Imgur/Vodkaholy
Clearly abandoned there, the kitten was suffering from a broken front leg in addition to gangrene in a back paw. 

Thankfully, her new mother knew exactly how to help her. Over time, she has been nursed back to health and still wears her cone proudly. Martyr sadly lost her back paw as a result of the gangrene she suffered from. 

However, her mother was experienced in fostering kittens and still helped her heal safely to get her to where she is today. Imgur/Vodkaholy
Outside of her humble beginnings in the dumpster, Martyr was only recently discovered to be a male cat! While most calico cats are female, Martyr is a very rare exception. 

In fact, he was called a “she” up until recently. Apparently, only 1 in 3,000 calico cats is male! This is due to the X chromosome within cats, which helps to display orange and black fur in cats. In female cats, due to the double X chromosomes they have, this gives them the appearance of what we consider a calico cat–a base white coat with the orange and black fur on top. 

For a male cat to appear as a calico, therefore, they must actually carry two X chromosomes in addition to a Y chromosome. Imgur/Vodkaholy
That makes cats like Martyr a miracle of nature. This, combined with his humble beginnings, makes this cat as rare as a fictional unicorn. 

Martyr’s adorable face became part of an internet sensation on the site Imgur when his new mother’s niece posted all of the pictures featured in this article there!
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The film crew watching the situation unfold were faced with a tough choice. Should they intervene and help save the animals or leave them to die? It’s usual practice for documentary filmmakers to let nature take its course and not intervene, even if that action may lead to tragedy. 

But in this instance, the crew were faced with an unusual situation and decided to break with convention. The penguins had somehow fallen into the gully in the middle of a storm and several of the birds had their young with them. 

With temperatures dropping and the birds’ predicament getting more and more dire, the crew decided to make what BBC Earth called an “unprecedented move” and dug a set of stairs that the penguins could use to climb out of the gully themselves. 

Their intervention did not harm or stress the penguins in any way, and ultimately was applauded by other wildlife filmmakers. 

 Watch the crew working to save the emperor penguins in the heartwarming video below:

 
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A special bond between a polar bear and a man is not. SOURCE:YOUTUBE - ANIMAL PLANET
After all, male polar bears are 1,500 pounds when full-grown, while female polar bears weigh in at about 1,000 pounds. These are not exactly the type of animals you can keep in your backyard. 

These statistics are partly why the close relationship between polar bear Agee and Mark Dumas is unique and rarely seen between wild animals and humans. Their bond began 18 years ago. Dumas is an animal trainer for films, and he was tasked to look for a polar bear for a movie. He heard about an eight-week-old polar bear being hand-reared at a zoo. 

The cub’s mom was an older bear who had given birth to 10 cubs before her and could no longer care for this cub properly. This cub is Agee. Dumas took over caring for Agee and successfully trained her for the movie. No one expected the close bond Dumas and Agee would form with each other. 

“It’s my job, and it’s what I had to do, and then as I’m doing it, I became very, very attached to her,” Dumas told Animal Planet. Dumas and Agee have an extraordinary bond; he is the only person in the world who has this type of relationship with a polar bear. “I love her a lot. I can’t say she loves me, but she really is bonded to me,” he shared. Dumas’s wife, Dawn also interviewed by Animal Planet, quickly said that Agee loves him too. 

Agee and Dumas have a wonderful relationship that he said he would never change for anything. They also shared that Agee can get aggressive when people begin to take Dumas’s attention away from Agee. However, Dawn said that the polar bear doesn’t mind her because she is used to Dawn’s voice. Today, Dumas is still Agee’s primary guardian, provider, and playmate. During the interview, Agee and Dumas showed off their relationship. It is obvious how close they are to each other and how much they care for one another. Dumas said that he has never felt in danger around Agee. 

“Agee sees him as her mother and father together, really. And companion.” Dawn said, talking about her husband’s special bond with Agee. When Dumas and Agee are together, Agee makes a sound almost like a cat purring. Dawn said that it’s because Agee is super content when she’s with Dumas. 

You’ll hear her purring in the video, and it almost sounds like a soft engine running. While some people might question why a fully-grown polar bear is not out in the wild, one thing is for sure – Dumas and Agee have an unbreakable bond. Dumas loved Agee, and as much as animals can love humans, Agee loves him back. After all, he raised and cared for her since she was a cub. 

And this makes them part of each other’s family, with a special bond that no one can break. 

 Watch the unique relationship between Mark and polar bear Agee below!

 

It’s been the backdrop of many a Hollywood western, because long ago folks went west to try their hand at silver mining and other entrepreneurial endeavors. 

