A man has discovered 8,000-year-old dolphin bones while digging in his back garden.

Paul McDonald, 44, was digging a swimming pool for his children when he struck a bone of the 10ft foot mammal with his digger.

The bottlenose dolphin is thought to have washed up on an ancient shoreline after the last Ice Age.

Archaeologists have described the prehistoric discovery in Causewayhead, Stirling, as “the find of a lifetime”.

The father-of-four said he recognised the dolphin’s skull by its long snout, rows of teeth and unmistakable shape.

The bones were preserved in clay, around 80cm below the current ground level, for what is thought to have been up to 8,000 years.

With them was a broken tool made from deer antler, which would have been used to carve the meat.

It is thought the dolphin was made into a meal by local hunter gatherers.

Mr McDonald, a medical rep in orthopaedics, who works with bones himself, said: “I was digging away in the swimming pool when I caught something unusual. I rolled it back and came down and pulled it out.

“I saw the roundness of the skull and then saw the snout and teeth and I knew right away it was a dolphin.

“I googled bottlenose and thought ‘wow’. Stuck in clay at that depth I knew it must be old. Now a tool has been found that tells us more about what was going on, it’s mind blowing.

“We bought the house six years ago and I’ve found a few interesting things, like old bottles and coins, but I’ve always wanted to find something like this.”

The skull has been removed by experts from the National Museums Scotland (NMS) so it can be analysed, while the rest of the skeleton will be fully excavated.

Stirling archaeologist Dr Murray Cook said the discovery could be the first of its kind in Scotland in over a century.

The last whale bones found near Stirling were in 1897 but there are no recent records of dolphin discoveries.

Dr Cook said: “It is the find of a lifetime. I don’t think one of these has ever been subject to modern excavation.

“After the Ice Age, following the retreat of the ice, this area was a vast inland sea teeming with life.

“Our earliest ancestors would have been walking the shoreline every day for food such as seaweed and shellfish and if a seal, a whale or a dolphin washed up it would be carved into almost immediately.

“The tool made from antler tine means that they were hacking into the dolphin and that’s tremendously exciting. The tip has broken off – we still hope to find it – and they’ve discarded it.”

Andrew Kitchener, principal curator of vertebrates at NMS, said: “I’ve been at the museum for 35 years and this is the first time something has emerged from the clay like this. It is a really interesting and important find.

“It seems like it’s a stranded animal that’s just sunk into the clay and been preserved all this time until Paul uncovered it, which is kind of a miracle really.”

Mr Kitchener said there was lots of analysis to be done, but after they get the bones radiocarbon dated, they can work out the age.

“It’s fairly small so possibly a female, and its teeth are fairly worn which suggests it’s an older animal.

“We’re only at the beginning. It’s just exciting to see it emerging from the clay.”

The bones in isolation are owned by Mr McDonald, but the antler tool could be declared Treasure Trove, which may mean he could win a reward as the finder.

He said: “I’m just happy to find it and make sure it’s looked after and people get to see it.”

India has confirmed that an object that washed up on a Western Australian beach recently was from one of its rockets.

The giant metal dome was found at Green Head beach, about 250km (155 miles) north of Perth, in mid-July – prompting speculation about its origins.

India’s space agency spokesman told the BBC on Monday it was from one of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV).

Sudhir Kumar added that it would be up to Australia to decide what to do with the object. He did not comment further.

His comments came after the Australian Space Agency (ASA) on Wednesday said that the object was “most likely” the third stage of a PSLV, which are used by India to launch satellites into orbit.

Countries often plan for debris from their launches to land in oceans to prevent them damaging people and property.

Dr Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist and Associate Professor at Australia’s Flinders University, said that while there are often serial numbers on components, it was also possible to identify debris based on appearance.

The ASA said it was working with India’s space agency to “determine next steps, including considering obligations under the United Nations space treaties”.

According to the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, countries are required to return any “foreign” space objects found in their territory to the owners.

Dr Gorman said that there were many reasons why a country would want debris back, such as mission analysis.

In this case, however, she said there would be no benefit in India retrieving the object.

The state’s premier, Roger Cook, suggested to local media that the object could be stored in the state museum alongside debris from Nasa’s Skylab station, which was discovered in 1979.

Locals said they might be interested in turning it into a local tourist attraction, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Dr Gorman said another option would be to put in a park, adding: “Things that have been in space have this kind of aura and to touch something that has been in space would be a bit special.”

The object is currently in storage with the ASA. It is still not clear which mission it was used in, nor how long it had been in the water before washing up at Green Head.

Experts estimated that it would have been at least a few months. The debris was covered with barnacles.

There were initially concerns about potentially dangerous toxins leaking from the object if it was found to be part of a rocket.

However, the authorities later determined it was not a risk to the public.

The ASA has asked that any members of the public who finds further suspected debris should get in contact with them.

It is not the first time that space junk has landed in Australia. Last year, a chunk from one of Elon Musk’s Space X missions was found in a paddock in the state of New South Wales.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the decision to grant 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences.

The UK government has also said it will support a carbon capture project in the north east of Scotland.

Campaigners said that extracting more fossil fuels from the North Sea would “send a wrecking ball through the UK’s climate commitments”.

But Sunak said granting the new licences was “entirely consistent” with net zero commitments.

It comes as the party faces internal divisions over its green policies – such as the review over low-traffic neighbourhoods in England – with some MPs calling for a rethink.

It is one of four carbon capture projects which will share up to £20bn of funding.

