Nicole

Seventeen-year-old Nicole Delien, dubbed the real-life "Sleeping Beauty," sleeps for up to 19 hours a day and once slept for 64 days straight. She has only been awake for Christmas three times since she was 7 years old. She may have earned the envy of insomniacs everywhere, but Delien is living more of a nightmare than a fairy tale.

 

Diagnosed with Kleine-Levin syndrome or KLS, the teen suffers from a rare disorder that affects a mere 1,000 people in the country. It is characterized by recurring periods of excessive sleep, which occur as "episodes," typically lasting from several days to a few weeks. The episodes can be punctuated with periods of disorientation, irritability and hallucinations. The state has been described as the delirium one feels when waking from anesthesia.

 

The onset of these bouts of sleep come abruptly. Delien says that she begins to feel tired, and then … sleep. She does not remember what happens during the episodes. As can be seen in the video below, she seems to be in a state somewhere in-between asleep and awake, much like the dreamy realm that sleepwalkers inhabit during their midnight perambulations.

 

The onset of the bizarre disorder occurred when Delien was 6.5 years old. According to the National Institutes of Health, the syndrome may be related to malfunction of the hypothalamus and thalamus, parts of the brain that govern appetite and sleep. The teen’s doctor suggests that the cause of the syndrome may somehow be triggered by illnesses or viruses.

 

Fortunately for the handful of miserable sleeping beauties in the world, the bad dream resolves itself; symptoms dissipate after eight years, on average, give or take six years. Good news for the teen? Indeed. Says Delien, “It’s not fun because you miss out on a lot.”

 

Watch a home video of Delien in the midst of an episode, and a recent interview in which she discusses her sleepy misery.

dogs

Pretty soon your dogs will be able to repay you for all those walks you've taken them on ... by taking you for a drive. This is no joke: Dog trainers in New Zealand are teaching canines to drive cars, according to Fox 13 News in Tampa Bay. (And you thought your dog was only good for chasing cars.)

 

The SPCA in Auckland needed a creative outlet for some of their better-disciplined rescue dogs, so they figured, why not teach them to drive? Trainers are also using the dogs' driving skills as a way of showcasing just how intelligent these canines can be.

 

You may have to see it before you can believe it, but with a little direction (and a few doggie treats) the dogs actually do a surprisingly good job at steering their vehicles. You can view a video of Fox 13 News' report here:

wolf

A world-famous wolf that had been seen by as many as a million visitors to Yellowstone National Park has been killed after she strayed outside the park's protected boundaries, the New York Times reports. She was shot on Dec. 6 in Wyoming, where wolf hunting recently became legal.

 

Known as 832F, the female alpha wolf was a member of the Lamar Canyon pack. She had been called "a rock star" and "the most famous wolf in the world."

 

Scientists who have been tracking the Lamar Canyon pack for years know that pack members rarely leave the confines of the park. 832F, like many wolves in the park, carried a $4,000 GPS radio collar that helps scientists understand the wolves' movements, habitat usage habits and hunting patterns. Over the past few months, eight wolves bearing radio collars have been killed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. 832F's radio collar has already been returned to park officials.

 

Wildlife photographer John Hayes has spent years observing 832F and other animals in Yellowstone. He described the pack leader in his blog: "Alpha Female 832F, despite her age, or maybe because of it, is a consummate professional at what she does — which is to protect and guide the Lamar Canyon Pack from one generation to the next in a land wild and unforgiving. Crafty and courageous, 832F has a dedicated cadre of enthusiasts who faithfully chronicle her every move, such as they can."

 

832F's death follows shortly after the shooting of another member of her pack, a male known as 754, who was killed in Wyoming in November. 754 also carried a radio collar. Douglas W. Smith, senior wildlife biologist for Yellowstone, told the Times last month that the wolf's death was a serious blow to the research into the wolves' conservation.

 

Until this year, gray wolves were protected under the Endangered Species Act. Those protections were lifted in the northern Rockies after many years of lawsuits by conservation groups, who were trying to keep the animals on the endangered species list. Wyoming must maintain a population of 150 or more wolves; as long as the count remains above that number, hunting may continue. A new wave of lawsuits seeks to once again reverse this policy.

 

Hunters and ranchers have maintained that gray wolf populations are recovered in the northern Rockies and hunting must be allowed to protect livestock and other game animals such as elk, moose and bighorn sheep. Conservationists argue that the wolves, which were reintroduced to the region in 1995 at great government expense, are not recovered and the population levels are still too low to stay viable. They also argue that wolves do not understand the boundaries between Yellowstone and neighboring states and should not be penalized if they cross invisible borders.

 

Conservationists around the world are mourning the loss of 832F. "She was an amazing mother," Marc Cook, a member of the Wolves of the Rockies advocacy group, told the New York Times. "When I heard she died, I felt like I lost a family member."

 

This 30-second video from last winter shows 832F eating a mule deer she had just killed: