robots.jpg

A total of 100 Robi prefabricated humanoid robots perform in a group during a promotional event in Tokyo, Japan, in January 2015. The 13.4-inch-tall robots can recognize more than 200 Japanese phrases, walk, dance, and kick a ball. Those of us who've seen the "Terminator" movies know this is chilling, not cute.

(Associated Press)

This week's theme: The end is near, and we have the proof.

To begin: In Kenya a cow has turned carnivorous and has begun feasting on sheep. We're sure there's a horror movie out there somewhere that has this as a plot point. Apparently this dietary phenomenon has something to do with a nutrient deficiency, but we're sticking to our apocalypse theory because it's creepier. This situation is like a living hooved turducken, and let us tell you now: If a turkey eats a duck that's eaten a chicken, we're running for the hills.

Backing up our apocalypse theory is the rain of worms that hit Norway. The theory here is that a storm picked them up and dropped them on the unsuspecting Norwegians. Apparently this sort of thing happens from time to time. Sort of like cows eating sheep. We were all set to investigate further, but then we noticed a link at the bottom of the worm story that said "Doctors: Parasitic worm spent 4 years in man's foot" and we had the urge to leave the page immediately and look at kitten videos. For hours.

You'd like to think that if the end really is near, that humanity would rise to the occasion and overcome and endure. But then you find out that:

A Florida man was hospitalized after

An 8-year-old in Canada has been

A guy with an iffy grasp of marital problem-solving is turning to the Internet to settle his spat with his wife over what to name their kid. Because the opinion of thousands of strangers will surely convince your wife that "Spyridon," your late dad's name, is better than "Michael."

So basically, there's no hope for humanity, but this story of a mama cat who brought a baby squirrel home and adopted it gives us hope for the animal kingdom. Then we have Pancake the baby cheetah getting a canine best buddy, and wrapping up our interspecies cooperation roundup we have these photos of pets meeting babies for the first time.

When the worms start raining on the roof and the cattle roam around preying on other animals, we'll be curled up at home watching baby animal videos and keeping a wary eye on our cats.

Happy weekend! Kiss babies, not snakes!

-- Mary Mooney

mmooney@oregonian.com

503-412-7020; @MaryKnitsPDX