The bulk of my perception of raccoons comes from Pocahontas’ Meeko, and that episode of Friends when Joey blames all his failing on ‘this raccoon that came in’.
I wouldn’t ordinarily describe them as ‘brave’…until now.
One raccoon changed my mind when it did a Mission: Impossible-esque jump from nine stories high, followed by a superhero landing.
You won’t believe your eyes, here is the video:
The shocking video, filmed in New Jersey, shows the mammal scaling a building and finding itself with no way down.
As the crowd of onlooking people record and gawk at the stranded raccoon (very helpful as always), it takes a leap of faith and makes a shockingly smooth landing.
Luckily it was right by the beach and the little guy landed on sand, but it was quite a risk to scale the building like that.
Pretty impressive to see how high it climbed up the bare brick. Very Spider-Man-like.
South Carolina man Micha Rea was on holiday in Ocean City when he captured the incredible footage.
He explained that he was walking with friends on the boardwalk when they spotted the creature.
A crowd began to form, including staff from animal control, all there to watch it stretch out its arms and legs to make the big leap.
In other unexpected animal news, footage was recently released of an elephant ‘death ritual’ which was carried out after their matriarch leader was killed.
A herd of elephants showed honour and respect for their leader who’d sadly lost its life to a rival tusker.
The heartbreaking footage of the elephants was taken near Anuradhapura, close to the Kalawewa reserve in Sri Lanka. The leader had been in conflict with the tusker elephant, and had been sadly killed by the rival.
The other elephants in the herd gathered around the animal, who lay dead on the ground by the water.
According to National Geographic, a tusker elephant is one whose tusks grow so long, they reach the ground. The rival had reportedly been lingering around Kalawewa for several days before it got into a fight with the herd’s leader.
The elephants could be seen approaching their leader, gathering in groups – or by themselves – to honour the dead elephant. The herd, of up to 300 elephants, stayed close to the scene as they mourned their loss, with many stroking their trunks over the majestic animal’s body.
Elephants often form deep bonds and live in tight-knit groups. The herd is usually led by the oldest and often largest female in the herd, who’s called a matriarch, according to Defenders.
There is also a life-saving dog that stepped in to save its owner Drew from a brown snake.
Drew, who uploaded the video back in 2016 said:
I was sitting out the back cooking a bbq and having a beer and I only noticed the snake when my dog came around to my side and growled.
We back on to a small park/reserve and that’s where the snake went right after that footage was taken.
I couldn’t be more proud of my dog for keeping a little distance and it looked like she was just being a bit curious and chasing it away.
We have two young children that were only moments before playing in the backyard so I am very thankful that she alerted me so I could keep them inside until the danger was gone.
Animals are so amazing, we really underestimate them.
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