From dolphins that saved a surfer from sharks and a whale that helped a drowning sportsman to an elephant which saved a young girl from a tsunami, these incredible, fearless animal heroes remind us once more of the special species we live with that we need to protect.
Whale Saves Diver
Athlete Yang Yun has been part of an diving competition that required participants to stay at the bottom of a 20-foot arctic pool in China’s Polar Territory when the very cold conditions caused her legs to cramp, causing her unable to return to the surface. That’s when one of the tank’s residents, a beluga whale called Mila grabbed Yun’s leg and guided her up toward the air.
Dolphins Save Surfer
Flipper spent a number of seasons helping humans out of jams, however his rescues aren’t entirely out of the ordinary for the dolphin species. Reports of dolphins saving humans are almost everywhere, such as the one about Todd Endris, a surfer who survived an assault by a great white shark that he said “came out of nowhere” off the coast of California. Right after he was bitten, a pod of bottlenose dolphins circled Endris, keeping off the shark until he could make it back to shoreline — just as they would for one of their own.
Gorilla Saves Boy
When a 3-year-old child fell into the gorilla exhibit at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois it wasn’t only injuries from the 24-foot-drop that place him in danger: The exhibit had many grown-up gorillas on exhibit that were also a threat. But 7-year-old girl gorilla Binti took over, picking up the boy and cradling him before leaving him gently by a door for zookeepers to rescue him. The toddler was transferred to the hospital and recovered.
Dog Saves Boy
Man’s best friend isn’t the type to shy away from saving an owner, but it’s still heartwarming to know about dogs that put themselves in harm’s way for their owners. In this case, it was 18-week-old doggy Pinky who grabbed the attention of a swarm of bees that was going for her human companion, 9-year-old Richie Bragg: Pinky was stung more than 40 times but made it, and most probably rescued Richie — who has a blood condition that prevents proper clotting — from needing serious medical assistance.
Seal Saves Man
When an injured elephant seal pup was saved in 1994 at the animal facility that would become the Aquarium of the Pacific, keepers were simply hoping she’d survive — she did, and became a favorite of guests and locals with a status for being “a gentle giant,”.
But when Ryono fell while feeding seal pups a year later and found himself unable to get out of the way of the pups’ aggression, it was Gimpy that stepped in, protecting Ryono from an attack.
Lions Save Girl
While some websites challengethe fact of this story, The Guardian reports that, in 2005, a girl in Ethopia has been kidnapped by seven men and beaten for 7 days — until 3 lions hunted down the men away and stood guard over the girl until police found her. Theories for the lions’ behavior range from the idea that they mistook her cries for those of a baby lion to the chance that they were getting ready to eat the girl when the police showed up, however the Guardian quotes an Ethopian police sergeant as saying, “If the lions had not come then it could have been much worse.”
Watusi Calf Saves Woman
Lurch, an African Watusi calf has intercepted his owner, Janice Wolf, while she was walking the paths of her Arkansas refuge. Lurch refused to move out of the way and when Wolf grabbed his horns to guide him, he knocked her off balance — thereby preventing her from stepping on a coiled copperhead snake she was about to disturb.
Dolphin Saves Drowning Swimmer
It’s not only shark attacks that inspire dolphins to swim into action and save people: One rescuer, Filippo, was a well-known resident of the Adriatic Sea off Italy’s Manfredonia who became a spur-of-the-moment lifeguard when a 14-year-old boy fell into the sea — not knowing how to swim. Scotland’s Daily Record reports that the dolphin pushed the boy to keep him above the water until his parents could pull him to safety.
Elephant Saves Girl
Amber Mason, an eight-year-old girl from Bucks, England, was in Phuket, Thailand when the tsunami struck in 2005 — riding an elephant named Ningnong. As the water rose, the elephant ran up the shore, taking the brunt of the impact and keeping Amber above the water.
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