Free Republic

French scientist Pascal Cotte has astounded art historians with a major discovery about Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece Lady With an Ermine (1489-90), the BBC reports. Until now, it had been assumed that da Vinci’s composition had always included the white ermine, but Cotte’s three year-long investigation has revealed that the Italian artist actually painted the work not in one, but in three clearly differentiated stages. His first version was ... [snip]

'Amateur photographer Martin Le-May, from Essex, has recorded the extraordinary image of a weasel riding on the back of a green woodpecker as it flies through the air. The photograph was taken at Hornchurch Country Park in east London on Monday afternoon. Speaking to BBC News, Mr Le-May said he had managed to capture the moment while he was out walking with his wife Ann.'

A tiny baby stoat was given mouth-to-mouth and a heart massage by a member of the public after a passer-by discovered it drowning in a water butt, it has emerged. The lifeless baby stoat, the size of a human thumb, was found in the trough next to its sibling in wasteland near Marham, Norfolk. The pair, since named Blears and Brown after the beleaguered Prime Minister and his former Communities Secretary, were found by an unnamed employee at Anglian Water on May 29.'

ROME (AFP) — One of Italy's leading animal rights groups said Monday it was launching an Internet petition to demand Pope Benedict XVI stop wearing fur during religious ceremonies at the Vatican.Lorenzo Croce, chairman of the Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment (AIDAA), denied being provocative or wanting to make an anti-religious statement."We just want to ask him in a message of love and peace to give a strong signal towards the protection of animals and the environment through a small but very significant personal sacrifice," Croce told the Italian news agency ANSA.Since his election Pope...