I don't mean to be Captain Obvious, but there's quite a few ways in which your average human being differs from the beasts and birds you can find in your gardens and your zoos. Let's forget for a second that as a species, we've surpassed all of them in terms of cognitive ability and enslaved them in glass cages for little more than our simple enjoyment, and think more about the basic way in which their actions differ from ours.
Long story short, most animals act purely on instinct while we can apply higher reasoning, but one way in which animals and humans are very alike is our incredible ability to survive, even when the odds are stacked against us. You see it in stories of men and women lost at sea or deep at the mercy of Mother Nature, where people defy logic and reason to live to tell the tale, and our animal friends are just as determined to stay alive when push comes to shove and they stare down the Grim Reaper.
A video, which has gone viral on Chinese media, shows that even for animals seemingly as simple as crayfish, their innate survival instincts are just as strong, if not stronger. This little guy was about to be part of a boiling hot pot, filled with seafood and broth - plus, I feel a little awkward in saying it looks delicious. But our crayfish friend wasn't ready to give up on life just yet.
Despite literally bathing in the juices of his fallen brothers and sisters, the crayfish is not yet ready to give up on life. Maybe he's got a crayfish wife and little crayfish kids to take care of, or a grudge to pick with the man who murdered his crayfish father and put him in a broth, but either way, this crayfish is going to escape.
But look! One of his claws is stuck underneath the very boiling bodies he is trying to escape!
Hands up if you've seen the film 127 Hours.
This 2010 film tells us the story of Aron Ralston (played by James Franco), who gets his arm trapped under a boulder while on a hike in Utah and - spoiler alert - is forced to amputate the arm in order to survive. I doubt the crayfish saw that particular film, but he did a pretty good job in re-enacting it; he made the ultimate sacrifice, leaving his claw behind for a second chance at life.
All of this was captured on film as you can see, and commenters are throwing their support behind this courageous crustacean. “A warrior’s broken arm,” eulogises one, while another pleaded: “Let him go! Don’t eat him, seeing how hard he’s trying to survive.” This brings up a good point; once you've seen this crayfish fight so valiantly for the gift of life, can you really be so heartless as to plunge him back into the boiling depths below?
I don't know about you, but the person behind this video could not, telling the world: “I let him live, I already took him home and am raising him in an aquarium.” Picture him now; our little brave crayfish friend, chilling in an aquarium, calm but vigilant, with a newfound appreciation for life, and how things can change in an instant.
Picture him with two claws, too; apparently, crayfish can regenerate their limbs several times, so unless this is some kind of super crayfish, he'll live a long and peaceful life in an aquarium, rather than being served on a plate.
