A woman who saved a dog after it fell onto some train tracks in Lima, Peru, could face jail time and a possible lawsuit for her actions, AOL reports.

 The dog, who belonged to a pedestrian waiting for the train (she's the woman wearing red in the video above), somehow escaped, ending up on the tracks. It tried jumping back onto the platform a few times, to no avail.

But because dogs are awesome and people still have hearts, another woman (she's the one in teal) jumped down onto the tracks to save the dog. Both she and the dog were OK. Happy ending, right?

Not quite. La Republica newspaper reports that Metro de Lima administrators argue that going onto the tracks for any reason is illegal and punishable with jail time (the organization posted a reminder on its official Facebook page too). Subsequently, Metro de Lima is reportedly considering pressing charges against the woman, though it remains unclear whether the organization actually will.


People have been taking to Twitter to voice their support for the woman, with some calling her a hero and arguing that Metro de Lima could afford to let the rules slide in this case, since she saved the dog, and no one was hurt.
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A bison scratches his head on a side view car mirror in Yellowstone Park

Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.

A number of Native American tribes especially revere Yellowstone’s bison as pure descendants of the vast herds that once roamed the grasslands of the United States.

 The largest bison population in the country on public land resides in Yellowstone. It is one of the few herds free of cattle genes. An estimated 20 to 30 million bison once dominated the North American landscape from the Appalachians to the Rockies, from the Gulf Coast to Alaska.

Habitat loss and unregulated shooting reduced the population to just 1,091 by 1889. Today, approximately 500,000 bison live across North America. However, most of these are not pure wild bison, but have been cross-bred with cattle in the past, and are semi-domesticated after being raised as livestock for many generations on ranches. Fewer than 30,000 wild bison are in conservation herds and fewer than 5,000 are unfenced and disease-free.

This puppy really wants to play… with himself, and he’s met his match in the mirror! Finally a pup with his own amount of energy. Best friends for life? No way around it.

Many people are puzzled by the fact that dogs seem to ignore images of themselves reflected in a mirror. Young puppies encountering mirrors for the first time may treat the image as if it is another dog.

They may bark at it, or give a little bow and an invitation to play as if they are encountering a real dog and engaging in a social interaction.

However, after a short while they lose interest. Afterwards then often seem to treat their reflections as if they were of no consequence at all.

A cross-species friendship between a dog and a lamb makes us think biological boundaries may be a figment of the imagination.

The boisterous pair has an incredibly spirited play session together, regardless of identity.

The pup springs up and surprises the lamb. To keep the game going, the dog rolls over a ball ...... and the lamb, in response, gleefully tumbles over the dog and ball. The dog nuzzles the lamb. And the lamb nuzzles the dog. Now that's friendship.

NOTE: Videos of unlikely animal pairs romping or snuggling have become so common that they are piquing the interest of some scientists, who say they invite more systematic study. Among other things, researchers say, the alliances could add to an understanding of how species communicate, what propels certain animals to connect across species lines and the degree to which some animals can adopt the behaviors of other species.
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In one of the great tragedies of our age, indigenous traditions, stories, cultures and knowledge are winking out across the world.

 Whole languages and mythologies are vanishing, and in some cases even entire indigenous groups are falling into extinction. This is what makes the news that a tribe in the Amazon—the Matsés peoples of Brazil and Peru—have created a 500-page encyclopedia of their traditional medicine all the more remarkable. The encyclopedia, compiled by five shamans with assistance from conservation group Acaté, details every plant used by Matsés medicine to cure a massive variety of ailments.

"The [Matsés Traditional Medicine Encyclopedia] marks the first time shamans of an Amazonian tribe have created a full and complete transcription of their medicinal knowledge written in their own language and words," Christopher Herndon, president and co-founder of Acaté, told Mongabay in an interview .

The Matsés have only printed their encyclopedia in their native language to ensure that the medicinal knowledge is not stolen by corporations or researchers as has happened in the past. Instead, the encyclopedia is meant as a guide for training new, young shamans in the tradition and recording the living shamans' knowledge before they pass.


"One of the most renowned elder Matsés healers died before his knowledge could be passed on so the time was now. Acaté and the Matsés leadership decided to prioritize the Encyclopedia before more of the elders were lost and their ancestral knowledge taken with them," said Herndon.

Acaté has also started a program connecting the remaining Matsés shamans with young students. Through this mentorship program, the indigenous people hope to preserve their way of life as they have for centuries past.


"With the medicinal plant knowledge disappearing fast among most indigenous groups and no one to write it down, the true losers in the end are tragically the indigenous stakeholders themselves," said Herndon. "The methodology developed by the Matsés and Acaté can be a template for other indigenous cultures to safeguard their ancestral knowledge."
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Co-evolution is when two or more species mutually affect one another’s evolution. Every dog living today evolved from wolves, and there is no doubt that dogs have influenced our lives over the past 12,000-14,000 years.

