13 Stories That Prove Animals Have Souls

1. Koko the gorilla responds to a sad moment in her favorite film.

2. Alex the African gray parrot was able to count and identify colors, and he had a beautiful relationship with his person, Irene Pepperberg. When Alex died in 2007, his last words to her were “You be good. I love you.”

3. Guide dogs Salty and Roselle were awarded a joint Dickin Medal “For remaining loyally at the side of their blind owners, courageously leading them down more than 70 floors of the World Trade Center and to a place of safety following the terrorist attack on New York on 11 September 2001.”

4. In 2007, five children were playing with George when they were attacked by pit bulls. “George tried to protect us by barking and rushing at them,” said one of the children. His heroic intervention saved the children, though he later died from his injuries. George was posthumously awarded a medal for bravery.

5. When free-diver Yang Yun tried to return from the bottom of an arctic pool, she found that her legs had cramped up and she couldn’t move. A Beluga whale named Mila had seen what was happening and sprang into action, guiding Yun safely back to the top of the pool.

6. Oscar could always sense when one of the residents at the nursing home where he lived was near death and would sit quietly on their bed during their last moments. One relative of two sisters who died in the nursing home said of Oscar’s vigil, “Oscar’s presence gave a sense of completion and contentment. Both women loved pets.

7. Patricia Adshead was attacked by three men, one of them carrying a machete. Her pet Oi attacked the men and chased them out of the house, eventually saving her life.

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9. In 2011, a professional diver captured this amazing image of a fish smashing a clam against a rock to get at its innards, proving that fish have vastly superior capacities than most people believe.

10. When Ellie, a blind spaniel, was adopted by shelter manager Jean Spencer, she never expected that her other dog, Leo, would choose to become her very own seeing-eye dog. “I take them for walks in the park and Leo guides Ellie around,” says Spencer. “He is so protective and herds the more boisterous dogs away from her.

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11. At a Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon, a chimp named Dorothy died of heart failure. What happened next was amazing: Her fellow chimps hugged each other in solidarity and solemnly watched as their friend was laid to rest.

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