Adorable New Teddy Bear-Cat Creature Discovered in South America

by Libby Zay on

Researchers at the Smithsonian announced the discovery of a new species today, and it’s not the usual flower or insect. Instead, it’s the olinguito, an adorable teddy bear-like mammal that lives in the cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia. At night, the animal leaps from tree to tree in the forest. And boy, it is ever cute!

Even the researchers seem smitten with the raccoon-sized species, which is the first carnivore species to be discovered in the Western Hemisphere in the past 35 years. “It looks kind of like a fuzzball … kind of like a cross between a teddy bear and a house cat,” said Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian’s curator of animals (talk about a dream job).

Most interestingly, researchers who went looking for the new species found it on the very first night they were in South America. They think there are thousands of olinguitos in the forests. But travelers: don’t expect to find one unless camping out in the middle of night is in the cards; these little guys are hard to spot unless you know exactly where to look.

VIDEO: The Best New York City Timelapse Yet

by Libby Zay on

Timelapse videos are a dime a dozen these days, but there’s something inescapably cool about this energetic look at New York City. Maybe it’s the mesmerizing way people and lights make the city come alive, or perhaps it’s the driving mix of dubstep and ambient noises.

To created the video, DC-based production company District 7 Media traveled back-and-forth to New York for six months in order to shoot more than 50,000 still frames. Getting all this footage wasn’t easy, as Drew Geraci, owner and director of photography for the company, explains:

There were multiple times during this shoot that we were chased off, either by cops or the cold. The subway shots were particularly difficult to get, especially in the wake of the Boston bombings. We were led out and in some cases followed by police officers or MTA officials who seemed intent on getting us for using tripods.

With or without permits, District 7 Media was still able to get some great subway shots, plus they captured a handful of other New York landmarks. If the work looks familiar, that’s because Geraci also created the opening sequence timelapse for Netflix’s “House of Cards.”

‘Wannabe Ninja’ Tourists Can Train In Japan

by Libby Zay on

Have you been aching to test your skills with a bō staff ever since watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a kid? Now you can do just that at a ninja training camp in the town in Iga, just east of Osaka, Japan. During the hour-long class, ninja trainees can test their skills in star throwing, scaling vertical walls, crawling across a rope strung between two trees and more.

The town itself would make a great stop for anyone obsessed with ninja culture. Iga’s ninja history can be traced to the 15th century, when students trained at Iga-ryū, one of the two most well-known ninja schools in Japan. Today, the town has a ninja museum with plenty of ninja tools and gadgets (as well as revolving walls and trap doors), and an annual ninja celebration, the Iga-Ueno Festival.

Of course, this is far from the first “wannabe” tourist activity out there. From a day-long venture into the life of a polygamist to slum tours of India, here are a few other adventures that satisfy tourists’ wildest curiosities.

Is The ‘Bed Bug Epidemic’ Just A Bunch Of Hype?

by Libby Zay on

Hotels infested with bedbugs have been a topic of conversation for some time now. The mere mention of the insects in news stories or user reviews can send a hotel into a public relations (or legal) nightmare, and whole cities have been blacklisted by some travelers afraid of becoming a victim of the bedbug plague.

But is it just public awareness around bedbugs that has gone up in recent years? In a recent piece for National Geographic, travel writer Christopher Elliot bravely tries to “exterminate” some misconceptions about the little buggers. He points out that bedbugs have been occupying hotels and inns for thousands of years and that if one room of a hotel is infested, it doesn’t mean the entire building has been taken over. He also says that most people who are bitten don’t even realize it, and quotes a leading bedbug expert as saying the bites are “no worse than a mosquito.”

Sure, nobody wants to get bitten, or worse, transfer bedbugs to their own home. But if travelers simply know where to look for bedbugs in the first place and take some simple precautions — like not putting their luggage on the bed or the floors — odds are they’ll be safe.

So travelers, relax. You don’t need a bedbug sleeping cocoon to stay safe from these pesky (but disease-free) insects. Don’t be naive, but certainly don’t let the idea of bedbugs ruin your next vacation.

Would You Get A ‘Wanderlust’ Tattoo?

by Libby Zay on

“Sometimes the best souvenirs are the ones you keep with you always,” writes BuzzFeed on a recent roundup of travel tattoos. Some of the tattoos pictured are simplistic, like a tiny outline of a paper airplane, while others are more elaborate, like a colorful, traditional-style compass.

While some of the tattoos seem to have a lot of thought behind them (as tattoos should), others are downright generic: someone with the word “traveler” on the back of their neck and lots of map outlines. There’s even one person with a world map who is filling in colors for countries they’ve visited. It’s kind of like having something to brag about permanently etched into your back (actually, he or she better get to Russia soon, cause the tattoo is looking a little sparse!).

Does anyone out there have a travel tattoo with a story behind it, or are you considering getting one? Maybe you and your friends got matching tattoos after a cross-country road trip, or you got permanently inked after a life-changing experience in India? Let’s hear about it in the comments below.