We all love exciting stories about pioneers and discoverers - people who for the first time did what humanity could only dream of. However, not all pioneers are human. There are also many pioneers among our younger brothers. Here are just a few animals that have been able to leave a significant mark on history.
Dolly the Sheep
This fluffy animal proved to the whole world that cloning is a very real achievement of science. In 1996, Dolly was born in a completely traditional way. What was a unique breakthrough in the field of science and genetics was its “conception”. The fact is that Dolly was actually an exact genetic copy of the donor sheep, which had already died at the time of the experiment, and the cells containing the genetic material were frozen in liquid nitrogen.
The cloning technique used to create Dolly is that the nucleus of an adult somatic cell is transplanted into the cytoplasm of an egg, devoid of the donor's genetic material. That is, Dolly has only one "parent". Dolly died at the age of six from a lung disease, but her birth proved the reality of cloning large warm-blooded mammals.
Dove Cher Ami
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This carrier dove managed to save the lives of hundreds of American soldiers during the First World War. She was one of several carrier pigeons of the infantry signal battalion, which in 1918 was cut off from the main army.
The first message, which was sent by the soldiers, who were surrounded, contained a set of inaccurate coordinates and because of this oversight, not only enemy gunners began to shoot at them, but also their own artillery.
Two pigeons, sent with exact coordinates, were shot down by the Germans. The soldiers were left with only Sher Ami. Dovewing broke through German fire, despite being wounded several times, and managed to save the lives of the soldiers.
Chimpanzee David
Until 1960, scientists assumed that only humans had the intelligence to create and use tools in everyday life. However, in November 1960, Jane Goodall noticed a chimpanzee named David using a long blade of grass to catch termites. After David stopped being afraid of observation, Goodall noticed that chimpanzees regularly use various tools to make their food easier.
Elsa the lioness
The amazing story of this lioness marked the beginning of an active social movement for the protection of wildlife.
In 1956, a Kenyan couple adopted a tiny lion cub they named Elsa. The couple raised the lioness and taught her to hunt independently and survive in the wild. In the end, the couple had to release the young lioness, and, to everyone's surprise, she managed to survive.
In 1960, a documentary book about Elsa was published, and six years later a film was shot that won the hearts of critics and viewers.
Balto the dog
In 1925, the city of Nome, located on the far west coast of Alaska, was threatened with a dire epidemic of diphtheria. Only a drug developed in Seattle could save the city. Unfortunately, in a severe blizzard, the medicine could not be delivered to the city by plane, and trains did not go to Noum. Officials devised an elaborate plan that required several dog teams to carry the whey into the city. The last and most difficult part of the trip went to a team led by a Siberian husky named Balto. Balto was leading the team in the dark, deep night, through a terrible blizzard, and he managed to deliver the serum in the morning. Thus, Balto saved the lives of many residents of the northern city. He even has a monument, not to mention the popular cartoon.
Horse Jim Key
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the show of Handsome Jim Key and its owner and trainer, Dr. William Key, was especially popular in America. All newspapers wrote about the unique horse and thousands of people in every city came to see it. Not bad for a traction horse and ex-slave, isn't it?
William Key's humane training methods led to the fact that his horse "learned" to read, write, count, add, determine the time, use the telephone, mail and cash register. Several million people have looked at the miracle horse for the entire time of his tour of the states.
During a time of severe segregation, when whites and blacks rarely appeared in the same places, the Handsome Jim Key Show brought together Americans looking for a unique animal.
Even President William McKinley was amazed at what he saw when he saw the show in Tennessee. He stated that the show of Handsome Jim Key was the most interesting and amazing sight of all that he had ever seen.
Cat Snowball
This cat helped the police solve the murder. In 1994, the small island of Prince Edward off the coast of Canada was rocked by the brutal murder of a 32-year-old woman. Her ex-husband was suspected of murder, since the man was of a harmful character and had a tendency to domestic violence. However, the police did not have enough evidence to charge the man.
The murder remained unsolved until a package with bloody clothes was found in the forest, on which, in addition to the blood of the murdered, there were also hairs of a white cat. It turned out that the ex-husband of the murdered woman had a snow-white cat named Snowball. by that time, science was already sufficiently developed and a forensic scientist was able to extract enough DNA from the wool and prove that it belongs to Snow.
Thus, Snowball was the first cat whose DNA helped to solve the crime.
Sheep Montosiel
The name of this lamb is translated from French as "to climb to heaven" and no wonder! It was she who turned out to be the first animal balloon in history. Long before Belka and Strelka went into space, and even before the Wright brothers made their first flight, Montosiel was sent into the sky in a balloon in the company of a duck and a rooster. Experts wanted to check whether the balloon would withstand a person, and were sure that if the sheep endure the flight, then the person would easily cope with it.
After the animals landed without any particular injuries, apart from the rooster, which Montgolfier had kicked before taking off, the now famous Montgolfier brothers set off on a balloon flight.
Hope Chikanchi