These orphanages serve as havens where these innocent creatures can receive the care, love, and protection they need to thrive despite the challenges they face in the wild. Ellie was born with a slew of ailments that severely impaired his chances of survival. He was taken to a sanctuary by workers who, for days and nights, fed Ellie and nursed him until his health started to recover! 

However, because elephants are very social beings who cannot typically thrive outside of their herd, even when Ellie regained his health he was still a depressed and lethargic baby with no will to live. Seeing the elephant’s condition, workers tried to help him find solace with former service and sniffer dog Duma, who is a German Shepherd. In this moving video, we see how Duma helped Ellie, a K9 with a good ol’ Southern country strut after struggles to survive against all odds. Ellie developed a yearning for life under Duma’s loving and gentle care. Ellie still has a long road of recovery ahead of him, but with Duma by his side, that road doesn’t seem so lonely anymore! 

 Click the video below to watch this incredible story!

 
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  The trash bag was left outside a municipal building on Wednesday July 19, 2023. The baby girl was first taken to the Islamic Hospital but eventually transferred to the Tripoli Government Hospital. 

Photos show she had bruises and scrapes from the ordeal. It is not known at this time how old she is. There are conflicting reports on the matter. Some outlets say she was just born and others claim she was around 4 months old.

  Social media has had a field day with this story. Many have offered to adopt this precious baby girl. Others have weighed in on the dog’s intentions.
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  This delicate bird is one of nature’s smallest and a true evolutionary marvel. It’s even the size of a bee, measuring only 5-6 cm long and weighing less than 2g. Their beautiful iridescent plumage, like that of all hummingbirds, distinguishes them from bees. When they fly, it resembles a flying diamond. They are truly breathtaking, and if you get the chance to see them, don’t pass it up. At the estrus season begins in March, males have a green bodies with bright red necks. Females are blue with a black underbelly and a black neck. 

Males glow a vibrant pink/red color from head to the throat and all-around singing and aerial performances are all intended to attract their female counterpart. They lay eggs the size of a coffee bean, about an inch long! However, due to the brilliant plumage, the mother bird will not allow the father to approach the eggs because predators will notice the plumage. Bee hummingbirds, like other hummingbirds, primarily feed on nectar, but will also eat insects and spiders on occasion. 

Hummingbirds are said to visit approximately 1,500 flowers per day, benefiting the ecosystem by promoting plant reproduction. However, they do not migrate from their native Cuba and are content with subtropical temperatures. The bee hummingbird is currently listed as near threatened, which means its population is declining. It’s a shame for this lovely bird; let’s work together to protect the environment for these wonderful creatures! 

Watch the video of hummingbird here:

 
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  During a rescue operation, two seals were discovered with spikes protruding from their necks. The rescuers, Naude and Denzil from Ocean Conservation Namibia, were initially puzzled by the sight. 

They speculated that the spikes could be pieces of wood or perhaps stingray barbs. Little did they know, this unusual discovery would lead them to a startling revelation. As they delved deeper into the mystery, they found that one of the seals had a St. Joseph’s shark still hanging from its neck. This was a shocking revelation. It was neither a common prey for seals nor a typical sight for the rescuers. 

The young male seal even had an entire fish still with him, further highlighting the desperate measures these animals were resorting to for survival. The St. Joseph’s shark, also known as the Cape elephantfish, is a unique species. It belongs to a primitive subclass of fish that diverged before many of the traits we associate with sharks evolved. 

This creature is neither a shark nor a bony fish. Rather, it’s a chimera with peculiar traits that resemble the ratfish found in the United States. Despite their strange appearance, St. Joseph’s sharks are quite common. These creatures are predominantly found in the shallow seas of the Western Cape, but they can also be spotted in Namibia and the Eastern Cape. Contrary to popular belief, chimeras like the St. Joseph’s shark are rather abundant. 

They are the only common shallow-water species, as most chimeras inhabit deep-water habitats. One of their most distinctive features is the large, gnarly barbs that stick out from their dorsal fin. These barbs are not just for show. They are poisonous and pose a significant threat to any creature that tries to consume the shark. 

The fur seals, driven by hunger, have been resorting to this dangerous prey, resulting in the spikes getting lodged in their bodies. As the seals attempt to tear the sharks into bite-sized pieces, the one-way barbs frequently break off and remain stuck in the seals. The desperation of the seals was palpable. As the rescuers approached one of the injured animals, they could see how restless and pained it was. 

