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From a horse that conquered the world to a dog that
helped a man win the White House, a look at the creatures that most
shaped human history. This is Most Influential Animals That Ever Lived.
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Lin Wang
Asian elephant Lin Wang was so widely revered that he eventually earned
the affectionate nickname “Grandpa Lin.” During World War II, he hauled
supplies through Burma for the Japanese army until he was captured
(along with 12 other elephants) by the Chinese in 1943. From there, he
continued his dutiful military service in China and, later, Taiwan. In
1954, he retired at a Taipei zoo, where he lived until his death in
2003. Guinness World Records considers the creature, who was 86 when he
died, to be the oldest elephant who ever lived. But Grandpa Lin was more
than just an impressively old elephant — he was a cultural icon, a
creature whose legacy is woven into several countries’ histories. |
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Bucephalus
Without his trusted horse Bucephalus, Alexander the Great may have just
been Alexander the Mediocre. Though his backstory has a bit of a
mythical air to it, Bucephalus was indeed a real horse, and perhaps one
of the world’s most famous. As legend has it, the hulking black horse
was afraid of his own shadow, and, understanding this, Alexander always
made sure to turn the creature’s head toward the sun. This special bond
between man and beast meant that when it came time for battle, they were
an unstoppable duo. Historians disagree about how he died — either
battle wounds or old age — but when he did, Alexander founded a city in
his honor and called it Bucephala. |
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Surus
Surus — whose name means “The Syrian” — is believed to be the only one
of Hannibal’s elephants who survived after aiding the Carthaginian
general in his epic trek across the Alps to attack the Romans. Surus,
who is thought to have been a large Asian elephant with one tusk, was
the one Hannibal often rode. Although most of the general’s elephants
were of African descent, historians believe that at least one — most
likely Surus — hailed from India. Certainly the most resilient of
Hannibal’s legion of war elephants, Surus made it through hunger,
sickness, extreme cold, and, of course, war. |
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Digit
Although pioneering zoologist Dian Fossey worked with many gorillas
during her career, she had a clear favorite: Digit. He gravitated toward
her and the pair developed a close relationship. In 1977, he was found
in the forest, decapitated by poachers. Digit’s death gained national
attention after Walter Cronkite announced the brutal murder on CBS
Evening News. Soon, a new surge of interest in the topic of gorilla
poaching and conservation swept the U.S., and shortly thereafter, Fossey
founded the Digit Fund (now called the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
International) to protect the endangered animals. |
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Balto
Balto is, essentially, the reason the Iditarod race exists today. In
1925, the Siberian husky led a team of canines on the famed “serum run,”
transporting diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles across Alaska in time to
save the city of Nome from an epidemic. Balto soon earned celebrity
status, and less than a year after the trek, a statue of the pooch was
erected in New York City’s Central Park. The modern Iditarod began in
1973 to commemorate Balto’s journey, and in 1995, an animated movie
called Balto was released. Fun fact: in the film, Balto is voiced by
Kevin Bacon.
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Checkers
When you say “Richard Nixon,” most people instantly think, “Watergate”
or “I am not a crook.” Not everyone seems to remember Checkers — one of
the most important pups in U.S. political history. In 1952, when Nixon
was running for Vice President alongside Dwight Eisenhower, he was
accused of abusing a political fund and accepting inappropriate gifts.
In a televised address that went down in history as the “Checkers
speech,” Nixon denied all these charges — except one. He had indeed
received Checkers as a gift, he said, but had no intention of giving him
away. The speech (and Nixon’s love for his Cocker Spaniel) was
considered a major turning point, as it significantly boosted public
opinion and arguably salvaged Nixon’s career. But alas, despite his
pivotal role in American politics, Checkers never became First Dog, as
he died four years before Nixon was sworn in as president.
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Keiko
How many animals can claim the status of international movie star?
Keiko, the male orca whose name means “lucky one” in Japanese, was best
known for starring in the 1993 hit film Free Willy. He was first
captured in 1979 near the coast of Iceland, and eventually sold to a
Mexican amusement park. After landing the lead role in Free Willy, Keiko
received attention because, as it turned out, his life wasn’t so lucky
after all. For starters, he was severely underweight and suffered from
skin lesions. With donations pouring in from children around the
country, along with large sums from Warner Brothers, the Humane Society
and cellphone billionaire Craig McCaw, an aquarium in Oregon was able to
build a $7 million rehab tank for Keiko. He regained his strength and
was eventually released back into the sea, but died of pneumonia in
2003. “By all accounts, Keiko was an exceptionally charming animal,”
Joshua Fisher, who produced the documentary Freeing Willy, told the
Huffington Post. “Everyone I spoke to who got close to Keiko told me
they felt a personal connection to him. They all sort of fell under his
spell.”
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Elsa
The lioness was the subject of a 1960 international bestseller Born
Free, which chronicled how author Joy Adamson raised an orphan cub in
Kenya with her husband George, a game warden, and released it back into
the wild. Columbia Pictures adapted the story into an Academy
Award-winning 1966 film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who
subsequently started the Born Free Foundation, a wildlife conservation
group. Animal rights activists believe Elsa’s story debunks the notion
that all wild animals are ruthless killers that should be kept in
captivity.
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David Greybeard
He was the first chimpanzee to let British ethologist Jane Goodall
observe him, paving the way for her landmark research on the primates in
Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. She watched him make fishing
implements out of leaves and feast on baby bush pig, which showed
scientists that humans aren’t the only ones who can make tools and that
chimps eat more than just fruits and leaves. When Goodall offered him a
red palm nut, he refused it, but squeezed her fingers, proving that they
had an understanding without using words, as she once put it. Once David
showed he was comfortable with the researcher, other chimps warmed up to
her. |
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Dolly
In February 1997, it was announced that the sheep, created by Scottish
geneticist Ian Wilmut and the Roslin Institute, was the first
successfully cloned adult mammal. TIME‘s March 10, 1997, cover story
debated whether humans could and should be cloned in the same way.
Applying the technique that made Dolly, scientists went on to clone
dogs, cats and mice. Then in 2011, scientists created the first stem
cells using adult human cells, and in May 2013, scientists announced
they had created embryonic-stem-cell lines from human skin cells in just
a few months. Veterinarians euthanized Dolly in 2003 after she developed
a lung disease, and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh
displayed the sheep’s remains. |
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