A reasonable person differs from an unreasonable one in that he is capable of deliberate logical actions. Civilized society has long realized the importance of preserving all life on Earth. But it took us millennia to realize this…
And here our smaller brothers are superior to us in some way. Surprisingly, science knows many facts when animals saved people. The stories of incredible feats performed by our four-legged, feathered and waterfowl neighbors on the planet are simply amazing. Not only a child who knows the world will freeze in surprise when he hears about another case of miraculous salvation. Even pundits are sometimes perplexed, powerlessly trying to explain, from the point of view of science, the behavior of another rescue animal.
Our article will tell you about 10 animals that saved people from imminent disaster. And at the same time, let's try to determine what prompted them to such feats.
Man's best friend
If you try to make a list of animals that saved people's lives, the dog will certainly take the top position of the top. It is one of the first animalswas domesticated: at least 10,000 years ago, a man first brought a dog into his home, and since then they have coexisted together. This is not just a pet - it is a protector, a hunting companion, a shepherd, and sometimes even a nanny.
A dog is one of those animals that is very attached to a person, not without reason there is an expression "dog's devotion". Stories that the dog protected the owner from an intruder or helped an exhausted swimmer to reach the shore have long been no surprise - there are too many of them, such stories.
But some dog feats shock even those familiar with these animals.
As an example, let's mention Buddy, a German Shepherd dog from the USA, who was trained to dial 911 by his epileptic owner.
A mongrel dog from Kenya once found a newborn girl wrapped in rags in the jungle, which she brought to her home with the puppies. The owner, having discovered the find, called the police. Fortunately, the baby's life was not in danger. But how the dog managed to carry the baby through the forest, a busy highway and a barbed-wire area is still a mystery.
The hero of another case recorded in the United States is the tiny Zoe, a chihuahua weighing a couple of kilograms. But sometimes a very big heart beats in a small body. Once Zoe saw how a snake rushed at the one-year-old grandson of his mistress. The dog rushed to the reptile, was bitten himself, but did not let the creeping aggressor to the baby again. Both the child and the dog were helped.
On her own?
It is generally accepted that cats are narcissistic and independent proud. But they have repeatedly refuted such claims.
The average cat is not strong enough to take a person out of the fire, but he can warn about this fire. There are a lot of similar cases when the cat woke up the owners and saved the whole family from imminent death. The cat Timofey from Lebedin (Ukraine), Simba from New Zealand, the Persian cat from Koryakovo (Russian Federation, Yaroslavl region) are real heroes who saved people from fire last year. And how many of these heroes remained unknown? Not every feat is made public.
There are also cases when animals saved people with their own heat.
But cats are not as harmless as they seem. An angry animal can intimidate even someone who is many times larger than him. For example, an outdoor surveillance camera in one of the southern cities of the United States filmed a case when a domestic cat repelled an attack by a stray dog on a child of the owners. The video instantly went viral.
Pets save owners
With cats and dogs, everything is more or less clear. They have long been domesticated, often living among people. But not only they have something to surprise us with.
Australian farmer Len Richards looked after a dying kangaroo and named him Lulu. A few months later, when a huge branch fell on Len's head during a hurricane, it was Lulu who found the owner and screamed over his body for several hours until he attracted people's attention. Lena was rescued. But if not for Lulu, his fate would have been sad.
Another amazing event wasrecorded a few years ago. Simon Stegal from English Cambridgeshire once felt ill. At this time, his wife was at home, who decided that her husband was just tired and lay down to take a nap. And only the domestic rabbit noticed something was wrong - he jumped on the owner, began to make noise and beat on the body with his paws. This attracted the attention of the woman, she tried to wake her husband, but seeing that this did not help, she called an ambulance. Doctors diagnosed a diabetic crisis and said that if it were not for the sensitive animal, it would hardly have been possible to save a person.
Another amazing example happened to the girl Hannah. Her nanny left the room, and after a couple of minutes she heard her parrot screaming heart-rendingly: “Mom! Baby! Returning, the nanny saw a choking baby who choked on a piece of pie. Fortunately, the woman had first aid skills, but, according to her, the real hero is her favorite named Willy.
These stories about animals saving people make us wonder how much we don't know about pets.
