First up in this roundup is something which sounds like the plot of an Irwin Allen disaster movie. Billions of ants have invaded Texas. The kicker to this story is that the ants like to chew on electrical equipment. It's the end-time, I tell you.

From Australia, news that, while making dinner, a doctor in Darwin cracked open an egg and found a gecko inside. I love the way Dr Beaumont explains this mystery.

And finally, it seems as though Monty Python was right, there really was a Norwegian Blue parrot. Except it lived 55 million years ago and, um, nobody know what colour it was. Still, full marks to the Telegraph for spotting a good headline.