<img alt="snakehamster.jpg" src="http://www.strangeattractor.co.uk/further/archives/snakehamster.jpg" width="203" height="152" />

Aochan, a two-year-old rat snake at a Tokyo Zoo, has befriended a hamster who was supposed to be its next meal. "'I have never seen anything like it,' a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo said, adding that the hamster was known to fall asleep sitting atop the snake."

Life-affirming stuff over at the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4627950.stm" target="new" >BBC</a>.