🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 174 (from laksa018)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa174.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/","crawl_time":1775744027,"first_indexed_time":1772576112,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,upworthy!www,\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/ s443","src_root_hash":"3593961702568576174","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"People are sharing what they believe happens after we die. The responses are enlightening. - Upworthy","meta_descriptions":[],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"One of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t\na whole lot of evidence\nto suggest they’re correct.\nHowever, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up?\nThere is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence.\nBut as the TV show\n“The Good Place”\nsuggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless.\nMark Twain said it best in\n“Letters from the Earth”:\nHis heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn’t it curious? Isn’t it interesting?\nMany also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below.\nThere are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle.\nThen there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but\naccording to science\n, the most likely.\nReddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death,\nso they asked,\n“What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven\/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die.\nHere are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life.\n1. You’re a wave\n“No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show ‘The Good Place’ that I really like and have found comfort in.\n“‘Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave.\n“And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.’”\n— AlexEventstar\n2. Our energy moves on\n“Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We’re all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We’re just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life.”\n— four__beasts\n3. You’ve been there before\n“Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence.”\n— SniffCheck\n4. No need to fear\n”In the great words of Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”\n — Eva__Unit__02\n5. One more time\n“When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on ‘nothingness,” you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love.” —\nMrXANA91\n6. Isn’t this reincarnation?\n“I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly.”\n— FarOutSonOfLung\n7. The great nothing\n“In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist.”\n— throwayaacctlmaooo\n8. Choose your own adventure\n“I’d like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something.”\n— No_But_Yes\n9. We’re energy\n“I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet.”\n— cheese-emperor\n10. Salamanders\n“I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders.”\n— Kyky716\n11. New universe?\n“I believe we go to another universe but that’s just wishful thinking.” —\nZarek_Pumpkineater\n12. Incomparable infinity\n“I’m under the impression that death is a separate experience we can’t comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness.\n“You only experience it while you’re doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don’t know what it was like before you were born because you’re obviously alive. Just like you don’t know deafness because your ears work.\nBeyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again.” —\nbermudalily\n13. Nothing\n“Nothing. It’s the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that’s somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?”\n — joeri1505\n14. You become fertilizer\n“The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow.”\n—  skev303\n15. May the source be with you\n“What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way.”\n— doopster77\n16. Star stuff\n“Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body.\nAs the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death.\nBecause we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return.”\n— dbryar\nThis article originally appeared on 3.4.22\nHomeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff.\nA single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a  gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. \nSince 1976,\nHabitat for Humanity\nhas made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. \nA world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through\nLet’s Open the Door\n, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. \nVolunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.\nGlobally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. \nAffordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The\nMicroBuild®\nInitiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to  loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide\naffordable appliances and building materials\nto local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. \nMarsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.\nEveryone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.\nHere’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:\nSpeaking up on\nsocial media\nabout the growing housing crisis \nVolunteering on a Habitat for Humanity\nbuild\nin your local community\nTravel and build\nwith Habitat\nin the U.S. or  in one of 60+  countries where we work around the globe\nJoin the Let’s Open the Door movement\nand, when you\ndonate\n, you can create your own personalized door \nShop or donate\nat your local\nHabitat ReStore\nEvery action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. \nVisit\nhabitat.org\n\/open-door\nto learn more and get involved today. \nTraining a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active\nbreed\nthat needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even\nsome pet parents\nwho opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home.\nMany times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren’t providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets’ best interest in mind, you\nput your faith in someone\nwho specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out.\nIn 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It’s unclear what prompted the family’s concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted\nAnakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team\n.\nOakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trapped. Photo credit:\nAnakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team\nThe dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups.\nThe first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin’s Trails referred to this as “lost dog syndrome.”\nBut after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea.\nTo make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found.\nAshley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin’s Trails told Upworthy, “We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later [after entering the training facility]. For about a month, we hung flyers, set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings.”\nThings were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn’t give up hope though.\n“Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming,” Raymond shares. “This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings.”\nThe recently-found Nova Jo smiles at the camera. Photo credit:\nAnakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team\nAs of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley’s sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin’s Trails.\n“There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up,” Raymond said. “SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court.”\nThe work Anakin’s Trails does isn’t easy and since it’s a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family.\nIf you’d like to donate to Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so\nhere\n.\nThis article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nHens lay about one egg per day, on average.\nHave you ever watched a\nchicken\nlay\nan egg\n? Think hard before you answer. Many of us may instinctively say, “Of course I have!” but then realize we’ve only seen movie scenes or\ncartoons\ndepicting\nhens laying eggs\n. Few of us have actually witnessed a real egg come out of a real hen in real life.\nEven fewer of us have seen it the way the folks at\n@chickenwifehappylife\ncaptured it. One of their chickens hopped onto a workbench and laid her egg right on the table in front of them. No nesting-box privacy for this lady. She wanted to show the world what she goes through to lay a single egg, and frankly, she has every right.\nWatch a hen lay an egg:\nNow see if the comments match what you were thinking:\n“Was I the only one that wasn’t sure exactly where the egg was going to pop out of?”\n“Great. Now I feel awful eating eggs. She went through all that and I just come along and see breakfast. Damn.”\n“Totally makes sense why chickens are so mean. If I had to go through childbirth every day of my life, I’d be a raging lunatic too!”\n“I never stopped to appreciate the eggs I consumed. After watching this, I have more respect for eggs and the chickens that lay them.”\nA hen sits in a nesting box with an egg.\nPhoto credit: Canva\n“Girl… I promise not to complain about the price of eggs. Please take a day off, you deserve it.”\n“I’d be pissed if I had to lay an egg every day.”\n“We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!”\nThe overwhelming sentiments people shared were: (1) “Wow, I have truly never watched a hen lay an egg before,” and (2) “Wow, I will never take eggs for granted again.” Some also said, “I don’t know if I want to eat eggs anymore,” rethinking their breakfast choices.\nDoes it hurt a chicken to lay an egg?\nWatching this hen lay her egg on the workbench had people feeling for her. It’s a bit reminiscent of giving birth, especially with her bearing down and “singing the egg song” just before it popped out.\nA hen prepares to lay an egg.\nPhoto credit: Canva\nAccording to The Humane League\n, most experts agree that laying eggs is not generally painful for hens. How do they know? Here are\nthe specifics:\n“The reason it is hard to answer this question with complete clarity is because, of course, chickens cannot tell us for sure whether they’re experiencing pain when laying eggs. There are some signs, but we have to be careful not to misread them. For example, for a long time humans (including that first century Roman writer, Columella) believed that the sound many chickens make before laying indicated pain. However, studies found that the sound was instead an “\negg song\n,” which could have a number of explanations, including happiness and scaring off predators. Another study found that\nwhen a hen “sings” it is more likely to be associated with contentment\n, while cackling aligns with danger.”\nNaturally, there are things that can go wrong during the egg-laying process that can make it painful. Signs that a hen is in distress while laying include wheezing, distressed squawking, not eating or drinking, isolating, hunching over, drooping, avoiding movement or activity, and slow or awkward movements. Most of the time, however, a hen will recover immediately after laying an egg and go on with life as if nothing happened.\nHow often do chickens lay eggs?\nHens basically lay eggs daily, but that’s a bit oversimplified.\nThe\nUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison\nnotes that hens ovulate, releasing an egg yolk, every 24 to 26 hours. It then takes about 26 hours for the egg white and shell to form around the yolk. As a result, hens typically lay one egg per day, but the timing shifts later each day. Once in a while, a hen will also “skip” a day or two.\nHens did not originally lay more than 300 eggs a year, however. Through centuries of selective breeding, humans have “engineered” chickens to become more prolific egg layers.\nMany people have concerns about the well-being of hens used in the industrial production of eggs. Even when we try to make ethical choices about the food we consume, the details are not always clear. Labels on egg cartons, such as “organic,” “cage-free,” and “pasture-raised,” can be confusing, but Certified Humane offers an\nexplainer\nthat helps demystify these terms.\nWhatever egg choices we make, seeing the laying process may at least give us a newfound respect and gratitude for the hens who lay them.\nPhoto credit:\nvia\nStiv XTZ\/Pexels\n–\nA pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.\nDogs\nare naturally driven by a\nsense of purpose\nand a need for belonging, which are all part of their\ninstinctual pack behavior.\nWhen a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.\nBut let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting,\ndogs have fewer chores\nthey can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A\ndoggy mom\nin Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pit bull-Lab mix does around the house.\nThe mom says Rhubarb has chores because “we didn’t raise a freeloader.”\nWorking like a dog \n1. Makes sure the laundry doesn’t get cold\nTranslation: Sits on top of the clean laundry, ready to be folded.\n2. Unlicensed therapist\nTranslation: Gives us kisses when we’re tired or feeling down.\n3. Supervise repairs\nTranslation: She gets in the way when you’re in a compromised, uncomfortable position with a wrench in your hand.\n4. Alerts us when there’s an intruder\nTranslation: Stands at the window and barks furiously at the mailman.\n5. Keeps mum’s spot warm\nTranslation: Lays in her spot on her favorite chair in the living room.\nRhubarb’s fan club\nHere are some of the comments inspired by the video.\n“\nHe’s carrying that household on his back. Give him a raise.\n“\n“\nObviously the most valuable member of the household.\n“\n“\nRhubarb needs a little vacation from working so flipping hard!\n“\n“\nHardest worker there ever was.\n“\n“\nHe’s carrying that household on his back.\n“\nHere’s to Rhubarb, for earning his keep, and being adorable while doing it. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.\nThis article originally appeared two years ago.\nIt has been updated.\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nThe one free room upgrade you should always ask for.\nHaving a great experience\nat a hotel\nis all about the small things: an easy check-in and check-out, crisp\nsheets\n, and—most importantly—a USB charger by the TV that actually works.\nJamie Fraser\n, the owner of a private-use estate in\nScotland\n, recently shared a way for travelers to make their stay a little nicer, for free.\nFraser revealed a\ntravel secret to\nMetro\n: “Corner rooms are often slightly larger than standard rooms because of the\nbuilding\nlayout. They also usually only share one wall with another\nguest\n, meaning they can be noticeably quieter, which many travelers really appreciate after a long journey.”\nAsk for a corner room upgrade\nBetter yet, corner rooms are often available free of charge. They’re typically not listed any differently from other rooms of a similar size and are assigned based on hotel capacity.\nTraveling Phil, an\nInstagram travel influencer\n, agrees. In a video, his wife explains that corner rooms offer four distinct features: two walls of windows, more square footage, increased natural light, and often better views. It’s the “same price” for a “better experience.”\nAnother perk of a corner room, according to\nYour Mileage May Vary\n, is reduced foot traffic. Being farther from the elevator means fewer late-night footsteps, and you may also be closer to an emergency stairway in case of a safety issue.\nWoman in a hotel room.\nPhoto credit: Canva\n“When hotel architects and designers start to cut up floors into bays, the rooms in the center of the floors—specifically near elevators, stairwells, and utility closets—will have less room because of space being cut to help service the building,” Karl von Ramm, general manager of The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, told\nSouthern Living\n.\nHe added that your best chance is “typically corner rooms or rooms along the front side of the building, where stairwells and utilities are typically not present.”\nHow to get a corner room for free\nAccording to\nTraveling Phil:\nBook a standard room (don’t overpay upfront)\nCheck in later in the day (after room shuffle)\nPolitely ask, “Do you happen to have any corner rooms available?”\nMention it’s a special occasion (even just a getaway)\nSmile. Energy matters.\nWhether you’re hoping to upgrade to a corner room or a suite, you can increase your chances by telling the person at the front desk it’s a special occasion.\n“In the luxury hotel industry, we are always looking for a reason to celebrate and elevate the guest experience,” Lizzie Davidson, Thompson Houston’s area director of revenue, tells\nSouthern Living\n. “Mentioning your special occasion—such as a birthday, anniversary, or maybe even just a simple staycation escape with your loved one—always goes a long way at the reception area or concierge team.”\nSo next time you check into a hotel, make this simple request—it likely won’t be much trouble for the staff. That way, you can make your trip a little extra special knowing you’ve secured a better view and a quieter room for the same price.\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nGolden Retrievers are known for their friendly nature.\nWhen Annika first brought\nFrannie\n, an eight-year-old\nGolden Retriever\n, into her home,\nthe dog\ncouldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female\nof her breed\n. Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of\ndoggie life.\nRover’s Retreat,\na dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down.\nAnnika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,”\nshe wrote\n. “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car.\nThey faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps.\n“One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika\ntold\nThe Dodo\n. “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.”\nAt first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it.\nSlowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog.\nFor a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was\nfrolicking in the snow\non her own. By March, she was able to\nwalk a full mile\n.\nShe still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog.\nAnnika told\nThe Dodo\nshe had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.”\nIn December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an\nupdate on Instagram:\n“We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.”\nFrannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told\nThe Dodo\n.\nWhat a beautiful gift for both of them.\nYou can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey\non Instagram\n.\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nA sperm whale.\nScience lovers got a treat recently when new research on sperm whales was quietly released. Researchers not only witnessed the birth of a baby sperm whale, but also saw elder females, including the grandmother, acting as midwives. Very few species assist with birth outside of humans, but it seems sperm whales can now join that short list.\nProject CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative)\nreleased two studies on sperm whales in journals\nNature\nand\nScience\nrespectively.\nNature\ncovers the different vocalizations of the whales during this teamwork process, while\nScience\ndiscusses the collaborative birthing approach by the whales.\nA sperm whale.\nPhoto credit: Canva\nThe sperm whale’s birth was first captured via drone in July 2023. Now that the video has made its way to social media, viewers cannot get over witnessing the whales act as midwives. Typically, scientists don’t get to witness sperm whales’ behavior during birth, likely because they give birth far from shore and avoid boats during this vulnerable process.\nWith the increasing use of drones, however, scientists can now capture moments like this without disrupting wildlife. In the video, other whales—one identified as the grandmother—surround the birthing whale, named Rounder. Not all of the supporting whales were from the same pod as the mother, but they joined to help ensure the calf’s safe arrival.\nBecause whales are mammals, they can’t breathe underwater. For this reason, baby whales, also known as calves, are born tail-first. Like other mammals, newborn whales instinctively try to breathe, so exiting the birth canal headfirst could result in drowning, according to\nNational Geographic\n.\nScientists have been following this pod for a while, so they’re familiar with the whales in the family. As they watched the drone footage from the boat, they were able to identify who was present. Still, the sight of this unique birthing circle shocked the scientists.\nA sperm whale near the water’s surface.\nPhoto credit: Canva\nWhile birthing her calf, Rounder was flanked by her sister, Accra, and Atwood, an elder female. Behind the mom-to-be was her mother, Lady Oracle, her aunt Aurora, a juvenile whale named Ariel, and four other unknown female whales. The whales had dual roles: when the calf was born, the assisting whales formed a tight cluster and raised the baby out of the water so it could breathe.\nThey took turns holding the calf out of the water for three hours. During that time, the females that were not actively lifting the calf to the surface were fending off nosy animals. Once the baby was safe and swimming alongside its mother, the other whales began to depart.\nOne of the scientists, Shane Gero, told\nNational Geographic\n, “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” The same could be said for people coming across the video online.\nOne person wrote, “Women supporting women! Bring it on!”\nAnother person called out humans, saying, “I think they lied , who said survival of the fittest or only the strong survive. Everything in nature is about collective care. Even other animal species be helping each other. Also even when its predators they only take what they need.”\nThis commenter admired the teamwork, writing, “I love how whales put so much energy into each other, but it’s even more exciting that members outside of the family pod were being so helpful. I’m invested!”\n“This is so frigging cool,” another person gushed. “I love how nature really wants nature to succeed. Absolutely 100% lit. Thanks for this!”\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nHorses on a farm.\nImagine getting a phone call out of the blue from a stranger offering you $26 \nmillion\n for part of your \nfarm\n.\nFor most of us, that would be a\nlife-changing\n,\nchampagne-popping\n,\nare-you-serious-right-now?\nmoment. But for 82-year-old Ida Huddleston of Mason County,\nKentucky\n, it was something else entirely:\nan insult dressed up in dollar signs\n.\nIda’s answer? A hard no, and trust me, she didn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.\nA legacy that can’t be bought\nIda is a part of the Huddleston family, who have \nfarmed this land for 200 years\n. That’s two centuries of early mornings, muddy boots, and honest work. Over generations, they’ve raised cattle, grown soybeans, and planted corn on their 1,200-acre property outside Maysville.\nBut it’s not just land stewardship. During the Great Depression—when jobs disappeared and families lined up just to get a meal—\nthe Huddlestons grew wheat.\n They helped keep bread lines operating across America when people had almost nothing left. This land didn’t just feed the family; it fed the nation.\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nThe Huddleston family has been farming in Kentucky for 200 years.\nSo when a representative from \nan unnamed Fortune 100 tech company offered $60,000 per acre\n—about ten times the current market rate—Ida’s daughter, Delsia Bare, simply\nsaid\n: “Stay and hold and feed a nation. $26 million doesn’t mean anything.”\nNotice the wording. She didn’t say “nothing.” She said $26 million doesn’t mean \nanything\n.\nThe tech giant at the door\nThe company that offered $26 million for the Huddlestons’ property \nhas never revealed its identity\n; local officials were required to sign non-disclosure agreements just to learn who was making the offer.