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Dignity Health
Dignity Health

He had to operate to save an orangutan's life. The catch? He'd never done it before.

When Daniel the orangutan arrived at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona, he was in rough shape.

He was suffering from a respiratory disease, which, just like in humans, can worsen and even lead to death when untreated.

The stakes were high, especially considering that orangutans are a highly endangered species. And respiratory illnesses can be even more dangerous for orangutans which have an inflatable air sac that can be vulnerable when it becomes infected. Located in their throats, these air sacs are helpful in allowing orangutans to sustain the loud calls they're known for by creating a chamber for the sound to resonate within, but these air sacs are also prone to infection.

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Dignity Health

Mexico's president reacts to pressure from Leonardo DiCaprio to save a species.

On May 10, 2017, actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio took to Twitter to save a marine species.

"The vaquita is the most endangered marine mammal in the world," he wrote of the species, which can only be found off Mexico's shores in the Gulf of California. "Join me [and the World Wildlife Fund] and take action."

It may seem like an average tweet, coming from one of the biggest environmental advocates in the world. But the tweet has had global ramifications.

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One of the most endangered birds on the planet just had a huge bounce back.

The kakapo parrot is one of the most endangered species in the world.

There are currently fewer than 200 of the flightless birds from New Zealand on the planet. That's a big problem, especially when you consider that (surprise, surprise) human beings are largely responsible for their dwindling population.

A kakapo parrot. Photo via Dianne Mason/Department of Conservation/Flickr.

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14 elephant facts you can use to impress people at parties (if they're into elephants).

Let's talk elephants – we all know elephants, right? Big, gray, some in Africa and some in Asia. We all know elephants. There are a ton of elephant facts out there.

But what I'm about to tell you are no ordinary elephant facts. These elephant facts are totally bananas. 14 of them. 14 totally bananas elephant facts.

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