Binti Jua

This story ends a little differently than a similar one we've all heard recently. When a three-year-old boy climbed the wall around the gorilla exhibit and fell 18 feet into the gorilla enclosure at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois, an eight-year-old gorilla named Binti Jua approached the boy, much to the horror of onlookers. But she surprised everybody when she cradled the young boy like one of her own and returned him to safety.

Dolphin vs Shark

When surfer Todd Endris was attacked by a 12- to 15-foot white shark off the cast of California's Marine State Park coast, it wasn't lifeguards that saved him - it was dolphins. Amazingly, the dolphins formed a protective ring around Todd and guided him to the shore safely.

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Nikki the German Shepherd

In 2014, German Shepherd 'Nikki' was posthumously honoured as a canine hero for hauling her owner to safety from a car that plunged down a cliff 17 years ago. When the car was hanging over the cliff, Nikki managed to drag her severely injured owner out and up a steep bank before help arrived. A true hero.

Angels among us

These two rescue dogs didn't save the life of a human - they saved each other. When the pair were due to be put down at a shelter in Atlanta, Georgia (US), a heart-wrenching photograph was posted on Facebook by the online animal welfare group Angels Among Us Pet Rescue. The two hugging dogs melted hearts everywhere, and just two hours after the post went up, both dogs found a new home.

Dory the lifesaver

When Simon Steggall - a diabetic - quietly slipped into a coma on the couch in his Cambridgeshire home in England, it was his one-and-a-half stone rabbit, Dory, that noticed something was wrong. Dory jumped onto Simon and started thumping furiously on his chest until Simon's wife, Victoria, noticed something was wrong - just in time to call the paramedics and save Simon's life.