Bjoerk the bear and one of her cubs, Bern, Switzerland March 2010

Hats off to Jean-Jacques Annaud, filmmaker, whose 1989 movie The Bear is getting a new lease on life thanks to YouTube and Flixxy. It’s easy to see why we love bears so much when you watch this fellow.

And in case you’re wondering how they did it, here are a few answers, from Annaud himself, almost as fascinating as the movie. There’s a book, as well.

A number of amateur videos have been posted online recently, nice for anyone keen to see the new bear cubs in Bern, but swissinfo’s video (below) report in English is particularly good, if short.

The elephant that moved a car

And from bears we go to wonderful elephant tales, with one of the most startling stories about smart elephants that I’ve seen in years. Five, an elephant in England’s Midlands, watched while humans failed to get a jeep moving. She stepped in, opened the bonnet (hood to some of us), pulled out the dipstick and gave it to her handler. When the humans still failed to get the car rolling she walked behind and pushed it.

I’ve watched smart elephants in Africa and Asia, but I’m in awe of Five, who’s clearly worked out that even when you land in a place that might not be the one you’d choose for yourself, if you’re smart you can still have a real impact.

Bern bears video, swissinfo

. . . so I fell in love with Wired’s photo contest of people sleeping. I was going to write more but zzzzzzzzzzz

The popcorn, the wine, the Alpine view and ...

One of the real joys of having a family is seeing them all leave, now and again, so you have time alone to do EXACTLY what you feel like. In my case, a recent home alone evening, with balmy weather in the Alps, drove me to one of life’s great pleasures (you might not all agree on the details): a large bowl of freshly popped popcorn, a glass of very good Valais Cornalin red wine, and an excellent novel, for dinner. Forget the vegetables and all the rest. Feet up, the view there during brief pauses as the page is turned.

It was so delightful that I rushed off to get my camera and capture the moment. Here it is!

But when I came out with the camera I noticed a few kernels of popcorn on the ground. That seemed odd. I’d been gone just seconds.

And then I spotted the culprit, a charming cat who’s taken a fancy to my veranda, who had dashed down to the pond and was busily drinking away.

I salt my popcorn. I suspect he was just playing with it and his paws got a little too salty. I do hope he didn’t eat it.

Fortunately, I had left most of it in the pan, so I could start again.

The thief