THE BBC tells us that the UK's first polar bear cub to be born in 25 years is male.

Staff at the Highland Wildlife Park, near Kincraig in Scotland are preparing a list of "suitable names" for the public to choose from for the cub.

Head keeper responsible for carnivores, Una Richardson, commented: “Our keepers are coming up with a suitable list which we will soon ask the public to choose from on social media.

“This will help us engage with as wide an audience as possible to raise awareness of the threats polar bears are facing in the wild and the need to protect this magnificent species.”

IT seems that living rooms in British houses are getting smaller.

The Guardian newspaper outlines research by LABC Warranty, which provides warranties for new-build homes, which reveals that living rooms are nearly a third smaller than equivalent homes built in the 1970s.

The average living room in a house built since 2010 was 17.1 square metres (184 sq ft), compared with 24.9 sq m (268 sq ft) in the 1970s, a 32 per cent contraction.

And modern-day master bedrooms were on average 13.4 sq m (144 sq ft) in size, compared with 14.7m (158 sq ft) in the 1970s.

“Overall, Britain built the biggest houses in the 1970s,” said a spokesman for LABC but from the 1980s onwards “Britain’s houses started to regress.”

The research also showed a reduction in the number of bedrooms, which peaked in the 1980s at an average of 3.6 compared with just under three bedrooms today - the first time the figure has fallen below three.

THE Daily Mirror tells us that 170 million year old tracks believed to be made by the older cousins of the T. Rex – theropods that stood up to six feet tall – and sauropods, similar sized long-necked cousins of the brontosaurus, have been found in a muddy lagoon off the northeast coast of the Isle of Skye.

The largest print, left by a sauropod, is more than 27in across, while the biggest theropod track is around 20in across.

Dr Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh, commented: “The more we look on the Isle of Skye, the more dinosaur footprints we find. This new site records two different types of dinosaurs – long-necked cousins of brontosaurus and sharp-toothed cousins of T. Rex – hanging around a shallow lagoon.”

He added that the animals lived on Skye “back when Scotland was much warmer and dinosaurs were beginning their march to global dominance”.

BIRTHDAY celebrations for Britain's oldest men who both reached 110 on the same day, although neither knows who is the elder as the exact times of their births is not known.

The Daily Express says that Robert Weighton, from Alton in Hampshire, shares a birthday with Alf Smith, from Perth, who were both born on March 29, 1908.

They recently became pen pals although being 470 miles apart they have never met.

NO more meat pies then.... the Daily Express focuses on a report which states that British men are the fattest in Europe and the third most obese in the world.

The statistics were compiled by health and well-being brand Forza Supplements, using government figures from around the world.

The average weight is13st 3lb - only Americans and the Australians are bigger – with an average height of 5ft 10in.

The 2018 man has a chest of 43in, a waist of 37in, wears size nine shoes and has a collar size of 16in.

Fifty years ago, the average British man was 5ft 7½in, weighed 11st 8lb and had a 38-inch chest and a 34-inch waist. He wore size seven shoes, had a collar size of 14½in.

Forza Supplements managing director Lee Smith said: “It is extraordinary how much Mr Average has changed in the past 50 years.

“He has gone from being what we might consider a bit of wimp these days into a taller, more rugged muscle man, but with a noticeable beer belly.

“These figures clearly show how obesity levels are going up all the time and this is impacting on male life expectancy.”

BEARS could be coming back to English woods for the first in more than a thousand years.

The Daily Mail highlights a £5million project which aims to reintroduce the animals to a seven-acre site on the outskirts of Bristol – complete with a treetop walkway for visitors to look down on them.

The scheme, called Bear Wood, would see Eurasian brown bears – which can grow up to 8ft tall – rearing their cubs exactly as they did in medieval England.

Bristol Zoological Society has already received donations towards the cost of the project, but needs to find an extra £2million.