iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app

5 Amazing Animal Heroes Through History

Posted: 03/13/2012 11:51 am

By Jessica Kennison For Gimundo.com

YouTube is inundated with videos of dancing dogs and yarn-throwing cats. Cute animal forwards are fixtures in office email chains all over the world. While watching puppies roll around gives us pleasure, animals do more than just play pretty -- they are war heroes and lifeguards and bodyguards and 911 messengers.

More From Gimundo.com:

Overachiever Study Shows Importance Of Relaxation

5 Simple Steps To Stay Inspired Every Day

Janitor Rescues Failing Business, Now Is Co-Owner

Dr. Elise Nowbahari, of the University of Paris, says non-human animal rescue behavior is far more common than people think.

Nowbahari’s research, published in the January 2010 issue of Communicative and Integrative Biology, suggests that animals such as monkeys, dolphins, fruit bats and even ants have an instinct that causes them to put themselves in harm’s way for another animal without the promise of any direct reward.

Monkeys will drive away an attacker from a vulnerable female or infant and fruit bats help other fruit bats give birth.

Here are five examples of animals using their rescue instincts to help human beings in distress. For five more, click here.

1. Cher Ami (The Carrier Pigeon)
1  of  6
PLAY
FULLSCREEN
ZOOM
SHARE THIS SLIDE 
More than 200 men from Major Charles Whittlesey's battalion were trapped on a hillside with no food or ammunition in France during WWI.

Whittlesey sent carrier pigeons to deliver notes asking for help. Two pigeons were shot down before the last pigeon available, Cher Ami ("dear friend" in French), was dispatched with a note in a canister on his left leg.

The note read: "We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven's sake, stop it!"

Cher Ami was shot through the breast, blinded in one eye and his left leg was hanging on by a tendon during flight, but he still delivered the note, clutched in his left claw. Cher Ami's note saved 194 men from Whittlesey's "Lost Battalion."

After the battle, Army medics saved Cher Ami and carved a small wooden leg for him. He had delivered 12 important messages even before this final battle. Cher Ami was proclaimed a war hero upon his return to America.

He died at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, on June 13, 1919, likely from wounds he received in battle. He was inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame in 1931. His body is currently on display in the National Museum of American History's "Price of Freedom" exhibit.
MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT >   |   < PREV
RATE IT!   |  
VOTE
Heartwarming
Boring
CURRENT TOP 5 PICK YOUR OWN TOP 5
USERS WHO VOTED
NEW! CREATE YOUR OWN SLIDESHOW

FOLLOW HUFFPOST GOOD NEWS

By Jessica Kennison For Gimundo.com YouTube is inundated with videos of dancing dogs and yarn-throwing cats. Cute animal forwards are fixtures in office email chains all over the world. While wa...
By Jessica Kennison For Gimundo.com YouTube is inundated with videos of dancing dogs and yarn-throwing cats. Cute animal forwards are fixtures in office email chains all over the world. While wa...
Filed by Dominique Mosbergen  | 
What's Your Reaction?
Amazing
 Inspiring
 Funny
 Scary
 Hot
 Crazy
 Important
 Weird
 
 
  • Comments
  • 6
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Post Comment Preview Comment
To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to.
View All
Favorites
Recency  | 
Popularity
photo
Progressneeded
589 Fans
09:34 PM on 03/15/2012
But the awards she liked most were cokes and beer and cake and chocolate bars--even a little whiskey or bourbon occasionally.

Reckless is a horse after my own heart!
Permalink  |
photo
GOODDOC1
"civil war" is an oxymoron
858 Fans
05:25 AM on 03/16/2012
There is a Facebook page for people honoring her. A scupture of her has been designed, and will hopefully be placed at the Korean War Memorial site in DC. SSgt. Reckless is the only FEMALE Marine wounded twice IN COMBAT during the Korean War! (She was promoted to SSgt. after she was brought back to the US after the War.) She is buried under the stables at Camp Pendleton, CA.
Permalink  |
up in the air
9 Fans
12:49 PM on 03/15/2012
I love these kind of stories
Permalink  |
wpnwilo2
21 Fans
10:34 AM on 03/15/2012
I had a shih tzu save my life too and she looked just like that one. After 11 years I had to help her's end and she almost took me with her. No one will ever convince me animals are just breathing bags of flesh. There is something "divine" about too many of them.

Dang onions making my eyes water again.
Permalink  |
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
summer261987
if only~~
92 Fans
 
01:27 AM on 03/15/2012
wow~ this is so inspiring! animals got this incredible unconditional love! got to love them~ ;)
Permalink  |
photo
Lindsgrace33
135 Fans
05:59 PM on 03/13/2012
Great article...I am crying like a baby! Amazing animals, your wonderful acts of kindness will never be forgotten.
Permalink  |