10 of the most heartwarming animal stories of 2020, so far

Gunner the golden retriever was only 8 weeks old when he first met Delta the 2-year-old dolphin, who was attracted to Gunner's calm demeanor on the dock. That was eight years ago — the two have been friends ever since.

"The friendship just blossomed over time," Gunner's owner, Marie Blanton, told Insider. "As both boys have gotten a bit older, they don't get to see each other quite as much now," she said, since Gunner doesn't tag along with Blanton as much.

Ariel Cordova-Roja, a cyclist, found Bae the swan inside Queens' Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in November. The bird was suffering from lead toxicity and a fungal infection.

To try and help Bae, Cordova-Roja picked up the 17-pound swan, wrapped her in her jacket, found a group of people to drive her to the subway station, and rode the subway for 10 stops with Bae until she made it to Manhattan's Wild Bird Fund.

"I think it just shows the immense compassion of New Yorkers. People always think that we are rude and heartless, but we are just busy and have places to go, so we move fast," she told the Associated Press. "Even though we live in a concrete jungle, we are surrounded by nature and wildlife if you just take a second to look around. The wildlife are just as much New Yorkers as we are, and it is our duty to keep each other safe."

When Harris' mate, Apricot, died in August, the Cornish Seal Sanctuary wasn't going to let him be lonely for long.

"He was feeling a bit down in the dumps, and otters like being in a pair, so him losing his partner was something that was really upsetting for him and the team," Georgina Shannon, the marketing director at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary, told Insider.

The profile read: "Looking to find my significant otter. I am very attentive, I love a cuddle, and I am a very good listener; I will love you like no otter."

Only a few weeks after putting up the dating profile, the team at Cornish Seal Sanctuary got a response from the SEA LIFE Scarborough animal sanctuary in Scarborough, England. One of their otters, Pumpkin, had also lost her mate and was looking for love.

Harris has now moved to Scarborough to be with Pumpkin.

Tamara Cooper with the Cornish Seal Sanctuary it was "the perfect fairytale ending," the BBC reported in December.

Kaavan had been living in captivity for 35 years in Pakistan, and after his partner died in 2012, he had been living there alone. For years, Cher has been advocating for Kaavan to be moved to a sanctuary, and her wish was finally granted when the zoo he had been living in was shut down.

He was moved to a sanctuary in Cambodia, and of course, Cher was there to serenade him with "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes."

"I am so proud he is here," Cher told AFP. "He's going to be really happy here."

If you've ever seen "The Lion King" and a have small pet or baby at your disposal, chances are you've tried to recreate the famous "Circle of Life" moment when Rafiki the baboon picks up baby Simba and shows him off to the rest of the animal kingdom.

But in February, at a South African national park, a real baboon picked up a real lion cub by the scruff of his neck, essentially recreating the moment in nature.

Kurt Schultz, the operator of Kurt Safari, told the Associated Press he'd never seen such behavior in 20 years.

"Male baboons do a lot of grooming, but the care given to this lion cub was the same care given by a female baboon to one of her own young," he said.

Michael Dutko, who lives in Ohio, built the Nutty Bar in his backyard for all his squirrel friends to munch pecans, cashews, and almonds.

Overall, it took 16 hours to build the bar, and Dutko plans on securing a patent for his design and selling them so everyone who wants a squirrel hangout in their yard can have one.

The two dolphins, Liko and Schooner, met their new sloth friend, Chico, at the Texas State Aquarium in April. At the aquarium — and other zoos and aquariums across the country — animals like Chico have been introduced to new friends to keep them socialized during the pandemic.

When Liko and Schooner met Chico, they were so excited — the energy is easy to see in pictures. Chico, for his part, seemed chill about the entire thing.

"In true sloth fashion, Chico was pretty sleepy when we brought him to our underwater view to meet the dolphins, but he did open his eyes a few times to check them out," Seamus McAfee, the manager of marketing and communications at the aquarium, told Insider.

"The dolphins, meanwhile, seemed to really enjoy meeting the new arrival, as you can see in the pictures."

Photographer Tobias Baumgaertner captured the sweet embrace while in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in 2019, but he shared the images on Instagram in April, Insider reported earlier this year.

"During times like this the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love most. I captured this moment about a year ago," Baumgaertner wrote on Instagram alongside the first two images. "A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left. Since then they meet regularly comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city."

In November, the photo was named a finalist in the Ocean Photography Awards.

This little mint-green puppy, who melted hearts across the world, was aptly named Pistachio when he was born in October. Pistachio will continue living with his mom and look after sheep at his Sardinian home, owner Cristian Mallocci told Reuters.

Mallocci also told CNN that the reasoning for the pup's green hue was, "during the gestation period, biliverdin, a substance from bile, [mixed] with amniotic fluid from the placenta, staining the weaker puppy."

Milo's owner Jen Bennett, who lives in Los Angeles, California, began photographing Milo and her monarch butterflies after she noticed that Milo "would just sit and stare at all the butterflies." Soon, Milo began gently checking in on his butterfly friends every morning, and Bennett's photos began attracting a following on Instagram.

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