ANIMALS THAT SHAPED HUMAN HISTORY

CONGO: THE FASCINATING PAINTER

The mere thought that the human race descended from other animals,

specifically from apes, could cost you your life in medieval Europe,

but from the nineteenth century on (especially after the publication of

Darwin’s On The Origin of Species) such theories found fertile

ground for deep exploration and many adherents. Congo, an

incredibly talented chimp, added more fuel to the validity of such

theories with his emotional intelligence, superb artwork, and

artistic creativity, which gained him fans around the globe,

Picasso being one of them.

THE BLACK PIG THAT KILLED A FRENCH KING

As Philip of France was having a relaxing day riding his horse alongside

his friends a random black pig entered his path, which made his

horse flip out and somersault with Philip still in his saddle. The

injuries were so bad that the king died the next day and it could be

conjectured that this pig may have altered history by preventing Philip

from conquering further lands and preventing the whole world from

speaking French today instead of English.

JIM THE HORSE

Did you know that we have a horse to thank for the diphtheria cure?

It’s true. Jim the horse was infected with diphtheria but unlike

other animals he didn’t die. Doctors found that his body created

antibodies to fight the disease and as such gave doctors the

opportunity to use Jim’s incredible immune system to make a

serum for humans, with great success. Thus Jim made history by

being a medical miracle that helped save the lives of millions of

humans and animals around the world.

TESLA’S CYLON PIGEON

Anyone who’s familiar with Tesla’s genius and experiments is

probably aware of his odd fascination with pigeons, especially a

female pigeon he referred to as the “purpose to my life.” In 1924,

this bird landed on his window and died right before his eyes.

Tesla later claimed a dazzling light emerged from her eyes while

dying, brighter than anything he had ever seen. After that,

Tesla was never the same and suffered massive creative frustrations.

According to most biographers, if the incident had never

occurred Tesla would have offered even more inventions

to humankind.

TIBBLES “THE TERMINATOR”

There have been many cases where we (humans) have systematically

caused the extinction of various species, but we never really noticed

that the same thing occurs in the animal kingdom. Enter the unique

case of Tibbles “The Terminator.” Believe it or not, this cat is the reason

for the total extermination of the rare species of a flightless bird known

as the Stephens Island wren, and to date, it is the only case where a

single living animal (besides humans) wiped out a whole species.

HAM THE CHIMP

Ham the Chimp was named after the Holloman Aerospace Medical Centre

and became a huge celebrity all over America. He ended up on the

cover of Life magazine after his Project Mercury mission labelled MR-2,

which launched him into orbit on January 31, 1961. Ham learned to pull

levers to receive banana pellets and avoid electric shocks and thus he

successfully became the first animal to actually interact with a space

vessel rather than simply ride in it.

ALEX: THE GENIUS PARROT

Alex, the world-renowned African Grey Parrot, changed how the world

viewed and understood animal intelligence before the mid-seventies.

The remarkably smart parrot displayed the extraordinary cognitive and

communication abilities of his kind and became the hot topic of

scientific discussion and dispute for a long time for his ability to count

each object individually in a group, identify colours, things, and actions

and even solve plain math problems.

SERGEANT RECKLESS:

THE HERO HORSE OF THE KOREAN WAR

Reckless was a small, humble mare that served in the Korean War,

for which she was twice promoted to staff sergeant. She was trained

to transfer ammo, and during a single battle she made fifty-one solo

trips under enemy fire. Additionally, she saved the lives of numerous

wounded soldiers by evacuating them, a fact that earned her many

medals including the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defence

Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal, among other honours.

CHECKERS:

THE DOG THAT INSPIRED A HISTORIC PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH

On September 23, 1952, Senator Richard Nixon gave one of the most

famous speeches in modern American history. Nixon, Dwight D.

Eisenhower’s vice presidential running mate, was accused at the time

of accepting illegal gifts. He denied the allegations with a passion and

during his speech referred to a cocker spaniel named Checkers that

his family had given him. Arguably due to his speech, Nixon remained

on the Republican ticket as Eisenhower’s running mate, and they won

the election only a few weeks after (that speech). Furthermore,

September 23 was designated National Dogs in Politics Day,

also known as Checkers Day.