Sunak said the announcement would support thousands of jobs across the UK.

He said granting the new oil and gas licences was “the right thing to do”.

He said: “Even when we reach net zero in 2050, a quarter of our energy needs will still come from oil and gas and domestic gas production has about a quarter or a third of the carbon footprint of imported gas.”

The prime minister also said it made “absolutely no sense” to import energy supplies with “two to three times the carbon footprint of what we have got at home”.

He said increasing home-grown sources of energy would improve the UK’s resilience, create jobs and generate tax revenue to fund public services.

Sunak said the government was determined to transition to net zero in a “proportionate and pragmatic” way.

And he also defended his plans to fly to Scotland as “an efficient use of time for the person running the country” and highlighted investment in new technologies, such as sustainable aviation fuel.

The prime minister said: “If your approach to climate change is to say that no one should go on holiday, no one should go on a plane, I think you are completely and utterly wrong.”

Ayo Rock Formations are unusual monolithic rock boulders which are located near Ayo village, on the Caribbean Island Aruba.

For such a relatively flat, sandy island, the presence of the unusual hills and huge monolithic boulders that dot the countryside are truly an enigma.

These remarkable geological formations add aesthetics to the landscape as well as provide excellent vantage points from which to better view the island.

As the earliest settlers on the island, the Arawak people, visited the formations, they carved paintings in rocks which are called petroglyphs while performing religious rites.

The most famous of these formations is the Casibari Boulders, which are tonalite rocks, with reddish brown color that are rising above the desert landscape giving a panoramic view of the island.

Not just this formation, but every single one weighs several tons and feature peculiar forms.

There are several walking trails that are leading to and around the rock formations which allow every one willing to see them in person, to even climb on them.

Ayo Rock Formations, placed in such close proximity and in unusual designs, combined with the tranquil environment of Ayo, create a sense of awe and an understanding of why the area was once considered a sacred site by the island’s original inhabitants. Truly alluring and beautiful landscape.

Indonesian Authorities will this week send aid to remote areas of the eastern Papua region, where thousands are facing hunger brought on by drought, the chief of the country’s disaster agency said on Monday.

Six have died since June in the mountainous Puncak district in Central Papua due to a snowy season that was immediately followed by a prolonged dry season that hit crops.

Access to the region is hampered by difficult terrain and threats posed by armed separatists, authorities said.

Suharyanto, chief of Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said in a statement authorities would send food, milk and other aid to the region on Wednesday. The area is only accessible via two-wheeled vehicles and helicopters.

Earlier on Monday, he told a news conference that Puncak residents suffer from drought every year “but this year it’s more extreme”, to the extent that some have died of hunger.

He told Reuters that four died of hunger last year in the same region, adding the drought was caused by climate change.

President Joko Widodo on Monday instructed authorities to resolve the problem in Central Papua, adding “that is a specific area that during snow season … no crops can grow.”

Puncak is near the highest mountain in Indonesia, one of the rare spots where snow falls in the country.

Though rich in gold, copper, timber and natural gas, Papua is one of the poorest, most underdeveloped in Indonesia.

A low level, but increasingly deadly, battle for independence has been waged in resource-rich Papua ever since it was controversially brought under Indonesian control in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969.

Indonesia is expecting a severe dry season from the impact of the El Nino weather pattern this year, threatening harvests and raising the risk of forest fires, the country’s weather agency said last month.

Sailing coaches at the Youth World Championships in Volos, Greece have been lauded for helping rescue 130 people stranded on a beach after fires blocked exits from the area to the mainland, according to a statement from World Sailing on Monday.

The blazes, fanned by rising temperatures and strong winds, have killed five people, destroyed homes, farms and factories and scorched swathes of forest land since July 17.

As events concluded on Sunday at the sailing championships, coaches spotted the trapped people and boarded motorised support boats to head toward a village nearby to evacuate the residents as well as to help native wildlife that were similarly stranded, the statement said.

As many as 60 boats were involved in the operation, saving more than 130 people who were ferried back to Volos.

“When we got the call for help from the coast guard, I knew we had the right people and equipment for the job,” Labis Tsoukalas, president of the Nautical Club of Volos and Argonauts, said in the statement.

“It’s a credit to (the coaches) that we were able carry out the rescue successfully.”

An evacuation order for the Canadian town of Osoyoos and its surrounding district in the province of British Columbia had been issued late Saturday night due to an out-of-control wildfire that has crossed the border from the U.S. state of Washington.

The wildfire, called Eagle Bluff, is approximately 4 kilometres (2.49 miles) from Osoyoos and is currently estimated to be 885 hectares (2,200 acres) in size on the Canadian side of the border, according to the British Columbia Wildfire Service.

It was estimated to be around 2,000 hectares in size on the U.S. side by the BC Wildfire Service.

Osoyoos has an area population of about 6,700, according to an Osoyoos economic development website.

“There are Initial Attack crew personnel, several single resources, two helicopters, structure protection personnel and heavy equipment responding to the incident,” BC Wildfire Service said on Sunday.

The evacuation order covers the area north of the Canada-United States border to the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 3, as well as west and north along Highway 3.

Regional district of Okanagan-Similkameen information officer Erick Thompson said at a press briefing on Sunday afternoon that nothing much had changed in terms of the situation, adding they are focusing on resources on the eastern flank of the fire.

“A total of 732 properties have been under evacuation order and 2,094 are under evacuation alerts. One hundred thirty-two people have sought emergency support,” he said.