At the Wildlife Animal Park in southern Oregon, a couple of African Elephants, Alice and Tiki, will wash your car for a $20 donation.

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Although its guaranteed not to get your car clean, it does provide an amazing experience for the the awe struck tourists who drive through the park and watch as the huge pachyderms, with the help of their trainers, suck up water with their trunks and spray it on command over the cars, then pick up sponges to finish the job.

It’s all in a day’s work for the 39 year old elephants, who seem to enjoy their new occupation.

For the animal trainers, its an attempt to promote conservation through education and to provide new activities to occupy the enormous beasts.

Holding his brush like an old master, Sam the painting dog is the Leonardo Da Vinci of the canine art world.

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Using the lush surroundings of his home town of Eastern Shore, Maryland as his muse, Sam’s paintings are attracting a loyal art world following.

Selling for up to $1700 for an individual work, Sam has put his brush to 22 different canvases.

Using his tailor made paintbrush, which he holds in his mouth, Sam approaches the blank 16inch by 20-inch canvas with his mind made up to make some modern art.

Fred Grzybowski is the world’s premier extreme pogo artist.

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Able to clear eight foot of air on his stick, Fred holds the world record for the number of consecutive back-flips, which stands at nine.

Believed to be the first to combine height, back and front flips, Fred is acknowledged to be the Tony Hawks of the pogo-world.

Using heavy duty rubber bands to provide extra lift, Fred uses a “Flybar’ pogo stick, which was created by SBI Enterprises.

Capable of launching a 250-pound man five feet in the air, 5 feet 8 inch, 140 pound Fred obviously gets far more out of it.

Nine year old student Rohan Ajit Kokane from Belgaum in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka set a new world record when he performed the longest blindfolded limbo skate under 4 cars, clearing a height of 6.75 inches!

Valentino LoSauro is the real-life Edward Scissorhands as he displays his revolutionary ‘Clawz’ which he claims cut hair twice as fast as normal shears.

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Standing in his Fort Myers, Florida, salon, Valentino proudly brandishes the “Clawz’ which he spent two years and £150,000 developing from scratch.

Made from responsive elastic and razor sharp stainless steel, the ‘Clawz’ represent ‘the biggest advance in hair-styling since the advent of the scissor’, according to Valentino.

Attached to his fingertips, Valentino has been using his innovative invention for the past eight years and feels that one day they will replace the trusty scissor.

Rolling around like two playmates Costa Rican fisherman Chito and giant male crocodile Pocho are the unlikeliest of friends.

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Known as the Crocodile Man, 52-year-old Chito swims, plays and even feeds the five metre long crocodile in the 100 metre squared lake close to his home.

Chito rescued the 980 pound crocodile 20 years ago after finding him close to death in a nearby lake.

Shot in the head by farmers after eating cows, Chito nursed the reptile back to health.

After 10 years of bonding, Chito began to play with Pocho.

Today tourists travel from all over the world to see the unusual spectacle.

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Hidden away in a small Wiltshire room is a collection of the world’s finest gloves.

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Some have been worn by royalty, others are the smallest in the world, but they are all unique and historically important.

Dents Gloves are one of Britain’s oldest fashion houses, established in 1777, and are still thriving.

Their extraordinary museum is housed in three rooms at their Wiltshire factory and opened to the public by appointment only.

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“The museum was started 20 years ago by company director Robert Yentob,” said curator John Cundick.

“These gloves were all over the place, in drawers and cupboards and he wanted to see them displayed so it is his private collection.”

The extraordinary museum in Warminster includes the world’s smallest gloves.

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At little more than a centimetre in length, it is believed these tiny garments were created by glove makers as show pieces to illustrate their work.

No-one knows how old they are or who made them, but the tiny stitching is only visible through a magnifying glass.

Pride of place in the collection is the Elizabeth I coronation glove. The single embroidered glove from 1559 has been handed down to each reigning monarch.

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Also among the Royal collection are gloves belonging to King Charles I and Queen Victoria.

Dents also made the coronation glove for King George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 but sadly they are no longer in their possession.

Royal gloves are not the only items tucked away in the museum. There is a plethora of highly decorated ladies evening gloves spanning the next few centuries and an absurdly flamboyant pair of men’s gloves from 1660.

