Every morning, a very independent pooch named Eclipse leaves her house alone. She’s on a mission: get to the dog park located in the heart of Downtown Seattle. Over the years, Eclipse has become a favorite among Seattle commuters and is now seen as an inspiration, being called an “independent woman.” Each day, like a very good girl, she waits patiently at the bus stop by her home. When her bus arrives, she boards it and is greeted by adoring fans. The Mastador (half Mastiff and half Labrador) pooch has amassed a strong social media following because of this remarkable behavior. According to a Seattle-based observer who left a comment…

A woodpecker’s tongue is so long that it wraps around its skull to protect its brain while hitting a tree or other hard surfaces. This, combined with other factors like: super-strong neck muscles, spongy bone plates in the skull that act like a football helmet, and a very small amount of cerebrospinal fluid surrounding its brain, all help prevent a woodpecker from rack your brain while pecking with a force of more than 1000g. Two fledglings waiting for their mother to return to the nest were killed after a Gila woodpecker stopped by for a quick snack. The woodpecker proceeded to ram its beak into the back of the doves’…

Puerto Escondido on the Oaxacan coast of Mexico, you’ll probably have read or heard about the turtle conservation efforts here. Every day, just before sunset, people gather on the beaches of Puerto Escondido to assist in the baby turtle release. The cost of releasing one turtle is 100 pesos and the money raised is circled back into protecting this beautiful but endangered species. Upon arriving at the release site, we were shown around a large tent where the sea turtles’ eggs were buried. The turtles don’t actually lay their eggs here; instead, the team here works tirelessly through the night to find, remove and rebury the eggs as the turtles…

Smoky was a 4 lb, 7 inches tall, Yorkshire Terrier who served in World War II. In 1944 Smoky was found in a foxhole in the jungles of New Guinea by an American soldier who brought her back to camp and sold her to Corporal William A. Wynne for $6.44. For the next 2 years, Smoky lived a soldier’s life. Because she was not an official military dog, she did not get dog food or medical care. She shared Wynne’s meals and slept beside him in his tent. The dog was named Smoky, and over the last two years of the war she accompanied Wynne on 12 combat missions and…

In the spring of 2017, while traveling through Botswana, a group of truck drivers came upon a newborn elephant that was in need. The drivers even drove the thirsty elephant to a nearby sanctuary for elephants while providing her with water. According to The Dodo, these South African truck drivers were just going about their regular workday when they came across a broken bridge that blocked their way. A frightened baby elephant suddenly appeared, forcing the drivers to halt and check the situation. She was entirely defenseless and abandoned without her mother or the other elephants in her pack. Luckily, the drivers observed that the around 3-week-old elephant appeared thirsty…

A photographer traveled to Namibia to capture well-camouflaged snakes that exclusively live in the sub-Saharan African country. Marisa Ishimatsu captured magnificent photos of a Peringuey’s adder who are perfectly adapted to hide themselves in the soft sands of the Namibian desert. “They sidewind effortlessly across the dune slopes and they bury themselves in soft sand at the base of bushes, both to ambush lizards and to protect themselves from predation,” Ishimatsu tells PetaPixel. “Their eyes are on the top of their heads and their nostrils are reinforced and on the top of their nose so when they are completely buried, they can still see and breathe.” Ishimatsu went with a…