TILT

[thatguy]

(things I learned today)

I went down the rabbit hole of the history of animals in space which landed me on the wiki page for the Soviet space program which included these nuggets:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_space_dogs

Bobik and ZIB[b]Edit[/b]

[b]Bobik[/b] (Бобик, common Russian name for a small dog) ran away just days before his flight was scheduled to take place on 15 September 1951.[2] A replacement named [b]ZIB[/b] (ЗИБ, a Russian acronym for [i]"Substitute for Missing Bobik"[/i], "Замена Исчезнувшему Бобику" [i]Zamena Ischeznuvshemu Bobiku[/i]), who was an untrained street dog found running around the barracks, was quickly located and made a successful flight to 100km and back.[8][2]

And:

Belka and Strelka[b]Edit[/b]

Belka

Strelka

[b]Belka[/b] (Белка, literally, "squirrel", or alternatively "Whitey") and [b]Strelka[/b](Стрелка, "little arrow") spent a day in space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2(Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth.[9]They are the first higher living organisms to survive orbit in outer space.
They were accompanied by a grey rabbit, 42 mice, two rats, flies and several plants and fungi. All passengers survived. They were the first Earth-born creatures to go into orbit and return alive.[14]

Belka and Strelka in graffiti. 2008
Strelka went on to have six puppies with a male dog named [b]Pushok[/b] who participated in many ground-based space experiments, but never made it into space.[15] One of the puppies was named [i]Pushinka[/i] (Пушинка, "Fluffy") and was presented to President John F. Kennedy by Nikita Khrushchev in 1961. A Cold War romance bloomed between Pushinka and a Kennedy dog named Charlie, resulting in the birth of four puppies that JFK referred to jokingly as [i]pupniks[/i].[16] Two of their puppies, [b]Butterfly[/b] and [b]Streaker[/b], were given away to children in the Midwest. The other two puppies, [b]White Tips[/b] and [b]Blackie[/b], stayed at the Kennedy home on Squaw Island but were eventually given away to family friends.[15] Pushinka's descendants were still living at least as of 2015.[17] A photo of descendants of some of the Space Dogs is on display at the Zvezda Museum in Tomilinooutside Moscow.[18]
A Russian animated feature film called [i]Belka and Strelka: Star Dogs[/i](English title: [i]Space Dogs[/i]) was released in 2010.

--tg

[Greg]

How long after they landed did the necropsy take place?

[Drunk Monk]

Things I Learned Today:

The world's largest bunny is Darius at over 4' long.

Darius was bunny-napped during the pandemic and has yet to be recovered.

Cruel trolls send owner of world's longest rabbit who was stolen on wild goose chase
Darius the record-breaking bunny was snatched from the home of his owner Annette Edwards three months ago and she now believes he's dead. But heartless online trolls keep claiming to have spotted him


Annette Edwards, 61, has been targeted by online trolls who claim they've seen her rabbit (
Image: Damien McFadden/ANL/REX/Shutterstock)

By
Mike Lockley
Nilufer Atik

• 11:20, 18 Jul 2021
  
  
• UPDATED11:24, 18 Jul 2021
  

The owner of the world’s longest rabbit has been targeted by heartless trolls claiming they have seen her pet out and about.

World record-breaking bunny Darius was stolen from the home of his owner Annette Edwards who is now convinced her pet is dead.

But the devastated grandmother has been sent on several wild goose chases by online jokers who’ve claimed to have seen Darius.
Annette has now slammed the trolls, saying they have taken advantage of her with a string of deliberate bogus sightings.
“It’s just horrible. I’m just deeply, deeply upset that there are people out there who could do something like this,” Annette told BirminghamLive. 
Darius, a four foot two inches long, pedigree Continental giant rabbit, was snatched from his enclosure, in Stoulton, Worcestershire, on Saturday, April 10.






[img=300x0]https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article24559591.ece/ALTERNATES/n310p/0_PAY-Jeff-the-Huge-Rabbit.jpg[/img]Annette offered a £1,000 reward after her record-holding giant rabbit was stolen from her home ( 
Image: 
Caters News Agency)
Despite a £2,000 reward posted by former model Annette, who was in the trail quickly turned cold.
Darius, like his owner, is a Guinness Book of Records entrant – Annette held the record for being the oldest Page 3 girl. The bunny appears in the “world’s longest rabbit” category.

Because of the rabbit’s special dietary requirements, 70-year-old Annette gave him only three days to survive after he was swiped.
Age was also against the pampered pet. Darius was 12 – the equivalent of over 100-years-old for a human, so Annette now believes he is dead.




[img=300x0]https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article24559590.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_PAY-IMG_1942JPG.jpg[/img]Darius munched his way through a staggering 4,000 carrots a year
“I don’t think he will still be with us,” she said.
“He was extraordinarily old, and his special diet was keeping him alive – pellets and barley rings all mashed-up. When he was taken, I gave him two to three days.”
There were early fears Darius had been bunny napped and ransom demands were anticipated.
Annette now believes the motive for the heartless crime was not financial.
“My opinion is that it was done out of sheer spite,” she said. “It was the work of online bullies, people who make nasty comments without having to look someone in the eye.






[img=300x0]https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article24559594.ece/ALTERNATES/n310p/1_Clemmie-Moodie-meets-Jeff-the-Worlds-longest-bunny-rabbit.jpg[/img]Darius next to an average sized rabbit ( 
Image: 
MDM)
"We’ve been sent on a couple of wild goose chases after people told us they’d seen him.”
When Darius was snatched, Annette took to Twitter to plead for his safe return. She posted: “Please bring him back”, adding he was too old to breed now. 
Since the theft, she has “stepped up security massively”, but thankfully Annette still has Darius’ offspring to console her.
Jeff, Lewis and Mr Boss have overcome the trauma of losing their father and Mr Boss has just finished a fashion shoot for a leading children’s clothing company.




[img=660x0]https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article24559593.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_MQP_BEM_240114bunny_02JPG.jpg[/img]Model Annette is convinced her beloved pet is now dead ( 
Image: 
Birmingham Mail)

[King Bob]

Things I did not learn from the above: Why did they stuff the dogs? Where are they?