Behind the story of the decades-long journey of xenotransplantation

WASHINGTON (AP) — In this episode of The Story Behind the AP Story, we hear from Lauran Neergaard and Shelby Lum, who have been following the journey of animal to human transplants, or xenotransplants, over the last few years. That includes sharing the procedure’s history, more about the people who have received these organs and what risks it may pose. More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting. A rigorous study of pig kidneys is set to begin this summer, an attempt to shore up the dire supply of transplantable organs.

Elephants at San Diego safari park huddle to protect calves during earthquake

SAN DIEGO (AP) — At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a herd of African elephants was caught on video running over to protect their young by encircling them during a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. The elephants run as the video from the Southern California park starts to shake and then they appear to encircle the young. They stay in the cluster for several minutes after the rocking stops. The park says elephants have the ability to feel sound through their feet, and the behavior is known as an “alert circle.” The quake that hit Monday morning and was centered in San Diego County caused no injuries or major damage.

See how a Michigan town moved 9,100 books one by one to their new home

CHELSEA, Mich. (AP) — Residents of a small Michigan community stood side by side to help a local bookstore move 9,100 books — one by one — from its former site to a new location about a block away. Serendipity Books owner Michelle Tuplin says about 300 people volunteered to pass the books in a human chain through downtown Chelsea on Sunday. The book brigade's helpers lined both sides of the sidewalk, moving the books from the shelves at the old location directly to the correct shelves in the new bookstore building on Main Street. Tuplin said Tuesday that the endeavor took just under two hours and they even put the books back in alphabetical order.

It's a boy! Phillies slugger Bryce Harper uses blue bat to signal creative baby gender reveal

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper is set to take another swing at fatherhood — and he did it with a blue bat. The Philadelphia Phillies slugger used a blue bat in his first plate appearance of Monday night’s game against San Francisco as part of a gender reveal for his fourth child.  A two-time NL MVP, Harper announced in a team meeting that his family was set to grow. He later asked All-Star shortstop Trea Turner for an assist with a most unusual reveal. Turner handed Harper the bat in the dugout in the first inning.

A beloved pet tortoise is reunited with its family weeks after disappearing in a Mississippi tornado

KOKOMO, Miss. (AP) — A beloved pet tortoise named Myrtle has been reunited with its family in Mississippi weeks after disappearing during a deadly tornado outbreak. Tiffany Emanuel and her family fled their rural home as a tornado hit on March 15. They returned to find pine trees had fallen on top of Myrtle's backyard home. Myrtle was missing. A neighbor found the injured tortoise weeks later and took him to a rescue group for treatment. The neighbor also contacted Myrtle's family. A grateful Tiffany Emanuel is nursing him back to health. She says: “He’s been through a lot.”

Police detain 6 climbers who wanted to scale Cologne's famous cathedral

BERLIN (AP) — German police in Cologne have detained five Frenchmen and a Belgian woman who had tried to climb the city’s famous cathedral. Police said Sunday they were informed by the church’s private security guards who spotted the young climbers with headlamps on their surveillance cameras in the middle of the night. Police officers in riot gear surrounded the cathedral and a helicopter hovered over the northern dome, until the five climbers were detained inside the tower’s stairwell.

Giant rodents cuddle with visitors at the Capybara Cafe in Florida

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — Animal lovers now have a place to hang out with the “it” animals of the moment. The capybara is a semi-aquatic South American relative of the guinea pig. Curious patrons who want to spend time with them can do so at Capybara Cafe in St. Augustine, Florida. Stephanie Angel opened the cafe late last year. The furry rodents enjoy munching on corn on the cob and love head scratches from humans. Patrons can also meet other animals like a skunk, wallaby and armadillo. Capybaras are the latest in a long line of animals to get the star treatment in the U.S.

Fatou, the world's oldest gorilla in a zoo, is celebrating her 68th birthday in Berlin

BERLIN (AP) — Fatou, the oldest gorilla living in captivity worldwide, is getting ready for her 68th birthday in style. The Berlin zoo on Friday presented Fatou with a basket of fruit and vegetables ahead of her official birthday, which falls on Sunday. Fatou was born in 1957 and came to the zoo in what was then West Berlin in 1959. She lives in her own enclosure, apart from the zoo’s more boisterous other five gorillas, who range in age from 4 to 39. Fatou became the zoo's oldest resident last year, following the death of a flamingo that was believed to be at least 75.

Emaarion Boyd steals 6 bases without a hit, 1st minor league player to do it since at least 2005

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Emaarion Boyd became the first minor league player in at least 20 years to steal six bases in a game without getting a hit when he pulled off the feat for High-A Beloit against Cedar Rapids. Boyd reached on a fielder’s choice, walk and hit by pitch. He stole second and third base each time. Boyd was an 11th-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 Major League Baseball amateur draft. He was part of a December trade that sent him to the Miami Marlins. The 21-year-old has 98 steals in 203 minor league games.

A 'fireball' lights up Mexico City skies, sparking awe and plenty of memes

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Around 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday, a bright object, initially appearing to be a meteorite, lit up the skies over Mexico’s capital, stretching over plains, volcanoes and small towns. Videos of a ball of fire shooting over the Latin American country and dissolving in a burst of light over Mexico City struck awe in many, and quickly became the fuel for memes circulating on social media. But scientists across Mexico were quick to note that the object rocketing across the skies was not a meteorite; it was a bolide. Bolides, defined by NASA as fireballs, are exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to be seen over a very wide area.