Unbelievable Animal Heroes that Saved People’s lives

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.

10 Most Endangered Species in 2012

There are thousands of endangered species across our planet which are feared to be on the road to extinction. These species could belong to the four-legged travellers of the earth, the winged birds or the marine life. Whatever their habitat, the endangered species are either at risk due to human activities in that area or a change of climate in their habitat which could be due to global warming.

Dinosaurs lived billions of years ago; and perhaps if they were not extinct, humans and other life forms of today would have found a way to live together on the planet Earth.  But nature’s course made sure that this did not happen and now we try to relive that era, in animated science fictions. Soon many of the species that inhabit the earth today might go extinct and our next generation would forever wonder if they could see one of those animals alive today.

Therefore we have put together a list of 10 most endangered species of animals . And as said earlier there are many many more, but some have already got the world’s attention, so now it’s time to highlight the less famousones.

1. The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

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Amongst our list of 10 most endangered species, the Ivory-billed woodpecker is believed to be the one that is most endangered; in fact they are so endangered, that they are believed to be even extinct by now. They were found in the Southeastern area of the US and sightings of this large woodpecker were also seen in Cuba. A rescue mission that started right away after this, has led to some rumors believing that there might be a small population living in Florida or Arkansas, but confirmed news has still not been received.

2. The Amur Leopard

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The Amur Leopard that lived in the snowy and remote areas of Northern China and Korea were already few and rare. And now due to road building, over-logging, encroaching civilization, illegal hunting this beautiful species is also fearing extinction. In fact a recent survey revealed there are only 14 – 20 adults which have been confirmed to be living in a forest.

3. The Javan Rhinoceros

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If you thought that of all the rhinoceros species, the Black Rhino (a.k.a. Diceros Bicornis) was an endangered one, think again. Because according to a survey, it is estimated that only 40 – 60 of the Javan rhinos are left remaining in the Ujung Kulon National Park which is located on the western part of the an Island in Indonesia. Facing extinction because of its precious horn, this rare species came under protection however people still might not be able to save it because of scarce mating population.

4. The Greater Bamboo Lemur

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Madagascar is known for its population of lemurs; however if the illegal hunting and habitat loss continues in that region then it is quite possible that soon the critically endangered species of Lemur – the Greater Bamboo Lemur, will become history, with no live remains of it left.

5. The Northern Right Whale

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The Mako Shark, Blue fin Tuna and the Beluga Sturgeon are some of the members of marine life that are considered to be one of the endangered species. However here we are going to talk of the Northern Right Whale which got its name back in the 1970’s ironically by people who are making sure it goes extinct quickly – the fishermen. The Right Whale possess good quantities of oil which is why it is hunt down; moreover it floats atop when dead which makes it easy to handle. It is protected now but it is feared that extinction might not be prevented.

6. The Cross River Gorilla

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This species of the lowland gorilla is found in West Africa; and it is believed that only a few hundred of these are left remaining. This atrocity is for no other reason than due to illegal hunting and that too for food. It has been included in the critically endangered ones as their population is facing a constant decrease for the last 25 years.

7. Leatherback Sea Turtle

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Swimming across the seas and oceans of the whole world, the Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest turtle which comes out on the sub-tropical beaches to lay its eggs. The fact that people keep on hunting for its eggs, or that fact that the beaches are destroyed is leading to the extinction of Leatherback Sea turtles. Pollution of the sea and ocean waters is also killing the turtles.

8. The Amur Tiger

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The Amur Tiger like the Amur Leopard is believed to be near extinction. The Amur Tiger which was found in cold parts of China and Korea, reduced to a horrid number of 40 – 50  but has rebounded to a number of 500 because the Tiger has gone into protection by the wild life services. Even though its number has increased, it is still not out of danger.

9. The Chinese Giant Salamander

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A unique thing about the Giant Salamander is that it is the world’s largest amphibian which can grow up to 6 feet in length. Although it had the advantage of laying almost 500 eggs in one go and that too which remained in protection of the male, it can still go extent. The sad news is that it is not going to be due to a loss in habitat but because it is largely hunt down for its meat. Yes, it is true, it is abundantly eaten in most parts of China.

10. The Kakapo Parrot

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Last and certainly a species left in the least amount of number is the Kakapo parrot. It is the only parrot that remains flightless throughout its life and is also the heaviest amongst all the parrots. Once common throughout the mainland of New Zealand, this endangered species is led to its present state due to the hunt down by rats, cats and dogs. It is now only found living in some islands and less than 150 are left.