15 funniest animal stories of 2020

It seems like good news is few and far between in 2020, but a few hilarious animals are here to save us with their headline-making antics. It’s true that we’re in the middle of a pandemic, but now we have coronavirus-sniffing pups. Yes, we live in a world where natural disasters are next-level, but it’s also a world where a rat received a medal of honour for saving hundreds of humans. Here are some cute critter stories that’ll make your day.

Clyde, a fluffy white kitty, went viral on Twitter when his owner, Amanda Hyslop, posted a photo she’d taken of him. By chance, she’d managed to catch his reflection perfectly in the window while photographing clouds, making it appear that the cloud-like cat had ascended to his rightful throne in the sky. “Took a pic of the cat lookin’ out the window and accidentally turned him into some sort of god,” she tweeted. People loved Clyde’s regal pose. He hasn’t let the 1.5 million likes go to his head, though, as Hyslop showed in a second picture of him lounging on his back in the sun. What else will make you smile?

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Five African grey parrots – Billy, Eric, Tyson, Jade, and Elsie—recently had to be separated for “encouraging each other to swear” at patrons at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Center in the UK. “We are quite used to parrots swearing, but we’ve never had five at the same time, and for some reason these five relish it,” Steve Nichols, the zoo’s chief executive, told the AP. People were mainly entertained by the potty-mouthed parrots. “When a parrot tells you to ‘f— off,’ it amuses people very highly; it’s brought a big smile to a really hard year,” he said. But for the sake of children, the zoo decided it was best to put the birds in separate enclosures until they can behave.

A Pakistani pigeon was arrested by Indian law enforcement on suspicion of being a spy. The bird flew over the contentious border and was apprehended due to a suspicious ring around its ankle printed with numbers. The numbers were actually the cell phone number of the pigeon’s owner. After a thorough investigation, the pigeon was deemed not a threat to national security and was set free. “It was just an innocent bird,” police told Reuters. But before you laugh it off, you should know that this wasn’t the first case of avian espionage in the area: In 2016, a pigeon was taken into Indian custody after it was found with a note threatening Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

There’s not much that’s funny about the coronavirus pandemic and all the new rules surrounding it these days, but dogs in Finland are providing airline passengers with a dose of humor and entertainment—all while checking on their health. The dogs are trained to sniff out the coronavirus and alert their handler when a person has it. They’re remarkably accurate, and it only takes them a few seconds to smell the virus, said Anna Hielm-Bjorkman, a University of Helsinki professor of equine and small animal medicine. Hey, if we have to get screened everywhere we go, then we definitely vote for screening by pupper; it’s way more fun than a temperature gun.

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Jabba the toad first claimed Sita Hood’s old running shoe as her home last year, catching flies by day and lounging in comfort by night. At first, Hood thought it was a fluke and assumed the toad would hop away over the next day or two. Jabba ended up staying the entire summer before going somewhere else to hibernate. It was a cute story, but Hood was in for a big surprise when Jabba returned the following spring and jumped back into her old shoe. Hood says it’s no longer her shoe anymore but Jabba’s home. She even made a sign for the amphibian so people wouldn’t accidentally dump her out. “Donating my shoe was no big deal,” Hood told the Dodo. “If it afforded her comfort or protection, why not?”

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Weddings are about love, sure, but after that, they’re all about commemorating the event through pictures that will encapsulate the couple’s special day. Freya decided to do just that when her human parents brought her to their wedding. She was an adorable usher, but then, in the middle of the ceremony, nature called and she did what dogs do: She pooped on the lawn. The photographer accidentally captured the event mid-squat, as Freya was framed by the bridal party. People thought it was hilarious and gave her a round of applause when she finished her business.

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An Egyptian couple found an octopus stranded on a beach and decided to move it back to deeper waters. It looked near death, and they were worried about their new friend, so they went back to check on it the next day, only to discover it was alive and well. Perhaps the octopus had been looking for them, too, because for the next hour, it followed them along the beach, occasionally reaching out a tentacle to “shake hands” (or high-one?). After appropriately thanking its rescuers, it headed back out to sea.

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When British charity PDSA announced the winner of the Gold Medal, its top civilian award, people were surprised – mostly because the winner wasn’t a person at all, but a giant African pouched rat. Magawa was awarded the high honor for his diligent work searching out unexploded land mines in Cambodia. The nearly three-pound rat was presented with a tiny gold medal and commended for his “lifesaving bravery and devotion” after discovering 39 landmines and 28 items of unexploded ordinance in the past seven years, according to the charity. They also noted that when Magawa’s not saving lives, he enjoys snacking on peanuts and bananas and napping. Same, Magawa, same.

Cat breaks the Internet with an epic game of hide-and-seek

Jet-black cat Chiquinho has a superpower: hiding in plain sight. And people love playing hide-and-seek with him. When his mom, Alessandra Ribeiro, posted a picture of her kitchen on social media, asking people if they could spot the cat, the whole Internet went crazy trying to find him. Need a hint? He’s actually fully visible in the photo—not hiding in or under anything. “He loves being sneaky,” Ribeiro said. “We are sometimes surprised by the places he hides.”

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