Dolphins and other cetaceans: myths and reality
According to marine biologists, it is reliably known about a large number of cases when dolphins attacked people: they surrounded a flock, tried to drag them into the open sea, grabbed them and dragged them to the depths. Not a single case of human rescue has been recorded at this time.
But those who escaped from the depths of the sea have repeatedly told that it was the dolphins that helped them survive. Can there be smoke without fire? Probably these smartanimals do sometimes help people.
But the case of the sea beluga whale, which pushed the scuba diver to the surface, is not only officially registered, but also filmed. It was in China at a diving competition without equipment, which took place in a pool with white whales. Diver Yang Yun, having plunged to the depth, felt that his legs did not obey. He tried to emerge, but his body convulsed. Then the white whale Mila grabbed the swimmer by the legs and swiftly brought him to the surface. Mila's small teeth didn't even scratch Yang.
Disputes about how people are saved by animals living in the sea continue. But, despite the insufficient evidence base, experts tend to think that it is not worth excluding such a possibility.
At the zoo
Gorillas are wild predators that are dangerous to people. But science knows many cases when higher primates came to the rescue of a person.
At the Jersey Zoo (Great Britain), a boy fell into an enclosure with monkeys. A large male Levan hurried to him, picked him up and carried him to where the zoo workers, already running to help, could take the baby from paws to hands. Levan not only carefully carried the boy, but also protected him from curious relatives. The boy was diagnosed with a head injury and fractures. If the gorillas had behaved differently, would have interfered with people, it would have been impossible to save the child.
A similar incident occurred in Illinois in 1996. A three-year-old kid who fell from a height inaviary, was taken care of by the female Binti Dzhua. She supported his head and kept the other gorillas out. The workers took the child from her paws without hindrance.
Rescuers in the wild
When talking about how animals save people, many people first of all mention cats and dogs. But incredible things happen in the wild too.
The most amazing of them, perhaps, was recorded in 2005 in Kenya. A 12-year-old girl was kidnapped by attackers, but the kidnappers did not have time to carry out their plans - they were attacked by a flock of lions. In fear, the criminals fled, leaving the victim to be torn to pieces by lions, rightly believing that this would deter predators. The plan worked, but the wild animals did not even think of offending the girl. They surrounded her and guarded her until the arrival of the search party. When armed men approached, the lions simply retreated to a safe distance, but did not leave until they were sure that the child was safe.
Why do wild animals save people? Scientists just shrug.
At the farm
Horses and domestic pigs are another example of how animals save people. In 1998, in Pennsylvania, the pig Lilu, for example, having discovered the lifeless body of the hostess, ran to the track and brought help with her. The woman was saved. And the horse Kerry saved her mistress Fiona Boyd from the hooves of an angry cow, literally defending the woman with a human shield.
Mutual assistance in the wild
Surveillance helps shed light on what drives rescue animalsfor wildlife. It is known that during natural disasters (forest fires, for example), animals of different species compile efforts in order to escape from the elements.
Some behavioral oddities cannot yet be explained. For example, scientists do not understand what makes ferocious African hippos rush to the aid of gazelles and zebras and fight them off crocodiles.
But the fact remains: mutual assistance is not alien to animals.
What are the causes of animal behavior?
Experts say it's all about the herd instinct. Many animals are social, for them caring for others is not a choice, but something taken for granted.
Cases when animals save children are explained by the fact that for a wild beast a child is the same cub. He is perceived not as prey, but as a weaker member of the pack who needs to be taken care of.
But those in whose homes and hearts there is a place for furry and feathered, something else is known. Something for which there are no units of measurement and formulas, which cannot be described in abstruse terms. Animals are able to love, no matter what pundits say. It is this feeling that sometimes drives our pets, selflessly rushing to our aid.
Good for good
Times of thoughtless extermination of neighbors on the planet, fortunately, have sunk into oblivion. Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done to combat poaching and restore populations of rare species. But a person is already slowly starting to behave not like an interventionist, but like a good host.
Top rescued animals by people is simply impossible, because there are too many such stories. And their heroes are not only volunteers who consider the protection of nature a matter of life, but also random people who help whales and dolphins, stuck in shallow water, return to the ocean; take out forest animals from random traps; feed birds in cold weather. It only seems like a trifle, but in fact every saved life is a great good. And here it’s just not worth thinking about the reasons, you should not try to explain to yourself and others why this is necessary. It is worth helping our smaller brothers only because it is right and good.
