Desmond Hatchett’s brood, and more

A Tennessee man who claims to have fathered 21 children with 11 different women by the tender age of 29 is believed to have set a national record.

Desmond Hatchett’s brood

A Tennessee man had admitted fathering 21 children with 11 different women, at the tender age of 29. The scale of Desmond Hatchett’s procreation came to light during recent court proceedings for nonpayment of child support, and is believed to be a national record. Some residents of Knoxville, Hatchett’s hometown, have subsequently called for him to be castrated, but Hatchett says that won’t be necessary. “I’m done,” he said this week. “I’ll say I’m done.”

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Mel Gibson has asked his pregnant girlfriend to take a paternity test, says The National Enquirer. Sources say that the 53-year-old actor-director’s children pressured him to seek proof that Oksana Grigorieva, 39, will give birth to a rightful heir to Gibson’s estimated $1 billion fortune. Gibson finally relented. “Mel really loves Oksana,” the source told the tabloid. “But he’s a businessman, too.”

Two gay male penguins at a German zoo have successfully hatched a chick. The penguins, named “Z” and “Vielpunkt,” were given an egg that a heterosexual penguin couple had discarded, and they tended it for a month before hatching a healthy male. The couple is now taking turns providing their son with the traditional penguin starter-diet of mashed fish. “They have been behaving as you would expect a heterosexual couple to do,” zookeepers said.