Top 10 animal stories of 2006 from National Geographic news

[Neil D]

Monster Rabbit: The Were-Rabbit from The Curse of the Were-Rabbi, the 2005 Wallace and Gromit animated film seems to be true in England. The black and brown, dog-size bunny could be an escaped giant breed of pet rabbit,which was found by residents of Felton in northeast England. (Photo: Dayoo.com)

[Neil D]

The Unusual Friendship: A young hippopotamus and a 130-year-old tortoise became good friends after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

[Neil D]

Animal from "Lost World": During a December 2005 expedition in Indonesia's Foja Mountains, a researcher cradles a golden-mantled tree kangaroo, the first such tree kangaroo ever spotted in Indonesia.(Photo: Dayoo.com)

[Neil D]

Hemiscyillum freycineti: An epaulette shark that "walks" with its fins over coral reefs, is one of more than 50 likely new species discovered during recent surveys of Indonesia's Bird's Head Seascape.

[Neil D]

New Brid: The Bugun liocichla, a kind of babbler, is the first new bird species to be discovered in India in more than 50 years.(Photo: Dayoo.com)

[Neil D]

Dolphin with Legs: Japanese fishers have found a bottlenose dolphin with four fins instead of two. The extra hind fins (inset) are about the size of human hands and could be proof that the marine mammals first evolved from land animals.(Photo: Dayoo.com)

[Neil D]

African Elephants Slaughter: The remains of slaughtered elephants lie amidst the trees near the border of Zakouma National Park in southeastern Chad. Mike Fay, a Wildlife Conservation Society biologist on a National Geographic Society-funded expedition, spotted the animals in early August—two of about a hundred slaughtered elephants seen during a recent aerial survey.(Photo: Dayoo.com)

[Neil D]

Seafood May Be Gone: Fish swim in a marine protected area off the coast of Papua New Guinea. A new study suggests that unless humans act now to preserve marine biodiversity, there will be little or no sustainable seafood left by 2048.(Photo: Dayoo.com)

[Neil D]

Carolina Mystery Beast: The mystery beast known as the Tyco Animal forages in grassy fields near the Tyco Electronics building in North Carolina. The beast is likely a Sampson fox, a red fox that is missing its outer layer of fur due to a genetic abnormality.(Xinhua Photo)

[Neil D]

Giant Catfish: Fishers in northern Thailand netted this huge catfish in the Mekong River on May 1, 2005. Nearly 9 feet (2.7m) long, the fish tipped the scales at 646 pounds (293 km).Last month more than 60 fishers in northern Thailand promised to stop catching the critically endangered giant fish, in honor of the King of Thailand's 60th year on the throne. (Photo: Dayoo.com)