Wildlife Oddities

Interesting Facts Concerning Pets and/or Wildlife

They Do Unbelievable Things

You've likely never heard of the Bar-Tailed Godwit, because it lives in the Arctic Circle and isn't around here ever.

But it migrates. Not only does it migrate, its migration route covers over 18,000 miles.

Reaching top speeds of 35 mph, it leaves Alaska and flies non-stop to New Zealand. (Yes, one week of non-stop flying.) Once they reach New Zealand, and after munching their spiders and crustaceans for several months, they embark on the return trip of their journey. Although they built up fat and body reserves for the flight to NZ, they need to replenish to get back. Therefore they take off for the Yellow Sea, located between China and the Korean peninsula. (Sort of like a swing out of your way to stop at a favorite restaurant).

After feeding at the seafood bar over there for a while, they launch back to Alaska. All reproduction and nesting takes place in Alaska. But the next fall they all take off and do it again.

The Bar-Tailed Godwits commonly fly 7,000 miles non-stop. The known record is over 8,000 miles.

Polar bears can smell ringed seals 20 miles away.

• They've been found swimming over 100 miles from land. Don't worry. They make it back.

• Polar Bears don't hibernate.

I knew a man, Steve, who had a pet rabbit. It was very well house trained. The rabbit used to sleep with him every night. Strangely, it would snuggle its nose into his side every night and remain that way until it fell asleep.

Steve was very thin and couldn't gain weight. Finally he went to the doctor where they discovered he had a stomach ulcer. The doctors were able to fix (remove? I don't remember) the ulcer and it was gone permanently.

The rabbit never snuggled his nose into that area again once the ulcer was removed. We can only guess it was either trying to tell him something was wrong, or was doing some sort of "rabbit thing" intended to cure it.

Gunner

I Found This Story on the Internet

This dog’s name was Gunner.

My uncle brought him back from World War II.

Gunner was raised on the base—slept every night beneath my uncle’s anti-aircraft gun. The crew fed him from their rations, made him part of the team. And by the time he was just 18 months old, something incredible started to happen.

He’d look up at the sky.

If he stayed calm, they knew all was clear.

But if he growled… if his hackles stood up… the crew snapped to readiness.

He could tell the difference between Allied and German aircraft.

And according to my uncle—he never got it wrong.

No alarms. No radar.

Just a dog who understood something we couldn’t.

They said Gunner was better than any early warning system they had.

I think I’m probably the last one in the family who remembers this story.

So I wanted to tell it before it fades—like so many others from that time.

Thanks for reading about Gunner.

He never wore a medal.

But to my uncle and the men he protected, he was a hero.

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