Arizona is symbolic of the independent, high rolling lifestyle of past and present American individualism. It doesn’t have a landscape we associate with forests and wooded stretches, but once, many millions of years ago, Arizona was just that, and today is home to the Petrified Forest National Park, in the northeastern part of the state. It is one of the world’s biggest, natural tourist draws and a rich source of material for researchers. The park covers almost 150 square miles of land, and is at an elevation of more than 5,00 feet. 

Its vegetation today largely consists of desert plant, like grasses and cacti. Hard though it is to imagine, about 225 million years ago Arizona abutted a sea on its western edge and was affected by volcanoes spewing ash. As the water receded, many of the trees that made up its forest became mired in soggy earth, and remained there, stuck deep down, out of reach of air and microscopic critters that could damage it and cause it to rot. 

Today, those trees, now petrified – dried up, essentially – are an amazing well of research material for scientists, archaeologists and other experts trying to understand what the landscape once looked like, and how it evolved.

  And it isn’t just ancient, fossilized trees scientists study; also found in the park’s earth are dinosaurs, lizards, and all kinds of other creatures that once roamed there. 

Snails and even crocodiles once were common there too, many centuries ago. Particularly intriguing about the fossilized, or petrified trees is what’s inside them. In one trunk there is opal, a stone we consider semi-precious that makes beautiful rings and other jewelry. 

This past spring, in March of 2020, experts found this trunk filled with lines of opal, a striking and unusual finding even in this oddly bleak but beautiful place. Wood petrifies when it sinks in soggy earth and stays there. Minerals can penetrate it through the sediment, but otherwise there is a barrier from the common causes of decay. 

Minerals access the wood because they are present in the groundwater in which it’s resting. Eventually all the plant substance is replaced by the minerals, like pyrite (“Fools’ Gold,” as it is commonly known) and Silica. The latter material crystallized, and morphed, eventually, into quartz. 

Over time, and with the addition of other minerals, the wood’s interiors became a rainbow of colours that are strikingly beautiful. This national park is, experts say, probably the largest and most-visited petrified forest in the world. 

It continues to offer experts and casual visitors alike a stunning array of visual delights, and it is a great place to see, up close and personal, what the landscape of Arizona once looked like, and what its vegetation was like. It is also a stunning reminder of how nature works ceaselessly to constantly change the environment, the forests and waters we all assume have been around us forever. 

Whether one visits the park as a tourist or an expert, to work or to tour its natural attractions, it offers a satisfying peek into how landscapes grow and change, how plants become fossils and the power of minerals to carve wood and turn it into something entirely new – but equally beautiful.
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Click here to visit Crocworld’s official website and see pictures from Henry’s 121st birthday last December. Henry is the oldest known Nile Crocodile in captivity, weighing in at 500kgs and 5-metre’s in length. Henry arrived at Crocworld in 1985 as an adult, with records that stated he was 85-years old. He lives in his enclosure with six females, and has fathered over 10 000 offspring in the last 32 years. Crocworld Conservation Centre in Scottburgh promises non-stop holiday fun this festive season with fascinating daily snake demonstrations,crocodile feeding and talks, forest walks, vulture feeding and talks every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
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Yes, yes we have all seen the ridges and kettle holes but this is quite something you would not expect. There is about a kilometer long walk from the nearest point where you can leave your car. We walk through some wet areas so rubber boots or something waterproof for you feet is recommended. 

After crossing a clumsy looking bridge made out some branches the path finally takes some higher ground and your feet will be safe or dry at least. We are arriving into a regular looking forest with absolutely no hints of anything special. After a while of walking it hits us by a surprise even though we had already seen the pictures beforehand. 

And there it is, a massive rock standing on its own pedestal. It is not even that common to come across to a rock this size not to talk about it balancing on another rock. 

It seems that you’ll be able to flip it over anytime, but not even 10 000 years have done it. Another interesting thing is that the rock beneath the other one is almost perfectly smoothened out. It looks like something you would expect to see by the sea or somewhere in the middle of great rapids, but here in the middle of the forest it just looks like it doesnt belong in here. 

I’m pretty confident this is something quite unique even in larger scale. It is something you won’t come across in any other place in Finland and I doubt to find something like this anywhere. 

This such a peculiar rock, and that’s exactly what it’s called here in Finland: Kummakivi.
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In the video below, you can see the gorilla holding her young one close and kissing its forehead before scooping it up and lifting it into the air. SOURCE: YOUTUBE - VIRALHOG
The footage shows someone saying, “Oh my goodness! Did she just give it a kiss?” Another woman acknowledges the gorilla’s kind and amusing gesture and said, “Thank you for showing us!” 

