Ireland’s largest zoo has unveiled its first adult bull elephant in 100 years

At 17-years-old, Upali measures three meters tall and weighs more than 6,000 kilos, reports RTE news.

The Asian bull elephant will live at Dublin zoo for the next 15 to 20 years with four females as part of the international breeding programme.

Speaking at the ceremony, Leo Oosterweghel, director at Dublin Zoo, said, “Upali’s arrival is a hugely significant occasion for us as part of the international breeding programme.

“We are especially pleased to have Minister Brian Hayes with us today to celebrate the arrival of Upali and opening of the Bull Elephant House. We are also very grateful to the Government and the OPW for the funding and technical support they have provided over the past 18 years.

“Without the commitment from the Government we could not have transformed Dublin Zoo into Ireland’s number-one family attraction with over one million visitors per annum.”

For more on Upali, visit: www.dublinzoo.ie.

1,400 people dressed as nuns in Kerry break Guinness World Record -VIDEO

Supporting Nunday!

More than 1,400 revellers dressed as nuns flocked to a village in Kerry last weekend to smash a Guinness world record.

Men and women dressed as nuns descended on Listowel on Saturday for ‘Nunday’ to help raise funds for Pieta House, a charity aimed at preventing suicide and self-harm.

The crowd broke the previous record, which stood at 250 for the largest meeting of people dressed as nuns.

Organizer Cora O’Brien told TheJournal.ie how they ran out of habits for the participants.

“We’d initially expected a couple of hundred people to take part but the whole thing just took off over the past week and we actually ran out of nuns’ habits a few days ago,” said O’Brien, who lost her son to suicide in 2007.

“The excitement in the town was immense and everyone really got into the spirit of things,” said O’Brien.

Organizers provided all registered participants with a black habit, a white coif, and a black veil for the event. 

The official count took place at 6 o’clock in a football field in Listowel . Afterwards, the 1,436 nuns paraded through the town.

Irish police on the hunt for a man with ‘huge man boobs’

Irish police have described a man who robbed a cash in transit van in Dublin on Friday as having “huge man boobs”.

According to the Herald, Irish cops are looking for a man who was wearing a blue hoodie, jeans and a baseball cap and had rather large man boobs, or moobs as they are also known.

The Dublin based newspaper posted the following on Twitter: “Gardai hunting for Dundrum cash-in-transit robber have describing him as having “hug man boobs. #Herald”

Giant crab caught off Mayo coast dies

Skipper Micheal O’Toole (right) and crewman Darren O’Toole holding the Giant Box Crab  (Credit: The Mayo News)

A rare giant crab has died in the National Aquarium in Galway just days after it caught off the coast of Mayo.

The large box crab, which measured 43 inches from claw to claw, was hauled by fisherman Michael O’Toole last week in 70 meters of water a mile off the coast of Innisboffin, reports the Mayo News.

The crab was then taken to the National Aquarium in Salthill in Galway where it later died.

Kevin O’Hara, Manager of the National Aquarium said that the stress of being removed form its natural habitat may have killed the sea creature.

“The first 24 hours are critical to whether it will survive or not,” Kevin explained. “We have no idea why it died, but stress may have been the main factor. We were hopeful it would have survived, but unfortunately it did not. It was a very unusual crab, very rare, and it was a big catch.”

O’Toole, the fisherman who made the catch, was disappointed to hear about the crabs death.

“I have been fishing for over 40 years and I never seen anything like it before in my life,” he told The Mayo News.

“We were fishing for cray fish when he got caught in our nets and when we hauled him in, I knew we had caught something special. When we brought him ashore there was great excitement with the young people wanting to have a look at it. People living off the island were looking forward to seeing it and we were terribly disappointed when we got the call from Galway that it died.”

World Champion diver jumps from helicopter over Lough Corrib - VIDEO

(Photo: Red Bull)

Colombian, nine-time diving world champion Orlando Duque jumped from a helicopter, 23 meters above Ashford Castle, Cong, County Mayo, in preparation for the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.

The possibly insane competition includes a cliff dive on Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands, off County Galway.

The 11 qualifying entrants, started their diving this month. They will complete seven dives in Europe and North American, before the final dive in Oman, in September.

These dives, according to TheJournal.ie last just three seconds as the diver hurtles toward the water at 85kph.

