For the 4.4 billion of us who live in cities around the world, it can be easy to forget the wonders of nature. But every year on March 3, the United Nations celebrates and raises awareness of the rich diversity of wildlife that calls our planet home.
On this World Animal Day news week has compiled eight of the funniest and most shocking wildlife moments of the past year.
A group of carefree lionesses were filmed causing traffic to stop after deciding to block a road in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Footage was captured on February 1, 2023 by nature lover Morne Du Plessis, who described the moment as “incredible”.
Female lions can grow up to 9 feet long and weigh up to 393 pounds, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. They are the world’s most social cats, living in family units called packs of up to 40 individuals, depending on food availability. Packs are mostly made up of related females, with usually just one or two resident males.
2. Dolphin and dog make unlikely friends in Adelaide, Australia
Footage captured in Adelaide, South Australia, shows an unlikely friendship between a black Labrador and a dolphin swimming side by side in circles. Harsh Dave, who captured the footage on February 21, 2023, said the pair played for around 20 minutes.
“Two of my favorite creatures,” he said in a post on Instagram. “Can never get enough of this.”
We all know that dogs are capable of forming relationships with other species – after all, they are man’s best friends and after centuries of selective breeding, their sociability is firmly embedded in their DNA. But dolphins are also known to form hunting groups between species.
An article published in the magazine marine mammal sciences in 2013 documented relationships between dolphins and false killer whales in New Zealand observed over a period of several years.
Security footage from a home in Sanford, Fla. shows a sneaky bear running away with a shipment of 30 chicken nuggets and large fries from Chick-fil-A on December 13, 2022.
As our urban sprawl continues to encroach upon bear habitats, these scavengers have developed a taste for human junk food (and who can blame them).
The problem is that this unnatural diet can wreak havoc on the bear’s biology. Not only does it affect their gut microbiomes, but also according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports found in 2019 that bears on a diet high in high-energy junk foods tend to hibernate for shorter periods. This, in turn, can cause them to age faster and become out of sync with their peers.
4. Alligator strolls across the Florida School’s playing field
Lacrosse practice at a Florida high school was abruptly disrupted when a 6.5-foot alligator decided to walk across the playing field.
“[The] Alligator was totally relaxed and casually strolling around the field, occasionally stopping to just lie down and relax a bit,” said coach Eric Klaus news week.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates that Florida is home to 1.3 million alligators, although they are typically found in wetlands, swamps, and rivers.
However, they are sometimes reported in residential and recreational areas, especially those with adequate access to water. Golf courses, for example, are a regular haunt for these reptiles, who are often filmed strutting about the greens.
A young male leopard got into trouble after breaking into a Mercedes-Benz factory in India. The factory was shut down for four hours while rescue workers were called to remove the unusual intruder. The incident happened on March 22, 2022.
The footage shows the desperate leopard running through the factory, perhaps looking for a place to hide.
Eventually the leopard was sedated and taken to a medical facility to undergo an evaluation before being released back into the wild.
A giant bear was caught by security camera bathing in a garden pond in Reno, Nevada, in November 2022. The bear, apparently unaware it was being filmed, splashes in the cool water.
The homeowner set up the camera after noticing the pond was half full two days in a row. The bear is believed to have entered the resident’s garden after stealing grapes from a neighbor’s vineyard.
7. Porcupine Parents Tag Team to protect babies from leopards
A pair of porcupine parents were filmed in South Africa’s Kruger National Park protecting their babies from an aggressive leopard.
Park ranger Rodney Themba, who made the video, said he’s never seen anything like it in 20 years of working at the park. “I was surprised and shocked at the time,” he said news week.