\nWhat we do know: The company \nplanned to convert half of the Huddleston farm\ninto a large “hyperscale” AI data center campus covering 2,000 acres outside Maysville. These facilities are enormous. They devour electricity. And \na single ginormous data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day\n: roughly what a city of 50,000 people uses.\nHowever, the company did promise this: \n400 permanent jobs in exchange for community support\n. Ida wasn’t buying it.\n“They call us old, stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” she \ntold WKRC-TV\n. “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.”\nShe called it a scam. And to be honest, the repeated pressure campaigns—multiple offers, persistent calls, and what she described as “\nmind harassment\n”—don’t exactly reflect good faith.\nIda isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness here. Since 2017, \nMason County has lost one-fifth of its farms\n. Neighbors throughout the region share her concerns about what an industrial mega-campus would do to their rural way of life: their water, their soil, their sense of home.\nAnd they’re fighting back.\nA grassroots group called “\nWe Are Mason County\n” has \nfiled a lawsuit\nclaiming the county’s zoning laws lack a proper legal framework for data centers. Their attorney noted that \napproving this rezoning would directly conflict with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan\n.\nIn other words, this isn’t over.\nWhat this land means\nFor Ida, the decision was never really about money.\nHer late husband built their house with his own hands. She feels his presence every time she walks the fields. The land holds her family’s past and, she hopes, their future.\n“I said, ‘No, mine is priceless.’ What I’ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,” she \ntold WXIX-TV\n.\nIn an era when everything seems to have a price—and the biggest tech companies in the world have the resources to buy nearly anything—there’s something quietly remarkable about a woman who simply says: no, not this.\nIda says she intends to die on that land, on her own terms, surrounded by 200 years of family history.\nSome things really are priceless.\nPhoto credit:\nCanva\n–\nA baby tortoise.\nExtinction\nisn’t like leaving for a\nlong trip\nor\nstudying abroad\n. When it happens,\nthere’s no coming back\n. The moment a\nspecies disappears\n, it takes with it millions of years of evolution and an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of life on Earth. That’s it. Bye! Gone forever.\nWhich is why \nwhat happened on February 20\n, on a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean feels so extraordinary.\nA species that, by all accounts, should have been extinct returned home. That morning, rangers on Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands set down their packs and\ngently placed 158 juvenile giant tortoises onto the wet ground\n—the first of their lineage to set foot on the island in roughly 175 years.\nThese animals weren’t supposed to exist. Their subspecies was declared extinct in the 1850s. The forces that wiped them out—overhunting, invasive predators, habitat destruction—are exactly the kinds that usually can’t be reversed. But this time, somehow, they have been.\nFirst, here’s what was lost\nLong ago—before whalers, settlers, feral cats, and invasive rats—\nFloreana Island was home to as many as 20,000 giant tortoises\n. These weren’t just large, slow animals living out their days in the sun. They were ecosystem engineers that carved trails through the vegetation, swallowed whole fruits and deposited seeds miles away, planting forests with every lumbering step. The island’s entire web of life depended on these tortoises.\nA tortoise.\nPhoto credit: Canva\nThen the whalers came\n.\nIn the 1800s, passing ships discovered that giant tortoises were essentially the perfect food supply for long sea voyages. They could survive in a ship’s hold for months without food or water.\nA single vessel could haul away 700 tortoises in one visit\n. Altogether, passing ships took\nan estimated 100,000 tortoises\nfrom across the Galápagos.\nAnd then, sometime around 1850,\nthe Floreana tortoise was simply…gone\n. On top of that, humans had brought rats, cats, dogs, goats, and pigs with them—devastating the surrounding environment. These new animals destroyed native vegetation and ate tortoise eggs. A\nmassive wildfire in 1820 didn’t help either\n.\nBy the time anyone thought to do something, it was too late. Or so everyone thought.\nA wild tale\nIn 2008, scientists exploring Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island \nnoticed something strange\n. Some of the tortoises had an unusual shell shape: the unique saddleback shell associated with Floreana.\nThey conducted DNA tests, and the results were nearly unbelievable. These tortoises carried the genetic fingerprint of the “extinct” Floreana lineage.\nIt turns out that centuries earlier, those same whalers who had stripped Floreana of its tortoises had\noccasionally offloaded live tortoises onto Isabela Island\n, as provisions to be retrieved later or to lighten their ships. Some of those tortoises survived, bred, and passed their genes on for nearly 200 years.\nThe Floreana tortoise had been hiding in plain sight the whole time.\nScientists sprang into action\n. They selected 23 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano that showed the strongest Floreana genetic signal and brought them to a breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. Starting in 2017, they carefully bred them over generations, patiently guiding their lineage back toward its original form.\nBy 2025, they had more than 600 hatchlings.\nA tortoise with a distinctive shell pattern.\nPhoto credit: Canva\nDr. Jen Jones, chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust, \ndescribed the moment\n as “truly spine-tingling,” adding that it validated two decades of collaboration among scientists, charities, and the local community.\nBut wait—they didn’t just show up and release tortoises\nBefore a single tortoise set foot on Floreana, the island needed years of preparation.\nRemember, Floreana had been overrun with invasive rats and feral cats, the same forces that drove the tortoises to extinction in the first place. They needed to go. In October 2023, the Floreana tortoise team\nlaunched a massive eradication campaign\n with helicopters, aerial baiting, and ground traps.\nOh, and here’s a crucial aspect that’s often overlooked: \nthe island’s approximately 150 residents were actively involved in this endeavor\n, not mere spectators.\nBefore the baiting began, \ncommunity members\n set up protective enclosures for their pets to prevent harm. Farmers adapted their agricultural practices to best serve the project. Locals also helped with the trapping.\nThe results were almost immediate. Native Galápagos rails—small birds that disappeared from the island entirely because of rat predation—have \nalready started coming back on their own\n. Nature, it turns out, is extremely ready to bounce back the moment you give it a chance.\nAnd they’re watching every step\nEach of the 158 released tortoises carries a GPS tracker that pings its location every hour via satellite.\nOn top of that, \nNASA Earth observation data is overlaid\n to map vegetation, rainfall, and soil conditions across the island. Scientists use all of this information to build habitat models that can project ecosystem conditions decades into the future, which matters a lot when you’re dealing with an animal that can live over a century.\nSlow and steady wins the race.\nPhoto credit: Canva\nThe plan is to \nrelease 25 to 100 more tortoises each year\n, with each group’s release location guided by data on where current tortoises are thriving. Slow and steady. Rather fitting, really.\nThis is just the beginning\nThe 158 tortoises are Phase One of a plan to reintroduce 12 locally extinct species to Floreana over the coming decade. Next up? The \nFloreana mockingbird\n, a fascinating species that arguably inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when he visited the island in 1835. Sadly, it now only exists on two tiny offshore islets.\nAfter that: \nDarwin’s finches\n, Galápagos racer snakes, the \nlava gull\n (the world’s rarest gull), and, eventually, the \nGalápagos hawk\n, the apex predator whose return would signal a fully restored food chain.\nEach species added to the island increases the likelihood that the next will succeed. That’s how ecosystems work. And honestly, it’s a pretty good lesson for the rest of life.\nWholesome\n9 reasons the Artemis II space mission keeps bringing people to tears\nScience\nExpert shares the 1 sentence that can instantly stop an argument from boiling over\nHealth\nWaxers, doctors, and nurses share their unfiltered inner thoughts about your ‘privates.’\nCulture\nNetherland-based dance troupe performs epic routine to “Somebody That I Used to Know”\nSkills\nWife shares exactly how she claimed laundry ‘victory’ on her husband’s work shirt pit stains","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/#wp--skip-link--target)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[Family](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/)\n\n[Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n[Subscribe](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/newsletter)\n\nSubscribe\n\n## Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox.\n\nExplore More\n\n[GOOD](https:\/\/www.good.is\/) continues our mission to uplift humanity, build bridges across communities, and feature innovative solutions to critical challenges.\n\nTopics\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[Generations](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/generations\/)\n\n[Nostalgia](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/nostalgia)\n\n[Pop Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/pop-culture)\n\n[Family](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/)\n\n[Dads](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/dads)\n\n[Kids](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/kids)\n\n[Moms](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/moms)\n\n[Parenting](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/parenting)\n\n[Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n\n[Animals](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/animals)\n\n[Conservation](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/conservation)\n\n[Pets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/pets)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/health)\n\n[People Skills](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/people-skills)\n\nCompany\n\n[About Us](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/about-us\/)\n\n[Newsletter](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/newsletter\/)\n\n[Partnerships](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/partnerships\/)\n\n[GOOD People Book](https:\/\/books.disney.com\/book\/upworthy-good-people-stories-from-the-best-of-humanity\/)\n\n[Contact](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/contact-us\/)\n\nConnect\n\n- [Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/upworthy\/)\n- [LinkedIn](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/upworthy\/)\n- [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/upworthy)\n- [TikTok](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@upworthy)\n- [YouTube](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/upworthy)\n\n[Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n\n# People are sharing what they believe happens after we die. The responses are enlightening.\nHere are 16 of the best responses.\n\n![](https:\/\/goodinc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/img-125.jpg?w=86)\n\nBy\n\n[Tod Perry](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/tod-perry\/)\n\n![](https:\/\/goodinc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/01_Upworthy_Logo-3.png?w=86)\n\nBy\n\n[Upworthy Staff](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/upworthy-staff\/)\n***\nOct 26, 2024\n\n![heaven, life after death, afterlife](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/origin-68.jpg?w=999)\n\nPhoto credit: via [Pixabay](https:\/\/pixabay.com\/es\/illustrations\/hombre-escalera-cielo-anciano-5640540\/) – A man is walking into heaven (or is he?).\n\n- [Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/?share=facebook&nb=1)\n- [Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/?share=linkedin&nb=1)\n- [Share on X (Opens in new window)X](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/?share=x&nb=1)\n- [Flipboard](https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&title=People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.upworthy.com%252Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%252F&cid=article_share_flipboard)\n- [Share on Mail (Opens in new window) Mail](mailto:?subject=%5BShared+Post%5D+People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%2F&share=email)\n\nOne of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t [a whole lot of evidence](https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/116251\/best-arguments-gods-existence-dont-challenge-atheists) to suggest they’re correct.\n\nHowever, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up?\n\nThere is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence.\n\nBut as the TV show [“The Good Place”](https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/culture\/archive\/2020\/01\/good-place-michael-schur-finale-metaphor-television\/605884\/) suggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless.\n***\nMark Twain said it best in [“Letters from the Earth”:](https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/3quarksdaily\/2019\/09\/deranged.html)\n\n*His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn’t it curious? Isn’t it interesting?*\n\nMany also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below.\n\nThere are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle.\n\nThen there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but [according to science](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2011\/may\/15\/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven), the most likely.\n\nReddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death, [so they asked,](https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/AskReddit\/comments\/t4wevt\/what_do_you_legitimately_believe_happens_after_we\/) “What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven\/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die.\n\nHere are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life.\n\n### 1\\. You’re a wave\n*“No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show ‘The Good Place’ that I really like and have found comfort in.*\n\n*“‘Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave.*\n\n*“And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.’”* — AlexEventstar\n\n### 2\\. Our energy moves on\n*“Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We’re all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We’re just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life.”* — four\\_\\_beasts\n\n### 3\\. You’ve been there before\n*“Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence.”* — SniffCheck\n\n### 4\\. No need to fear\n*”In the great words of Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”* — Eva\\_\\_Unit\\_\\_02\n\n### 5\\. One more time\n*“When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on ‘nothingness,” you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love.” —* MrXANA91\n\n### 6\\. Isn’t this reincarnation?\n*“I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly.”* — FarOutSonOfLung\n\n### 7\\. The great nothing\n*“In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist.”* — throwayaacctlmaooo\n\n### 8\\. Choose your own adventure\n*“I’d like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something.”* — No\\_But\\_Yes\n\n### 9\\. We’re energy\n*“I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet.”* — cheese-emperor\n\n### 10\\. Salamanders\n*“I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders.”* — Kyky716\n\n### 11\\. New universe?\n*“I believe we go to another universe but that’s just wishful thinking.” —* Zarek\\_Pumpkineater\n\n### 12\\. Incomparable infinity\n*“I’m under the impression that death is a separate experience we can’t comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness.*\n\n*“You only experience it while you’re doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don’t know what it was like before you were born because you’re obviously alive. Just like you don’t know deafness because your ears work. Beyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again.” —* bermudalily\n\n### 13\\. Nothing\n*“Nothing. It’s the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that’s somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?”* — joeri1505\n\n### 14\\. You become fertilizer\n*“The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow.”* — skev303\n\n### 15\\. May the source be with you\n*“What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way.”* — doopster77\n\n### 16\\. Star stuff\n*“Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body.* *As the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death.* *Because we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return.”* — dbryar\n\n*This article originally appeared on 3.4.22*\n\n[Add to Google News](https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqJggKIiBDQklTRWdnTWFnNEtESFZ3ZDI5eWRHaDVMbU52YlNnQVAB)\n\n- [Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/?share=facebook&nb=1)\n- [Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/?share=linkedin&nb=1)\n- [Share on X (Opens in new window)X](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/?share=x&nb=1)\n- [Flipboard](https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&title=People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.upworthy.com%252Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%252F&cid=article_share_flipboard)\n- [Share on Mail (Opens in new window) Mail](mailto:?subject=%5BShared+Post%5D+People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%2F&share=email)\n\n## Tags\n[god](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/god\/)[heaven](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/heaven\/)[hell](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/hell\/)[life after death](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/life-after-death\/)[philosophy](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/philosophy\/)\n## More for You\n\n- In Partnership With [Habitat For Humanity](https:\/\/bit.ly\/47ipQI4) →\n  [![A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/CAMB-1_e5018b.jpg?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/habitat-for-humanity\/)\n  \n  Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff.\n  [Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/), [Family](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/)\n  \n  ## [A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/habitat-for-humanity\/)\n  Better health, better jobs, and a brighter future all start with access to a safe, affordable home.\n  \n  [Sarah Watts](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/sarah-watts\/)\n  ***\n  3\/25\/2026\n  A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.\n  \n  Since 1976, [Habitat for Humanity](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/) has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.\n  \n  A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through *Let’s Open the Door*, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.\n  \n  ![Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity's 2025 Carter Work Project.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/image.jpeg?w=1024)\n  \n  Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.\n  \n  Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.\n  \n  Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The [MicroBuild®](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/our-work\/terwilliger-center-innovation-in-shelter\/microbuild) Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide [affordable appliances and building materials](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/restores) to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.\n  \n  ![Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/USGA-1.jpg?w=1024)\n  \n  Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.\n  \n  Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.  \n    \n  Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:\n  \n  - **Speaking up on** [**social media**](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/habitatforhumanity) about the growing housing crisis\n  - **Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity** [**build**](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/volunteer\/near-you\/find-your-local-habitat) in your local community\n  - **[Travel and build](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/volunteer\/travel-and-build) with Habitat** in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe\n  - **Join the Let’s Open the Door movement** and, when you [**donate**](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/open-door\/activate), you can create your own personalized door\n  - **Shop or donate** at your local [**Habitat ReStore**](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/restores)\n  \n  Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.\n  \n  ***Visit*** [***habitat.org******\/open-door***](http:\/\/habitat.org\/open-door)***to learn more and get involved today.***\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![Dog lost for months in the wilderness recognizes her owner in the most tearful reunion](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-381.jpg?w=980)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-spent-months-in-wilderness-ex1\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100091548831343) – Family celebrates the return of their dog.\n  [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/), [Pets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/pets\/)\n  \n  ## [Dog lost for months in the wilderness recognizes her owner in the most tearful reunion](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-spent-months-in-wilderness-ex1\/)\n  At first the terrified pup had what’s known as “lost dog syndrome.” Then…pure joy.\n  \n  [Jacalyn Wetzel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/jacalyn-wetzel\/)\n  \n  [Upworthy Staff](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/upworthy-staff\/)\n  ***\n  4\/8\/2026\n  Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active [breed](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/top-dog-breeds-best-for-kids) that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even [some pet parents](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/grieving-son-travels-2650-miles-to-mississippi-humane-society-to-rescue-parents-dog-ex1) who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home.\n  \n  Many times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren’t providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets’ best interest in mind, you [put your faith in someone](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-rescued-from-romanian-forest) who specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out.\n  \n  In 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It’s unclear what prompted the family’s concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100091548831343).\n  \n  ![lost dog, dog rescue, Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team, pet recovery, dogs, pets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-379.jpg)\n  \n  Oakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trapped. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc2OTc3MTYwNH0.8fMhOUU3vUmHnk8TlQHWUMX0vdvpT_pSEkG1luKd9-o\/img.jpg?width=1200&height=800&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C1319%2C0%2C697)\n  \n  The dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups.\n  \n  The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin’s Trails referred to this as “lost dog syndrome.”\n  \n  But after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea.