God Save The Hairy Mexicans...

Left: Bao Xishun, right, shakes hand with He Pingping.


...Because, without the hairy Mexicans, China would rule the Earth:

Inner Mongolian goat herder Bao Xishun has regained the title as the world's tallest living man after the holder of the record, Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk, refused to submit to an official measurement.

Guinness World Records (GWR) released a statement overnight announcing that Bao - who measures 2.36 metres (7 feet 9.5 inches) - won on a technicality after Stadnyk refused to submit to being measured by GWR officials.

Stadnyk, who lives with his mother in central Ukraine, is more than 20cm (8 inches) taller than Bao at 2.57 metres (8 feet 5.5 inches), according to a statement from his doctor tendered last year.

...Bao often makes celebrity appearances and in 2006 he was hailed as a hero after he used his long arm to reach down the throats of two dolphins to remove plastic bags they had swallowed.

Last year Bao married a 1.68 metre-tall (5 feet 6 inches) woman and the couple are expecting their first child later this year.

What was not mentioned in today's China Daily story, however, is that - according to the Guinness Book of Records - China is also home to the world's shortest man.

He Ping Ping, who measures 74.61cm (2 foot 5.37 inches) under the new guidelines, will be also included in the 2009 edition of the book.

China just falls short of being able to claim a unique trifecta. Yu Zhenhuan, who suffers from a condition known as hypertrichosis (also called Werewolf Syndrome) and has 96 per cent of his body covered in hair, was listed as the world's hairiest man in the 2002 Guinness Book of Records.

But the current record holders are two Mexican brothers, Victor and Gabriel Ramos Gomez, who have 98 per cent of their bodies covered in hair.