“So we found the culprit. We found what we thought were stingray barbs. We had two in the last week thinking that it’s stingray barbs. This is St. Joseph’s shark,” one of the rescuers shared. The team immediately set to work, removing the spike from the seal’s neck. They then moved on to another seal, which had a cut on its chest from a thin pitching line. After freeing this seal as well, they returned to examine the shark. 

“It’s a long sharp barb on his head and not the normal prey for seals. But obviously with them being so hungry, the big starvation at the moment, they’re going for whatever they can get,” Naude explained. “And obviously you can see the bite marks. They grab the fish, shake it around. As he grabbed it and shook it around, it pricked him in the throat.” 

Needless to say, it’s a good thing rescuers were on the beach that day and nearly every day to help these ocean pups out. 

 Watch the intense moment these rescuers pull a shark from a seal’s neck in the video below!

 
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  One of the cubs is a female the sicentists named Sparta. Credit: Alexey Mihaylov
According to the researchers involved in the discovery, one of the cubs starved to death while the other may have been crushed by falling rocks, both having possibly been abandoned by their mothers. 

When the cubs were found in 2018, it was thought they were male siblings who had died around 44,000 years ago. But it turns out that the youngest cub was actually a female that died roughly 26,000 years ago, the Siberian Times revealed. She is thus some 18,000 years “younger” than the cub found next to her named Boris. Sparta is believed to have died 26,000 years ago. Credit: The Siberian Times
The cave lion cub, which has been renamed from Spartak to Sparta after the truth about her origins was revealed, died of hunger, likely after being abandoned by her mother. 

Scientist speculate that Sparta’s mother either left her in the cave and went hunting, or was killed herself, leaving the tiny cub without food. Cave lion cub Sparta. Credit: The Siberian Times
Sparta was found in the Yakutia region of Russia in 2018. The discovery was made by the same mammoth bone hunter who unearthed a bigger cave lion cub called Boris a year earlier. 

Since they were just ten metres apart, scientists first theorized that the cubs must have been from the same family – but now it is clear they are separated by 26,000 years. Cave lion cub Boris. Credit: The Siberian Times
Boris died roughly 44,000 years ago, and was only about two or three weeks old when he died. Similarly to Sparta, he may have been left by his mother inside a cave, and was possibly killed by collapsing cave rock. 

“We found visible traces of internal injuries, which we believe could have been caused by rock falling on him,” said Protopopov. Cave lion cub Boris has a severed tail which led to some speculation that he might be of a different species. Credit: The Siberian Times
Boris has a severed tail. This led to some speculation among scientist that, instead of a cave lion, he was an ancient lynx. “We were all worried by the lack of a tail on Boris,” said Dr Protopopov. “But the man who found him explained that it got cut off when the cub was taken out of the permafrost. I know it raised suspicion that the lion cub was in fact a lynx, but we know from the very first tests that this was clearly a cave lion cub.” 

Complete restoration works on the baby cave lions, uniquely preserved in the Siberian permafrost, reveals a sensational level of pelt and hair preservation. 

“The most important task of this complex research on the cave lion cubs is to restore their appearance,” Protopopov noted. “It is still an enigma, in that on hundreds of published drawings of cave lions they are depicted without manes. Yet we notice spots and stripes of pigmentation in that area… which are not seen in modern day lions. So we are moving towards re-creating the way the cave lions looked.” “Their living conditions were very different to modern lions in that cave lions live in much colder climate and we believe therefore had to look different,” Protopopov added. “There was less prey in cold climate. If we understand this question about mane we might get an idea of their social hierarchy – for example, we don’t know if they created prides with alpha males and several females alike to modern lions.” 

Scientists are continuing to perform tests on cave lions, which were the largest predators in the area after bears. However, lions were more common because the areas was savanna at the time – while bears preferred woods. The researchers now hope to bring similar creatures back to life using lion DNA and cloning techniques. 

“Cave lion cubs are superbly preserved, you can even see their whiskers, and we are hoping to fetch a lot more information from them.” Scientists hope to bring the cave lion back to life using lion DNA and cloning techniques. Credit: The Siberian Times
“There is a very realistic chance to recreate cave lions and it would be a lot easier than to clone a woolly mammoth,” the scientists involved predicted. “Cave and modern lions separated only 300,000 years ago, in other words they are different species of the same genus. 

It means that we can take DNA of the modern African lion and use it to recreate cave lions. It would be a lot easier than the mammoths.” “But if we find methods to bring back woolly mammoths it would be a revolution and a pay back by humans who helped extinguishing of so many species.”

