Some animal species can be very unpredictable and surprise researchers with their strange behaviors.
Kangaroo Drowns Pet Dog
The kangaroo attacks Mick Moloney’s dog. (Video: 9 News).
In October 2023, a man named Mick Moloney rescued his pet dog, Hutchy, from the Murray River in Victoria, Australia, after it was pushed underwater by an Eastern Gray Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Moloney managed to get Hutchy to safety on the shore, but he also took a punch from the aggressive kangaroo.
This is not the first time kangaroos have acted this way towards domestic dogs. These marsupials may be trying to ensure their own safety. Kangaroos see dogs as a threat because they closely resemble wild dogs, one of their most dangerous enemies, according to Euan Ritchie, a professor of ecology and wildlife conservation at Deakin University in Australia. According to the researcher, jumping into the water is a survival tactic that kangaroos have learned to escape attacks from wild dogs, a top native predator that has coexisted with them for thousands of years.
Virgin Birth in Crocodiles
Researchers documented the first case of virgin birth in crocodiles in June this year. A female American Crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) laid a clutch of eggs in a reptile park in Costa Rica after living alone for 16 years.
This form of asexual reproduction had never been observed in crocodiles before, although it has occurred in lizards, snakes, birds, and sharks. The crocodile eggs did not hatch, but genetic analysis of the embryo inside one egg revealed it was nearly identical to the mother. The research team noted that offspring born this way often have deformities and cannot survive.
Dolphins Stealing Crab Traps
Camera captures dolphins stealing bait. (Video: Dolphin Exploration Center).
Bottlenose dolphins have been spotted mixing fishermen’s bait in Western Australia. The dolphins use their snouts and teeth to steal fish from the nets used for crab traps. Conservation experts recorded this behavior for the first time in 2023, revealing various ways dolphins have learned to unlock fishermen’s traps. “The simplest version is that dolphins tug the bait hanging from hooks or metal clips inside the crab traps. So essentially, the dolphins are pulling the fish off the clips or breaking them into smaller, more digestible pieces,” filmmaker Axel Grossmann shared with Live Science in November 2023.
To deter them, some fishermen place bait beneath the crab traps, forcing dolphins to employ more complex techniques. However, they quickly figured out how to use their jaws and bodies to overturn the traps to access the bait more easily. Some dolphins even open plastic containers used to hold the bait.
Crocodiles Saving a Pet Dog
Three Marsh Crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris) appeared to attempt to help a small dog being chased by a pack of wild dogs by pushing it to safety. The research team witnessed the event and interpreted the crocodiles’ behavior as empathy. However, some experts expressed skepticism about the finding. “Crocodiles exhibit a wide range of complex behaviors”, said Duncan Leitch, a biologist specializing in reptilian neurophysiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But the aforementioned conclusion is applying a human definition of intelligence and trying to attribute it to crocodiles.”
Orca Eats 7 Sea Otters
The intact bodies of the sea otters were removed from the belly of the stranded female orca. (Photo: Sergey V. Fomin).
In September 2023, scientists described a stranded orca (Orcinus orca) with the intact bodies of 7 sea otters in its stomach. Orcas typically do not eat sea otters (Enhydra lutris) and specialize in chewing marine mammals, so researchers were quite puzzled about why this orca had consumed so many sea otters. Even more strangely, it was found off the coast of the Commander Islands in the Russian Far East, far from the usual habitat range between the Gulf of Alaska and the California coast. A sea otter stuck between the orca’s mouth and esophagus may have contributed to its death.
