2015 year-end news bites: animals, part three

Here are a few more unusual animal stories that caught our attention during the past year:

Swat exercise

A 23-year-old female chimp named Tushi at the Dutch Burgers’ Zoo climbed a tree in April and ambushed a $2,6000 drone sent over the ape enclosure to get a better view of the primates. She downed it with two swipes of a long branch she took for the purpose.

Streaming Fido

Scientists at Italy’s Humanitas Clinical and Research Centre in Milan claimed “spectacular” results from a trial that showed dogs can detect prostate cancer—through sniffing volatile organic compounds in urine—with an accuracy rate of up to 98.7 percent.

Ribbiting experience

Thayer Cuter of Edmonds, Washington, calls herself the “frog lady” because she operates a rescue centre for amphibians and reptiles where she currently houses about 140 frogs, toads, turtles, and lizards that people have found injured or given up as pets. She adopts them out and welcomes school classes to her store, where she displays some of her 10,000 stuffed frogs.

Hitchhiker

In June, a dolphin jumped into a boat occupied by Chrissie Frickman and her husband and two children as they enjoyed a pleasure cruise off the Southern California coast. It bowled her over, landing on her legs and breaking both her ankles. After the boat headed into harbour, authorities released the marine mammal unharmed except for a few cuts. (So long, and thanks for all the fish?)

Nature’s way

After Montana resident Josh Hohm found a baby moose in that state’s West Boulder Campground while out for a walk with his two dogs last June, he called state Fish, Wildlife, and Park officials to care for it. After they arrived and thanked him for his call, they promptly shot the animal in the head and blew up it and its mother with explosive charges.