Odd Stories: Orangutan Gets Birth Control Implant

Cleveland – Veterinarians got a lesson at Cleveland Clinic from a physician when it comes to installing a birth-control device in an orangutan.

One doctor, Judith Volkar, had a major hand in it. After she showed several vets how to put in a new birth-control device, she was found herself watching as Albert Lewandowski did the procedure on an orangutan named Kitra. Nobody in the United States has ever done it before to an orangutan.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo curator Geoffrey Hall said the zoo may want Kitra to breed someday, but at the moment they don't want her to do so, which led to this surgery before she was introduced to four other orangutans.

Kitra was awake within two hours with no apparent side-effects.

Aurora Borealis Can Be Seen in Ohio

Cleveland – Citizens of Ohio will be given a rare treat: a chance to see the Northern Lights this weekend. Normally not seen in the continental United States, the massive display may be seen as far as Atlanta.

AnttiPuikkinen said “The sun is on an 11-year solar cycle of minimums and maximums. It should reach a peak in the middle of 2013 or so. Because of this, solar activity over the past year or two is much more. The stronger the eruption, the stronger the interaction with the earth, the more southern the auroras will be seen." Earlier this week Spaceweather.com reported one of the biggest sunspots seen in years. It's estimated to be 40,000 kilometers and 80,000 kilometers in length.

Although the solar flares are going to be big, Puikkinen says she doubts anything like what happened in Quebec in 1989 will happen this time. Then, an eruption resulted in an electrical blackout. Other than “some possible radio and power grid issues.”