THIS is why dogs are awesome.

A cat would simply NEVER do this.

Ever.

ELGIN, SC (WIS) – A missing 2-year-old boy in Elgin was found Saturday morning after Kershaw County deputies say the family dog kept him warm and safe all night.

Sheriff Jim Matthews said 22-month-old Tyler Jacobson was reunited with his family after he was found across the street behind a neighbor’s home when someone reported hearing crying in the area.

Tyler was reported missing around 8:00pm Friday from a residence on Ashley Creek Drive. Matthews said the boy’s mother, 25-year-old Jacklyn Marie Jacobson, and her boyfriend Jose Gloria told investigators Tyler went to get some juice and didn’t come back.

Kershaw County deputies used a bloodhound tracking team and a SLED helicopter with infrared capabilities, but called the search off around 12:30am Saturday. The search resumed around 7:45am, and the boy was found shortly thereafter. “Just thinking that a dog would watch a baby over the night, it’s kind of like a movie instead of real life,” said Emily DuBose, who lives in the house outside which the baby was found.

DuBose had no idea a story of devotion and survival was playing out right outside her door. “When we saw the choppers last night, we just assumed a criminal was loose, so I locked the door,” said Linda Harr, who also lives at the house. “The last thing I was gonna do is go outside.”

“I heard some barking early in the morning, but I didn’t really think about it, I just heard dogs barking,” said DuBose.

But during the night, Jacobson’s dog was keeping watch over his 22-month-old master in temperatures that got down to the 40s. “I just wish I’d have known, I could have warmed him up, called the cops,” said Harr.

Now, words of praise for the dog who likely helped save little Tyler’s life. “Since he belonged to them, he must have followed them the whole way, so that’s very special,” said Harr.

And so this story has a happy ending, thanks to the special bond of a child’s best friend. [Read More]

VIDEO

Come to think of it…

A cat would probably NEVER do this either.

Angry ravens might kick and chase each other, but if they are close allies they make up afterwards.

Plenty of primates and other mammals reconcile after a conflict, but previously no birds were known to do so, says Orlaith Fraser of the University of Vienna in Austria.

Monitoring a group of seven captive ravens (Corvus corax), Fraser and colleague Thomas Bugnyar found that pairs of birds were likely to be more friendly to each other if they had fought each other in the previous 10 minutes.

“It wasn’t just standard friendly behaviour,” Fraser says. Rather the ravens sat touching each other, and sometimes touched their beaks together or preened each other. Ravens are not tactile like primates, so sitting in contact is a strong social signal.

Unusual behaviour

“That’s very good evidence for reconciliation,” says Filippo Aureli of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. Comparing animals’ typical behaviour with the behaviour they display in the minutes immediately after a fight is a “well-established method” to look for such behaviour, he adds.

Ravens that had squabbled were more likely to reconcile if they were allies. “These are valuable partners who share food and support each other in fights,” says Fraser.

“Many animals have mechanisms for maintaining valuable relationships,” saysPhyllis Lee of the University of Stirling, UK. Social animals that can recognise other individuals and form long-term relationships with them are most likely to be able to reconcile, she says. [Read More]

Reconcile with it’s household mates?

Pffft.

With cats?

Not likely.

What is a cat likely to do however?

Definitely this.

And maybe attempt to take over the world.

Scary.

But yeah, I could see that.