David Attenborough Fans

David Attenborough Fans Celebrating David Attenborough, his remarkable documentaries, and his lifelong passion for wildlife, nature and our planet.

A place for fans who share the same love and fascination for the natural world.

Don't make the mistake of touching these on your plants! My neighbor had absolutely no idea, and I'm thankful I was able...
07/10/2026

Don't make the mistake of touching these on your plants! My neighbor had absolutely no idea, and I'm thankful I was able to warn her. 😳👇

Sick puppy found true guardian...
07/10/2026

Sick puppy found true guardian...

At California’s Point Reyes National Seashore on January 27, 2022, observers recorded an unprecedented display of interv...
07/10/2026

At California’s Point Reyes National Seashore on January 27, 2022, observers recorded an unprecedented display of intervention by an adult male northern elephant seal. Deserting a harem of approximately 40 females, the 4,500-pound bull spent nearly 20 minutes in breaking surf helping a drowning pup return to land.

Field scientists Sarah Allen and Matt Lau were surveying the shoreline when they noticed a female seal vocalizing with frantic urgency toward the sea. The incoming tide had pulled her pup about 130 feet offshore. Northern elephant seal pups are incapable of swimming during their first weeks. Because they nurse on the beach for around four weeks before entering the water, any infant caught in the waves is in acute mortal danger.

The alpha male had secured his dominance through vicious territorial clashes and continuous fasting. Leaving his females exposed his rank to opportunistic rivals eager to move in.

Nevertheless, he went up to the crying mother, touched his nose against her side, wheeled around toward the ocean, and plunged into the breakers.

Lau recorded the rescue in still photographs. The bull intercepted the struggling newborn, set his massive body between the infant and the open ocean, and began nudging it shoreward with his head. He acted as a breakwater, protecting the small creature from the force of the tide.

After almost 20 minutes, the pup was back on dry ground with its mother. The female called out, the bull answered, and he pulled his massive body out of the water to rejoin his colony.

The event was published in *Marine Mammal Science* (2024) by Allen, Lau, and marine ecologist Sarah Codde as an example of potential altruism. They noted that the true reason for his intervention remained uncertain.

He could have fathered the pup, meaning the intervention protected a close genetic relative. Or perhaps the newly established, uncrowded colony at Drakes Beach lowered competitive pressure enough that he could bear the energetic loss. For an animal that fasts throughout the breeding season, 20 minutes in turbulent surf was exceptionally costly.

The researchers had no way of knowing his motivation. What their images preserved was an extraordinary event: a male northern elephant seal leaving his females, entering perilous surf, and repeatedly nudging a helpless pup toward safety—a behavior never previously documented in the species.

Source: Allen, Lau & Codde (2024), Marine Mammal Science; National Park Service, Point Reyes.

Animal lovers found unthinkable tragedy...
07/10/2026

Animal lovers found unthinkable tragedy...

07/10/2026

Fox asleep on my outdoor couch.

An eight-year-old boy wanted to watch coyotes eat a carcass.What he saw instead was a herd repeatedly gathering around i...
07/10/2026

An eight-year-old boy wanted to watch coyotes eat a carcass.

What he saw instead was a herd repeatedly gathering around its dead companion.

Dante de Kort found a dead female collared peccary behind his family’s home in Prescott, Arizona, on January 8, 2017. He placed a motion-triggered trail camera beside the body for a school science fair project.

His prediction was straightforward: predators would discover the carcass and begin feeding.

But the herd arrived first.

Five peccaries returned repeatedly over the next ten days. The camera captured roughly 100 videos of the animals approaching at different times of day and night.

Their behavior was strikingly persistent.

They sniffed the dead animal, touched it and bit at it. They stared at the body and sometimes slept beside it with their bodies touching the carcass.

In one sequence, a peccary pushed its snout under the body and repeatedly attempted to lift it.

The herd also reacted whenever coyotes approached.

They chased the predators away. In one encounter, two peccaries drove away five coyotes. The herd continued protecting the body for ten days.

Eventually, the carcass deteriorated and coyotes consumed the remains. Once there was nothing left, the herd stopped visiting.

Dante was initially furious. His science fair project was supposed to show predators feeding, but the peccaries were keeping them away.

Then biologist Mariana Altrichter saw the footage.

Altrichter, from Prescott College, had studied collared peccaries for years. She had never witnessed this kind of repeated return to a dead herd member.

The unexpected discovery led to a collaboration with Dante and other researchers. Their findings were later published in Ethology.

The scientists used the phrase “mourning-like,” not “grief,” because the footage could not prove what the animals were feeling.

It could show behavior.

And the behavior was remarkable.

For ten days, the herd visited the body, touched it, slept beside it, tried to move it and defended it from predators.

Collared peccaries live in close social groups and use scent as an important part of herd identity. The dead animal still smelled like one of them, which may have helped draw the herd back.

But whether scent explains everything remains uncertain.

The camera captured the behavior.

Science is still working on the meaning.

Front lawn sign stunned everyone...
07/10/2026

Front lawn sign stunned everyone...

Rescuers wept seeing shocking transformation...
07/10/2026

Rescuers wept seeing shocking transformation...

A woman noticed a huge object moving through the air as she drove. She watched it approach, never expecting it to hit he...
07/10/2026

A woman noticed a huge object moving through the air as she drove. She watched it approach, never expecting it to hit her car. But what happened after the impact was even more surprising.

Stray dog's lumps shocked rescuers...
07/10/2026

Stray dog's lumps shocked rescuers...

Address

5 Park Road Richmond
London
TW106NS

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when David Attenborough Fans posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organisation

Send a message to David Attenborough Fans:

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category