\n  \n  \n  To make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found.\n  \n  Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin’s Trails told Upworthy, “We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later \\[after entering the training facility\\]. For about a month, we hung flyers, set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings.”\n  \n  \n  Things were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn’t give up hope though.\n  \n  “Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming,” Raymond shares. “This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings.”\n  \n  ![lost dog rescue, dog reunion, Anakin's Trails, Husky rescue, pet recovery](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-380.jpg)\n  \n  The recently-found Nova Jo smiles at the camera. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc5NDE4Nzg2Nn0.nLQcAqiHocQG_OO6Drxd6oU9ts2iQvvnVAAEd96jNWI\/img.jpg?width=2000&height=1500&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C248%2C0%2C707)\n  \n  As of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley’s sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin’s Trails.\n  \n  “There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up,” Raymond said. “SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court.”\n  \n  The work Anakin’s Trails does isn’t easy and since it’s a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family.\n  \n  *If you’d like to donate to Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so [here](https:\/\/venmo.com\/u\/anakinstrails).*\n  \n  *This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.*\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![Video of a chicken laying an egg has people rethinking their breakfast](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/ANNIE-TOP-SPLASH-124.jpg?w=900)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/watch-a-chicken-lay-an-egg\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](http:\/\/canva.com\/photos) – Hens lay about one egg per day, on average.\n  [Animals](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/animals\/), [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n  \n  ## [Video of a chicken laying an egg has people rethinking their breakfast](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/watch-a-chicken-lay-an-egg\/)\n  “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!”\n  \n  [Annie Reneau](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/annie-reneau\/)\n  ***\n  4\/7\/2026\n  Have you ever watched a [chicken](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/chickens-freak-out-their-owner-when-they-all-suddenly-freeze-in-place-at-feeding-time\/) lay [an egg](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/why-we-eat-chicken-eggs-duck-eggs-and-quail-eggs-but-not-turkey-eggs-ex1\/)? Think hard before you answer. Many of us may instinctively say, “Of course I have!” but then realize we’ve only seen movie scenes or [cartoons](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/gen-xers-miss-their-sacred-saturday-morning-cartoons-and-debate-which-one-was-the-best\/) *depicting* [hens laying eggs](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/scientists-just-solved-the-chicken-and-egg-debate\/). Few of us have actually witnessed a real egg come out of a real hen in real life.\n  \n  Even fewer of us have seen it the way the folks at [@chickenwifehappylife](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@chickenwifehappylife\/video\/7620177276075920654) captured it. One of their chickens hopped onto a workbench and laid her egg right on the table in front of them. No nesting-box privacy for this lady. She wanted to show the world what she goes through to lay a single egg, and frankly, she has every right.\n  \n  ## Watch a hen lay an egg:\n  \n  Now see if the comments match what you were thinking:\n  \n  “Was I the only one that wasn’t sure exactly where the egg was going to pop out of?”\n  \n  “Great. Now I feel awful eating eggs. She went through all that and I just come along and see breakfast. Damn.”\n  \n  “Totally makes sense why chickens are so mean. If I had to go through childbirth every day of my life, I’d be a raging lunatic too!”\n  \n  “I never stopped to appreciate the eggs I consumed. After watching this, I have more respect for eggs and the chickens that lay them.”\n  \n  ![A hen sits in a nest with an egg](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/4.jpg)\n  \n  A hen sits in a nesting box with an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  “Girl… I promise not to complain about the price of eggs. Please take a day off, you deserve it.”\n  \n  “I’d be pissed if I had to lay an egg every day.”\n  \n  “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!”\n  \n  The overwhelming sentiments people shared were: (1) “Wow, I have truly never watched a hen lay an egg before,” and (2) “Wow, I will never take eggs for granted again.” Some also said, “I don’t know if I want to eat eggs anymore,” rethinking their breakfast choices.\n  \n  ## Does it hurt a chicken to lay an egg?\n  Watching this hen lay her egg on the workbench had people feeling for her. It’s a bit reminiscent of giving birth, especially with her bearing down and “singing the egg song” just before it popped out.\n  \n  ![A hen bearing down to lay an egg](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/5.jpg)\n  \n  A hen prepares to lay an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  [According to The Humane League](https:\/\/thehumaneleague.org\/article\/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs), most experts agree that laying eggs is not generally painful for hens. How do they know? Here are [the specifics:](https:\/\/thehumaneleague.org\/article\/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs)\n  \n  *“The reason it is hard to answer this question with complete clarity is because, of course, chickens cannot tell us for sure whether they’re experiencing pain when laying eggs. There are some signs, but we have to be careful not to misread them. For example, for a long time humans (including that first century Roman writer, Columella) believed that the sound many chickens make before laying indicated pain. However, studies found that the sound was instead an “[egg song](https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/j.1439-0310.1963.tb01156.x),” which could have a number of explanations, including happiness and scaring off predators. Another study found that [when a hen “sings” it is more likely to be associated with contentment](https:\/\/sora.unm.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/journals\/condor\/v089n03\/p0510-p0524.pdf), while cackling aligns with danger.”*\n  \n  Naturally, there are things that can go wrong during the egg-laying process that can make it painful. Signs that a hen is in distress while laying include wheezing, distressed squawking, not eating or drinking, isolating, hunching over, drooping, avoiding movement or activity, and slow or awkward movements. Most of the time, however, a hen will recover immediately after laying an egg and go on with life as if nothing happened.\n  \n  ## How often do chickens lay eggs?\n  Hens basically lay eggs daily, but that’s a bit oversimplified.\n  \n  The [University of Wisconsin–Madison](https:\/\/livestock.extension.wisc.edu\/articles\/life-cycle-of-a-laying-hen\/) notes that hens ovulate, releasing an egg yolk, every 24 to 26 hours. It then takes about 26 hours for the egg white and shell to form around the yolk. As a result, hens typically lay one egg per day, but the timing shifts later each day. Once in a while, a hen will also “skip” a day or two.\n  \n  Hens did not originally lay more than 300 eggs a year, however. Through centuries of selective breeding, humans have “engineered” chickens to become more prolific egg layers.\n  \n  Many people have concerns about the well-being of hens used in the industrial production of eggs. Even when we try to make ethical choices about the food we consume, the details are not always clear. Labels on egg cartons, such as “organic,” “cage-free,” and “pasture-raised,” can be confusing, but Certified Humane offers an [explainer](https:\/\/certifiedhumane.org\/decoding-carton-buy-clean-humane-eggs\/) that helps demystify these terms.\n  \n  Whatever egg choices we make, seeing the laying process may at least give us a newfound respect and gratitude for the hens who lay them.\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![Dog mom shares adorable video of the ‘chores’ her pit bull pup thinks she’s doing](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-102.png?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/pitbull-pup-does-chores-ex1\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: via [Stiv XTZ\/Pexels](https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/american-pit-bull-terrier-puppy-on-window-pane-close-up-photo-137020\/) – A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.\n  [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/), [Pets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/pets\/)\n  \n  ## [Dog mom shares adorable video of the ‘chores’ her pit bull pup thinks she’s doing](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/pitbull-pup-does-chores-ex1\/)\n  No one can call her a freeloader.\n  \n  [Tod Perry](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/tod-perry\/)\n  \n  [Upworthy Staff](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/upworthy-staff\/)\n  ***\n  4\/5\/2026\n  [Dogs](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/dogs) are naturally driven by a [sense of purpose](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/better\/pop-culture\/therapy-dogs-love-their-jobs-your-pup-cut-out-it-ncna878676) and a need for belonging, which are all part of their [instinctual pack behavior.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/dogs) When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.\n  \n  But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, [dogs have fewer chores](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-accidentally-exposes-where-the-husband-s-been-when-wife-takes-him-for-a-walk-ex1) they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A [doggy mom](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@rhubarbthedoggo\/) in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pit bull-Lab mix does around the house.\n  \n  The mom says Rhubarb has chores because “we didn’t raise a freeloader.”\n  \n  ## Working like a dog\n  \n  **1\\. Makes sure the laundry doesn’t get cold**\n  \n  Translation: Sits on top of the clean laundry, ready to be folded.\n  \n  **2\\. Unlicensed therapist**\n  \n  Translation: Gives us kisses when we’re tired or feeling down.\n  \n  **3\\. Supervise repairs**\n  \n  Translation: She gets in the way when you’re in a compromised, uncomfortable position with a wrench in your hand.\n  \n  **4\\. Alerts us when there’s an intruder**\n  \n  Translation: Stands at the window and barks furiously at the mailman.\n  \n  **5\\. Keeps mum’s spot warm**\n  \n  Translation: Lays in her spot on her favorite chair in the living room.\n  \n  ## Rhubarb’s fan club\n  Here are some of the comments inspired by the video.\n  \n  “*He’s carrying that household on his back. Give him a raise.*“\n  \n  “*Obviously the most valuable member of the household.*“\n  \n  “*Rhubarb needs a little vacation from working so flipping hard\\!*“\n  \n  “*Hardest worker there ever was.*“\n  \n  “*He’s carrying that household on his back.*“\n  \n  Here’s to Rhubarb, for earning his keep, and being adorable while doing it. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.\n  \n  *This article originally appeared two years ago.* *It has been updated.*\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![Travel expert reveals the one free room upgrade you should always ask for](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Hotel-1200.jpg?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/travel-expert-reveals-the-one-free-room-upgrade-you-should-always-ask-for\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/) – The one free room upgrade you should always ask for.\n  [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/), [Travel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/travel\/)\n  \n  ## [Travel expert reveals the one free room upgrade you should always ask for](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/travel-expert-reveals-the-one-free-room-upgrade-you-should-always-ask-for\/)\n  Want a larger room with a better view?\n  \n  [Tod Perry](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/tod-perry\/)\n  ***\n  4\/4\/2026\n  Having a great experience [at a hotel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/womans-heart-stopping-experience-at-a-hotel-reminds-everyone-to-lock-the-latch-behind-them-rp5\/) is all about the small things: an easy check-in and check-out, crisp [sheets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/how-often-wash-sheets-ex1\/), and—most importantly—a USB charger by the TV that actually works. [Jamie Fraser](https:\/\/www.insider.co.uk\/news\/historic-estate-robert-bruce-link-21438950), the owner of a private-use estate in [Scotland](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/scottish-purple-burglar-alarm-ex1\/), recently shared a way for travelers to make their stay a little nicer, for free.\n  \n  Fraser revealed a [travel secret to *Metro*](https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/03\/14\/this-seven-word-question-get-a-better-hotel-room-absolutely-free-27427736\/): “Corner rooms are often slightly larger than standard rooms because of the [building](https:\/\/www.good.is\/engineers-rotate-11-000-ton-building-by-90-degrees-with-employees-working-inside-in-extraordinary-video\/) layout. They also usually only share one wall with another [guest](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/kindergartener-invites-bus-driver-she-adores-as-her-special-guest-to-graduation\/), meaning they can be noticeably quieter, which many travelers really appreciate after a long journey.”\n  \n  ## Ask for a corner room upgrade\n  Better yet, corner rooms are often available free of charge. They’re typically not listed any differently from other rooms of a similar size and are assigned based on hotel capacity.\n  \n  > [View this post on Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUbn-dbkW0R\/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)\n  > \n  > [A post shared by Traveling Phil (@phildsilk)](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUbn-dbkW0R\/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)\n  \n  Traveling Phil, an [Instagram travel influencer](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/phildsilk\/), agrees. In a video, his wife explains that corner rooms offer four distinct features: two walls of windows, more square footage, increased natural light, and often better views. It’s the “same price” for a “better experience.”\n  \n  Another perk of a corner room, according to *[Your Mileage May Vary](https:\/\/yourmileagemayvary.com\/2025\/06\/04\/are-the-corner-rooms-in-hotels-really-bigger\/)*, is reduced foot traffic. Being farther from the elevator means fewer late-night footsteps, and you may also be closer to an emergency stairway in case of a safety issue.\n  \n  ![hotel, hotel upgrade, traveler, luggage, woman in hotel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Hotel-3.jpg)\n  \n  Woman in a hotel room. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/)\n  \n  “When hotel architects and designers start to cut up floors into bays, the rooms in the center of the floors—specifically near elevators, stairwells, and utility closets—will have less room because of space being cut to help service the building,” Karl von Ramm, general manager of The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, told [*Southern Living*](https:\/\/www.southernliving.com\/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329).\n  \n  He added that your best chance is “typically corner rooms or rooms along the front side of the building, where stairwells and utilities are typically not present.”\n  \n  ## How to get a corner room for free\n  According to Traveling Phil:\n  \n  - Book a standard room (don’t overpay upfront)\n  - Check in later in the day (after room shuffle)\n  - Politely ask, “Do you happen to have any corner rooms available?”\n  - Mention it’s a special occasion (even just a getaway)\n  - Smile. Energy matters.\n  \n  \n  Whether you’re hoping to upgrade to a corner room or a suite, you can increase your chances by telling the person at the front desk it’s a special occasion.\n  \n  “In the luxury hotel industry, we are always looking for a reason to celebrate and elevate the guest experience,” Lizzie Davidson, Thompson Houston’s area director of revenue, tells *[Southern Living](https:\/\/www.southernliving.com\/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329)*. “Mentioning your special occasion—such as a birthday, anniversary, or maybe even just a simple staycation escape with your loved one—always goes a long way at the reception area or concierge team.”\n  \n  So next time you check into a hotel, make this simple request—it likely won’t be much trouble for the staff. That way, you can make your trip a little extra special knowing you’ve secured a better view and a quieter room for the same price.\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/3.jpg?w=900)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/depressed-obese-golden-retriever-becomes-new-dog\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](http:\/\/canva.com\/photos) – Golden Retrievers are known for their friendly nature.\n  [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/), [Pets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/pets\/)\n  \n  ## [An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/depressed-obese-golden-retriever-becomes-new-dog\/)\n  Frannie is a case study in hope and possibility.\n  \n  [Annie Reneau](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/annie-reneau\/)\n  ***\n  4\/4\/2026\n  When Annika first brought [Frannie](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frannies.fight\/), an eight-year-old [Golden Retriever](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/golden-retriever-runs-into-vet-ex1\/), into her home, [the dog](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/woman-shares-the-magical-human-like-thing-her-dog-does\/) couldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female [of her breed](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/which-dog-breed-is-goofiest\/). Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of [doggie life.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/rescued-dog-human-connection-ex1\/)\n  \n  [Rover’s Retreat,](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rovers_retreat\/) a dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down.\n  \n  Annika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,” [she wrote](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C17JnlwRs95\/). “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car.\n  \n  \n  They faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps.\n  \n  “One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika [told *The Dodo*](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg). “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.”\n  \n  At first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it.\n  \n  Slowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog.\n  \n  \n  For a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was [frolicking in the snow](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@franniesfight\/video\/7339674538776481066) on her own. By March, she was able to [walk a full mile](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@franniesfight\/video\/7350747125770226987).\n  \n  She still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog.\n  \n  Annika told [*The Dodo*](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg) she had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.”\n  \n  In December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an [update on Instagram:](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DEA-2nWTPrm\/)\n  \n  “We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.”\n  \n  Frannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told *The Dodo*.\n  \n  What a beautiful gift for both of them.\n  \n  You can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey [on Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frannies.fight\/).\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![Elder female sperm whales seen acting as midwives in historic new video](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-14.jpg?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/elder-female-sperm-whales-seen-acting-as-midwives-in-historic-new-video\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/) – A sperm whale.\n  [Animals](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/animals\/), [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n  \n  ## [Elder female sperm whales seen acting as midwives in historic new video](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/elder-female-sperm-whales-seen-acting-as-midwives-in-historic-new-video\/)\n  “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.”\n  \n  [Jacalyn Wetzel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/jacalyn-wetzel\/)\n  ***\n  4\/2\/2026\n  Science lovers got a treat recently when new research on sperm whales was quietly released. Researchers not only witnessed the birth of a baby sperm whale, but also saw elder females, including the grandmother, acting as midwives. Very few species assist with birth outside of humans, but it seems sperm whales can now join that short list.\n  \n  [Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative)](https:\/\/www.projectceti.org\/) released two studies on sperm whales in journals *Nature* and *Science* respectively. *[Nature](https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-025-27438-3)* covers the different vocalizations of the whales during this teamwork process, while *[Science](https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.ady9280)* discusses the collaborative birthing approach by the whales.\n  \n  ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-13.jpg?w=1024)\n  \n  A sperm whale. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/)\n  \n  The sperm whale’s birth was first captured via drone in July 2023. Now that the video has made its way to social media, viewers cannot get over witnessing the whales act as midwives. Typically, scientists don’t get to witness sperm whales’ behavior during birth, likely because they give birth far from shore and avoid boats during this vulnerable process.\n  \n  With the increasing use of drones, however, scientists can now capture moments like this without disrupting wildlife. In the video, other whales—one identified as the grandmother—surround the birthing whale, named Rounder. Not all of the supporting whales were from the same pod as the mother, but they joined to help ensure the calf’s safe arrival.\n  \n  Because whales are mammals, they can’t breathe underwater. For this reason, baby whales, also known as calves, are born tail-first. Like other mammals, newborn whales instinctively try to breathe, so exiting the birth canal headfirst could result in drowning, according to *[National Geographic](https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/article\/sperm-whale-birth-video)*.\n  \n  Scientists have been following this pod for a while, so they’re familiar with the whales in the family. As they watched the drone footage from the boat, they were able to identify who was present. Still, the sight of this unique birthing circle shocked the scientists.\n  \n  ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-15.jpg?w=1024)\n  \n  A sperm whale near the water’s surface. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/)\n  \n  While birthing her calf, Rounder was flanked by her sister, Accra, and Atwood, an elder female. Behind the mom-to-be was her mother, Lady Oracle, her aunt Aurora, a juvenile whale named Ariel, and four other unknown female whales. The whales had dual roles: when the calf was born, the assisting whales formed a tight cluster and raised the baby out of the water so it could breathe.