Experts from Wolong National Nature Reserve believe interaction with researchers in these goofy looking costumes may increase a panda cub’s chance of survival once introduced to the wild.

"Well, it's funny looking but hey, whatever works!" said one employee when asked of the outfits.

In 2006, the research team introduced a captive-born male cub into the wild, only to have it tragically rejected and killed by its free-roaming brethren, according to the Washington Post.

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have combined non-contact motion detection with animatronics to build a fursuit head which reacts to a performer's facial movements.

The technology, exhibited at the 19th International Collegiate Virtual Reality Contest, allows the wearer to control the eyes and mouth; ear and eyebrow control is planned. [scottbob3]

For this month, I’ve kept the tags to ten. Hopefully they catch the furry zeitgeist.

It looks like we can add hyenas to the list of animals that can count. In fact, hyenas can count nearly as well as primates, a sure sign that these carnivorous predators are unusually intelligent. This is caused by their sophisticated, hierarchical societies in the wild.

Hyenas are among the few animal species to have unusually-complex social groupings, to the point where scientists consider them "societies" instead of packs.

Let's face it, hyena fans: hyenas usually get a bum rap, being called stupid, or "laughing idiots" from their laugh-like barks and calls (some of the blame on this may lie with Ed from The Lion King).

However, researchers have repeatedly demonstrated the cognitive abilities of hyenas rival those of monkeys. New research from Michigan State University suggests hyena intelligence evolved as a means for the spotted & striped predators to keep track of their social groups.

Yes, you read that right. An intoxicated elk found himself up a tree with no way down... a situation only cats are supposed to find themselves in. [Newser.com]

According to Sweden's edition of The Local, the elk was grazing on fermenting apples that had fallen off the tree, and became a bit drunk; a common phenomenon. What happened next is anything but: the elk decided to eat the apples located higher up in the tree, and began to climb it. The majestic, antlered creature became entangled within the tree's limbs, and required assistance from rescuers to get back onto terra firma.

A new British "invisibility cloak" infra-red system, Adaptiv, makes it possible to disguise military vehicles as large animals such as cows, even while moving. This has the potential during warfare to get a lot of animals killed, just to play safe.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman presented "Stor Gul Kanin" as part of a festival of art in Örebro, Sweden. The gigantic, yellow bunny now dominates the open space adjacent to St. Nicolai's church. The Huffington Post has a slideshow of pictures and a brief article.

Things have been getting pretty "batty" in recent weeks.  A bat decides to crash a meeting regarding road signs in Epping, New Hampshire, startling the members within. Seemingly not content with this, a second bat decides to become a stowaway on a Delta Airlines flight, causing quite a stir, and requiring the plane to turn around so the small flying mammal could be released safely. Perhaps he was trying out to be a stunt-double for Fox McCloud?

A chicken known as J-Lo because she was born with two rear-ends has been killed by a fox, ocala.com reports. The chicken – who had a large backside covered by white feathers – become a national sensation when news of her double lady-lumps spread over the Web.

As reported by the Ocala Star-Banner:

The couple brushed the feathers away and found two pubic regions, spaced about two inches apart. Typically, there is one such region in the center with a single orifice.

J-Lo was previously in the news in January, when her owners brought forth the extraordinary clucker. Even Jay Leno cracked a joke as the double-bottomed chicken went viral.

We bid ye farewell, J-Lo. You just had too much junk in your trunk to be in this world for long.

What do you get when you mix a kangaroo, an elderly woman, and a pair of police officers in a sleepy Outback town? One very interesting story!

Last Sunday, a rogue kangaroo attacked Phyllis Johnson, 94, while she hung laundry in her backyard. Phyllis, who suffered mostly cuts and bruises, told the Courier-Mail from hospital in Charleville, Queensland that she tried to fight the marauding marsupial off with a broom:

I thought it was going to kill me. It was taller than me and it just plowed through the clothes on the washing line straight for me.

After being knocked down she crawled back to her house and her son called the police. Charleville police chief Senior-Sargent Stephen Perkins said his officers were forced to pepper-spray the kangaroo to avoid being injured as well.

Could furry be holding your love life back? Los Angeles television producers appear to think so, judging by a recent casting call for an unnamed show (seemingly Saralane's Reality World):

Looking for Vampires, Wolves, furries, adult babies, trekkies, comic book lovers, body builders, Wiccans, puppetears (sic.), roller chicks, chubby lovers, ... Are you single and genuinely looking to find true love, but something is holding you back??

Researchers at the University of California, Davis might disagree; their 2007 furry survey found 'about half' the respondents were in a relationship – 76% involving other furries.

Wikipedia has a new article about Nazi experiments to train dogs to talk. The trainers claimed that one dog, when asked who Adolf Hitler was, would answer, "Mein Fuhrer".

The article is based upon a May 2011 book, Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities, by Jan Bondeson, which covers "talking dogs" back to the eighteenth century.

"Canada's Secret War Weapon Escapes!" — "IT'S COMIN' RIGHT FOR US!" — "Nickelodeon's 1990s Cartoon Based on True Canadian Stories?" — "Why did the Beaver Cross the Road?"

Any of those headlines would be equally accurate in this very odd story from Fort Smith in Canada's Northwest Territories.  The small, otherwise-sleepy northern town just north of the Alberta-NWT border was the victim of a rampaging beaver that alarmed several residents and prompted a call from the territory's Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Swedish newspaper Gotebors-Posten reports that police fired shots at a person wearing a costume, who held up a bank in a large shopping center in the city of Gothenberg late Friday.

A witness told G-P that:

A man in a monkey outfit, or similar, may have been a bear too, came running with security guards behind him. I thought it was a joke at first, a stunt, but then I walked past the bank and saw the shattered glass.

A burning car was discovered by police near the crime scene about an hour after the robbery. Investigations for the unusually-attired suspect are continuing, but he outran the officers at the scene and no arrests have yet been made. [via The Sydney Herald Sun]

Neurowear is developing a pair of cat ears which respond to the brain activity of their wearer.

Called "necomimi", the ears are mounted on a headband containing sensors, which pick up brain activity and move the ears accordingly. As the wearer concentrates, the ears point upwards, and when they relax the ears flop down and forwards.