Odd News Roundup: Pakistan’s Madhubala elephant gets relief after years of dental pain; Low water levels on Danube reveal sunken WW2 German warships and more

Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Pakistan’s Madhubala elephant gets relief after years of dental pain

Madhubala, a 16-year-old elephant in Pakistan suffering for years from dental infection and pain caused by a broken tusk, finally got relief on Wednesday after undergoing treatment while under unique standing sedation. Madhubala is one of four African elephants being treated in Karachi by an eight-member team from global animal welfare group Four Paws, which in 2020 relocated Kaavan – an elephant dubbed the world’s loneliest – to Cambodia from Islamabad.

Low water levels on Danube reveal sunken WW2 German warships

Europe’s worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia’s river port town of Prahova. The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.

Indonesians climb greasy tree trunks for Independence Day games

Teams of Indonesians clambered over each other on Wednesday to reach prizes hanging from the top of slippery tree trunks in an annual competition held to celebrate the country’s Independence Day. At an amusement park in the capital Jakarta, 45 palm tree trunks coated in oil were set up for the games, one of many such competitions taking place across the sprawling archipelago of 270 million people.

‘Spanish Stonehenge’ emerges from drought-hit dam

A brutal summer has caused havoc for many in rural Spain, but one unexpected side-effect of the country’s worst drought in decades has delighted archaeologists – the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle in a dam whose waterline has receded. Officially known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal but dubbed the Spanish Stonehenge, the circle of dozens of megalithic stones is believed to date back to 5000 BC.

(With inputs from agencies.)