\n  \n  They took turns holding the calf out of the water for three hours. During that time, the females that were not actively lifting the calf to the surface were fending off nosy animals. Once the baby was safe and swimming alongside its mother, the other whales began to depart.\n  \n  > [View this post on Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DWfElH8D6d_\/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading)\n  \n  One of the scientists, Shane Gero, told *National Geographic*, “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” The same could be said for people coming across the video online.\n  \n  One person wrote, “Women supporting women! Bring it on!”\n  \n  Another person called out humans, saying, “I think they lied , who said survival of the fittest or only the strong survive. Everything in nature is about collective care. Even other animal species be helping each other. Also even when its predators they only take what they need.”\n  \n  This commenter admired the teamwork, writing, “I love how whales put so much energy into each other, but it’s even more exciting that members outside of the family pod were being so helpful. I’m invested!”\n  \n  “This is so frigging cool,” another person gushed. “I love how nature really wants nature to succeed. Absolutely 100% lit. Thanks for this!”\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![82-year-old Kentucky farmer rejects \\$26 million AI data center offer](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/3_da658d.png?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/kentucky-farmer-rejects-26-million\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos) – Horses on a farm.\n  [Conservation](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/conservation\/), [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n  \n  ## [82-year-old Kentucky farmer rejects \\$26 million AI data center offer](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/kentucky-farmer-rejects-26-million\/)\n  The incredible story of Ida Huddleston in Mason County.\n  \n  [Kat Hong](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/kat-hong\/)\n  ***\n  4\/2\/2026\n  Imagine getting a phone call out of the blue from a stranger offering you \\$26 [million](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wheel-of-fortune-unfair-fail-ex1\/) for part of your [farm](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/moyembrie-farm-prison-reform\/).\n  \n  For most of us, that would be a [life-changing](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/womans-request-for-life-changing-sentences-is-a-gold-mine-of-wisdom\/), [champagne-popping](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/108-year-old-woman-longevity-champagne\/), *are-you-serious-right-now?* moment. But for 82-year-old Ida Huddleston of Mason County, [Kentucky](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/appalachian-mom-gives-impassioned-speech-about-abortion-ban-in-kentucky\/), it was something else entirely: [an insult dressed up in dollar signs](https:\/\/local12.com\/news\/local\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati).\n  \n  Ida’s answer? A hard no, and trust me, she didn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.\n  \n  ## A legacy that can’t be bought\n  Ida is a part of the Huddleston family, who have [farmed this land for 200 years](https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/kentucky-family-says-turned-down-26m-from-ai-giant-keep-farmland-fed-nation). That’s two centuries of early mornings, muddy boots, and honest work. Over generations, they’ve raised cattle, grown soybeans, and planted corn on their 1,200-acre property outside Maysville.\n  \n  But it’s not just land stewardship. During the Great Depression—when jobs disappeared and families lined up just to get a meal—[the Huddlestons grew wheat.](https:\/\/abcnews4.com\/news\/nation-world\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati) They helped keep bread lines operating across America when people had almost nothing left. This land didn’t just feed the family; it fed the nation.\n  \n  ![kentucky, farmer, generation, ida, huddleston](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/1_6b953c.png?w=819)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos) – The Huddleston family has been farming in Kentucky for 200 years.\n  \n  So when a representative from [an unnamed Fortune 100 tech company offered \\$60,000 per acre](https:\/\/www.thebullvine.com\/dairy-industry\/60000-an-acre-a-fortune-50-ai-company-offered-the-huddlestons-26-million-for-their-kentucky-farm-they-refused\/)—about ten times the current market rate—Ida’s daughter, Delsia Bare, simply [said](https:\/\/local12.com\/news\/local\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati): “Stay and hold and feed a nation. \\$26 million doesn’t mean anything.”\n  \n  Notice the wording. She didn’t say “nothing.” She said \\$26 million doesn’t mean *anything*.\n  \n  ## The tech giant at the door\n  The company that offered \\$26 million for the Huddlestons’ property [has never revealed its identity](https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/kentucky-family-turns-down-26m-for-ai-data-center-11736205); local officials were required to sign non-disclosure agreements just to learn who was making the offer.\n  \n  What we do know: The company [planned to convert half of the Huddleston farm](https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/news\/us-news\/woman-farmer-family-turning-down-25-million-datacenter-490480-20260324) into a large “hyperscale” AI data center campus covering 2,000 acres outside Maysville. These facilities are enormous. They devour electricity. And [a single ginormous data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day](https:\/\/www.eesi.org\/articles\/view\/data-centers-and-water-consumption): roughly what a city of 50,000 people uses.\n  \n  However, the company did promise this: [400 permanent jobs in exchange for community support](https:\/\/people.com\/mother-daughter-turn-down-over-usd26-million-to-sell-their-farms-to-tech-giant-11925285). Ida wasn’t buying it.\n  \n  “They call us old, stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” she [told WKRC-TV](https:\/\/local12.com\/news\/local\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati). “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.”\n  \n  She called it a scam. And to be honest, the repeated pressure campaigns—multiple offers, persistent calls, and what she described as “[mind harassment](https:\/\/people.com\/mother-daughter-rejected-26m-offer-sell-farmland-to-build-data-center-say-others-havent-11934396)”—don’t exactly reflect good faith.\n  \n  ## A community that agrees\n  Ida isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness here. Since 2017, [Mason County has lost one-fifth of its farms](https:\/\/moneywise.com\/real-estate\/kentucky-farming-family-rejects-26m-offer-from-ai-giant). Neighbors throughout the region share her concerns about what an industrial mega-campus would do to their rural way of life: their water, their soil, their sense of home.\n  \n  And they’re fighting back.\n  \n  A grassroots group called “[We Are Mason County](https:\/\/wearemasoncountyky.org\/)” has [filed a lawsuit](https:\/\/datacentertracker.org\/) claiming the county’s zoning laws lack a proper legal framework for data centers. Their attorney noted that [approving this rezoning would directly conflict with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan](https:\/\/kentuckylantern.com\/2026\/03\/30\/stories-from-the-states-ky-farmer-on-fight-against-hyperscale-data-center-in-mason-county\/).\n  \n  In other words, this isn’t over.\n  \n  ## What this land means\n  For Ida, the decision was never really about money.\n  \n  Her late husband built their house with his own hands. She feels his presence every time she walks the fields. The land holds her family’s past and, she hopes, their future.\n  \n  \n  “I said, ‘No, mine is priceless.’ What I’ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,” she [told WXIX-TV](https:\/\/www.kbtx.com\/2026\/03\/26\/family-rejects-26m-ai-company-keep-farmland-being-turned-into-data-center\/).\n  \n  In an era when everything seems to have a price—and the biggest tech companies in the world have the resources to buy nearly anything—there’s something quietly remarkable about a woman who simply says: no, not this.\n  \n  Ida says she intends to die on that land, on her own terms, surrounded by 200 years of family history.\n  \n  Some things really are priceless.\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n- [![Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after 150 years. Scientists say it changes everything.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/5_005118.png?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/galapagos-tortoises-return-150-years\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos) – A baby tortoise.\n  [Animals](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/animals\/), [Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n  \n  ## [Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after 150 years. Scientists say it changes everything.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/galapagos-tortoises-return-150-years\/)\n  They’ll play an important role in restoring the ecosystem.\n  \n  [Kat Hong](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/author\/kat-hong\/)\n  ***\n  4\/1\/2026\n  [Extinction](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/200-new-animal-species-discovered\/) isn’t like leaving for a [long trip](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/millennial-dad-vs-boomer-grandfather-ex1\/) or [studying abroad](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/american-teachers-share-teaching-abroad\/). When it happens, [there’s no coming back](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/fireflies-extinction\/). The moment a [species disappears](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/greater-glider-endangered-ex1\/), it takes with it millions of years of evolution and an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of life on Earth. That’s it. Bye! Gone forever.\n  \n  Which is why [what happened on February 20](https:\/\/www.darwinfoundation.org\/en\/news\/all-news-stories\/158-endangered-tortoises-released-onto-floreana-island-galapagos-for-first-time-in-over-180-years\/), on a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean feels so extraordinary.\n  \n  A species that, by all accounts, should have been extinct returned home. That morning, rangers on Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands set down their packs and [gently placed 158 juvenile giant tortoises onto the wet ground](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c9wn1jrzk4go)—the first of their lineage to set foot on the island in roughly 175 years.\n  \n  These animals weren’t supposed to exist. Their subspecies was declared extinct in the 1850s. The forces that wiped them out—overhunting, invasive predators, habitat destruction—are exactly the kinds that usually can’t be reversed. But this time, somehow, they have been.\n  \n  ## First, here’s what was lost\n  Long ago—before whalers, settlers, feral cats, and invasive rats—[Floreana Island was home to as many as 20,000 giant tortoises](https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ecuador-galapagos-giant-turtles-released-0b024b4742b6b47c5ae7b60ac5b097cd). These weren’t just large, slow animals living out their days in the sun. They were ecosystem engineers that carved trails through the vegetation, swallowed whole fruits and deposited seeds miles away, planting forests with every lumbering step. The island’s entire web of life depended on these tortoises.\n  \n  ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/8.png?w=819)\n  \n  A tortoise. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  [Then the whalers came](https:\/\/atmos.earth\/science-and-nature\/humans-wiped-out-floreanas-giant-galapagos-tortoises-now-theyre-bringing-them-back\/).\n  \n  In the 1800s, passing ships discovered that giant tortoises were essentially the perfect food supply for long sea voyages. They could survive in a ship’s hold for months without food or water. [A single vessel could haul away 700 tortoises in one visit](https:\/\/www.andeandiscovery.com\/floreana-island-galapagos\/). Altogether, passing ships took [an estimated 100,000 tortoises](https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/article\/galapagos-floreana-tortoises-darwin) from across the Galápagos.\n  \n  And then, sometime around 1850, [the Floreana tortoise was simply…gone](https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/giant-tortoises-vanished-from-the-galapagos-floreana-island-more-than-150-years-ago-now-conservationists-have-brought-them-back-180988238\/). On top of that, humans had brought rats, cats, dogs, goats, and pigs with them—devastating the surrounding environment. These new animals destroyed native vegetation and ate tortoise eggs. A [massive wildfire in 1820 didn’t help either](https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free\/).\n  \n  By the time anyone thought to do something, it was too late. Or so everyone thought.\n  \n  ## A wild tale\n  In 2008, scientists exploring Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island [noticed something strange](https:\/\/www.galapagos.org\/newsroom\/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise\/). Some of the tortoises had an unusual shell shape: the unique saddleback shell associated with Floreana.\n  \n  They conducted DNA tests, and the results were nearly unbelievable. These tortoises carried the genetic fingerprint of the “extinct” Floreana lineage.\n  \n  It turns out that centuries earlier, those same whalers who had stripped Floreana of its tortoises had [occasionally offloaded live tortoises onto Isabela Island](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/feb\/20\/floreana-giant-tortoise-reintroduced-to-galapagos-island-after-almost-200-years), as provisions to be retrieved later or to lighten their ships. Some of those tortoises survived, bred, and passed their genes on for nearly 200 years.\n  \n  The Floreana tortoise had been hiding in plain sight the whole time.\n  \n  [Scientists sprang into action](https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free\/). They selected 23 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano that showed the strongest Floreana genetic signal and brought them to a breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. Starting in 2017, they carefully bred them over generations, patiently guiding their lineage back toward its original form.\n  \n  By 2025, they had more than 600 hatchlings.\n  \n  ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/1_101181.png?w=819)\n  \n  A tortoise with a distinctive shell pattern. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  Dr. Jen Jones, chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust, [described the moment](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c9wn1jrzk4go) as “truly spine-tingling,” adding that it validated two decades of collaboration among scientists, charities, and the local community.\n  \n  ## But wait—they didn’t just show up and release tortoises\n  Before a single tortoise set foot on Floreana, the island needed years of preparation.\n  \n  Remember, Floreana had been overrun with invasive rats and feral cats, the same forces that drove the tortoises to extinction in the first place. They needed to go. In October 2023, the Floreana tortoise team [launched a massive eradication campaign](https:\/\/www.galapagos.org\/newsroom\/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise\/) with helicopters, aerial baiting, and ground traps.\n  \n  Oh, and here’s a crucial aspect that’s often overlooked: [the island’s approximately 150 residents were actively involved in this endeavor](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/integrating-community-and-conservation-on-floreana\/), not mere spectators.\n  \n  Before the baiting began, [community members](https:\/\/eetrust.org\/projects\/restoring-floreana-island\/) set up protective enclosures for their pets to prevent harm. Farmers adapted their agricultural practices to best serve the project. Locals also helped with the trapping.\n  \n  The results were almost immediate. Native Galápagos rails—small birds that disappeared from the island entirely because of rat predation—have [already started coming back on their own](https:\/\/galapagosconservation.org.uk\/nature-recovery-galapagos\/?srsltid=AfmBOopvzmhnRvqgZ8m5XPFIVdXxT7NsG5OviZFUAgQEcQHVm97xwD9e). Nature, it turns out, is extremely ready to bounce back the moment you give it a chance.\n  \n  ## And they’re watching every step\n  Each of the 158 released tortoises carries a GPS tracker that pings its location every hour via satellite.\n  \n  On top of that, [NASA Earth observation data is overlaid](https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/earth\/nasa-is-helping-bring-giant-tortoises-back-to-the-galapagos\/) to map vegetation, rainfall, and soil conditions across the island. Scientists use all of this information to build habitat models that can project ecosystem conditions decades into the future, which matters a lot when you’re dealing with an animal that can live over a century.\n  \n  ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/6_df639e.png?w=819)\n  \n  Slow and steady wins the race. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  The plan is to [release 25 to 100 more tortoises each year](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/homecoming-floreana\/), with each group’s release location guided by data on where current tortoises are thriving. Slow and steady. Rather fitting, really.\n  \n  ## This is just the beginning\n  The 158 tortoises are Phase One of a plan to reintroduce 12 locally extinct species to Floreana over the coming decade. Next up? The [Floreana mockingbird](https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC2865062\/), a fascinating species that arguably inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when he visited the island in 1835. Sadly, it now only exists on two tiny offshore islets.\n  \n  After that: [Darwin’s finches](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos\/), Galápagos racer snakes, the [lava gull](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos\/) (the world’s rarest gull), and, eventually, the [Galápagos hawk](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos\/), the apex predator whose return would signal a fully restored food chain.\n  \n  Each species added to the island increases the likelihood that the next will succeed. That’s how ecosystems work. And honestly, it’s a pretty good lesson for the rest of life.\n  [Keep Reading →](http:\/\/%post%)\n\n![Astronaut, Christina Koch, the Orion, spacecraft, \"Spaceship Earth\"](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Earth.jpg?w=300)\n\n[Wholesome](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/wholesome\/)\n\n## 9 reasons the Artemis II space mission keeps bringing people to tears\n\n![conflict resolution, communication tips, how to stop an argument, Amanda Ripley, relationship advice](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Argument.png?w=300)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n## Expert shares the 1 sentence that can instantly stop an argument from boiling over\n\n![body image, body positivity, Brazilian wax, medical embarrassment, genital anxiety](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Featured-Image.png?w=300)\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/health\/)\n\n## Waxers, doctors, and nurses share their unfiltered inner thoughts about your ‘privates.’\n\n![gotya, gotye somebody that I used to know, gotye dance, cdk dance, somebody that i used to know dance, somebody that i used to know music video](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/origin-105.png?w=300)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n## Netherland-based dance troupe performs epic routine to “Somebody That I Used to Know”\n\n![laundry, laundry stain, pit stain, sweat stain, stain removal](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-26.png?w=300)\n\n[Skills](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/skills\/)\n\n## Wife shares exactly how she claimed laundry ‘victory’ on her husband’s work shirt pit stains\n### Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox.\nAdvertisement\n\n## Featured\n[All Featured Stories →](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/what-happens-when-we-die-rp\/)\n\n![love on the spectrum, netflix, relationships](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/WP-Heather-TOP-SPLASH-85.jpg?w=300)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n## Marriage counselor uses viral ‘Love on the Spectrum’ moment to explain triggers in relationships\nHeather Wake\n\n![fast food, McDonald's, making soil, growing vegetables, food](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Screenshot-2026-04-08-at-2.32.52-PM.png?w=300)\n\n[Nutrition](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/nutrition\/)\n\n## Man grows vegetables with soil he created from McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and KFC meals\nJacalyn Wetzel\n\n![sexual assault awareness month, sexual assault, mental health, college students, culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-47.jpg?w=300)\n\n[Education](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/skills\/education\/)\n\n## Woman uses an auditorium full of students to reframe how we think about sexual assault\nJacalyn Wetzel\n\n![iced coffee, iced coffee recipe, homemade iced coffee, cheap iced coffee, affordable iced coffee](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-25.png?w=300)\n\n[Skills](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/skills\/)\n\n## Trucker shares his 49-cent iced coffee recipe that ‘lasts all morning’ and frugal foodies call a ‘win’\nEmily Shiffer\n\nUpworthy shares the best of humanity every day through stories that remind us of what we all have in common.\n\nCompany\n\n[About](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/about-us\/)\n\n[Contact](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/contact-us\/)\n\n[Shop](https:\/\/books.disney.com\/book\/upworthy-good-people-stories-from-the-best-of-humanity\/)\n\n[Newsletter](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/newsletter\/)\n\n[Editorial Masthead](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/editorial-staff\/)\n\n[GOOD (Sister Site)](https:\/\/www.good.is\/)\n\nTopics\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[Family](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/family\/)\n\n[Nature](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/nature\/)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/)\n***\n© Copyright 2026\n\n[Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/privacy-policy)\n\n- [Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/upworthy\/)\n- [LinkedIn](https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/upworthy\/)\n- [Facebook](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/upworthy)\n- [TikTok](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@upworthy)\n- [YouTube](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/upworthy)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tr?id=1676218835946757&ev=PageView&noscript=1)","attrs_readable_markdown":"One of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t [a whole lot of evidence](https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/116251\/best-arguments-gods-existence-dont-challenge-atheists) to suggest they’re correct.\n\nHowever, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up?\n\nThere is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence.\n\nBut as the TV show [“The Good Place”](https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/culture\/archive\/2020\/01\/good-place-michael-schur-finale-metaphor-television\/605884\/) suggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless.\n***\nMark Twain said it best in [“Letters from the Earth”:](https:\/\/3quarksdaily.com\/3quarksdaily\/2019\/09\/deranged.html)\n\n*His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn’t it curious? Isn’t it interesting?*\n\nMany also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below.