Scientists hope that they may be able to revive cave lions as a species using these cubs. Credit: The Siberian Times
Not everone agrees with that last statement though. Indeed, we could be very close to resurrecting long-extinct animals, but it’s not just a technical matter, it’s an ethical one too. 

Could it be that scientists are so preoccupied with whether or not they could do it, that they don’t stop to think if they should?
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Upon closer inspection, they realized this was no ordinary cat — it didn’t look like any of the other kittens they had seen. 

The family decided to call The Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), an animal organization, who soon showed up to have a look at the animal. After careful examination, the organization concluded that this animal was a fishing cat — a special kind of cat on the brink of extinction. This ‘wild cat’ can grow up to become twice the size of a regular cat and is a big fan of marine life. The cat is especially fond of hunting and eating fish, hence its name. 

According to Wikipedia, “the fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) is a medium-sized wild cat of South and Southeast Asia. Since 2016, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Fishing cat populations are threatened by destruction of wetlands and declined severely over the last decade. Fishing cats live foremost in the vicinity of wetlands, along rivers, streams, oxbow lakes, in swamps and mangroves.” WFFT discovered that the kitten had left its mother’s womb just a few hours prior to when the family found him. Specialists at the organization were baffled as to how a mother had been able to abandon its new born baby like that — unusual for the breed. The family took a liking to the rare cat and were allowed to keep it for a trial period. They decided to call him Simba. It was apparent that the cat felt very attached to the family. The family kept an eye out at all times for the mother of the kitten, whom they assumed would show up at any time for her child. Sadly, that never happened. 

Simba was milk-fed by the family instead, and grew up to become a beautiful fishing cat. Luckily, so far he is still alive and well but it’s extremely important that Simba continues to thrive. 

According to the WFFT, “poaching and retribution killing were the major causes for a high Fishing Cat mortality of 84% in Thailand.” So, not only is it a miracle that Simba was rescued and survived — his existence is vital for the continuation of his breed. Here’s a video showing other cats who have been rescued. These might not be fishing cats but they sure are cute:

 
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Unfortunately, dragons as we imagine them do not exist, but nature surprises us with a genus of animals that are closest to dragons. The Draco genus, also known as “flying dragons”, belongs to the Agamidae family of lizards. These lizards live in the trees of the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. These wonderful animals are 8 to 10 inches long. They have membranes on the side of their trunk which allows them to glide from tree to tree, reaching up to 60 meters in distance, losing only 10 meters in altitude. The diet of the reptiles of this genus is based mainly on insects, especially tree ants. The only time these animals come down from the trees is when it is time to reproduce. The male flying dragon uses its folding membranes to get the female’s attention and thus initiate the courtship process. After copulation, the female makes a small hole in the ground where she lays about 4 to 5 eggs, covers them with soil and leaves. 

The mother only stays with her eggs for 24 hours, after which she abandons the surveillance and returns to the heights. The colors and characteristics of each flying dragon vary depending on the species, but they all have peculiarities that make them unique. These animals are undoubtedly a beauty of nature that seem out of a fairy tale.
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The clip was captured in Canada's Yukon about eight kilometres southeast of Whitehorse in 2020, but was only recently released in an article by Thomas Jung, a researcher at the University of Alberta. The dark-coated lynx was filmed on a cellphone from around 50 metres away, hence the shaky, pixellated video. Jung explained in the article, published in the journal Mammalia that the lynx seemed relatively unperturbed by the presence of humans, but "likely left the area due to the dog’s barking." 

Several Canada lynx experts were consulted to help positively identify the animal and, despite the low-resolution video, they confirmed it was indeed a melanistic lynx. Screenshots from the clip show whitish, grey hairs across the cat's body that are more pronounced on its face and back. 

Given the quality of the photos and video, a detailed examination of coat colour was not possible, Jung explains, but notes that the observation is still of "scientific value with respect to documenting coat colour aberrations in the genus Lynx." Canada lynx typically sport a silver-grey coat in winter which turns reddish brown in summer. 

Although there are a handful of records of cats with a bluish grey pelage, Jung's discovery marks the first time a black lynx has been documented. Elsewhere, dark-coloured wild cats are not unheard of. Around one third of all felids are reported to show signs of melanism, a genetic condition that gives rise to black coats. 

In some cases, the inky colouration may help the cats blend into the dappled light of their forested habitats, but it's unclear if melanism would help or hinder a lynx. 