The collection follows the social history of Britain as hunting gloves and ceremonial free masons gloves give way to cycling and motoring gloves.

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Of particular pride to John, himself an employee of Dent’s for over 60 years, is a leather pair made for Sterling Moss. The racing legend even wrote a letter to Mr Condick in 1956 personally thanking him for his driving gloves.

A draw full of designs and gloves made for fashion icon Mary Quant marks the onset of the swinging sixties and from more recent years, there is a pair of leather gauntlet gloves made for actor Michael Keaton for the 1989 film, Batman.

One of the most bizarre objects in the collection is the Limmerick glove, so fine it could be stored in a walnut shell. The exceptionally thin leather could only be achieved by extracting the hide from an unborn calf, obviously necessitating the slaughter of a pregnant cow and the removal of the foetus.

Although this seems repugnant to modern society Queen Victoria was very keen on them and ordered several pairs a year because the gloves could only be worn for one day.

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The collection contains gloves made from rat, chicken, calf, lamb, rabbit, beaver, kid, mink, ocelot, musquash, chinchilla, seal and even peccary skin.

Also at the museum is a plethora of memorabilia including old sewing machines, posters and advertisements.

Words by Lucy Tatchell

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Most little girls love pink, but one woman has taken it to the extreme.

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Kitten Kay Sera sleeps and breathes pink, even dying her dog to match her home and wardrobe.

She wakes up everyday in her pink bedroom, has breakfast in her pink kitchen, and dresses in one of her many pink outfits.

Kitten, 46, has even dumped boyfriends who don’t share her love of the rosy hue.

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The actress from Los Angeles, USA, had a normal upbringing and only came to pink later in life.

She said: “My love for pink didn’t start until I was 21.

“Growing up I didn’t wear pink much at all – in fact, looking back at my childhood I might have been pink deprived and I didn’t know it!”

She went on: “It was a gradual pink progression. I didn’t just wake up one day and say: ‘Gee I am only going to wear the colour pink for the rest of my life.’

“I just found that the pink items that I did have were being worn a lot more than my other coloured clothes and I started giving everything that wasn’t pink to my four older sisters.”

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Kitten says she isn’t strange. She just has a natural affinity for the shade, which makes her feel ‘lovely and luxurious’ and happy.

“The colour pink makes me feel like I’m living a lavish life.

“It’s just a beautiful colour, so I surround myself with any and everything pink. I’m just drawn to it like a magnet,” she said.

“Some people have asked: “Don’t you get bored dressing only in pink?

“But I can do every look in the book, punk, country and western, glamour, hippy, rock ‘n roll.

“I go through different pink phases~ right now I  am sort of in 1950’s Doris Day stage.”

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A permanent pink fixture in her life is her four-year-old Maltese dog called Kisses, who she has dyed safely with Beetroot juice every five weeks.

She said: “She gets so much attention.

“Wherever we are people want a picture or a ‘Paw-tograph.

“She’s pampered at the dog groomers. They use Beetroot juice in the bath to dye her pink. It is totally safe and vet approved, I would never do anything to harm my little love.”

They’re often stopped on the street by well-wishers who give Kitten the pink clothes off their own back.

“Some of my fans send me pink gifts through the post and it’s so charming and sweet,” she said.

“I’ve had strangers literally give me the pink earrings off their ears, or the pink

scarves from their necks.

“It means a lot to them, but it means even more to me.”

Kitten takes her obsession so seriously that she even goes to funerals dressed in head to toe pink.

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Her family and friends have had to learn to adapt.

She said: “I went out with this guy once and was  waiting for his reaction to all

the pink madness. But there wasn’t any.

“Then he told me: ‘I’m colourblind – it all looks the same to me.’

“Needless to say, that was our last date. I have got to be with someone that can at least appreciate all that is pink!”

Kitten says she is a ‘pink personality’ who invited to all kinds of Hollywood premieres, parties and award shows based on her love of the colour.

Kitten and kisses also have their fair share of celebrity fans, including Beyonce Knowles, who is also singing backing for Kitten’s new single “Sex Kitten”.

Surprise, surprise, the CD cover is…pink.

Words by Isabel Jensen

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A German firm is calling time on boring domestic doors and offering customers the chance to glam up their homes with unique 3-D designs for them.