\n\nThere are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle.\n\nThen there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but [according to science](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2011\/may\/15\/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven), the most likely.\n\nReddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death, [so they asked,](https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/AskReddit\/comments\/t4wevt\/what_do_you_legitimately_believe_happens_after_we\/) “What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven\/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die.\n\nHere are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life.\n\n### 1\\. You’re a wave\n*“No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show ‘The Good Place’ that I really like and have found comfort in.*\n\n*“‘Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave.*\n\n*“And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.’”* — AlexEventstar\n\n### 2\\. Our energy moves on\n*“Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We’re all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We’re just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life.”* — four\\_\\_beasts\n\n### 3\\. You’ve been there before\n*“Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence.”* — SniffCheck\n\n### 4\\. No need to fear\n*”In the great words of Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”* — Eva\\_\\_Unit\\_\\_02\n\n### 5\\. One more time\n*“When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on ‘nothingness,” you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love.” —* MrXANA91\n\n### 6\\. Isn’t this reincarnation?\n*“I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly.”* — FarOutSonOfLung\n\n### 7\\. The great nothing\n*“In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist.”* — throwayaacctlmaooo\n\n### 8\\. Choose your own adventure\n*“I’d like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something.”* — No\\_But\\_Yes\n\n### 9\\. We’re energy\n*“I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet.”* — cheese-emperor\n\n### 10\\. Salamanders\n*“I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders.”* — Kyky716\n\n### 11\\. New universe?\n*“I believe we go to another universe but that’s just wishful thinking.” —* Zarek\\_Pumpkineater\n\n### 12\\. Incomparable infinity\n*“I’m under the impression that death is a separate experience we can’t comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness.*\n\n*“You only experience it while you’re doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don’t know what it was like before you were born because you’re obviously alive. Just like you don’t know deafness because your ears work. Beyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again.” —* bermudalily\n\n### 13\\. Nothing\n*“Nothing. It’s the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that’s somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?”* — joeri1505\n\n### 14\\. You become fertilizer\n*“The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow.”* — skev303\n\n### 15\\. May the source be with you\n*“What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way.”* — doopster77\n\n### 16\\. Star stuff\n*“Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body.* *As the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death.* *Because we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return.”* — dbryar\n\n*This article originally appeared on 3.4.22*\n\n- [![A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/CAMB-1_e5018b.jpg?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/habitat-for-humanity\/)\n  \n  Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff.\n  A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.\n  \n  Since 1976, [Habitat for Humanity](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/) has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.\n  \n  A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through *Let’s Open the Door*, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.\n  \n  ![Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity's 2025 Carter Work Project.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/image.jpeg?w=1024)\n  \n  Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.\n  \n  Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.\n  \n  Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The [MicroBuild®](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/our-work\/terwilliger-center-innovation-in-shelter\/microbuild) Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide [affordable appliances and building materials](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/restores) to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.\n  \n  ![Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/USGA-1.jpg?w=1024)\n  \n  Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.\n  \n  Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.\n  \n  Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:\n  \n  - **Speaking up on** [**social media**](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/habitatforhumanity) about the growing housing crisis\n  - **Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity** [**build**](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/volunteer\/near-you\/find-your-local-habitat) in your local community\n  - **[Travel and build](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/volunteer\/travel-and-build) with Habitat** in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe\n  - **Join the Let’s Open the Door movement** and, when you [**donate**](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/open-door\/activate), you can create your own personalized door\n  - **Shop or donate** at your local [**Habitat ReStore**](https:\/\/www.habitat.org\/restores)\n  \n  Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.\n  \n  ***Visit*** [***habitat.org******\/open-door***](http:\/\/habitat.org\/open-door)***to learn more and get involved today.***\n- [![Dog lost for months in the wilderness recognizes her owner in the most tearful reunion](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-381.jpg?w=980)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-spent-months-in-wilderness-ex1\/)\n  Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active [breed](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/top-dog-breeds-best-for-kids) that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even [some pet parents](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/grieving-son-travels-2650-miles-to-mississippi-humane-society-to-rescue-parents-dog-ex1) who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home.\n  \n  Many times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren’t providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets’ best interest in mind, you [put your faith in someone](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-rescued-from-romanian-forest) who specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out.\n  \n  In 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It’s unclear what prompted the family’s concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100091548831343).\n  \n  ![lost dog, dog rescue, Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team, pet recovery, dogs, pets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-379.jpg)\n  \n  Oakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trapped. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc2OTc3MTYwNH0.8fMhOUU3vUmHnk8TlQHWUMX0vdvpT_pSEkG1luKd9-o\/img.jpg?width=1200&height=800&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C1319%2C0%2C697)\n  \n  The dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups.\n  \n  The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin’s Trails referred to this as “lost dog syndrome.”\n  \n  But after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea.\n  \n  To make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found.\n  \n  Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin’s Trails told Upworthy, “We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later \\[after entering the training facility\\]. For about a month, we hung flyers, set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings.”\n  \n  Things were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn’t give up hope though.\n  \n  “Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming,” Raymond shares. “This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings.”\n  \n  ![lost dog rescue, dog reunion, Anakin's Trails, Husky rescue, pet recovery](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-380.jpg)\n  \n  The recently-found Nova Jo smiles at the camera. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https:\/\/assets.rebelmouse.io\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc5NDE4Nzg2Nn0.nLQcAqiHocQG_OO6Drxd6oU9ts2iQvvnVAAEd96jNWI\/img.jpg?width=2000&height=1500&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C248%2C0%2C707)\n  \n  As of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley’s sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin’s Trails.\n  \n  “There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up,” Raymond said. “SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court.”\n  \n  The work Anakin’s Trails does isn’t easy and since it’s a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family.\n  \n  *If you’d like to donate to Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so [here](https:\/\/venmo.com\/u\/anakinstrails).*\n  \n  *This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.*\n- [![Video of a chicken laying an egg has people rethinking their breakfast](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/ANNIE-TOP-SPLASH-124.jpg?w=900)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/watch-a-chicken-lay-an-egg\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](http:\/\/canva.com\/photos) – Hens lay about one egg per day, on average.\n  Have you ever watched a [chicken](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/chickens-freak-out-their-owner-when-they-all-suddenly-freeze-in-place-at-feeding-time\/) lay [an egg](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/why-we-eat-chicken-eggs-duck-eggs-and-quail-eggs-but-not-turkey-eggs-ex1\/)? Think hard before you answer. Many of us may instinctively say, “Of course I have!” but then realize we’ve only seen movie scenes or [cartoons](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/gen-xers-miss-their-sacred-saturday-morning-cartoons-and-debate-which-one-was-the-best\/) *depicting* [hens laying eggs](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/scientists-just-solved-the-chicken-and-egg-debate\/). Few of us have actually witnessed a real egg come out of a real hen in real life.\n  \n  Even fewer of us have seen it the way the folks at [@chickenwifehappylife](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@chickenwifehappylife\/video\/7620177276075920654) captured it. One of their chickens hopped onto a workbench and laid her egg right on the table in front of them. No nesting-box privacy for this lady. She wanted to show the world what she goes through to lay a single egg, and frankly, she has every right.\n  \n  ## Watch a hen lay an egg:\n  Now see if the comments match what you were thinking:\n  \n  “Was I the only one that wasn’t sure exactly where the egg was going to pop out of?”\n  \n  “Great. Now I feel awful eating eggs. She went through all that and I just come along and see breakfast. Damn.”\n  \n  “Totally makes sense why chickens are so mean. If I had to go through childbirth every day of my life, I’d be a raging lunatic too!”\n  \n  “I never stopped to appreciate the eggs I consumed. After watching this, I have more respect for eggs and the chickens that lay them.”\n  \n  ![A hen sits in a nest with an egg](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/4.jpg)\n  \n  A hen sits in a nesting box with an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  “Girl… I promise not to complain about the price of eggs. Please take a day off, you deserve it.”\n  \n  “I’d be pissed if I had to lay an egg every day.”\n  \n  “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!”\n  \n  The overwhelming sentiments people shared were: (1) “Wow, I have truly never watched a hen lay an egg before,” and (2) “Wow, I will never take eggs for granted again.” Some also said, “I don’t know if I want to eat eggs anymore,” rethinking their breakfast choices.\n  \n  ## Does it hurt a chicken to lay an egg?\n  Watching this hen lay her egg on the workbench had people feeling for her. It’s a bit reminiscent of giving birth, especially with her bearing down and “singing the egg song” just before it popped out.\n  \n  ![A hen bearing down to lay an egg](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/5.jpg)\n  \n  A hen prepares to lay an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  [According to The Humane League](https:\/\/thehumaneleague.org\/article\/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs), most experts agree that laying eggs is not generally painful for hens. How do they know? Here are [the specifics:](https:\/\/thehumaneleague.org\/article\/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs)\n  \n  *“The reason it is hard to answer this question with complete clarity is because, of course, chickens cannot tell us for sure whether they’re experiencing pain when laying eggs. There are some signs, but we have to be careful not to misread them. For example, for a long time humans (including that first century Roman writer, Columella) believed that the sound many chickens make before laying indicated pain. However, studies found that the sound was instead an “[egg song](https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/j.1439-0310.1963.tb01156.x),” which could have a number of explanations, including happiness and scaring off predators. Another study found that [when a hen “sings” it is more likely to be associated with contentment](https:\/\/sora.unm.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/journals\/condor\/v089n03\/p0510-p0524.pdf), while cackling aligns with danger.”*\n  \n  Naturally, there are things that can go wrong during the egg-laying process that can make it painful. Signs that a hen is in distress while laying include wheezing, distressed squawking, not eating or drinking, isolating, hunching over, drooping, avoiding movement or activity, and slow or awkward movements. Most of the time, however, a hen will recover immediately after laying an egg and go on with life as if nothing happened.\n  \n  ## How often do chickens lay eggs?\n  Hens basically lay eggs daily, but that’s a bit oversimplified.\n  \n  The [University of Wisconsin–Madison](https:\/\/livestock.extension.wisc.edu\/articles\/life-cycle-of-a-laying-hen\/) notes that hens ovulate, releasing an egg yolk, every 24 to 26 hours. It then takes about 26 hours for the egg white and shell to form around the yolk. As a result, hens typically lay one egg per day, but the timing shifts later each day. Once in a while, a hen will also “skip” a day or two.\n  \n  Hens did not originally lay more than 300 eggs a year, however. Through centuries of selective breeding, humans have “engineered” chickens to become more prolific egg layers.\n  \n  Many people have concerns about the well-being of hens used in the industrial production of eggs. Even when we try to make ethical choices about the food we consume, the details are not always clear. Labels on egg cartons, such as “organic,” “cage-free,” and “pasture-raised,” can be confusing, but Certified Humane offers an [explainer](https:\/\/certifiedhumane.org\/decoding-carton-buy-clean-humane-eggs\/) that helps demystify these terms.\n  \n  Whatever egg choices we make, seeing the laying process may at least give us a newfound respect and gratitude for the hens who lay them.\n- [![Dog mom shares adorable video of the ‘chores’ her pit bull pup thinks she’s doing](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/06\/origin-102.png?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/pitbull-pup-does-chores-ex1\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: via [Stiv XTZ\/Pexels](https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/american-pit-bull-terrier-puppy-on-window-pane-close-up-photo-137020\/) – A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.\n  [Dogs](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/dogs) are naturally driven by a [sense of purpose](https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/better\/pop-culture\/therapy-dogs-love-their-jobs-your-pup-cut-out-it-ncna878676) and a need for belonging, which are all part of their [instinctual pack behavior.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/tag\/dogs) When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.\n  \n  But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, [dogs have fewer chores](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/dog-accidentally-exposes-where-the-husband-s-been-when-wife-takes-him-for-a-walk-ex1) they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A [doggy mom](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@rhubarbthedoggo\/) in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pit bull-Lab mix does around the house.\n  \n  The mom says Rhubarb has chores because “we didn’t raise a freeloader.”\n  \n  ## Working like a dog\n  **1\\. Makes sure the laundry doesn’t get cold**\n  \n  Translation: Sits on top of the clean laundry, ready to be folded.\n  \n  **2\\. Unlicensed therapist**\n  \n  Translation: Gives us kisses when we’re tired or feeling down.\n  \n  **3\\. Supervise repairs**\n  \n  Translation: She gets in the way when you’re in a compromised, uncomfortable position with a wrench in your hand.\n  \n  **4\\. Alerts us when there’s an intruder**\n  \n  Translation: Stands at the window and barks furiously at the mailman.\n  \n  **5\\. Keeps mum’s spot warm**\n  \n  Translation: Lays in her spot on her favorite chair in the living room.\n  \n  ## Rhubarb’s fan club\n  Here are some of the comments inspired by the video.\n  \n  “*He’s carrying that household on his back. Give him a raise.*“\n  \n  “*Obviously the most valuable member of the household.*“\n  \n  “*Rhubarb needs a little vacation from working so flipping hard\\!*“\n  \n  “*Hardest worker there ever was.*“\n  \n  “*He’s carrying that household on his back.*“\n  \n  Here’s to Rhubarb, for earning his keep, and being adorable while doing it. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.\n  \n  *This article originally appeared two years ago.* *It has been updated.*\n- [![Travel expert reveals the one free room upgrade you should always ask for](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Hotel-1200.jpg?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/travel-expert-reveals-the-one-free-room-upgrade-you-should-always-ask-for\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/) – The one free room upgrade you should always ask for.\n  Having a great experience [at a hotel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/womans-heart-stopping-experience-at-a-hotel-reminds-everyone-to-lock-the-latch-behind-them-rp5\/) is all about the small things: an easy check-in and check-out, crisp [sheets](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/how-often-wash-sheets-ex1\/), and—most importantly—a USB charger by the TV that actually works. [Jamie Fraser](https:\/\/www.insider.co.uk\/news\/historic-estate-robert-bruce-link-21438950), the owner of a private-use estate in [Scotland](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/scottish-purple-burglar-alarm-ex1\/), recently shared a way for travelers to make their stay a little nicer, for free.\n  \n  Fraser revealed a [travel secret to *Metro*](https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2026\/03\/14\/this-seven-word-question-get-a-better-hotel-room-absolutely-free-27427736\/): “Corner rooms are often slightly larger than standard rooms because of the [building](https:\/\/www.good.is\/engineers-rotate-11-000-ton-building-by-90-degrees-with-employees-working-inside-in-extraordinary-video\/) layout. They also usually only share one wall with another [guest](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/kindergartener-invites-bus-driver-she-adores-as-her-special-guest-to-graduation\/), meaning they can be noticeably quieter, which many travelers really appreciate after a long journey.”\n  \n  ## Ask for a corner room upgrade\n  Better yet, corner rooms are often available free of charge. They’re typically not listed any differently from other rooms of a similar size and are assigned based on hotel capacity.\n  \n  \n  Traveling Phil, an [Instagram travel influencer](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/phildsilk\/), agrees. In a video, his wife explains that corner rooms offer four distinct features: two walls of windows, more square footage, increased natural light, and often better views. It’s the “same price” for a “better experience.”\n  \n  Another perk of a corner room, according to *[Your Mileage May Vary](https:\/\/yourmileagemayvary.com\/2025\/06\/04\/are-the-corner-rooms-in-hotels-really-bigger\/)*, is reduced foot traffic. Being farther from the elevator means fewer late-night footsteps, and you may also be closer to an emergency stairway in case of a safety issue.\n  \n  ![hotel, hotel upgrade, traveler, luggage, woman in hotel](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Hotel-3.jpg)\n  \n  Woman in a hotel room. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/)\n  \n  “When hotel architects and designers start to cut up floors into bays, the rooms in the center of the floors—specifically near elevators, stairwells, and utility closets—will have less room because of space being cut to help service the building,” Karl von Ramm, general manager of The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, told [*Southern Living*](https:\/\/www.southernliving.com\/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329).\n  \n  He added that your best chance is “typically corner rooms or rooms along the front side of the building, where stairwells and utilities are typically not present.”\n  \n  ## How to get a corner room for free\n  According to Traveling Phil:\n  \n  - Book a standard room (don’t overpay upfront)\n  - Check in later in the day (after room shuffle)\n  - Politely ask, “Do you happen to have any corner rooms available?”\n  - Mention it’s a special occasion (even just a getaway)\n  - Smile. Energy matters.\n  \n  Whether you’re hoping to upgrade to a corner room or a suite, you can increase your chances by telling the person at the front desk it’s a special occasion.\n  \n  “In the luxury hotel industry, we are always looking for a reason to celebrate and elevate the guest experience,” Lizzie Davidson, Thompson Houston’s area director of revenue, tells *[Southern Living](https:\/\/www.southernliving.com\/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329)*. “Mentioning your special occasion—such as a birthday, anniversary, or maybe even just a simple staycation escape with your loved one—always goes a long way at the reception area or concierge team.”\n  \n  So next time you check into a hotel, make this simple request—it likely won’t be much trouble for the staff. That way, you can make your trip a little extra special knowing you’ve secured a better view and a quieter room for the same price.\n- [![An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/3.jpg?w=900)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/depressed-obese-golden-retriever-becomes-new-dog\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](http:\/\/canva.com\/photos) – Golden Retrievers are known for their friendly nature.\n  When Annika first brought [Frannie](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frannies.fight\/), an eight-year-old [Golden Retriever](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/golden-retriever-runs-into-vet-ex1\/), into her home, [the dog](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/woman-shares-the-magical-human-like-thing-her-dog-does\/) couldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female [of her breed](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/which-dog-breed-is-goofiest\/). Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of [doggie life.