Cute

South African tech company Unlimited IT was so frustrated with the slow Internet speeds provided by Telkom, one of South Africa's biggest internet providers, that it hired a pigeon named Winston. As the Times of South Africa reports, Winston carried a 4gb memory card from one branch of Unlimited IT to another, far faster than Telkom's transfer speed:  

The 11-month-old pigeon flew 80km from a call centre in Howick, outside Pietermaritzburg, to a head office in Hillcrest, Durban, to prove a bird is faster at transferring data than Telkom’s ADSL lines.

Winston made his delivery in 2 hours 6 minutes and 57 seconds, beating Telkom’s estimated download time of up to two days. By the time the memory card, carrying company data, had been collected from Winston and downloaded by midday, the ADSL download had managed 100MB of data.

The Christian Science Monitor's Scott Balduf, based in Johannesburg, explains why the story is more significant than just good publicity for Ultimate and Winston:

Africans pay some of the highest prices for some of the least reliable Internet service in the world. And if a country like South Africa – relatively prosperous and developed – can't solve this problem, then it's going to need a lot more pigeons.

Telkom has since responded to the South Africa Press Association and denied responsibility for Ultimate's Internet connection woes.

flickr/dubliniete

Iraqi supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr step on U.S. flags after Friday prayer services on Feb. 6 in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. At the time, preliminary results of Iraq's Jan. 31 provincial elections showed that the Sadrists received only 9 percent of the vote in Baghdad.

Related content: FP's photo essay, "Election Time in Iraq"

Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images

Attention D.C. residents: You know that bamboo plant livening up your office? It's needed for panda food.

The National Zoo has run critically low on bamboo and might run out before the winter ends. The zoo harvests bamboo on its premises and at other locations in the area, but for unknown reasons, the stands aren't regrowing normally.

On Jan. 14, the zoo issued a public appeal for bamboo donations for Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, Tai Shan, who munch through 1,400 pounds (635 kg) of the crunchy stalks weekly.

The three furry balls of cuteness are on loan from China. Let's hope this bamboo shortage doesn't adversely affect U.S.-China relations. Fortunately, there are some promising signs: The zoo has received many offers since issuing its appeal. However, for the bamboo to be accepted, it must meet specific criteria:

• Cover at least an acre
• Be within 25 to 30 miles from the zoo
• Grow at least 100 feet from roads
• Be free of herbicides and pesticides

By the way, check out the panda cam.

KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

If you'll be traveling on Tokyo's subway this week, prepare for a simian encounter. This morning, a wild monkey scampered around ticket machines and perched itself on top of the electronic departures-and-arrivals board at Shibuya station, one of the city's busiest.

About 30 police officers tried to coax the creature down (no word on whether bananas were used as a lure), while commuters recorded videos on their cellphones. In the end, the monkey got away, bolting out of the station with TV crews hot on its tail.

It was one of several recent sightings of wild monkeys in Tokyo. The simians normally live in mountains far outside the city. In rural areas, they are considered a crop-ravaging menace, a problem also encountered in India, where earlier this year one state announced a plan to train youths to sterilize monkeys with lasers.

In other animal news:

• A disabled turtle gets wheels.
• A baby whale is mistaking yachts for its mom.
• A police dog knows how to box.
• A mourning gorilla mom refuses to let go of her dead baby's body.

Here's some lunchtime fun for you.

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

Sumo wrestlers coaxed 80 babies, all less than a year old, to cry at last Sunday's annual baby-crying contest at Sensoji temple in Tokyo. The tiny winners are determined by who cries first and who wails the loudest. Participating Japanese parents apparently believe the sumo-induced cries are beneficial, with the babies crying out a wish for good health. At the very least, it probably exercises the lungs.

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images

Some babies reportedly refused to cooperate and stayed silent or even dared to laugh in the wrestlers' faces. Or, at least, that was the case until the wrestlers resorted to slipping on their scary masks.

Earlier this month, the documentary version of FP Editor in Chief Moisés Naím's bestselling book Illicit aired on the TV channel PBS in the United States. The film and book documents how -- as the book's subtitle says -- "smugglers, traffickers, and copycats are hijacking the global economy."

Those copycats who profit off pirated DVDs had better be careful, though. The doggy duo of Lucky and Flo are out to get them. The black Labs are the first canines to have been trained to sniff out the polycarbonates found in DVDs and CDs. Although they can't differentiate between legit and pirated discs, their noses lead human investigators to discs that are hidden in cargo that has been declared as having other items, such as clothing. Lucky and Flo have been so successful that they've even received death threats from crime syndicates.

Check out a video of the furry crime fighters here:

BRISTOL, UNITED KINGDOM: Helen Park, an avid collector, adjusts her My Little Ponies as they are displayed at the International My Little Pony Convention at the Redwood Hotel and Country Club near Bristol on October 26, 2007, in England. Fans of the toys were in the city to celebrate 25 years Of My Little Pony (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

There's a convention for everything these days.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is known for bringing out in public his beloved dog Koni, a black Labrador retriever. In fact, he has even used his large dog to intimidate German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is reportedly scared of dogs due to a childhood biting incident.

Putin has also revealed a macho "my dog is bigger than yours" mentality in ridiculing U.S. President George W. Bush's Scottish terrier, Barney. When Bush once visited Putin's summer home, Koni came running out, and Putin said to Bush, "Bigger, tougher, stronger, faster, meaner—than Barney."

But Putin's little secret is that he has a special place in his heart for the most unmacho of dogs, his poodle Tosya. Putin has tried to keep his fondness for Tosya hidden, ever since news of the poodle made some Russian men perceive him as a wimp. (Today, Tosya is conveniently described as belonging to Putin's wife Lyudmila.) And the poodle is pampered. A 2005 interview with Tosya's hairdresser revealed that the poodle's fur is trimmed "in lion's style" once or twice a month for 150 euros ($213 at today's exchange rate) per trim.

Photos of Tosya have been extremely difficult to come by, but Scottish Terrier and Dog News, the authoritative source for news on Scotties and other canine-related matters, which has been following the story closely, recently announced that a photo has finally emerged. The photo, included here, shows Putin in the throes of affection with Tosya. So much for ridiculing Barney!