The guests were truly surprised yet mesmerized by the love and adoration the mama gorilla has for her beautiful baby. She’s one proud momma. SOURCE: YOUTUBE - VIRALHOG
The comment section brought up an important issue, though—the captivity of these animals. We don’t think wild animals should be kept in captivity, even though it is acceptable in some situations like in the name of protecting endangered species. 

The birth of a Western Lowland Gorilla is depicted in this video, which is a very joyous occasion for the entire world. The birth of the gorilla is particularly significant because it is a severely endangered species. This is an important birth success. SOURCE: YOUTUBE - VIRALHOG
Six adult Western Lowland Gorillas reside at the Calgary Zoo, and with the birth of this infant, we are one step closer to saving the gorillas. 

The natural gorilla population has fallen by 80% during the previous 30 years, according to Calgary Zoo. 

Because mobile phones must be made from the highly sought-after mineral coltan, habitats are being destroyed and poached more often. People had different opinions. SOURCE: YOUTUBE - VIRALHOG
The crowd was enthralled and also moved by the notion that these animals are kept in zoos. A user stated that animals should be left in the wild. 

Another respondent countered that zoos are safer environments for wild and endangered animals. They would be harmed by poachers if they were creatures left to be in the wild. Zoos have breeding programs and are committed to research and conservation to prevent species extinction. 

Zoos fight against extinction. SOURCE: YOUTUBE - VIRALHOG
Without zoos, species like California condors, Red wolves, oryx, Hellbenders, and Okapi would become extinct. Through the Calgary zoo’s efforts to care for and nourish the gorillas, the Western Lowland Gorilla species finally has a chance to survive. 

Sometimes, they are better off protected in exchange for their freedom so they can survive. We are hoping that they regain their population, and maybe someday, they can be released into the wild again. SOURCE: YOUTUBE - VIRALHOG
We were astonished by the once-in-a-lifetime experience that was the Simba moment. It only goes to show that a mother’s love and pride go across all types of creatures, human or not. 

With a mother’s love such as this, we hope that the baby gorilla will grow up to be a strong and healthy creature so it can help furtherly save their species. It’s a full circle! 

 Watch the video below to witness the Simba moment.

 
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Signs of malnutrition were obvious as she weighed no more than 30 pounds, which should be the weight of a three months old cub, but she was almost nine. Really concerned about Aasha’s extremely poor condition, Vicky tried to find out what happened to her. “I asked how could a 9-month-old tiger be that small,” she told The Dodo. 

It turned out that the poor tiger cub was part of a traveling circus. And because she was kept in a cage with a larger animal, she wasn’t allowed to eat. More than that, she got a skin infection called ringworm, but the lack of proper care only made the things even worst. So Vicky decided to take Aasha away and to take care of her. 

Therefore, she was taken to an isolated enclosure at In-Sync Exotics, the Dodo reported. “Aasha’s bald spots covered almost her entire body and her skin was dry [with] cracked, darken areas and bleeding,” Vicky said. 

“Every day, twice a day, I would go in and give Aasha medications and spend time with her. I knew I was going to have to handle her in order to get her well.” And after only a few weeks of proper treatment, the things never looked better for the wild kitten. “After eight weeks of treatments you could see little bits of fuzz growing back to [what once] bald spots,” the kind-hearted Vicky said. However, it took almost eight months until Aasha made an incredible recovery. 

“Within eight months she looked like a real tiger, and it was time to see how she would react to other tigers,” Vicky also said. And right now she’s unrecognizable!
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They are commonly seen across the state, but rarely on the median of a busy highway. Idaho State Police (ISP) received multiple calls from concerned commuters on I-84 in Nampa about a Great Horned Owl trapped in plastic.

  Dispatchers called wildlife rescue, Animals in Distress, for help and sent Sgt. Brandalyn Crapo to the scene. 

“Traffic is very heavy on that stretch of freeway and the owl had reportedly been there for some time,” posted ISP. When Sgt. Crapo arrived, she spotted the owl near the median and used her patrol car as a block for oncoming traffic. 

Once the owl was out of harm’s way, she waited for a volunteer with the wildlife rescue to arrive. Within minutes, the volunteer arrived and together they freed the owl.

  They gave her a quick once-over to make sure she wasn’t injured before setting her free. But before she took flight, Sgt. Crapo had her photo taken with the rescued owl.

  The volunteer then took the owl away from the busy road and let her go. ISP thanked the community for alerting them to the distressed owl and Animals in Distress for their help. 

“Not all who need help on our roadways drive cars. The people of ISP are happy to help all who need assistance to get home safely,” wrote the police department.
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