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/rescued-dog-human-connection-ex1\/)\n  \n  [Rover’s Retreat,](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rovers_retreat\/) a dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down.\n  \n  Annika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,” [she wrote](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C17JnlwRs95\/). “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car.\n  \n  They faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps.\n  \n  “One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika [told *The Dodo*](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg). “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.”\n  \n  At first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it.\n  \n  Slowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog.\n  \n  For a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was [frolicking in the snow](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@franniesfight\/video\/7339674538776481066) on her own. By March, she was able to [walk a full mile](https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@franniesfight\/video\/7350747125770226987).\n  \n  She still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog.\n  \n  Annika told [*The Dodo*](https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg) she had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.”\n  \n  In December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an [update on Instagram:](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DEA-2nWTPrm\/)\n  \n  “We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.”\n  \n  Frannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told *The Dodo*.\n  \n  What a beautiful gift for both of them.\n  \n  You can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey [on Instagram](https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/frannies.fight\/).\n- [![Elder female sperm whales seen acting as midwives in historic new video](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-14.jpg?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/elder-female-sperm-whales-seen-acting-as-midwives-in-historic-new-video\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/) – A sperm whale.\n  Science lovers got a treat recently when new research on sperm whales was quietly released. Researchers not only witnessed the birth of a baby sperm whale, but also saw elder females, including the grandmother, acting as midwives. Very few species assist with birth outside of humans, but it seems sperm whales can now join that short list.\n  \n  [Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative)](https:\/\/www.projectceti.org\/) released two studies on sperm whales in journals *Nature* and *Science* respectively. *[Nature](https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-025-27438-3)* covers the different vocalizations of the whales during this teamwork process, while *[Science](https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.ady9280)* discusses the collaborative birthing approach by the whales.\n  \n  ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-13.jpg?w=1024)\n  \n  A sperm whale. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/)\n  \n  The sperm whale’s birth was first captured via drone in July 2023. Now that the video has made its way to social media, viewers cannot get over witnessing the whales act as midwives. Typically, scientists don’t get to witness sperm whales’ behavior during birth, likely because they give birth far from shore and avoid boats during this vulnerable process.\n  \n  With the increasing use of drones, however, scientists can now capture moments like this without disrupting wildlife. In the video, other whales—one identified as the grandmother—surround the birthing whale, named Rounder. Not all of the supporting whales were from the same pod as the mother, but they joined to help ensure the calf’s safe arrival.\n  \n  Because whales are mammals, they can’t breathe underwater. For this reason, baby whales, also known as calves, are born tail-first. Like other mammals, newborn whales instinctively try to breathe, so exiting the birth canal headfirst could result in drowning, according to *[National Geographic](https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/article\/sperm-whale-birth-video)*.\n  \n  Scientists have been following this pod for a while, so they’re familiar with the whales in the family. As they watched the drone footage from the boat, they were able to identify who was present. Still, the sight of this unique birthing circle shocked the scientists.\n  \n  ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-15.jpg?w=1024)\n  \n  A sperm whale near the water’s surface. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos\/)\n  \n  While birthing her calf, Rounder was flanked by her sister, Accra, and Atwood, an elder female. Behind the mom-to-be was her mother, Lady Oracle, her aunt Aurora, a juvenile whale named Ariel, and four other unknown female whales. The whales had dual roles: when the calf was born, the assisting whales formed a tight cluster and raised the baby out of the water so it could breathe.\n  \n  They took turns holding the calf out of the water for three hours. During that time, the females that were not actively lifting the calf to the surface were fending off nosy animals. Once the baby was safe and swimming alongside its mother, the other whales began to depart.\n  \n  One of the scientists, Shane Gero, told *National Geographic*, “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” The same could be said for people coming across the video online.\n  \n  One person wrote, “Women supporting women! Bring it on!”\n  \n  Another person called out humans, saying, “I think they lied , who said survival of the fittest or only the strong survive. Everything in nature is about collective care. Even other animal species be helping each other. Also even when its predators they only take what they need.”\n  \n  This commenter admired the teamwork, writing, “I love how whales put so much energy into each other, but it’s even more exciting that members outside of the family pod were being so helpful. I’m invested!”\n  \n  “This is so frigging cool,” another person gushed. “I love how nature really wants nature to succeed. Absolutely 100% lit. Thanks for this!”\n- [![82-year-old Kentucky farmer rejects \\$26 million AI data center offer](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/3_da658d.png?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/kentucky-farmer-rejects-26-million\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos) – Horses on a farm.\n  Imagine getting a phone call out of the blue from a stranger offering you \\$26 [million](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wheel-of-fortune-unfair-fail-ex1\/) for part of your [farm](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/moyembrie-farm-prison-reform\/).\n  \n  For most of us, that would be a [life-changing](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/womans-request-for-life-changing-sentences-is-a-gold-mine-of-wisdom\/), [champagne-popping](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/108-year-old-woman-longevity-champagne\/), *are-you-serious-right-now?* moment. But for 82-year-old Ida Huddleston of Mason County, [Kentucky](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/appalachian-mom-gives-impassioned-speech-about-abortion-ban-in-kentucky\/), it was something else entirely: [an insult dressed up in dollar signs](https:\/\/local12.com\/news\/local\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati).\n  \n  Ida’s answer? A hard no, and trust me, she didn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.\n  \n  ## A legacy that can’t be bought\n  Ida is a part of the Huddleston family, who have [farmed this land for 200 years](https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/kentucky-family-says-turned-down-26m-from-ai-giant-keep-farmland-fed-nation). That’s two centuries of early mornings, muddy boots, and honest work. Over generations, they’ve raised cattle, grown soybeans, and planted corn on their 1,200-acre property outside Maysville.\n  \n  But it’s not just land stewardship. During the Great Depression—when jobs disappeared and families lined up just to get a meal—[the Huddlestons grew wheat.](https:\/\/abcnews4.com\/news\/nation-world\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati) They helped keep bread lines operating across America when people had almost nothing left. This land didn’t just feed the family; it fed the nation.\n  \n  ![kentucky, farmer, generation, ida, huddleston](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/1_6b953c.png?w=819)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos) – The Huddleston family has been farming in Kentucky for 200 years.\n  \n  So when a representative from [an unnamed Fortune 100 tech company offered \\$60,000 per acre](https:\/\/www.thebullvine.com\/dairy-industry\/60000-an-acre-a-fortune-50-ai-company-offered-the-huddlestons-26-million-for-their-kentucky-farm-they-refused\/)—about ten times the current market rate—Ida’s daughter, Delsia Bare, simply [said](https:\/\/local12.com\/news\/local\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati): “Stay and hold and feed a nation. \\$26 million doesn’t mean anything.”\n  \n  Notice the wording. She didn’t say “nothing.” She said \\$26 million doesn’t mean *anything*.\n  \n  ## The tech giant at the door\n  The company that offered \\$26 million for the Huddlestons’ property [has never revealed its identity](https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/kentucky-family-turns-down-26m-for-ai-data-center-11736205); local officials were required to sign non-disclosure agreements just to learn who was making the offer.\n  \n  What we do know: The company [planned to convert half of the Huddleston farm](https:\/\/www.unilad.com\/news\/us-news\/woman-farmer-family-turning-down-25-million-datacenter-490480-20260324) into a large “hyperscale” AI data center campus covering 2,000 acres outside Maysville. These facilities are enormous. They devour electricity. And [a single ginormous data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day](https:\/\/www.eesi.org\/articles\/view\/data-centers-and-water-consumption): roughly what a city of 50,000 people uses.\n  \n  However, the company did promise this: [400 permanent jobs in exchange for community support](https:\/\/people.com\/mother-daughter-turn-down-over-usd26-million-to-sell-their-farms-to-tech-giant-11925285). Ida wasn’t buying it.\n  \n  “They call us old, stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” she [told WKRC-TV](https:\/\/local12.com\/news\/local\/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati). “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.”\n  \n  She called it a scam. And to be honest, the repeated pressure campaigns—multiple offers, persistent calls, and what she described as “[mind harassment](https:\/\/people.com\/mother-daughter-rejected-26m-offer-sell-farmland-to-build-data-center-say-others-havent-11934396)”—don’t exactly reflect good faith.\n  \n  Ida isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness here. Since 2017, [Mason County has lost one-fifth of its farms](https:\/\/moneywise.com\/real-estate\/kentucky-farming-family-rejects-26m-offer-from-ai-giant). Neighbors throughout the region share her concerns about what an industrial mega-campus would do to their rural way of life: their water, their soil, their sense of home.\n  \n  And they’re fighting back.\n  \n  A grassroots group called “[We Are Mason County](https:\/\/wearemasoncountyky.org\/)” has [filed a lawsuit](https:\/\/datacentertracker.org\/) claiming the county’s zoning laws lack a proper legal framework for data centers. Their attorney noted that [approving this rezoning would directly conflict with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan](https:\/\/kentuckylantern.com\/2026\/03\/30\/stories-from-the-states-ky-farmer-on-fight-against-hyperscale-data-center-in-mason-county\/).\n  \n  In other words, this isn’t over.\n  \n  ## What this land means\n  For Ida, the decision was never really about money.\n  \n  Her late husband built their house with his own hands. She feels his presence every time she walks the fields. The land holds her family’s past and, she hopes, their future.\n  \n  “I said, ‘No, mine is priceless.’ What I’ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,” she [told WXIX-TV](https:\/\/www.kbtx.com\/2026\/03\/26\/family-rejects-26m-ai-company-keep-farmland-being-turned-into-data-center\/).\n  \n  In an era when everything seems to have a price—and the biggest tech companies in the world have the resources to buy nearly anything—there’s something quietly remarkable about a woman who simply says: no, not this.\n  \n  Ida says she intends to die on that land, on her own terms, surrounded by 200 years of family history.\n  \n  Some things really are priceless.\n- [![Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after 150 years. Scientists say it changes everything.](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/5_005118.png?w=1024)](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/galapagos-tortoises-return-150-years\/)\n  \n  Photo credit: [Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos) – A baby tortoise.\n  [Extinction](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/200-new-animal-species-discovered\/) isn’t like leaving for a [long trip](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/millennial-dad-vs-boomer-grandfather-ex1\/) or [studying abroad](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/american-teachers-share-teaching-abroad\/). When it happens, [there’s no coming back](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/fireflies-extinction\/). The moment a [species disappears](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/greater-glider-endangered-ex1\/), it takes with it millions of years of evolution and an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of life on Earth. That’s it. Bye! Gone forever.\n  \n  Which is why [what happened on February 20](https:\/\/www.darwinfoundation.org\/en\/news\/all-news-stories\/158-endangered-tortoises-released-onto-floreana-island-galapagos-for-first-time-in-over-180-years\/), on a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean feels so extraordinary.\n  \n  A species that, by all accounts, should have been extinct returned home. That morning, rangers on Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands set down their packs and [gently placed 158 juvenile giant tortoises onto the wet ground](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c9wn1jrzk4go)—the first of their lineage to set foot on the island in roughly 175 years.\n  \n  These animals weren’t supposed to exist. Their subspecies was declared extinct in the 1850s. The forces that wiped them out—overhunting, invasive predators, habitat destruction—are exactly the kinds that usually can’t be reversed. But this time, somehow, they have been.\n  \n  ## First, here’s what was lost\n  Long ago—before whalers, settlers, feral cats, and invasive rats—[Floreana Island was home to as many as 20,000 giant tortoises](https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ecuador-galapagos-giant-turtles-released-0b024b4742b6b47c5ae7b60ac5b097cd). These weren’t just large, slow animals living out their days in the sun. They were ecosystem engineers that carved trails through the vegetation, swallowed whole fruits and deposited seeds miles away, planting forests with every lumbering step. The island’s entire web of life depended on these tortoises.\n  \n  ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/8.png?w=819)\n  \n  A tortoise. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  [Then the whalers came](https:\/\/atmos.earth\/science-and-nature\/humans-wiped-out-floreanas-giant-galapagos-tortoises-now-theyre-bringing-them-back\/).\n  \n  In the 1800s, passing ships discovered that giant tortoises were essentially the perfect food supply for long sea voyages. They could survive in a ship’s hold for months without food or water. [A single vessel could haul away 700 tortoises in one visit](https:\/\/www.andeandiscovery.com\/floreana-island-galapagos\/). Altogether, passing ships took [an estimated 100,000 tortoises](https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/article\/galapagos-floreana-tortoises-darwin) from across the Galápagos.\n  \n  And then, sometime around 1850, [the Floreana tortoise was simply…gone](https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/giant-tortoises-vanished-from-the-galapagos-floreana-island-more-than-150-years-ago-now-conservationists-have-brought-them-back-180988238\/). On top of that, humans had brought rats, cats, dogs, goats, and pigs with them—devastating the surrounding environment. These new animals destroyed native vegetation and ate tortoise eggs. A [massive wildfire in 1820 didn’t help either](https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free\/).\n  \n  By the time anyone thought to do something, it was too late. Or so everyone thought.\n  \n  ## A wild tale\n  In 2008, scientists exploring Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island [noticed something strange](https:\/\/www.galapagos.org\/newsroom\/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise\/). Some of the tortoises had an unusual shell shape: the unique saddleback shell associated with Floreana.\n  \n  They conducted DNA tests, and the results were nearly unbelievable. These tortoises carried the genetic fingerprint of the “extinct” Floreana lineage.\n  \n  It turns out that centuries earlier, those same whalers who had stripped Floreana of its tortoises had [occasionally offloaded live tortoises onto Isabela Island](https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/feb\/20\/floreana-giant-tortoise-reintroduced-to-galapagos-island-after-almost-200-years), as provisions to be retrieved later or to lighten their ships. Some of those tortoises survived, bred, and passed their genes on for nearly 200 years.\n  \n  The Floreana tortoise had been hiding in plain sight the whole time.\n  \n  [Scientists sprang into action](https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free\/). They selected 23 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano that showed the strongest Floreana genetic signal and brought them to a breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. Starting in 2017, they carefully bred them over generations, patiently guiding their lineage back toward its original form.\n  \n  By 2025, they had more than 600 hatchlings.\n  \n  ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/1_101181.png?w=819)\n  \n  A tortoise with a distinctive shell pattern. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  Dr. Jen Jones, chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust, [described the moment](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c9wn1jrzk4go) as “truly spine-tingling,” adding that it validated two decades of collaboration among scientists, charities, and the local community.\n  \n  ## But wait—they didn’t just show up and release tortoises\n  Before a single tortoise set foot on Floreana, the island needed years of preparation.\n  \n  Remember, Floreana had been overrun with invasive rats and feral cats, the same forces that drove the tortoises to extinction in the first place. They needed to go. In October 2023, the Floreana tortoise team [launched a massive eradication campaign](https:\/\/www.galapagos.org\/newsroom\/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise\/) with helicopters, aerial baiting, and ground traps.\n  \n  Oh, and here’s a crucial aspect that’s often overlooked: [the island’s approximately 150 residents were actively involved in this endeavor](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/integrating-community-and-conservation-on-floreana\/), not mere spectators.\n  \n  Before the baiting began, [community members](https:\/\/eetrust.org\/projects\/restoring-floreana-island\/) set up protective enclosures for their pets to prevent harm. Farmers adapted their agricultural practices to best serve the project. Locals also helped with the trapping.\n  \n  The results were almost immediate. Native Galápagos rails—small birds that disappeared from the island entirely because of rat predation—have [already started coming back on their own](https:\/\/galapagosconservation.org.uk\/nature-recovery-galapagos\/?srsltid=AfmBOopvzmhnRvqgZ8m5XPFIVdXxT7NsG5OviZFUAgQEcQHVm97xwD9e). Nature, it turns out, is extremely ready to bounce back the moment you give it a chance.\n  \n  ## And they’re watching every step\n  Each of the 158 released tortoises carries a GPS tracker that pings its location every hour via satellite.\n  \n  On top of that, [NASA Earth observation data is overlaid](https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/earth\/nasa-is-helping-bring-giant-tortoises-back-to-the-galapagos\/) to map vegetation, rainfall, and soil conditions across the island. Scientists use all of this information to build habitat models that can project ecosystem conditions decades into the future, which matters a lot when you’re dealing with an animal that can live over a century.\n  \n  ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/6_df639e.png?w=819)\n  \n  Slow and steady wins the race. [Photo credit: Canva](https:\/\/www.canva.com\/photos)\n  \n  The plan is to [release 25 to 100 more tortoises each year](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/homecoming-floreana\/), with each group’s release location guided by data on where current tortoises are thriving. Slow and steady. Rather fitting, really.\n  \n  ## This is just the beginning\n  The 158 tortoises are Phase One of a plan to reintroduce 12 locally extinct species to Floreana over the coming decade. Next up? The [Floreana mockingbird](https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC2865062\/), a fascinating species that arguably inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when he visited the island in 1835. Sadly, it now only exists on two tiny offshore islets.\n  \n  After that: [Darwin’s finches](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos\/), Galápagos racer snakes, the [lava gull](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos\/) (the world’s rarest gull), and, eventually, the [Galápagos hawk](https:\/\/www.islandconservation.org\/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos\/), the apex predator whose return would signal a fully restored food chain.\n  \n  Each species added to the island increases the likelihood that the next will succeed. That’s how ecosystems work. And honestly, it’s a pretty good lesson for the rest of life.\n\n![Astronaut, Christina Koch, the Orion, spacecraft, \"Spaceship Earth\"](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Earth.jpg?w=300)\n\n[Wholesome](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/wholesome\/)\n\n## 9 reasons the Artemis II space mission keeps bringing people to tears\n\n![conflict resolution, communication tips, how to stop an argument, Amanda Ripley, relationship advice](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Argument.png?w=300)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n## Expert shares the 1 sentence that can instantly stop an argument from boiling over\n\n![body image, body positivity, Brazilian wax, medical embarrassment, genital anxiety](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Featured-Image.png?w=300)\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/science\/health\/)\n\n## Waxers, doctors, and nurses share their unfiltered inner thoughts about your ‘privates.’\n\n![gotya, gotye somebody that I used to know, gotye dance, cdk dance, somebody that i used to know dance, somebody that i used to know music video](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/origin-105.png?w=300)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n## Netherland-based dance troupe performs epic routine to “Somebody That I Used to Know”\n\n![laundry, laundry stain, pit stain, sweat stain, stain removal](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/Untitled-design-26.png?w=300)\n\n[Skills](https:\/\/www.upworthy.com\/category\/skills\/)\n\n## Wife shares exactly how she claimed laundry ‘victory’ on her husband’s work shirt pit stains","meta_canonical":null}

