We love unusual friendships, and these two friends share an unexpected but beautiful bond.


Masik is a squirrel, and Pyotr Pankratau is a a former Belarusian army soldier, and the two friends spend all their time together.

It all started when Pankratau was still in the army, and he found a little squirrel in desperate need of help. The baby squirrel was lying dying by the side of the road, but Pankratau took pity on it and saved its life by nursing it back to health.

Pankratau named the squirrel Masik and used a syringe to feed it milk and help it grow strong and healthy. After that, Pankratau and Masik were bonded for life, and when Pankratau left the army he, of course, took Masik with him.

Now, Pankratau drives a taxi and Masik is always along for the ride.

When Pankratau found Masik, the little squirrel was weak and suffering.
Pankratau knew that the squirrel wouldn’t survive if he didn’t save it.
After saving the squirrels life, he named it Masik.
Now, Masik is thriving and follows his saviour all over Minsk.
Masik loves going to work with Pankratau, who drives a taxi.
While Pankratau drives, Masik just hangs out and enjoys his company.
Pankratau loves his little ride-along, and always makes sure he’s safe and comfy.
These two love each other so much. And plan on driving around together for a long, long time.
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Everyday this squirrel trades dried leaves for fresh nuts at this woman's apartment window.

Squirrels are nimble, bushy-tailed rodents found all over the world. They belong to the Sciuridae family, which includes prairie dogs, chipmunks and marmots.

There are more than 200 species of squirrels, according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), and they are categorized into three types: tree squirrels, ground squirrels and flying squirrels. These three categories are further broken down into many squirrel types, such as Albino, Mountain Tree, Antelope, Spotted, Grey, American Red, Douglas, Fox, Pygmy, Northern Flying, Southern, Arizona Gray, Idaho, Arctic Ground, Albert’s, Franklin, Richardson, Rock, White and Black squirrel.

Since there are so many types of squirrels, they range greatly in size. The smallest squirrel is the African pygmy squirrel. It grows to 2.8 to 5 inches (7 to 13 centimeters) in length and weighs just 0.35 ounces (10 grams). The Indian giant squirrel is the world's largest known squirrel. It grows to 36 inches (1 meter) long and weighs up to 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms).

Grey squirrels, commonly found in North America, are medium-size squirrels. They grow to 15 to 20 inches (38.1 to 50.8 cm) in length, with their tails adding an extra 6 to 9.5 inches (15.24 to 24.13 cm) to their length. They typically weigh about 1 to 1.5 pounds (0.45 to 0.68 kg).

Squirrels live on every continent except in Australia and Antarctica, according to the BBC.


Tree squirrels typically live in wooded areas, since they prefer to live in trees. Ground squirrels live up to their names. They dig burrows, a system of tunnels underground, to live in. Some squirrels also hibernate in burrows during the winter to keep warm.

On average, squirrels eat about one pound of food per week. Many people think that squirrels only eat nuts, but this isn't true. Squirrels are omnivores, which means they like to eat plants and meat. Squirrels mainly eat fungi, seeds, nuts and fruits, but they will also munch on eggs, small insects, caterpillars, small animals and even young snakes.

Squirrels don’t dig up all of their buried nuts, which results in more trees!

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For some reason it made headlines: recently a woman rescued a huge huntsman spider and set it free. It’s not certain what people find so newsworthy about it, but the woman apparently had some empathy. It’s a good thing this is newsworthy, too many negative things make headlines.


Did you know that somewhere around 40,000 known species of spiders exist, but only a few of them are considered dangerous?

Thousands of various spider species exist in the United States, and only black widows and brown recluse spiders can harm humans for the most part. That certainly isn’t the case in some places a person can live, but I guess America is lucky.

In the Barnyard Betty’s Rescue video, the spider affectionately named “Charlotte” looks just like the type of creature that can literally flex its muscles while slamming energy drinks.

On the social media post, Betty said:

“Beautiful Charlotte the spider, one of my best rescues yet.

To answer some of your questions: She is a Huntsman Spider and we are located in Queensland Australia and yes she is very real and very large and not photo shopped!!

I released her here on the farm after rescuing her so I can’t get anymore photos or video her I’m sorry. She was going to be killed by humans. She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace. She didn’t or doesn’t need to be killed! Poor spiders are so misunderstood!

All creatures great and small are welcome here at Barnyard Betty’s Rescue a safe haven no matter how you look!! [sic].”

So why is a Huntsman spider given this name? Well obviously they are fast and they hunt a certain way. They have also been referred to as giant crab spiders, for a self explanatory reason.


Sometimes the massive 8 legged creatures are referred to as wood spiders, because they like to dwell in mine shafts, forests, piles of woods, things like that. They can be found in southern Africa, known as rain spiders, or even lizard-eating spiders, to invoke a fairly terrifying image.

All kinds of species of Huntsman spider, in fact over a thousand, exist in tropical and warm temperate regions all over the planet, including Australasia, Asia, Africa, the Americas, an the Mediterranean Basin.

Spiders seem to be innately scary to human beings, even to the point where hallucinating spiders upon waking up is a common experience people report. Look it up, people seeing spiders that slowly fade out of their vision upon waking out of a deep night of sleep, that’s something people report all the time.

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Jeffrey Condon definitely has the best job in the world. He is the camp manager of the Nomad Lodges in Tanzania which is home to a diversity of animals. So, for him, a day at the office means interacting with all kinds of fascinating animals that make for Tanzania’s wildlife.

That includes zebras, gazelles, hippos, elephants, among others.


Even though he’s surrounded by all those majestic animals, Jeffrey formed an incredible bond with..a pelican. A couple of years ago, a pelican was separated from its flock during a storm and it ended up on a beach. A true animal lover, the man took care of the bird ever since and the two have developed an unlikely friendship. Jeffrey even though the orphaned bird how to fish.

“When he was about a year old, I started teaching him to fish because he didn’t have his colony to show him how,” Jeffrey told the Financial Times. “I had to go out fishing for him anyway, and I thought that if I brought him with me I might awaken some of his natural fishing instincts.”


Big Bird, how Jeffrey named his unusual companion, eventually started to catch fishes all by itself, making its human friend so proud. “I was really happy for him,” he said. Thankfully, the duo captured on camera their lovely adventures and the footage won hearts of millions. Check it out:



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