Talk about a crisis of identity.

There is a hen in China that apparently thinks it’s a penguin.

According to fisherman Liu Yong, the ‘peng-hen’, as it has been rather clumsily christened, , waddles upright with its wings tucked behind its back.

The bird took to walking in a weird way from the start, Liu claims, marching around upright rather than scratching the ground and roosting on a perch at night.

Sadly, as is so often the way with oddballs everywhere, the peng-hen is rather lonely.

“Other chickens must think she is a freak, as no-one will get closer to her,” Liu reports.

Not so old

Tokyo’s oldest man may actually have been dead for 30 years.

Officials grew suspicious when they were unable contact Sogen Kato to congratulate him on turning 11.

Family members repeatedly chased them away.

They finally called the police. And when officers forced their way into the family home they found his mummified skeletal remains – wearing underwear and pyjamas and covered with a blanket.

Mr Kato’s granddaughter told police he took to his bed 30 years ago after declaring he wanted to be a Buddha.

The truth, police believe, may be a little more prosaic. They think Mr Kato, who was born in 1899, may have died 30 years ago – but that his family have been claiming his pension money himself by pretending he was still alive.

End of the world, part 1,999

The world really could come to an end 172 years from now. Yes, really.

A team of experts, some from NASA, believe a giant asteroid catchily named 1999 RQ36 may crash into Earth on September 24, 2182.

And this isn’t just another of those scare stories like that about the asteroid Apophis.

That will pass close to earth in 2036 – but experts estimate there is a only a 1 in 250,000 chance of it actually hitting us.

The chances of the 612-yard-wide 1999 RQ36 hitting us 172 years from now are much higher – at one in a thousand.

Bet you can’t sleep tonight. After all, wouldn’t it be dreadful for the world to be destroyed by an object with a name as clunky as that?

Pointless

A woman had to pull acupuncture needles out of her back and call the emergency services after staff at a clinic forgot about her and locked up with her still inside.

The 47-year-old was still on the treatment table of the clinic in Washington State, US, when she realised that the acupuncturist had forgotten about her. The doors were locked. Police officers released her unharmed after she dialled 911.

Lawyers for the clinic have apparently refused to comment. Not much point, really.