 But did you know that dogs and their wolf ancestors may have played a major role in making us the dominant species on the planet long before then? There is evidence that suggests that wolves have been influencing humans for as long as 150,000 years. There’s no way to know for sure what was going on thousands of years ago, but here are some intriguing ways canines may have made us what we are today.

Hunted with us. By hunting with early humans, wolves may have helped us hunt more effectively. This would have allowed us to grow our populations more quickly and may even, through increased protein in our diets, have contributed to the changes in our brains that set ups apart from other hominids. Their help may also have freed us to spend time on other things such as developing new tools, forming complex societies, and planting crops.

Taught us better ways to hunt. Native Americans studied wolf behavior to make themselves more efficient hunters. It’s likely that our hunter-gatherer ancestors did the same, and that wolves helped humans become dominant hunters, an important step on our path to where we are today. And, again, more time for tool-making, planting crops, learning, and building.


Guarded our homes. With wolves guarding their villages and camps, our ancestors could better protect themselves against predators and other humans, allowing populations to grow and attention to be put toward many of the things that made us what we are today. It also may have allowed us to grow small villages into larger ones, which led to more complex societies.

Altered our brains. One of the things that changed when humans split off from other primates and then other hominids is that the parts of our brains that deal with scent and hearing shrunk, and the parts of our brains that handle complex thought and cognition grew. Some of these changes may have coincided with our earliest interactions with wolves. It’s possible that we outsourced sensory jobs like sniffing for good food and listening for danger to our four-legged friends, allowing other, higher-function parts of our brains to develop.


Cleaned up after us. Wolves and early dogs most likely ate a lot of garbage that may have piled up around early villages. Garbage disposal may have cut down on disease, increasing our survival rates, and allowing for village growth and expansion.

Started us on our domestication journey. Although the exact date of the domestication of the wolf is not known, it was long before any other animal was domesticated. It’s also very likely that the choice was as much the wolves’ as it was ours. After canis lupus familiaris became part of our lives, we tried to domesticate everything we could. We used the strength of other animals to help us begin farming, to travel long distances, to build bigger and stronger structures and towns, and to otherwise begin to form the complex societies we have today.
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For most dogs, bath time is only slightly less dreadful than trip-to-the-vet time.

Monk the husky has had enough baths in his lifetime to know just how much he hates them, and does his best to talk his owners out of that necessary yet awful task.

Hiding behind fixtures and curtains and lying down in protest don't do much to dissuade his owner, and Monk is forced to yowl "Mooooooooom!" at her like any other angsty teenager.

Sorry, buddy — maybe next time avoid rolling around in the mud at the dog park.

Owner said: ‘He loves to make everything a process and he likes to be dirty too. We sometimes call him Pigpen. ‘When he doesn't get his own way he protests like a baby and throws himself on the floor. It is like living with a testy two-year-old child.’


Despite the initial tantrum, Monk did eventually settle down and his owner was able to wash him. Suzanne said: ‘He was fine once I got him in the shower. He gave me kisses and sat quietly.’

She concluded by saying: ‘I think it is a funny video because we can all relate to this through children and other pets. It is very human-like.’

Most all North American Native People attach special significance to the Eagle and its feathers.

1-Both Bald and Golden Eagles (and their feathers) are highly revered and considered sacred within Native traditions, culture and religion. They are honoured with great care and shown the deepest respect. They represent honesty, truth, majesty, strength, courage, wisdom, power and freedom. As they roam the sky, they are believed to have a special connection to Creator.

2-According to traditional Native beliefs, the Creator made all the birds of the sky when the World was new. Of all the birds, the Creator chose the Eagle to be the leader... the Master of the Sky.

3-The Eagle flies higher and sees better than any other bird. Therefore, its perspective is different from other creations that are held close to the Earth, and it is closer to the Creator. The Creator also has a different perspective of what occurs below in this world of physical things in which humankind resides. The Eagle spends more time in the higher element of Father Sky than other birds, and Father Sky is an element of the Spirit.


4-The Eagle is considered to be a messenger to Creator. It was given the honour of carrying the prayers of man and woman between the World of Earth and the World of Spirit, where the Creator and grandfathers/grandmothers reside. To wear or hold an Eagle feather causes the Creator to take immediate notice. With the Eagle feather, the Creator is honoured in the highest way.

5-For Native people an Eagle feather is used in ceremonies to call upon the Creator and to command respect and focus on the situation at hand.

