When Animals Attack: Nature Strikes Back

Despite touchy-feely accounts of dolphins saving people from sharks or miraculous rescues of stranded boaters on the high seas, much of the time it can be a cold, cruel world out there, especially in the animal kingdom. From shark attacks in California to alligator ambushes in Florida to Bear maulings in the Pacific Northwest, we know that the wild can be a dangerous place. Some stories of survival of the fittest, though, go beyond the ordinary and show how nature can be bizarre and unpredictable.

Birds!

Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of this scene in Arkansas. A Navy E-6B was on a routine landing run when a huge swarm of birds, described as a ball, flew toward the plane in what could almost be construed as an attack. Now, it's clear from the shadows that the birds did not come too close and there was no immediate danger to the 140 million dollar jet, but it still makes you think. Imagine how much trouble those birds could have caused that plane if they really wanted.

These Jellies, Not So Spineless

Another story, this one out of New Zealand, paints a disturbing picture of one species, intentionally or not, destroying another. At a fishfarm in Southland, a group of jellyfish, called a smack, flooded and killed thousands of salmon. Local scientists aren't sure what exact kind of jelly is was who did the dastardly deed, but they suspect that they saturated the water with mucus that glogged the fish's gills and suffocated them. No one knows if the jellies meant to kill the fish or not, but this type of incident has happened before. In 1998, another smack of sea jellies smothered the company's cages and stopped the water flow, preventing the salmon from breathing and killing thousands.

Hey, You! Get Outta My Yard!

Just check out this video:

Now before people get too outraged, please consider this: we at captkujo.com do not condone animal cruelty or organized animal fighting of any kind. This is nothing of the sort. What's going on in this video is an obvious turf war, with the white cat the unwanted interloper onto the black cat's territory. But the truly amazing part is the fact that the birds, probably hooded crows, not only are instigating the fight, but they seem to be familiar with the black cat enough to actually be helping it. It quite simply is one of the most remarkable displays of cross-species cooperation caught on video.

sources: gizmodo.com, stuff.co.nz, youtube.com photo: gawkerassets.com

Back to

Captain Kujo's Drysuits & Waterproof Bags

Home