Are We Smart Enough to Understand How Smart Animals Are?

Is a human smarter than an octopus?   “It’s really the wrong question to ask,” says primatologist Frans de Waal. “Because I’m smarter than an octopus in things I’m good at, like language and technology. But the octopus is smarter than me in many other ways.”  Inky the octopus recently made an astounding escape from his tank in the national aquarium of New Zealand. Under the cover of darkness, he squeezed through a crack in the top of his tank, stretched his long body through a drain hole in the floor and slithered down a 50 meter pipe to escape into the sea. Is Inky a genius?

http://tinyurl.com/z35cq6t

Bottlenose Dolphin Adopts Baby Orphan of a Different Species

Dolphin watchers discovered a rare occurrence recently off the New Zealand coast: A bottlenose dolphin adopted an abandoned common dolphin pup.  According to The New Zealand Herald, Kiwi made headlines five years ago when she lost her own baby, named Squirt, after getting stranded in a muddy inlet. Rescuers were able to return the mother to the ocean, but Squirt, which was nowhere to be found, was believed to have been eaten by an orca during the separation.

http://tinyurl.com/k47khcq

Video: Fisherman Saves Baby Whale

It's not often you see a fisherman cutting a fish free, but that's exactly what one New Zealand man did after a baby humpback whale became trapped in cray pot lines off the coast of Australia.  Fisherman Joe Brogan, 42, grabbed his knife and jumped right into the water. At first the whale tried to swim away and escape, but Brogan swam even closer, taking direction from his friends on board.  "Cut it closer," the man holding the camera directed. "Don't try and get it off, mate; just cut the line."

http://tinyurl.com/n2hdcvx

Cat Lived Off McDonald's for a Year

A cat addicted to fast food has been rescued by the SPCA and put on a health plan to help him kick his McDonald's addiction, according to New Zealand news website Stuff.co.nz.

http://tinyurl.com/bpmwbax

Supergiant Prawns Discovered In The Depths Of New Zealand's Deep Sea

Scientists on an expedition to sample a deep-sea trench got a surprise when their traps brought back seven giant crustaceans glimpsed only a handful of times in human history. The "supergiant" amphipods are more than 20 times larger than their typical crustacean relatives, which are generally less than a half-inch (1 centimeter) long, and thrive in lakes and oceans around the world. They are sometimes called the "insects of the sea."

http://tinyurl.com/83s84xp

Video: New Zealand Oil Spill: Rescued Little Penguins Released Into Wild

More little penguins tasted freedom last week after they were cleaned of oil from this year's spill in New Zealand.  The October spill, which was caused by a grounded cargo ship, left over two thousand oil-covered birds dead and hundreds in rescuers' hands. In late November, 49 penguins rescued from the spill were returned to the wild.  In the video, one rescuer told the BBC that although some birds are still undergoing rehabilitation, these are the last of the birds from the Mount Maunganui area to be released. He said, "This is a huge relief to our whole team, to get these birds back out again."

http://tinyurl.com/7c28pg2

Video: Baby Seal Enters House, Sleeps On Couch

New Zealander Annette Swoffer got the surprise of her life when she found a baby seal in her kitchen, who later began to snooze on her couch, the New Zealand Herald reports.

http://tinyurl.com/7j5rs7b

Goldfish Survive 134 Days Without Food

There were no Scooby snacks to eat - but at least they had each other for company.

http://tinyurl.com/3t2r62x

Penguin Takes Wrong Turn and Ends Up in New Zealand

A young Emperor penguin took a rare wrong turn from the Antarctic and ended up stranded on a New Zealand beach – the first time in 44 years the aquatic bird has been sighted in the wild in the South Pacific country.

http://tinyurl.com/3lz6mcf