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A prehistoric fossil previously thought to belong to the world’s oldest octopus has been reclassified as something else, after scientists discovered the remains actually belonged to a different type of sea creature.

“It turns out the world’s most famous octopus fossil was never an octopus at all,” Thomas Clements, the lead researcher behind the new discovery and a zoology professor at England’s University of Reading, said in a statement.

Clements’ newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell.

Clements told The Associated Press that the fossil, Pohlsepia mazonensis, has long been the subject of scientific debate.

“It’s a very difficult fossil to interpret,” he said. “To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush.

“If you look at it and you are a cephalopod researcher and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus.”

The creature, a blob about the size of a human hand, was found in the Mazon Creek area of Illinois, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, that is rich in fossils from a period before dinosaurs walked the Earth.

Pope Leo has responded to sharply-worded criticism from the President, saying he has “no fear of the Trump administration” and will continue to speak out “loudly” for the message of the Gospel.

Late Sunday, Mr. Trump lashed out at the pontiff on social media, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he added.

Leo had previously called Mr. Trump’s threat to wipe out Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable” and encouraged people to contact “political leaders … to ask them, tell them to work for peace.”

Speaking to journalists Monday aboard the papal plane as he began a trip to Africa, Leo declined to address the president’s post directly. “I am not a politician,” he said. “I will leave that to the politicians.”

But he pushed back on the substance of Mr. Trump’s criticism, warning against attempts to equate his message with political agendas, and hinting that the president did not understand the message of the Gospel.

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here is, I think, not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” he said. “I am sorry to hear that, but I will continue with what I believe is the mission of the Church in the world today.”

That mission, he said, is rooted in a consistent call for peace, one he insisted applies to all leaders, not just the United States.

“The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Leo said, adding that he will not shy away from proclaiming it. “Too many people are suffering today. Too many innocent people have been killed.”

The pope said he sees his role not as entering political debates, but as offering a moral alternative at a time of rising global tensions.

“Someone has to stand up and say that there is a better way,” he said, pointing to dialogue, reconciliation and multilateral cooperation as the path forward.

Colombian officials on Monday authorized a plan to cull dozens of hippos roaming freely through a region in the center of the country, where they threaten villagers and displace native species years after notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar brought in the first ones.

Environment Minister Irene Vélez said previous methods to control the population of the so-called “cocaine hippos” have been expensive and unsuccessful, including neutering some of the animals or moving them to zoos. Vélez said up to 80 hippos would be affected by the measure. She did not say when hunting would begin.

“If we don’t do this we will not be able to control the population,” Vélez said. “We have to take this action to preserve our ecosystems.”

Colombia is the only country outside of Africa with a wild hippo population. The hippos are the descendants of four brought to the country in the 1980s by Escobar as he built a private zoo in Hacienda Nápoles, a gigantic ranch in the Magdalena River valley with a private landing strip that served as his rural abode.

A study published by Colombia’s National University estimated that around 170 hippos were roaming freely in the country in 2022.

Colombia has declared them an invasive species and experts have said sterilization alone is not enough to control the growth of the animals, which is why the government previously arranged for the possible transfer of hippos to overseas sanctuaries. But the cost of deporting the hippos is also expensive — an estimated $3.5 million.

Recently, hippos have been spotted in areas that are more than 60 miles north of the ranch.

A New Jersey family is demanding answers after their daughter died suddenly during a trip overseas with her fiancé, saying they have received little information about what happened and are calling for a transparent investigation.

Ashly Robinson, an influencer who went by Ashlee Jenae online, had recently traveled to Zanzibar with her boyfriend, Joe McCann, who proposed to Robinson during the trip. Social media posts from her Instagram account suggest the trip was meant to celebrate Robsinson’s 31st birthday.

Investigators in Tanzania said Tuesday during a news conference they are questioning McCann and holding his passport until autopsy results are complete. Authorities previously told local media that he was not suspected of wrongdoing.

“She’s always smiling. She loved being in front of the camera,” her father, Harry Robinson, said. “Nothing about it makes sense. It just doesn’t add up.”

In an interview with CBS News, Robinson’s parents said their daughter appeared happy in the days leading up to her death.

“They were in a gorgeous place in Africa and happy,” her mother, Yolanda Endres, said. “Everything that we knew was that she was supposed to be happy. She was engaged, she celebrated her birthday thereafter, and then she’s just gone.”

The family said they first learned something was wrong when McCann called to say Robinson was in the hospital, but details were limited.

Late one spring afternoon a few years ago, I braked for a large turkey that had cautiously stepped into the street. Seeing that the coast was clear, it dipped back into a patch of tall grass and quickly emerged with chicks, no more than a couple of weeks old. As the seven birds filed across, it felt like a sign. Less than a minute later, with my teenager looking up possible meanings of birds in your path, a rabbit darted in front of us. We could hardly believe the timing. Then, a second one appeared, like an exclamation point to ensure the message hadn’t been missed.

While seeing either animal isn’t uncommon in Virginia, the double encounter felt too unlikely to be random — a nudge from somewhere to pay special attention. Legends have it that turkeys are signs of bounty and blessings, and rabbits bring good fortune. That summer promised to be an anxious one, with each member of my family awaiting a big decision on either sports, school or work. So I was in the market for a little luck when symbols for it found me.

Psychologists call this a meaningful coincidence, experiences where chance events feel connected or symbolically significant. One study notes they’re most common among people in stressful situations and those who consider themselves spiritual or religious. That made me an easy mark twice over. I was raised on folklore and parables that give special meaning to the things happening everywhere: Cardinals appear when angels are near, and double rainbows are a sign of heavenly promise. Neither are rare, but sometimes their appearance feels tailor-made to the moment. For some, our roadside encounter might’ve been unremarkable, forgotten by day’s end. But for me, dismissing it as coincidence was selling it short.

That doesn’t mean every apparent sign carries the same weight. I routinely catch my birth date on the clock, a happy coincidence that feels more like a nod than a message. Sometimes a text from a friend arrives the second I notice it’s been a while since we last talked, probably serendipity more than anything else. But even when chance events can be easily explained away or occur without any obvious meaning, they can feel noteworthy nonetheless.

Years ago, I planted a southern magnolia in memory of my mother and took a picture of the sky from the tree’s vantage point, as if trying to get a glimpse of her looking down over it. A small green haze appeared in the photo, which I immediately attributed to her presence. Hoping to get confirmation, I sent the image to family and friends, pointing out the anomaly. A quick search online, however, revealed that the green marking was just a lens flare — a reflection of the sun trapped in the camera. In my eyes, though, the one in my photo was different from all the examples in the search. When I mentioned it to a friend who’d also lost her mother, she asked me, “What do you think it means?” I’d hoped it was a sign, to which she replied, “Then that’s exactly what it is.”