AMAZING ANIMAL TALES

WHAT THE DICKINS?

In February 1942, an RAF bomber crashed into the North Sea while returning from a mission. Its four crew w members released their carrier pige on Winkie, hoping that the bird would return to her loft and alert their colleagues at Leuchars airfield.

Winkie made the 129-mile journey y home, her condition providing clues t to the crew’s whereabouts, and incredi bly the men were eventually discovered and rescued.

She became one of the first anim als to receive the PDSA’s Dickin Medal, t the animal equivalent of the prestigious Victoria Cross, an honour awarded fo or “delivering a message under exceptional circumstances.”

Thirty-two pigeons went on to rec eive the honour for their wartime services s. RESPECT FOR THE ELEPHANT

WHISPER South African A Lawrence Anthony hit he headlines 15 years ago when he turned around the fortunes of the starving and neglected animals of Saddam Hussein n’s zoo in w war- torn Baghdad.

Lawrence had already worked to transform the behaviour of a herd of nine wild elephants which had been causin ng havoc in n Zululand and he built up bond ds of friendship with them, as detailed in n his 20009 book The Elephant Whisper er.

When the award-winning conservationist died in 2012 the herd d hadn’ tv visited his house fora year and half. Yett shortly after his death they reappeared, having trekked for 12 ho urs through the bush to the compound he e lived in.. They spent a further two days loitering nearby, seemingly mourning him, before returning to the bush. TAKING TTHE HUMP

Biologi st Nan Hauser has had many underwater adventures during her 28-year career, but nothing compares to the ex xperience she had in Septem ber 2017, off the coast of f Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.

A 25-- ton humpback whale spent around 10 minutes pushing her through the water with his head and mouth, t tucking her under his pectoral fin and e even lifting her out of the water.

It seems that this incredible act was undertaken to protect her from a 15-foot tiger shark which had been lurking, unnoticed, nearby.

“Humpback whales truly display altruism – sometimes even at the risk of losing their own lives,” explained Nan.