6-In a talking circle the person holding the Eagle Feather is the only person who can speak and once that person is finished he or she passes the feather on to the next person who speaks and again attention to the words being spoken by the new individual is commanded.

A 3 month old street puppy in India had the terrible misfortune of getting stuck in a thick layer of tar near a road that was being repaired.

 She was trapped and unable to stand or move her legs when a young boy found her, got her out of the tar and then called Animal Aid to the rescue.

Born on the streets of India, a tiny stray puppy had to figure out from day one how to survive. Somehow, he fended for himself for his first three months.

But when the puppy got drenched in tar at a construction site, his life was truly at risk. A stray, it seemed the little puppy would have no one in the world to care for him.Luckily, the amazing people at Animal Aid came to the rescue.


It took four baths of vegetable oil to finally break down the hardening tar that could have slowly suffocated and killed the little dog.Four patient rescuers gently removed the tar while keeping the puppy calm. (Source)

Now that's a bear hug! Adorable cubs playing in long grass lock paws in a loving embrace

 Ever imagined the perfect bear hug? These two playful cubs seem to have come very close. The young animals were seen locking paws in a loving embrace in Lake Clark, Alaska.

The pair, spotted by amateur photographer Greg Morgan, seemed friendly at first.But, just seconds later, they began showing their teeth and started scrapping in the long grass.

They rolled around in the field for around five minutes before running off. The US state, also known as The Last Frontier, has the highest amount of brown bears in the U.S., and is home to roughly 98 per cent of the country's entire population of the species.


One thing that makes Alaska so special is that all three species of North American bears flourish here. There is a chance that you may be lucky enough to see a bear. But even if you don't, you will never be far from one, because Alaska is bear country.

By learning about the lives of black bears, brown bears (including grizzly), or polar bears, you will enhance your enjoyment of these species. Whether you are learning about bears for the purpose of hunting, viewing, travelling safely, or deterring bears from your property, the more you know the better.

This video of Magic the horse stepping into a stream for the first time is both touching and hilarious - he is cautious at first but it doesn't take long before he's splashing water all over his owner

 Anna Paterek took her horse, Magic, to a river with the hope of curing his fear of water.

At first she tried to ride him into the river, but Magic was very cautious.

So Anna got off and walked him into the river herself to show it was safe.

What happened next Anna described as "the best thing ever". Magic started splashing around in the water, completely soaking his owner.

So it seems you can lead a horse to water, but there is no guarantee you will stay dry.

Zephyr (meaning "light or west wind") is a beautiful black male with a prominent nose and a feisty personality. He and his litter-mate, Alawa (meaning "sweetpea" in Algonquin, and pronounced "ai-lay-ewa"), were born on April 20 and arrived at the WCC on May 27. They join Atka to make up the Ambassador Pack - the wolves on view as part of the WCC's education programs.

Zephyr is a natural crowd pleaser, happy to howl with the slightest prompting. His engaging personality resembles that of Apache, the leader of the WCC’s first ambassador pack who passed away in March of 2010. Zephyr has big tracks to fill and we have no doubt that this little pup will earn an impressive number of fans on his very own!

Their lineage is a mix of gray wolf subspecies, but they are primarily Canis lupus occidentalis - Canadian/Rocky Mountain gray wolf -- a subspecies that traditionally inhabited parts of the western United States, much of western Canada, and all of Alaska.

More than half of Britons believe that dog owners are more friendly. Almost 60 per cent of Londoners believe pet owners are more attractive...

As you follow your dog out the door to take it for a walk one wet evening, it may be of some small comfort to know that your pet makes you appear more loveable.

At least that’s what researchers are saying. They found that 52 per cent of Britons believe people with dogs are friendlier than the average person they meet while out walking, and that 46 per cent find that walking a dog is one of the easiest ways to make friends.

The survey by insurer Direct Line showed that 29 per cent of dog owners have met lifelong friends while walking their pet.

According to the findings, 28 per cent of Brits that have found love on a dog walk met in a park or countryside, with a walk through the local town or city the second most likely meeting point - 10 per cent - closely followed by a walk on a dog friendly beach - eight per cent.


Forty-six per cent of people find that walking a dog is one of the easiest ways to make friends, which explains why 29 per cent of dog owners have met lifelong friends whilst dog walking.

Three quarters of dog owners that did not initially see the potential benefits for making friends and having a conversation opener, have been pleasantly surprised since they got a dog and started walking it.

The survey estimate that around 360,000 of Britain’s nine million dog owners have experienced a romantic encounter with another dog walker, based on a further survey of 1,207 readers of K9 magazine, targeted at dog owners, of whom 1 in 5 found love through walking the dog.

