Strange find in a baby bottle

FORGET Sting's message in a bottle - this is a lizard in a bottle!

The riddle of the tiny reptile, which was found inside this unopened baby's bottle, came to light when the bottle was found a year after it had been stashed away, unused in a cupboard.

Claydon man Gavin Rackham bought the milk bottle for his then newly-born daughter Emma at an exhibition in London, but over the last 12 months it has been kept out of sight at Mr Rackham's Weaver's Way home.

However, when the 36-year-old decided to clear out the cupboard recently, he was astonished to find the dead creature - which measures just a few centimetres in length - inside the glass vessel.

It is not known how the lizard got into the bottle as the Chicco, the manufacturer is adamant that their strict standards would make it impossible for this to happen.

A spokesman for Chicco said: “It's not a bottle which is from the UK.

“We have stringent government controls and all our procedures have to be carried out to high safety standards.

“It is simply impossible for that to have happened.”

But today, Mr Rackham spoke of his bemusement at the strange find.

He said: “The bottle was bought when Emma had just been born but it was never used. I'd forgotten all about it.

“When I pulled the bottle out of the cupboard and looked inside, I was quite shocked, I couldn't really believe it.

“I thought it was some sort of joke at first.”

Mr Rackham initially thought the creature was a gecko and that an egg could have somehow found its way into the bottle and then hatched inside, the container acting as an incubator.

However, David Lampard, Ipswich Museum's keeper of natural sciences, confirmed it was in fact a small lizard.

He said: “It is an adult lizard of some sort which are very common in Europe.”

The bottle is made by Italian company Chicco. Nobody was available from the company today to comment.

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Fast Facts - Lizards

Lizards have scaly skin and lay shelled eggs

There are three types of native species in the UK - the viviparous lizard, also known as the common lizard, the slow worm and the sand lizard

Common lizards hunt insects, spiders, snails and earthworms. They stun their prey by shaking it, and then swallow it whole

Lizards obtain much of the water they need from their prey, but also lick up droplets of dew or drink from puddles.

Source www.newscientist.com