We are all animal lovers here at Jalopnik. Almost all of us have pets and, when animals face down transportation, we are usually on the animal’s side. This year, we covered a lot of critters: everything from the always entertaining Orca whales and their class war on the sailboats of the world to bears (or people who look like bears) taking their claws to cars.
Scroll through and see some of our favorite moments of animals meeting transportation this year:
Tesla Windshields Aren’t Even Fish-Proof
Tesla windows famously can’t survive an attack from large steel balls, but you’d have thought a windshield would be able to hold up against something softer, like a fish, right? Wrong. One Tesla owner in New Jersey found out the hard way that their windshield wasn’t fish-proof after it was smashed by a fish that fell from the sky.
British Police Deliberately Ram Cow Off The Road With Pickup Truck
A 10-month-old cow escaped from a farm in Surrey in the UK this weekend. Instead of leaving the young animal to explore a bit before making its way back home, police in the area decided the best thing to do was crash a police pickup truck into the animal.
Killer Whales Attacked Almost 700 Boats Because They’re Bored Teenagers
The biggest fear for sailors crossing the seven seas right now isn’t climate change, rising ocean levels or attacks from peg-legged pirates, it’s getting sunk by a pod of killer whales patrolling the waters around Portugal. Now, researchers have figured out why the group of 37 orca have been attacking everything from yachts to fishing boats, and it might just be because they’re bored.
Loose Moose Trashes Restored BMW 850i While Trapped In Swedish Garage
Insurance claims filed after people drive into wild animals are worryingly common, but the same can’t be said for claims submitted after an animal trashes your car while it’s parked. That’s exactly what happened at a BMW specialist in Sweden this weekend when a moose got itself stuck inside a garage and stomped all over three classic BMWs.
Rats Love Revving Engines Say Scientists Who Taught Them To Drive Tiny Cars
Not all lab rats have the most exciting lives, but a few lucky rats got the job of a lifetime when they were chosen to participate in a University of Richmond Lambert Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory study where they teach rats to drive. As it turns out, rats are pretty good at driving. In fact, as Futurism reports, they haven’t just learned how to drive but also appear to enjoy it and get excited enough about the prospect of driving that they regularly rev the engine while waiting to take off.
Too Many Cockroaches To Count Found In Airplane Meal Kitchens
Unless you travel exclusively on private jets, there’s a good chance that the food you’ve been served on your flights has been pretty awful. The lows to which airline food drops is much worse than some dry chicken or under seasoned potatoes, however; everything from live mice to dead cockroaches have turned up in in-flight meals served by the world’s airlines.
Check Your Engine Bay For Giant Snakes
The owner of a Chevrolet Silverado truck got a fright last week when they found an enormous boa constrictor snake hiding in their engine bay last week. Firefighters in Arizona were called to the scene to remove the snake, which had reportedly slithered into the engine bay looking to warm up.
Kangaroos Are Just Too Erratic For Car Safety Systems To Detect
Car makers have come up with some mighty clever tech to make driving safer, like blind spot detection systems, lane-keeping tech and even sensors to let you know if you’ve left a passenger on the back seat. One thing cars aren’t too good at detecting, however, is kangaroos. In fact, the Australian marsupials are so hard to predict that automakers have given up trying to develop tech that could reduce crashes with ’roos.
Bear Drags Crash Victim From Wreckage After Car Crashes Into Woods
A man in Massachusetts died after he lost control of his car and crashed into a stand of trees in western Massachusetts over the weekend. To add insult to his fatal injuries, a bear came along and attempted to drag his body away, police report.
‘Super Rat’ Spotted On Spirit Airlines Flight Inside Light Fixture
Nearly every airline requires animals to be confined inside a carrier when they fly. However, passengers on a Spirit Airlines flight last week were startled to see a rodent scurrying above them inside a cabin light fixture. It’s not clear how the “super rat” got onboard, but the unusual passenger had far more legroom than anyone else. The incident raised a lot of questions, included if the rodent was even a rat to begin with.
Honorable Mention: Insurance Scam Mastermind Wears Obviously Fake Bear Suit While Filming ‘Attack’ On Luxury Cars
California officials arrested four people over an alleged insurance scam involving a very fake bear attacking luxury vehicles in the state this week. The crew is accused of attacking three cars in order to cash in the insurance checks.