If stalking on recently burned boreal forests, a darker coat could help the lynx blend in, but Jung theorises that it would affect the cat's ability to hunt on snow-covered landscapes. "Melanistic individuals would be at a distinct disadvantage when hunting hares during winter. Indeed, with increased competition by coyotes (Canis latrans) a concern for Canada lynx encountering increasingly shallow snow as a result of climate change, the added disadvantage of lost camouflage to melanistic lynx hunting hares during winter would likely result in melanism being maladaptive."

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  The Pallas’s cats, also known as manuls, somehow managed to remain undetected until 2019. There are at least two of them living somewhere along Mount Everest’s Southern Flank. 

The discovery is extremely valuable for researchers and conservationists worldwide — and insanely cute for everyone else. Pallas’s cats are about the same size as regular house cats with a few adorable differences. Their legs are very short and their fur is thick and fluffy, making them look like chubby little stuffed animals. 

They’re actually smaller and lighter than they look, as they’re mostly all fur, which insulates them from the cold. Climbing rocky crevices and cliff faces is easy for them, so it makes sense they’d pick somewhere like Mount Everest to live. 

These wild animals are aggressive and definitely can’t be kept as pets, but their pictures alone are enough to spread massive amounts of joy. Their wide faces and big ears make them look like cartoon characters, just hopping around Mount Everest, minding their business. “It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” Dr. Tracie Seimon of Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoological Health Program said in an article for Wildlife Conservation Society. Future research will help determine exactly how many Pallas’s cats are living on Mount Everest, and will help protect them so they can continue to live their best lives.
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From Kittler’s exhausted and irritated response, you can tell this isn’t BoomBoom’s first time breaking into the home. In another social media comment, Kittler explains that BoomBoom was orphaned as a baby, and Kittler spent time raising the bison inside the home. Since then, the animal has been trying to get back inside. 

However, a full-grown male bison can weigh between 1,000 and 2,200 pounds, so it’s probably not something you want in your home. The video shows the damage left behind by the massive animal. Besides the damage at the entrance, you can see that BoomBoom overturned furniture and pushed a whole table aside. Kittler enters slowly and tries to keep the animal calm. 

Even as his longtime owner, Kittler is hesitant, as bison are known to ram in self-defense. Kittler slowly moves a table and chair out of the way and tries to calm BoomBoom down. He eventually convinces BoomBoom to get back outside. 

However, it ends a little disappointingly for BoomBoom, who was hoping for food, only to be tricked. BoomBoom has been popular enough on TikTok and Instagram that Kittler is now selling a plushie toy of the bison to help raise money for its care. 

Kittler’s video is a good reminder of the dangers of bison. Park rangers are continuing to remind visitors to national parks that they should keep a safe distance from wild animals. So far this year, there have been two cases of bisons injuring tourists.

  Mayane Rodrigues observed something beautiful happen outside her Brazilian apartment window last week on a soggy and dismal day. Rodrigues saw a little girl halting on the drizzly sidewalk as she made her way home from school from a range on the street below. She would undoubtedly set her umbrella down, take off her bag, and then take off her coat. 

Rodrigues knew it was all for the girl when he observed a tiny, stray dog that was dripping wet at her feet. Rodrigues watched as the girl moved forward while holding the puppy in her arms. She saw her as an angel. Everything occurred so swiftly. 

The Dodo was told by Rodrigues that it was really emotional. “I sent the video to a friend who shared it with a neighborhood group, and then I learned who the angel was,” the speaker said. Cibely Stigelmair is her name. She is twelve years old. She also helped save a life that day. 

Rejane Stiegelmair, Cibely’s mother, told The Dodo, “I was startled when she arrived with the dog since she was quite hot and wet from the downpour. “Her clothes was covered with blood. Although she said the tiny dog was damaged, I initially believed she had been hurt. Fortunately, there wasn’t much damage done to the tiny dog. 

There was nothing that a little tender care and love couldn’t fix. Cibley realized she had to make the offer personally after seeing the tiny dog there by herself. Cibely has a wonderful heart. She has a great deal of sympathy for stray pets,” Rejane alleged. She would bring everyone home if she could. Cibely gave the puppy, whom she called Pretinha, a warm welcome into the household. 

Nobody is really sure how Pretinha ended up abandoned on the pavement that day, but one thing is certain: Her future has never looked better due to Cibely. Cibely’s mother declared, “As parents, we are and always have been proud of Cibely.” “And right now, we’re even more so!”
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