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Viewed from a distance, the printed motifs could be mistaken for a real jet parked up inside or even give the impression that pole dancers are gyrating around in your living room

The brainchild of Thomas Sassenbach, “Style-Your-Door.com” will be launched this month and follows his wildly successful garage front designs.

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“We want to get rid of those drab plain coloured interior doors,” says graphic designer and advertising guru Thomas.

“I wanted to bring a sense of fun and style into peoples homes and so after the storming hit with the Style-Your-Garage, we wanted to expand our simple idea.

“Suddenly there’s something behind the door that you wouldn’t normally expect. The 3-d motifs are deceptively realistic and will cause family and neighbours to stop and stare.”

Printed onto rain and fire-resistant tarpaulin, Thomas’ designs are available on order from the internet with prices starting at £72.

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Sized for a standard European door frame, Thomas and his Munich based team even offer the option of a personalised motif based on a picture or specific request from the potential customer.

“These door billboards are not simply oversized stickers,” says Thomas.

“They are made of thin, special films able to hold their shape and are attachable to any even surfaced door.

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“They are made from washable material and thanks to their size of 90-cm wide by 210 cm tall they can be cut and pasted on most frames.”

Thomas says that in the last few months they have been taking orders from as far away as New York City to Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

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‘The billboards are almost indestructible,” says Thomas.

“They are not dissimilar to truck tarpaulins, but have a finer structure. The material is rip-proof and can be cut without damaging it. What’s more, the billboards are completely weather-proof.”

Words by James Nye

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TWO dead duckings scraped from under the wheels of a car and stitched together are up for sale – for a MILLION pounds.

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Welcome to the wacky world of roadkill artist Adam Morrigan who has already sold framed carcasses of badges, hares and foxes.

The 40 year old dad of three is causing such a stir in the art world his latest masterpiece has a seven figure price tag.

Adam, from Horsley, Gloucestershire, said: “I’m open to offers but if the ducklings were going to go to auction then I would insist on a reserve of a million pounds. This is my life-time creation.”

But despite such a lofty figure, the framed piece called Roadkill Mappe Mundi has been displayed for all to see in the window of a gallery near his home in Nailsworth.

Adam, who teaches leather work at Ruskin Mill College, said: “The last thing I want to do is to hide the piece away. I want people to enjoy it.”

Enjoy it or not, you cannot ignore Adam’s creations.

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He also made a handbag from a deer killed on the roads near where he lives and has just turned the skin of a trout into a leather sculpture.

“People call me all the time telling me about dead animals,” said Adam. “But there are so many around, if I collected them all my house would just be full of them.

“Instead I look at what condition the hide is in and whether it is beautiful or not.”

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Adam often cooks and makes a meal from the roadkill but did not eat the ducklings because they were too small.

The ducklings were found by a friend who took them to Adam to begin working on them. After skinning the animals he treated them, stitched the birds together, and hung them in a frame.

“Duckings are beautiful, a thing of innocence,” he said. “They have just been left on the road because so many cars have passed them by and ignored them. We have become alienated from the natural world we live in.

“We don’t stop and pick them up because of all the pressures of our daily life.

“If we hit an animal in the road then yes, we feel bad but not many people stop and see the aftermath of what we have done.”

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The duckling piece is called Mappe Mundi after the 11th century map of the world.

Adam said: “I called it that because it is about natural resources, and things we live with, but do not take care of.

“Ducklings are so innocent, they are just like the rest of us, fragile and pure. Like children before they can be corrupted.”

Adam, who has made more than 30 pieces from roadkill, lives his partner, Imogen Harvey-Lewis, 39, also an artist.

They have three children, Kit, 14, Jake, 10 and Ayesha, eight.

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Prices of his artworks start at a few thousand pounds and he has sold several pieces for £50,000.

He insists there will be an art collector out there willing to pay £1m for his star creation.

“I’ve had the image of the Mappe Mundi my head for many years since I was very young,” he said.

“When I saw the ducklings I realised I finally had the right material to create the work. In a way it’s a lifetime’s work.”

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It costs nothing to create any of the pieces – but the work is painstaking and it takes him around six months to complete one artwork.

All the materials, including the frames, are crafted from recycled materials.

He “treats” the roadkill with oil from the animals brain.

This is extremely rich and he is following an ancient method which makes the carcass hardwearing and strong.

Words by Jack Fletcher