Four-year-old Bruiser the grizzly bear belly flops into a pool to cool off. He is held at Single Vision wildlife sanctuary in Melrose, Florida, where temperatures have hit high 80s and 90s this month.

This is the moment a grizzly bear belly flopped into a Florida pool in hopes of cooling off in the summer heat.

Four-year-old Bruiser is seen in the video climbing the pool's ladder before jumping horizontally into the water. He takes a moment to shake his wet fur after hitting the water and then is off to play in the water with his toy.


The 600lb grizzly is held at the Single Vision wildlife sanctuary in Melrose, Florida, where temperatures have hit high 80s and 90s this month. Bruiser has a surfboard to play with in his pool, as it'd be impractical to have a blow-up swim toy with his massive claws.


Single Vision wildlife sanctuary is a nonprofit organization 'dedicated to endangered species education', according to its Facebook page. The sanctuary has several threatened endangered animals on site, including white tigers, Florida panthers and, of course, Bruiser the grizzly.
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Photographer Tailinh Agoyo believes that even though adults are destroying the earth, children will be the ones to fix the mess they’ve inherited.

The Warrior Project is a collection of images that portray indigenous children in a world where resources are becoming depleted, pollution is high and the earth is threatened. The children photographed are nurtured in a culture where the importance of honoring and protecting the earth is part of their DNA. They are not passive victims; they are budding change makers, activists, and empowered leaders. They are warriors of strength, knowledge and ancestral power.

The idea for the project came to Agoyo -– who has roots with the Blackfeet and Narragansett tribes -- while discussing environmental issues with her 11-year-old son. She said the pair decided it would be compelling to visually document “the effects of what we’re doing on the environment and what [the world] could look like when they get older and have children.”


Agoyo and her son headed out to a barren location with lots of “dirt and hills and broken down trees," and decided to shoot.


“We were shooting and talking about it, and this look came over his face. And as I was shooting I was like ‘oh my goodness.' He really absorbed all of the information and it’s reflecting on his face so strongly,” said Agoyo.
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A baby raccoon struggled to make his first big steps in the world of tree climbing, until his mother gave him an encouraging nudge up the trunk.

 In a cliffhanger worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, a mother raccoon attempts to coerce her baby onto a tree.

At first she appears to receive little response but undeterred she carries the youngster in her mouth before nudging it up the trunk.

The footage was taken in a backyard in Port Townsend, WA, US.

“We saw a raccoon in her nest and realised she had a cub,” the owner said.


“After watching for about an hour she seemed to be teaching the cub how to climb a tree.” (Source)

Watch this rare footage which captures the moment a three-year-old Amur tiger is released into the wild in Russia

Caught scrounging around in Russia's Khabarovsky province, Uporny – which means "stubborn" in Russian — a 3-year-old Amur tiger, was given a second chance.

Instead of bringing him into captivity, the Russian government decided to rerelease the rebellious tiger back into the wild where he belonged.

Amur tigers are rare — Uporny is one of only 450 left in the world. After getting him a veterinary examination and a tracking device, rescuers chose a site near Anyuisky National Park for Uporny's release.


A female Amur tiger is believed to live nearby, and could become a mate for Uporny in his new life.

Seeing the tiger return to the wild is truly a stunning sight. (Source)

Residents of a village in Thailand found something unexpected in their well on Sunday: a baby elephant.

The one-month old elephant had been separated from its herd as it moved through the Phayao Province region of Thailand.

The (relatively) small animal then somehow got trapped in the deep well where the villagers found her seemingly scared and desperate to get out.

The villagers called a local animal rescue organization who came out armed with a backhoe. The group was able to carve out a pathway for the elephant who then walked to freedom, her mother, and, hopefully, safety.


In March, the prime minister of Thailand pledged to end the nation’s ivory trade in response to growing calls from international wildlife groups desperate to stop the slaughter of African elephants. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, promised to close a loophole in Thai law that allowed smugglers to ferry tusks from African elephants to Thai markets and often to China, the world’s top destination for illegal ivory.

Just taking a nap! The rare albino foxes were spotted taking a nap in the summer sunshine in the garden of a house in Brixton

These bright white foxes would look more at home in the Arctic but the tiny cubs were spotted sleeping in a back garden in Brixton.

The napping pair look more like Arctic foxes which are usually only found in extremely cold parts of the northern hemisphere. However, their more likely to be albinos of the common red foxes that we see every night in Britain.

Albinos are extremely rare in foxes, more so than in many other species, but it's even rarer to see two together as it's extremely unlikely that more than one will be born in a single litter.


They're also all the more visible to predators so it's sadly uncommon for them to survive into adulthood.


But these two can probably afford to be a little more carefree than some wild foxes as there are few predators in London that would pose a threat to them.
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