Here’s video, thanks to Red Bull, of Duque talking about the experience:

Starbucks Ireland asks customers to describe "what it means to be British" #Fail

Woops! Starbucks Ireland asked their Emerald Isle customers, via Twitter, to let them know "what makes you proud to be British" this morning.


The international coffee company was reaching out to its Irish customers as part of a frozen coffee promotion.

So far the response to this silly gaffe has  not been good.

Just an hour after the mistake went live "Starbucks" was trending with Irish twitter users.

Here's a sample of the reaction:

‏@soundmigration tweeted "@StarbucksIE Hey guys, Dont get to concerned> Give it a few weeks and ask how German we will feel #MyFrappuccino".

@Elaine_Mc tweeted "What an absolute FAIL @StarbucksIE. Of all things to call us!! #Insult #ProudToBeIRISH #MyFrappuccino http://bit.ly/JlXOcu".

@TheWholeyTruth tweeted "@StarbucksIE wants you to tweet what makes you proud to be British. Starbucks IRELAND. Well, herp derp to you too. #MyFrappuccino #fail".

The natives do not seems impressed.

It is little wonder that the Seattle coffee company has never taken off Ireland. Far from the US, where there is a Starbucks on every second corner, there are only 17 Starbucks cafes in the whole country.

The Irish Times reports that in 2010 the company made a loss of €3.3 million in Ireland. However in the year to October 2011 they managed to make a profit of €490,000.

We'll see how they do if they continue to make marketing mistakes such as these.

'Father Ted' has nothing on reality - Irishman donates bucket as memorial for Pope’s visit

John Joe McCarthy with his bucket  (Photo: Denis Boyle)

Did you ever see the episode about the guy who keeps a bucket for 30 years and creates a memorial to the Pope? Oh no, wait this is reality.

The South Star reported that John Joe McCarthy, a Limerick pensioner, has mounted a plastic 12-inch high bucket on marble, and plans to present it to his former school as a memorial to Pope John Paul II’s visit to Ireland 30 years ago.

McCarthy told the paper “I used the bucket to carry my provisions for the day – my lunch, my camera and my binoculars.” He also used the bucket as a step to steal some choice shots of the Pope passing by.

He now plans to make a presentation of the bucket, along with a note, to the Ahiohill National School.

“I originally wanted to have an inscription put on the bucket, but because it is made of plastic this could not be done. Instead I have written out the background to the story and laminated it. I also have a marble slab on which to display the bucket.”

Terrifying footage - Irish fishing trawler defies storm weather warnings – VIDEO

John B (Credit: El Paso Restaurant)

The John B fishing trawler defied Met Eireann ( Irish meteorological services ) warnings this week by venturing out to see at Howth, north Dublin.

The bad weather in Ireland is expected to lift soon but Met Eireann were right when they warned that up to 50 millimeters of rain would fall over 30 hours. Also gale force warning were in affect from Valentia to Malin Head and on the Irish Sea.

The John B’s owner told the Irish Examiner that in this economy the fishermen cannot lose a day at sea and just decided to “go for it”.

The footage taken by stormytom:

Shamrock flavored chips – Perfect for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations

Keoghs' Shamrock and Sour Cream chips

Who knew!? The genius Keogh’s family, who farm potatoes in north county Dublin has launched the first shamrock flavored chip to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

You can buy these Irish delights directly from the Keogh family via their Facebook page.

According to the Keoghs they’re the only farm to produce fresh potatoes and fresh chips side by side.

On their Facebook page they announced “Just when you thought our crisps couldn’t be more Irish…check out our new Shamrock & Sour Cream flavor! Specially created on the Farm for St Patrick’s Day & available for a limited time only, we want you to celebrate the “Taste of the Irish” with Keogh’s this March!”

Tom Keogh told World Irish “The idea for a Shamrock crisp came from our absolute pride in being Irish farmers and a constant need to be innovative in our offering, we are very excited about them and already have interest from abroad.”

They are producing the chips in association with Living Shamrock, in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry. This is the companies who have been producing fresh shamrock for US presidents since 1952.

For more information visit their website www.keoghs.ie.

Effin Irish town release merchandise after Effin Facebook battle - PHOTO

This January, the town of Effin in Limerick won the battle to be recognized on Facebook. The social networking site had automatically blocked allowing people to enter Effin as their hometown, considering the town’s name offensive.

