In 1961, Ham made history when he became the first chimp to survive spaceflight. Though he returned to Earth as a celebrity, his training was controversial. NASAHam the chimpanzee in his capsule with handler Edward Dittmer. Ham the chimp made history as the first chimp in space on January 31, 1961. Project Mercury, NASA’s first human spaceflight program, hoped to send a man into Earth’s orbit and safely return him. With Ham’s help, it did just over three months later.

The two heads frequently fight over who gets to swallow the prey, which could lead to big problems for the animal in the wild.J.D. Kleopfer/Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland FisheriesThe two-headed snake. They say two is better than one but if you are afraid of snakes, this might be your worst nightmare. An extremely rare two-headed copperhead snake was recently found in Woodbridge, Va. and its startling appearance is a dream come true for herpetologists.

For years, stories have circulated about a line of dogs named Gunther who inherited the fortune of a wealthy countess in 1992 — but is it all a hoax to help sell real estate?Twitter/WSVNGunther VI relaxing on a velvet bed in his former Miami mansion. At first glance, Gunther VI seems to have it all. The so-called “richest dog in the world” is the proud owner of mansions, yachts, and jets, and he is waited on by a team of doting human caretakers.

Born a princess of the Yoruba people in West Africa, Sarah Forbes Bonetta was kidnapped by a rival king at an early age. Then in a twist of fate, she was taken to Victorian England.In 1850, Queen Victoria reigned over the largest empire in the world. A few months after giving birth to the seventh of her nine children, Victoria met a young orphan girl who’d been born into royalty.

Using the latest technology, scientists "digitally unwrapped" 2,000-year-old animal mummies from ancient Egypt and determined their causes of death. Swansea UniversityMicro CT scan of a mummified Egyptian cobra dating back 2,000 years. A team of researchers from the University of Swansea in Wales dissected the remains of mummified animals from Ancient Egypt. The examination was carried out without desecrating the artifacts via advanced high-resolution 3D digital scanning, resulting in a “digital unwrapping” of the ancient remains.