Firefighters were called after the animal tumbled into the pool - which had a cover on - in Thaxted, Essex.A fire service spokesman said a crew helped get the pony back on its feet and walking. After  a quick drying off and a warm rug, the pony was fine.

Photo: Oldest Turtle Found; May Crack Shell-Evolution Mystery

Fossils of Odontochelys semitestacea, a 220-million-year-old primitive turtle (above, an artists rendering), were found recently in China.

The fossils, which do not have fully formed shells, may be the missing link that shows how modern-day turtles evolved their distinctive hard backs, experts said in November 2008.   

Illustration courtesy Marlene Donnelly

A Thai elephant has become pregnant after IVF treatment, boosting hopes in the species' fight against extinction.

Vets confirmed that Phang Sao, a 26-year-old elephant, responded well to the procedure of IVF treatment.

An elephant is pregnant for a 22-month period and Phang Sao is expected to deliver her artificially-bred calf between August and September next year.

She is being given special care by the vets in Mae Sa Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai to avoid a miscarriage.

Vet Ronnachit Roongsri said: "We will take care of Phang Sao extensively until she is due to deliver her baby, which will be around August or September of next year.

"We feed her as much as she wants and we look after her health, giving her our best care."

 Handlers of a popular polar bear, brought to mate with a female in a zoo in northern Japan, found their breeding plan was doomed when they noticed that he, in fact, was a she.

Tsuyoshi, a four-year-old, 200 kg (441 lb) cream-coloured polar bear, had been living in harmony with a female polar bear since June, the two often playing together, Masako Inoue, a zookeeper at the Kushiro Municipal Zoo, said on Wednesday.

"We thought he was a male, so we never had any doubts as we took care of him," she said.

"But one day we realised that the two bears urinate in the same way, and we thought, is that how males do it? And once we started to look at things that way, we weren't quite so sure."

After two DNA examinations of Tsuyoshi's hair and a manual exam, the Kushiro Municipal Zoo found Tsuyoshi to be a female.

"We do have mixed feelings," said Inoue.

"But because Tsuyoshi was supposed to be a male, she came here, and because she came here, we were able to take care of her since she was very small."

It is not uncommon for the sex of polar bears to be misread, Inoue said, as their long hair makes it difficult to distinguish, especially when the bears are young. Tsuyoshi was pegged as a male three months after birth, Inoue said.

The Kushiro Municipal Zoo will talk with other zoos in the area to see what to do about their breeding plan, she added.