It took 9 people to rescue 1 very cute fat rat that got stuck in a manhole cover

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A group of firefighters in Germany banded together to rescue a very cute fat rat that got itself stuck in a manhole cover.

The incident happened on Sunday in the town of Bensheim where volunteer firefighters responded to the stuck rat after a young girl alerted them. At least one animal rescuer and eight firefighters can be counted in the above video. 

Thankfully, all that manpower resulted in a safe extraction of the chubby, almost cuddly, little critter. Animal rescuer Michael Sehr told local outlets, according to the BBC, “She had a lot of winter flab and was stuck fast at her hip — there was no going forward or back.” As to why to rescue a rat, Sehr said, “Even animals that are hated by many deserve respect.”  Read more…

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The Museum of English Rural Life found an adorable bat and named him Merlin

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The Museum of English Rural Life is already internet-famous because of its animal tweets. The thicc ram has nothing on a live bat, however.

This story actually started back in Nov. 2018 when a bat was discovered just chilling out near the ceiling of the museum’s book store. The museum called in an expert: retired librarian and licensed batworker Rose-Ann Movsovic — also a museum volunteer.

Seriously, she saves bats and nurses them back to health in a spare room and then releases them back into the wild

Our team is full of secret X Men.

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) February 24, 2019 Read more…

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Galápagos tortoise, feared extinct, spotted for the first time in more than 100 years

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More than 100 years since it was last seen by humans, a species of giant tortoise has been found on the Galápagos island of Fernandina.

According to the government of Ecuador, an adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, more commonly known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019. This species of tortoise was last seen alive in 1906. The International Union for Conservation of Nature had previously listed the turtle as critically endangered and possibly extinct.

The tortoise is said to be in good health, but underweight. It is believed that she is about 100 years old. According to the Turtle Conservancy, she’s “about half to two-thirds the size” of the only other Fernandina Giant Tortoise that’s ever been found, a deceased male discovered 113 years ago. Read more…

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The star of the 2019 Independent Spirit Awards was Glenn Close’s dog, Pip

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Glenn Close had a big night at the 34th annual Independent Spirit Awards, but her dog Pip was the evening’s real winner in the internet’s eyes.

Close, who scored a Best Female Lead win for her star performance in The Wife, brought along her dog, a Havanese, as her arm candy for the evening. And given that Pip is a tiny, fluffy pooch who clearly loves his mama, he became an instant star.

Safe to say that Glenn Close’s dog Pippin is star of this blue carpet so far. She told me that she’s going to bring him inside to her table and on stage if she wins#SpiritAwards pic.twitter.com/KB1wOKhzXl

— Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) February 23, 2019 Read more…

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Femme birds, butch owls, and lesbian frogs: Meet the queer animals of Instagram

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In 2008, a gay penguin couple went viral for the best of reasons: They stole an egg from a straight couple in order to become parents, then replaced the missing egg with a rock. Genius. 

It’s rare to see queerness represented in the animal world — if you can even call it queerness, given that these are, in fact, animals who don’t have human sexualities. Still, that hasn’t stopped the LGBTQ community from anthropomorphizing them wherever they can.

To anthropomorphize is to be human. Who doesn’t want to see a lesbian earth mother frog dispensing self-care advice? Or a high femme owl warding off a heteronormative holiday with her deadly, femme fatale stare? Tell me the last time you saw a masculine-of-center bird represented in media. How many serial monogamist flamingos do you know in your personal life?  Read more…

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Here’s what it looks like when a rescue dog saves someone buried in snow

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This is One Good Thing, a weekly column where we tell you about one of the few nice things that happened this week.


By now everyone should be well aware that we are incredibly blessed to live in a world where there are dogs. But you can never really have too many reminders, so here’s another.

For your weekly dose of Dogs Are Absolute Angels, we invite you to turn your attention to a video that Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England recently shared on Twitter.

Ever wondered what it would be like to be buried in snow and found by one of our happy search and rescue dogs? (Video version)pic.twitter.com/AefuhGGCeh

— Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England (@SARDAEngland) February 19, 2019 Read more…

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These super slow motion close-ups of birds are totally mesmerising

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Getting close enough to watch a bird of prey blinking is not an easy thing to achieve. In fact, it’s safe to say that, IRL, it would be pretty much impossible.

Luckily, we have The Slow Mo Guys on YouTube to make this gorgeous sight available to us, up close and in super slow motion. 

Thanks to their super slow motion shooting, the clip above gives a pretty spectacular view of a golden eagle blinking sideways using its nictitating membrane — a see-through blinking eyelid. 

Fascinating.  Read more…

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Dude autotunes his cat miaowing and the results will make you shake with laughter

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Madonna and Cher are no strangers to the odd bit of autotune. But, cats — yep, cats! — are admittedly a new one on us. 

Joaquin Baldwin — a feature animation layout artist at Disney — tweeted that he autotuned his cat Elton because “he won’t shut up in the morning.” 

The results will induce laughter so uncontrollable your belly will likely shake. I do, of course, speak from personal experience. 

For those wondering how to achieve such great heights of hilarity, Baldwin used Voloco App to record Elton.

“Free app with lots of simple options to autotune,” wrote Baldwin on Twitter. “Elton is taking a break from all the fame now, no autographs pls.”  Read more…

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10 adorable videos of turtles eating strawberries

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There is nothing quite as pure as watching animals try to eat cumbersome people food. Dogs and peanut butter, hamsters and crackers — it’s a match made in viral video heaven. 

But our personal favorite physical manifestation of cuteness comes in the form of turtles trying to eat strawberries. Their mouths are just too small to wrap completely around the strawberry, and their bodies too slow to chow down on the fruit. Adorable.

If you need to purify your internet browsing experience, take a moment to watch these turtles take some fantastic nibbles.  Read more…

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This raccoon influencer says they actually make good pets (but maybe stick to dogs)

Herbert Hoover wasn’t the only one who thought raccoons make great pets. 
Most people think of raccoons as devilish, garbage-eating jumbo-rodents. Or, one may think of popular animated characters like Meeko, Pocahontas’ cunning sidekick. Either …

View More This raccoon influencer says they actually make good pets (but maybe stick to dogs)

Alpaca accounts are underrated social media treasures

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In the vast world of animals with social media accounts, common household pets like cats and dogs typically reign supreme. But if you’re not following your fair share of alpacas on the internet, you’re sorely missing out.

Though social media accounts dedicated to alpacas are rare, they’re remarkable —  like delicious pieces of hay in the ridiculous needle stack that is the internet. You have to do a bit more searching than you would to find a cat or dog account, sure. But when you do happen upon a dedicated farm or fan posting camelid content, it doesn’t disappoint.

Since following several alpaca accounts like Alpacas of Instagram, Barnacre Alpacas, and The Woolly Army, I’ve found the animals’ presence in my daily digital life, though small, to be a real mood booster. After noticing that lighthearted alpaca content makes Twitter and Instagram significantly more bearable, I decided to reach out to some leaders of the alpaca social media movement to learn more about the underrated animals, and what it’s like making a space for them online. Read more…

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