"The Ants go rolling in a ball, hurrah, hurrah..."
"Army Ants will create 'balls' during high water floods."
"The ball will roll allowing every ant to get a breath."- H010CR0N
Be weary of fake bananas.
"The chemical compound which is used to make fake banana flavor is the same compound honey bees use as an alarm pheromone."
"So never eat banana sweets near a beehive, and if you suddenly smell banana near a beehive, run!"- generic-volume
Unconventional nursing.
"The duck billed platypus has no nipples to feed their offspring."
"Instead, milk oozes from the skin."- ChimpyChompies
platypus GIFGiphyEvery inch is soft and cuddly.
"Rabbits don't have pads on their paws."
"Only fur."
"So if you see a cartoon rabbit with pads on it's paw, completely wrong."- FOTBWN
Providing all kinds of relief.
"Vultures urinate on their legs and feet to cool off on hot days, a process called urohydrosis."
"Their urine also helps kill any bacteria or parasites they’ve picked up from walking through carcasses or perching on dead animals."- Iron_Chic
Small but mighty.
"There is a genus of frog called 'Mini'."
"There are only three frogs in the genus, and their scientific names are all puns: Mini mum, Mini ature and Mini scule."- SwimmingOnMars
Pbs Nature Frog GIF by Nature on PBSGiphyA built in Brita!
"Penguins have a gland above their eye that converts saltwater into freshwater."- Yeeteth_thy_baby
Blind but terrifying
"The vast majority of Greenland sharks are blind thanks to a special parasite that eats their eyes and replaces them."
"It is thought that this might actually be helpful because their eyesight was sh*t anyway, the parasites wave like lures and may have an anglerfish-like effect, and the sharks are super slow so that might be one of the few ways for them to catch live prey."
"Imagine something eating your eyeballs and it being an upgrade."- Fabled_Webs
Don't be fooled by their Beauty
"Butterflies will drink blood given the option."- Semicolon7645
A jumping baby factory.
"A kangaroo will mate again one to three days after giving birth."
"The newborn will latch onto a teat in the pouch and as long as it thrives, the kangaroo can put its newly fertilized embryo in a state of dormancy and have a back up baby ready to go."
"If the newborn grows out of the pouch or dies, the kangaroos hormones will send signals to start the development of the egg."
"So they can have an adolescent Joey, a nursing one, and one in stasis all at the same time."
Yo Mama Australia GIF by Nat Geo WildGiphySo many animals on this planet.
So much to learn every day.
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After Mama Duck taps on the glass to let hospital staff know she and her brood want to get out of the courtyard (the babies can't fly yet, of course), staff let them in and direct them through the hospital safely.
They parade their way through the M. M. Ewing Continuing Care Center, the hospital's long-term nursing and rehabilitation facility.
North American Mallards building nests near human construction is actually fairly common.
They are comfortable being around humans, and our structures often provide convenient nesting sites.
The hospital shared the event in a Facebook post, and people are loving it.
This year, she had an enormous brood of 13 little ones to lead on the annual trek.
Hospital staff guided them through the facility with large pieces of cardboard to act as walls.
Then a nurse, Assistant Nurse Manager Betsy Willard, held the door for the group to exit.
CNA Mollie Dey and resident Wilma Gibson followed the ducks out and watched them make their way away from the hospital.
Wilma's family and friends thanked hospital staff for the mother's experience on Facebook.
Louisa G Johnson/Facebook
Julie Gibson/Facebook
Karen Gibson/Facebook
Rob Davis/Facebook
Reactions to the hospital's Facebook post were overwhelmingly positive, with many fawning over the adorable little duckies.
Patti Huetti/Facebook
Jennifer Gray Cheyney/Facebook
Pam Vincent/Facebook
Sue Jovanelli/Facebook
Some were astounded by the number of ducklings.
Sherry Yancey/Facebook
Cathy Johnson/Facebook
Others were thankful for the hospital staff taking time from their busy days to help the ducks out and give the elders living in the facility the chance to see them.
Michelle Lee Goodman/Facebook
Daphne Davis/Facebook
Ducklings are always cute, but seeing them parade through a hospital with the help of humans is just heart-wrenchingly adorable!
Dispatch received a call about a "wounded dog in the road," and Trooper Carlo Mastromattei responded.
What Mastromattei found when he arrived on-site on Revere Beach Parkway was, in fact, a tiny lone coyote pup.