Ann Marie Kennedy, a University of Limerick worker, made headlines across the world as her campaign went viral. Now the town has been accepted, the “little village that took on Facebook and won” has released merchandise, including “Effin tshirts”.

Some of the proceeds from these tshirts will go to the Effin Community Development Fund to benefit the parish.

For more information visit – www.effinireland.com

Here's Sean Kelly's Effin song about the town:

Magical natural event "Brocken Spectre" captured at the Cliffs of Moher - PHOTO

Sean Tomkins / Irishlandscapes.ie CLICK TO ENLARGE

The image above was snapped by one of our readers, Sean Tomkins, at the Cliffs of Moher, in County Clare. As well as catching the natural beauty of the cliffs, the photograph shows a rare natural optical even called a "Brocken Spectre".

This is defined as "a magnified shadow of an observer, typically surrounded by rainbow-like bands, thrown on to a bank of cloud in high mountain areas when the sun is low" by the Oxford dictionary.

Enjoy.

Another miracle of birds in flight above Ireland - VIDEO

Birds over the Shannon earlier this year

You might remember the recent video we featured of the amazing murmuration above the River Shannon, as thousands of starlings were captured on camera performing their perfectly coordinated acrobatics for the viewers below.

Another video of this amazing phenomenon has been gaining viewers on line. This time, the video is entitled “Lough Ree Starling Dance”, and it is exactly that. The thousands strong flock of starlings fill the sky above a group who are boating on the lake, whose amazement is clear from their reactions, which we can hear in the background.

Watch this spectacular event below; it’s worth watching all the way through, but the action really begins at 5.10, complete with some ‘colorful’ language (be warned) from the narrator.




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Starlings take flight over River Shannon in Ireland - VIDEO

Spectacular views of Dublin by night and a punked up 'Molly Malone' - VIDEO

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Hell hath no fury like a golfer's wife scorned - PHOTO

Add posted on the back of truck in North County Dublin - don't mess with this woman!

Here's a billboard spotted by a Twitter user this Monday in Finglas, north county Dublin. An angered wife had obviously reached her last straw and paid for this billboard sized message to be mounted on the back of a lorry in full view of the M3 motorway.

@100CoursesClub posted the photo with the message "Hell hath no fury like a golfer's wife scorned. Spotted just off the M3 between Finglas & St Margarets. #divorce http://t.co/7hMaClh6".

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Starlings take flight over River Shannon in Ireland - VIDEO
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Where will Ireland be in two years? Kilkenomics festival sheds light on the issues

Logo of Kilkenomics

Economist and comedians alike gathered last week in Kilkenny for the second annual Kilkenomics festival.

The festival’s main goal was to provide, in layman’s terms, a discussion of what is happening with Ireland’s economy today. “It’s serious, but it’s fun too,” says its website.

During the events, several of those in attendance were asked the simple yet loaded question of “Where will Ireland be in 2 years?”

The answers, not surprisingly, ranged from sarcastic, to hopeful, to dim.

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Starlings take flight over River Shannon in Ireland - VIDEO


Irishman's beautiful diary of his year in New York city - VIDEO
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Catch the responses in the video below:

The four corners of Ireland - slideshow of the diversity of Ireland's fall weather

The IWO site has put together an amazing slideshow of photos, sent in by their readers.

The shots show Ireland's beauty in fall, from sun and blue skies to dramatic shots of cloud formations that look like mini-tornadoes.

The photographs show the "four corners of Ireland - August to October 2011".

For more information visit irishweatheronline.com.
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For other recent stories on Irish weather click here

Winter hits Ireland with snow likely later in the week
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Here's the clip:

Miracle kitten survived five-day journey trapped in a dumpster

A two-week-old kitten survived a five-day, 166-mile trip from Ireland to northern England trapped in a dumpster full of cardboard.

The tiny tabby tomcat was found among 200 tons of old cardboard at a recycling firm in Reddish, near Manchester, after being buried in a 40-foot sealed container that was shipped across the Irish Sea from Dublin.

Recycling worker John Creek, who found the animal, christened it Finley because of its Irish connections.

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In modern Ireland people still enjoy a good old fashioned duck race – VIDEO
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He told the Manchester Evening News, "I was using a forklift when I saw something moving. When I looked inside, there were two kittens -- one was dead, but the other one was this ball of ginger fur. It was barely alive."

He added, "It's absolutely amazing it survived the journey from Dublin to Stockport."

Finley is now being nursed back to health by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.