discussion lists.

Sarwal and others are now finalizing the design of the cow-powered generator.

The goal is to develop a low-cost energy source that can be used in Indian villages. Working in a village close to Mumbai, Sarwal said the group considered using solar energy but sunlight near Mumbai was not “consistently strong.” There was not enough wind or running water nearby to use these as sources of power, and the cost of running a gas-powered motor was too high.

“But the village had an abundance of cattle that were being used in the fields. So we decided to design something around that,” Sarwal wrote in a subsequent e-mail.

The dynamo used in the system was taken from a Fiat car that is commonly used as taxis in Mumbai and therefore both cheap and readily available.

OLPC is close to putting its XO laptop into production, but has been beset by delays and rising costs. Originally intended to cost $100 each, the cost has since risen to nearly $200. And production is also moving slowly.

After a trial production run in August, OLPC had hoped to start mass production in late September or early October. That date has now slipped to Nov. 12, according to a Reuters report that quoted the group’s chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepsen.