Pet Wild Side

Case Files: True Animal Stories, Checked

Updated 2026-10-18

Famous true stories about animals, told carefully: what the records say, where accounts disagree, and what science can and cannot explain.

Episodes

1. The Bird That Flew 7,000 Miles Without Landing: In 2007 a bar-tailed godwit called E7 flew from Alaska to New Zealand nonstop: 11,680 km in about eight days, tracked by satellite.
2. The Dog Who Walked 2,500 Miles Home: In 1923 Bobbie the collie was lost in Indiana. Six months later he walked into Silverton, Oregon. What do we actually know?
3. She Was Banded in 1956. She's Still Coming Back.: Wisdom, a Laysan albatross banded at Midway Atoll in 1956, is the oldest known wild bird. How sure can we be?
4. This Dog Waited at a Train Station for Almost 10 Years: The true story of Hachiko, the Akita who kept returning to Shibuya Station, and what science says about why dogs wait for us.

This is general information, not veterinary advice. If anything about your pet's behavior or health worries you, ask your vet.