The poor pup had apparently been separated from its mother, as she was nowhere to be found.
Trooper Mastromattei contacted several local wildlife services after he realized how much danger being on the parkway posed for the pup, but none of the agencies he contacted had personnel available to assist.
He then contacted Ocean View Kennels. The owner, Lisa Cutting, was able to come help him wrangle the pup safely into a crate.
Cutting told CBS Boston about the rescue:
"Put my gloves on. Grabbed a towel and a quarantine cage, and picked him up and brought him to safety."
Mastromattei then took the pup home, where he and his girlfriend AnnBeth cared for it overnight before bringing it to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic for an evaluation.
The coyote pup was given a clean bill of health, and Tufts arranged for him to be taken in by wildlife rehabilitation specialist Dawn Collins, of Berkshire Wildlife Services.
He will spend some time being taught how to survive on his own in the wild, and will eventually be released once he can fend for himself.
You can read Massachusetts State Police's Facebook statement (and see some adorable photos of the pup) below:
The response of Facebook users was overwhelmingly positive and supportive.
Many thanked Trooper Mastromattei for his compassion and quick thinking.
Jamene Murphy/Facebook
Kerry Howeson/Facebook
Cheryl Gaffny Floyd/Facebook
Tracy Ann/Facebook
Samantha Gitschier/Facebook
Some also thanked AnnBeth for her part in caring for the little ball of fur.
Christine Lycus/Facebook
Libbie Pryor Arnold/Facebook
This certainly isn't the only orphaned or injured coyote that Dawn Collins has taken in for rehabilitation. She is the only person licensed in wildlife rehabilitation in Massachusetts that will take coyotes.
According to the Berkshire Eagle, she has already taken in 5 pups this year. This pup will join them after 2 weeks in quarantine to make sure that all is well.
If you want to support the work that Collins does with Berkshire Wildlife Services, you can donate via their website.
The men cleared a path through the ice for it, then tried to dry it off before putting it in their vehicle to warm up.
One of the workers commented:
"We had to carry him over the slope. He weighed a fair bit."
Eestimaa Loomakaitse Liit/Facebook
They then called an animal rescue hotline and were told to bring the animal to a nearby veterinary clinic.
They were nearly sure that the animal was a dog, but thought that there was a remote chance that it could be a wolf.
Rando said that the "dog" was sleeping peacefully in their vehicle during the ride, even putting its head in his lap. When he needed to stretch his legs, he said, it raised its head for him to do so.
Eestimaa Loomakaitse Liit/Facebook
When they arrived at the clinic veterinarians checked over the animal, but even they failed to recognize that it wasn't a dog.
A local hunter was the one who pointed out that the animal was a wolf, not a domestic dog!
Eestimaa Loomakaitse Liit/Facebook
The Estonian Animal Protection Union posted the story to their Facebook page shortly after the wolf was rescued, saying:
"When we got to the shore, the poor wolf was very exhausted, hypothermic and frozen. Young men quickly ran into the car, brought a towel and dried the animal. Then he took him to a warm car and called the animal protection Union. It was also a challenge for the union to think about what to do in the morning at 8 with a dog in [distress], who could also have been a wolf."
Eestimaa Loomakaitse Liit/Facebook
The wolf was released back into the wild with a GPS tracking collar after veterinarians confirmed he was healthy. The Estonian Union for the Protection of Animals (EUPA) covered the bill for the wolf's veterinary care.
They told the media:
"We are so happy for the outcome of the story, and wish to thank all the participants – especially these men who rescued the wolf and the doctors of the clinic who were not afraid to treat and nurture the wild animal."
People on Facebook were very supportive of the men's actions, many congratulating them on having the heart to help an animal in need, domestic or wild.
Margot Valk/Facebook
Hille Sinivee/Facebook
Anne Haavik/Facebook
Jayne Burns/Facebook
Sarah Jean Jost/Facebook
Truki Vitoria/Facebook
Melissa Bridges/Facebook
Heli Välli/Facebook
Helgi Merila/Facebook
If you want to help with the great work the Estonian Animal Protection Union are doing supporting companion animals and (occasionally) wildlife in distress, you can donate directly to their accounts:
EE742200221052074915 (Swedbank)
EE441010220252652225 (SEB)
The organization's name (in Estonian) is Eestimaa Loomakaitse Liit.