3. Robots.txt Check

Query:

Response:

4. Spam/Ban Check

Query:

Response:

5. Seen Status Check

ℹ️ Skipped - page is already crawled

📄

INDEXABLE

✅

CRAWLED

2 days ago

🤖

ROBOTS ALLOWED

Page Info Filters

Filter	Status	Condition	Details
HTTP status	PASS	`download_http_code = 200`	HTTP 200
Age cutoff	PASS	`download_stamp > now() - 6 MONTH`	0.1 months ago
History drop	PASS	`isNull(history_drop_reason)`	No drop reason
Spam/ban	PASS	`fh_dont_index != 1 AND ml_spam_score = 0`	ml_spam_score=0
Canonical	PASS	`meta_canonical IS NULL OR = '' OR = src_unparsed`	Not set

Page Details

Property	Value
URL	https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/
Last Crawled	2026-04-09 14:13:47 (2 days ago)
First Indexed	2026-03-03 22:15:12 (1 month ago)
HTTP Status Code	200
Meta Title	People are sharing what they believe happens after we die. The responses are enlightening. - Upworthy
Meta Description	null
Meta Canonical	null
Boilerpipe Text	One of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t a whole lot of evidence to suggest they’re correct. However, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up? There is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence. But as the TV show “The Good Place” suggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless. Mark Twain said it best in “Letters from the Earth”: His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn’t it curious? Isn’t it interesting? Many also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below. There are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle. Then there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but according to science , the most likely. Reddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death, so they asked, “What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die. Here are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life. 1. You’re a wave “No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show ‘The Good Place’ that I really like and have found comfort in. “‘Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave. “And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.’” — AlexEventstar 2. Our energy moves on “Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We’re all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We’re just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life.” — four__beasts 3. You’ve been there before “Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence.” — SniffCheck 4. No need to fear ”In the great words of Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” — Eva__Unit__02 5. One more time “When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on ‘nothingness,” you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love.” — MrXANA91 6. Isn’t this reincarnation? “I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly.” — FarOutSonOfLung 7. The great nothing “In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist.” — throwayaacctlmaooo 8. Choose your own adventure “I’d like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something.” — No_But_Yes 9. We’re energy “I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet.” — cheese-emperor 10. Salamanders “I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders.” — Kyky716 11. New universe? “I believe we go to another universe but that’s just wishful thinking.” — Zarek_Pumpkineater 12. Incomparable infinity “I’m under the impression that death is a separate experience we can’t comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness. “You only experience it while you’re doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don’t know what it was like before you were born because you’re obviously alive. Just like you don’t know deafness because your ears work. Beyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again.” — bermudalily 13. Nothing “Nothing. It’s the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that’s somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?” — joeri1505 14. You become fertilizer “The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow.” — skev303 15. May the source be with you “What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way.” — doopster77 16. Star stuff “Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body. As the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death. Because we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return.” — dbryar This article originally appeared on 3.4.22 Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff. A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door , a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project. Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia. Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents. Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement: Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate , you can create your own personalized door Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. Visit habitat.org /open-door to learn more and get involved today. Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active breed that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even some pet parents who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home. Many times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren’t providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets’ best interest in mind, you put your faith in someone who specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out. In 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It’s unclear what prompted the family’s concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team . Oakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trapped. Photo credit: Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team The dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups. The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin’s Trails referred to this as “lost dog syndrome.” But after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea. To make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found. Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin’s Trails told Upworthy, “We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later [after entering the training facility]. For about a month, we hung flyers, set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings.” Things were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn’t give up hope though. “Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming,” Raymond shares. “This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings.” The recently-found Nova Jo smiles at the camera. Photo credit: Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team As of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley’s sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin’s Trails. “There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up,” Raymond said. “SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court.” The work Anakin’s Trails does isn’t easy and since it’s a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family. If you’d like to donate to Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so here . This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. Photo credit: Canva – Hens lay about one egg per day, on average. Have you ever watched a chicken lay an egg ? Think hard before you answer. Many of us may instinctively say, “Of course I have!” but then realize we’ve only seen movie scenes or cartoons depicting hens laying eggs . Few of us have actually witnessed a real egg come out of a real hen in real life. Even fewer of us have seen it the way the folks at @chickenwifehappylife captured it. One of their chickens hopped onto a workbench and laid her egg right on the table in front of them. No nesting-box privacy for this lady. She wanted to show the world what she goes through to lay a single egg, and frankly, she has every right. Watch a hen lay an egg: Now see if the comments match what you were thinking: “Was I the only one that wasn’t sure exactly where the egg was going to pop out of?” “Great. Now I feel awful eating eggs. She went through all that and I just come along and see breakfast. Damn.” “Totally makes sense why chickens are so mean. If I had to go through childbirth every day of my life, I’d be a raging lunatic too!” “I never stopped to appreciate the eggs I consumed. After watching this, I have more respect for eggs and the chickens that lay them.” A hen sits in a nesting box with an egg. Photo credit: Canva “Girl… I promise not to complain about the price of eggs. Please take a day off, you deserve it.” “I’d be pissed if I had to lay an egg every day.” “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!” The overwhelming sentiments people shared were: (1) “Wow, I have truly never watched a hen lay an egg before,” and (2) “Wow, I will never take eggs for granted again.” Some also said, “I don’t know if I want to eat eggs anymore,” rethinking their breakfast choices. Does it hurt a chicken to lay an egg? Watching this hen lay her egg on the workbench had people feeling for her. It’s a bit reminiscent of giving birth, especially with her bearing down and “singing the egg song” just before it popped out. A hen prepares to lay an egg. Photo credit: Canva According to The Humane League , most experts agree that laying eggs is not generally painful for hens. How do they know? Here are the specifics: “The reason it is hard to answer this question with complete clarity is because, of course, chickens cannot tell us for sure whether they’re experiencing pain when laying eggs. There are some signs, but we have to be careful not to misread them. For example, for a long time humans (including that first century Roman writer, Columella) believed that the sound many chickens make before laying indicated pain. However, studies found that the sound was instead an “ egg song ,” which could have a number of explanations, including happiness and scaring off predators. Another study found that when a hen “sings” it is more likely to be associated with contentment , while cackling aligns with danger.” Naturally, there are things that can go wrong during the egg-laying process that can make it painful. Signs that a hen is in distress while laying include wheezing, distressed squawking, not eating or drinking, isolating, hunching over, drooping, avoiding movement or activity, and slow or awkward movements. Most of the time, however, a hen will recover immediately after laying an egg and go on with life as if nothing happened. How often do chickens lay eggs? Hens basically lay eggs daily, but that’s a bit oversimplified. The University of Wisconsin–Madison notes that hens ovulate, releasing an egg yolk, every 24 to 26 hours. It then takes about 26 hours for the egg white and shell to form around the yolk. As a result, hens typically lay one egg per day, but the timing shifts later each day. Once in a while, a hen will also “skip” a day or two. Hens did not originally lay more than 300 eggs a year, however. Through centuries of selective breeding, humans have “engineered” chickens to become more prolific egg layers. Many people have concerns about the well-being of hens used in the industrial production of eggs. Even when we try to make ethical choices about the food we consume, the details are not always clear. Labels on egg cartons, such as “organic,” “cage-free,” and “pasture-raised,” can be confusing, but Certified Humane offers an explainer that helps demystify these terms. Whatever egg choices we make, seeing the laying process may at least give us a newfound respect and gratitude for the hens who lay them. Photo credit: via Stiv XTZ/Pexels – A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman. Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family. But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pit bull-Lab mix does around the house. The mom says Rhubarb has chores because “we didn’t raise a freeloader.” Working like a dog 1. Makes sure the laundry doesn’t get cold Translation: Sits on top of the clean laundry, ready to be folded. 2. Unlicensed therapist Translation: Gives us kisses when we’re tired or feeling down. 3. Supervise repairs Translation: She gets in the way when you’re in a compromised, uncomfortable position with a wrench in your hand. 4. Alerts us when there’s an intruder Translation: Stands at the window and barks furiously at the mailman. 5. Keeps mum’s spot warm Translation: Lays in her spot on her favorite chair in the living room. Rhubarb’s fan club Here are some of the comments inspired by the video. “ He’s carrying that household on his back. Give him a raise. “ “ Obviously the most valuable member of the household. “ “ Rhubarb needs a little vacation from working so flipping hard! “ “ Hardest worker there ever was. “ “ He’s carrying that household on his back. “ Here’s to Rhubarb, for earning his keep, and being adorable while doing it. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. Photo credit: Canva – The one free room upgrade you should always ask for. Having a great experience at a hotel is all about the small things: an easy check-in and check-out, crisp sheets , and—most importantly—a USB charger by the TV that actually works. Jamie Fraser , the owner of a private-use estate in Scotland , recently shared a way for travelers to make their stay a little nicer, for free. Fraser revealed a travel secret to Metro : “Corner rooms are often slightly larger than standard rooms because of the building layout. They also usually only share one wall with another guest , meaning they can be noticeably quieter, which many travelers really appreciate after a long journey.” Ask for a corner room upgrade Better yet, corner rooms are often available free of charge. They’re typically not listed any differently from other rooms of a similar size and are assigned based on hotel capacity. Traveling Phil, an Instagram travel influencer , agrees. In a video, his wife explains that corner rooms offer four distinct features: two walls of windows, more square footage, increased natural light, and often better views. It’s the “same price” for a “better experience.” Another perk of a corner room, according to Your Mileage May Vary , is reduced foot traffic. Being farther from the elevator means fewer late-night footsteps, and you may also be closer to an emergency stairway in case of a safety issue. Woman in a hotel room. Photo credit: Canva “When hotel architects and designers start to cut up floors into bays, the rooms in the center of the floors—specifically near elevators, stairwells, and utility closets—will have less room because of space being cut to help service the building,” Karl von Ramm, general manager of The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, told Southern Living . He added that your best chance is “typically corner rooms or rooms along the front side of the building, where stairwells and utilities are typically not present.” How to get a corner room for free According to Traveling Phil: Book a standard room (don’t overpay upfront) Check in later in the day (after room shuffle) Politely ask, “Do you happen to have any corner rooms available?” Mention it’s a special occasion (even just a getaway) Smile. Energy matters. Whether you’re hoping to upgrade to a corner room or a suite, you can increase your chances by telling the person at the front desk it’s a special occasion. “In the luxury hotel industry, we are always looking for a reason to celebrate and elevate the guest experience,” Lizzie Davidson, Thompson Houston’s area director of revenue, tells Southern Living . “Mentioning your special occasion—such as a birthday, anniversary, or maybe even just a simple staycation escape with your loved one—always goes a long way at the reception area or concierge team.” So next time you check into a hotel, make this simple request—it likely won’t be much trouble for the staff. That way, you can make your trip a little extra special knowing you’ve secured a better view and a quieter room for the same price. Photo credit: Canva – Golden Retrievers are known for their friendly nature. When Annika first brought Frannie , an eight-year-old Golden Retriever , into her home, the dog couldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female of her breed . Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of doggie life. Rover’s Retreat, a dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down. Annika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,” she wrote . “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car. They faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps. “One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika told The Dodo . “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.” At first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it. Slowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog. For a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was frolicking in the snow on her own. By March, she was able to walk a full mile . She still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog. Annika told The Dodo she had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.” In December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an update on Instagram: “We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.” Frannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told The Dodo . What a beautiful gift for both of them. You can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey on Instagram . Photo credit: Canva – A sperm whale. Science lovers got a treat recently when new research on sperm whales was quietly released. Researchers not only witnessed the birth of a baby sperm whale, but also saw elder females, including the grandmother, acting as midwives. Very few species assist with birth outside of humans, but it seems sperm whales can now join that short list. Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) released two studies on sperm whales in journals Nature and Science respectively. Nature covers the different vocalizations of the whales during this teamwork process, while Science discusses the collaborative birthing approach by the whales. A sperm whale. Photo credit: Canva The sperm whale’s birth was first captured via drone in July 2023. Now that the video has made its way to social media, viewers cannot get over witnessing the whales act as midwives. Typically, scientists don’t get to witness sperm whales’ behavior during birth, likely because they give birth far from shore and avoid boats during this vulnerable process. With the increasing use of drones, however, scientists can now capture moments like this without disrupting wildlife. In the video, other whales—one identified as the grandmother—surround the birthing whale, named Rounder. Not all of the supporting whales were from the same pod as the mother, but they joined to help ensure the calf’s safe arrival. Because whales are mammals, they can’t breathe underwater. For this reason, baby whales, also known as calves, are born tail-first. Like other mammals, newborn whales instinctively try to breathe, so exiting the birth canal headfirst could result in drowning, according to National Geographic . Scientists have been following this pod for a while, so they’re familiar with the whales in the family. As they watched the drone footage from the boat, they were able to identify who was present. Still, the sight of this unique birthing circle shocked the scientists. A sperm whale near the water’s surface. Photo credit: Canva While birthing her calf, Rounder was flanked by her sister, Accra, and Atwood, an elder female. Behind the mom-to-be was her mother, Lady Oracle, her aunt Aurora, a juvenile whale named Ariel, and four other unknown female whales. The whales had dual roles: when the calf was born, the assisting whales formed a tight cluster and raised the baby out of the water so it could breathe. They took turns holding the calf out of the water for three hours. During that time, the females that were not actively lifting the calf to the surface were fending off nosy animals. Once the baby was safe and swimming alongside its mother, the other whales began to depart. One of the scientists, Shane Gero, told National Geographic , “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” The same could be said for people coming across the video online. One person wrote, “Women supporting women! Bring it on!” Another person called out humans, saying, “I think they lied , who said survival of the fittest or only the strong survive. Everything in nature is about collective care. Even other animal species be helping each other. Also even when its predators they only take what they need.” This commenter admired the teamwork, writing, “I love how whales put so much energy into each other, but it’s even more exciting that members outside of the family pod were being so helpful. I’m invested!” “This is so frigging cool,” another person gushed. “I love how nature really wants nature to succeed. Absolutely 100% lit. Thanks for this!” Photo credit: Canva – Horses on a farm. Imagine getting a phone call out of the blue from a stranger offering you $26 million for part of your farm . For most of us, that would be a life-changing , champagne-popping , are-you-serious-right-now? moment. But for 82-year-old Ida Huddleston of Mason County, Kentucky , it was something else entirely: an insult dressed up in dollar signs . Ida’s answer? A hard no, and trust me, she didn’t lose a wink of sleep over it. A legacy that can’t be bought Ida is a part of the Huddleston family, who have farmed this land for 200 years . That’s two centuries of early mornings, muddy boots, and honest work. Over generations, they’ve raised cattle, grown soybeans, and planted corn on their 1,200-acre property outside Maysville. But it’s not just land stewardship. During the Great Depression—when jobs disappeared and families lined up just to get a meal— the Huddlestons grew wheat. They helped keep bread lines operating across America when people had almost nothing left. This land didn’t just feed the family; it fed the nation. Photo credit: Canva – The Huddleston family has been farming in Kentucky for 200 years. So when a representative from an unnamed Fortune 100 tech company offered $60,000 per acre —about ten times the current market rate—Ida’s daughter, Delsia Bare, simply said : “Stay and hold and feed a nation. $26 million doesn’t mean anything.” Notice the wording. She didn’t say “nothing.” She said $26 million doesn’t mean anything . The tech giant at the door The company that offered $26 million for the Huddlestons’ property has never revealed its identity ; local officials were required to sign non-disclosure agreements just to learn who was making the offer. What we do know: The company planned to convert half of the Huddleston farm into a large “hyperscale” AI data center campus covering 2,000 acres outside Maysville. These facilities are enormous. They devour electricity. And a single ginormous data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day : roughly what a city of 50,000 people uses. However, the company did promise this: 400 permanent jobs in exchange for community support . Ida wasn’t buying it. “They call us old, stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” she told WKRC-TV . “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.” She called it a scam. And to be honest, the repeated pressure campaigns—multiple offers, persistent calls, and what she described as “ mind harassment ”—don’t exactly reflect good faith. Ida isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness here. Since 2017, Mason County has lost one-fifth of its farms . Neighbors throughout the region share her concerns about what an industrial mega-campus would do to their rural way of life: their water, their soil, their sense of home. And they’re fighting back. A grassroots group called “ We Are Mason County ” has filed a lawsuit claiming the county’s zoning laws lack a proper legal framework for data centers. Their attorney noted that approving this rezoning would directly conflict with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan . In other words, this isn’t over. What this land means For Ida, the decision was never really about money. Her late husband built their house with his own hands. She feels his presence every time she walks the fields. The land holds her family’s past and, she hopes, their future. “I said, ‘No, mine is priceless.’ What I’ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,” she told WXIX-TV . In an era when everything seems to have a price—and the biggest tech companies in the world have the resources to buy nearly anything—there’s something quietly remarkable about a woman who simply says: no, not this. Ida says she intends to die on that land, on her own terms, surrounded by 200 years of family history. Some things really are priceless. Photo credit: Canva – A baby tortoise. Extinction isn’t like leaving for a long trip or studying abroad . When it happens, there’s no coming back . The moment a species disappears , it takes with it millions of years of evolution and an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of life on Earth. That’s it. Bye! Gone forever. Which is why what happened on February 20 , on a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean feels so extraordinary. A species that, by all accounts, should have been extinct returned home. That morning, rangers on Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands set down their packs and gently placed 158 juvenile giant tortoises onto the wet ground —the first of their lineage to set foot on the island in roughly 175 years. These animals weren’t supposed to exist. Their subspecies was declared extinct in the 1850s. The forces that wiped them out—overhunting, invasive predators, habitat destruction—are exactly the kinds that usually can’t be reversed. But this time, somehow, they have been. First, here’s what was lost Long ago—before whalers, settlers, feral cats, and invasive rats— Floreana Island was home to as many as 20,000 giant tortoises . These weren’t just large, slow animals living out their days in the sun. They were ecosystem engineers that carved trails through the vegetation, swallowed whole fruits and deposited seeds miles away, planting forests with every lumbering step. The island’s entire web of life depended on these tortoises. A tortoise. Photo credit: Canva Then the whalers came . In the 1800s, passing ships discovered that giant tortoises were essentially the perfect food supply for long sea voyages. They could survive in a ship’s hold for months without food or water. A single vessel could haul away 700 tortoises in one visit . Altogether, passing ships took an estimated 100,000 tortoises from across the Galápagos. And then, sometime around 1850, the Floreana tortoise was simply…gone . On top of that, humans had brought rats, cats, dogs, goats, and pigs with them—devastating the surrounding environment. These new animals destroyed native vegetation and ate tortoise eggs. A massive wildfire in 1820 didn’t help either . By the time anyone thought to do something, it was too late. Or so everyone thought. A wild tale In 2008, scientists exploring Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island noticed something strange . Some of the tortoises had an unusual shell shape: the unique saddleback shell associated with Floreana. They conducted DNA tests, and the results were nearly unbelievable. These tortoises carried the genetic fingerprint of the “extinct” Floreana lineage. It turns out that centuries earlier, those same whalers who had stripped Floreana of its tortoises had occasionally offloaded live tortoises onto Isabela Island , as provisions to be retrieved later or to lighten their ships. Some of those tortoises survived, bred, and passed their genes on for nearly 200 years. The Floreana tortoise had been hiding in plain sight the whole time. Scientists sprang into action . They selected 23 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano that showed the strongest Floreana genetic signal and brought them to a breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. Starting in 2017, they carefully bred them over generations, patiently guiding their lineage back toward its original form. By 2025, they had more than 600 hatchlings. A tortoise with a distinctive shell pattern. Photo credit: Canva Dr. Jen Jones, chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust, described the moment as “truly spine-tingling,” adding that it validated two decades of collaboration among scientists, charities, and the local community. But wait—they didn’t just show up and release tortoises Before a single tortoise set foot on Floreana, the island needed years of preparation. Remember, Floreana had been overrun with invasive rats and feral cats, the same forces that drove the tortoises to extinction in the first place. They needed to go. In October 2023, the Floreana tortoise team launched a massive eradication campaign with helicopters, aerial baiting, and ground traps. Oh, and here’s a crucial aspect that’s often overlooked: the island’s approximately 150 residents were actively involved in this endeavor , not mere spectators. Before the baiting began, community members set up protective enclosures for their pets to prevent harm. Farmers adapted their agricultural practices to best serve the project. Locals also helped with the trapping. The results were almost immediate. Native Galápagos rails—small birds that disappeared from the island entirely because of rat predation—have already started coming back on their own . Nature, it turns out, is extremely ready to bounce back the moment you give it a chance. And they’re watching every step Each of the 158 released tortoises carries a GPS tracker that pings its location every hour via satellite. On top of that, NASA Earth observation data is overlaid to map vegetation, rainfall, and soil conditions across the island. Scientists use all of this information to build habitat models that can project ecosystem conditions decades into the future, which matters a lot when you’re dealing with an animal that can live over a century. Slow and steady wins the race. Photo credit: Canva The plan is to release 25 to 100 more tortoises each year , with each group’s release location guided by data on where current tortoises are thriving. Slow and steady. Rather fitting, really. This is just the beginning The 158 tortoises are Phase One of a plan to reintroduce 12 locally extinct species to Floreana over the coming decade. Next up? The Floreana mockingbird , a fascinating species that arguably inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when he visited the island in 1835. Sadly, it now only exists on two tiny offshore islets. After that: Darwin’s finches , Galápagos racer snakes, the lava gull (the world’s rarest gull), and, eventually, the Galápagos hawk , the apex predator whose return would signal a fully restored food chain. Each species added to the island increases the likelihood that the next will succeed. That’s how ecosystems work. And honestly, it’s a pretty good lesson for the rest of life. Wholesome 9 reasons the Artemis II space mission keeps bringing people to tears Science Expert shares the 1 sentence that can instantly stop an argument from boiling over Health Waxers, doctors, and nurses share their unfiltered inner thoughts about your ‘privates.’ Culture Netherland-based dance troupe performs epic routine to “Somebody That I Used to Know” Skills Wife shares exactly how she claimed laundry ‘victory’ on her husband’s work shirt pit stains
Markdown	[Skip to content](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/#wp--skip-link--target) [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/) [Family](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/) [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) [Science](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/) [Subscribe](https://www.upworthy.com/newsletter) Subscribe ## Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox. Explore More [GOOD](https://www.good.is/) continues our mission to uplift humanity, build bridges across communities, and feature innovative solutions to critical challenges. Topics [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/) [Generations](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/generations/) [Nostalgia](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/nostalgia) [Pop Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/pop-culture) [Family](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/) [Dads](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/dads) [Kids](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/kids) [Moms](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/moms) [Parenting](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/parenting) [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) [Animals](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/animals) [Conservation](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/conservation) [Pets](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/pets) [Science](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/) [Health](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/health) [People Skills](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/people-skills) Company [About Us](https://www.upworthy.com/about-us/) [Newsletter](https://www.upworthy.com/newsletter/) [Partnerships](https://www.upworthy.com/partnerships/) [GOOD People Book](https://books.disney.com/book/upworthy-good-people-stories-from-the-best-of-humanity/) [Contact](https://www.upworthy.com/contact-us/) Connect - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/upworthy/) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/upworthy/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/upworthy) - [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@upworthy) - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/upworthy) [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) # People are sharing what they believe happens after we die. The responses are enlightening. Here are 16 of the best responses. ![](https://goodinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/img-125.jpg?w=86) By [Tod Perry](https://www.upworthy.com/author/tod-perry/) ![](https://goodinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/01_Upworthy_Logo-3.png?w=86) By [Upworthy Staff](https://www.upworthy.com/author/upworthy-staff/) * Oct 26, 2024 ![heaven, life after death, afterlife](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/origin-68.jpg?w=999) Photo credit: via [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/es/illustrations/hombre-escalera-cielo-anciano-5640540/) – A man is walking into heaven (or is he?). - [Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/?share=facebook&nb=1) - [Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/?share=linkedin&nb=1) - [Share on X (Opens in new window)X](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/?share=x&nb=1) - [Flipboard](https://share.flipboard.com/bookmarklet/popout?v=2&title=People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.upworthy.com%252Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%252F&cid=article_share_flipboard) - [Share on Mail (Opens in new window) Mail](mailto:?subject=%5BShared+Post%5D+People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%2F&share=email) One of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t [a whole lot of evidence](https://newrepublic.com/article/116251/best-arguments-gods-existence-dont-challenge-atheists) to suggest they’re correct. However, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up? There is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence. But as the TV show [“The Good Place”](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/01/good-place-michael-schur-finale-metaphor-television/605884/) suggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless. * Mark Twain said it best in [“Letters from the Earth”:](https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2019/09/deranged.html) His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn’t it curious? Isn’t it interesting? Many also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below. There are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle. Then there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but [according to science](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven), the most likely. Reddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death, [so they asked,](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/t4wevt/what_do_you_legitimately_believe_happens_after_we/) “What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die. Here are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life. ### 1\. You’re a wave “No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show ‘The Good Place’ that I really like and have found comfort in. “‘Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave. “And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.’” — AlexEventstar ### 2\. Our energy moves on “Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We’re all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We’re just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life.” — four\_\_beasts ### 3\. You’ve been there before “Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence.” — SniffCheck ### 4\. No need to fear ”In the great words of Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” — Eva\_\_Unit\_\_02 ### 5\. One more time “When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on ‘nothingness,” you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love.” — MrXANA91 ### 6\. Isn’t this reincarnation? “I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly.” — FarOutSonOfLung ### 7\. The great nothing “In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist.” — throwayaacctlmaooo ### 8\. Choose your own adventure “I’d like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something.” — No\_But\_Yes ### 9\. We’re energy “I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet.” — cheese-emperor ### 10\. Salamanders “I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders.” — Kyky716 ### 11\. New universe? “I believe we go to another universe but that’s just wishful thinking.” — Zarek\_Pumpkineater ### 12\. Incomparable infinity “I’m under the impression that death is a separate experience we can’t comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness. “You only experience it while you’re doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don’t know what it was like before you were born because you’re obviously alive. Just like you don’t know deafness because your ears work. Beyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again.” — bermudalily ### 13\. Nothing “Nothing. It’s the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that’s somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?” — joeri1505 ### 14\. You become fertilizer “The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow.” — skev303 ### 15\. May the source be with you “What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way.” — doopster77 ### 16\. Star stuff “Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body. As the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death. Because we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return.” — dbryar This article originally appeared on 3.4.22 [Add to Google News](https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqJggKIiBDQklTRWdnTWFnNEtESFZ3ZDI5eWRHaDVMbU52YlNnQVAB) - [Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/?share=facebook&nb=1) - [Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/?share=linkedin&nb=1) - [Share on X (Opens in new window)X](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/?share=x&nb=1) - [Flipboard](https://share.flipboard.com/bookmarklet/popout?v=2&title=People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.upworthy.com%252Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%252F&cid=article_share_flipboard) - [Share on Mail (Opens in new window) Mail](mailto:?subject=%5BShared+Post%5D+People+are+sharing+what+they+believe+happens+after+we+die.+The+responses+are+enlightening.&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.upworthy.com%2Fwhat-happens-when-we-die-rp%2F&share=email) ## Tags [god](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/god/)[heaven](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/heaven/)[hell](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/hell/)[life after death](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/life-after-death/)[philosophy](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/philosophy/) ## More for You - In Partnership With [Habitat For Humanity](https://bit.ly/47ipQI4) → [![A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/CAMB-1_e5018b.jpg?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/habitat-for-humanity/) Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff. [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/), [Family](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/) ## [A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.](https://www.upworthy.com/habitat-for-humanity/) Better health, better jobs, and a brighter future all start with access to a safe, affordable home. [Sarah Watts](https://www.upworthy.com/author/sarah-watts/) *** 3/25/2026 A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. Since 1976, [Habitat for Humanity](https://www.habitat.org/) has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. ![Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity's 2025 Carter Work Project.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/image.jpeg?w=1024) Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project. Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The [MicroBuild®](https://www.habitat.org/our-work/terwilliger-center-innovation-in-shelter/microbuild) Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide [affordable appliances and building materials](https://www.habitat.org/restores) to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. ![Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/USGA-1.jpg?w=1024) Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia. Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents. Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement: - Speaking up on [social media](https://www.instagram.com/habitatforhumanity) about the growing housing crisis - Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity [build](https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/near-you/find-your-local-habitat) in your local community - [Travel and build](https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/travel-and-build) with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe - Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you [donate](https://www.habitat.org/open-door/activate), you can create your own personalized door - Shop or donate at your local [Habitat ReStore](https://www.habitat.org/restores) Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. *Visit* [*habitat.org**/open-door](http://habitat.org/open-door)to learn more and get involved today.* [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![Dog lost for months in the wilderness recognizes her owner in the most tearful reunion](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-381.jpg?w=980)](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-spent-months-in-wilderness-ex1/) Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091548831343) – Family celebrates the return of their dog. [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/), [Pets](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/pets/) ## [Dog lost for months in the wilderness recognizes her owner in the most tearful reunion](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-spent-months-in-wilderness-ex1/) At first the terrified pup had what’s known as “lost dog syndrome.” Then…pure joy. [Jacalyn Wetzel](https://www.upworthy.com/author/jacalyn-wetzel/) [Upworthy Staff](https://www.upworthy.com/author/upworthy-staff/) *** 4/8/2026 Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active [breed](https://www.upworthy.com/top-dog-breeds-best-for-kids) that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even [some pet parents](https://www.upworthy.com/grieving-son-travels-2650-miles-to-mississippi-humane-society-to-rescue-parents-dog-ex1) who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home. Many times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren’t providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets’ best interest in mind, you [put your faith in someone](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-rescued-from-romanian-forest) who specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out. In 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It’s unclear what prompted the family’s concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091548831343). ![lost dog, dog rescue, Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team, pet recovery, dogs, pets](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-379.jpg) Oakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trapped. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc2OTc3MTYwNH0.8fMhOUU3vUmHnk8TlQHWUMX0vdvpT_pSEkG1luKd9-o/img.jpg?width=1200&height=800&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C1319%2C0%2C697) The dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups. The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin’s Trails referred to this as “lost dog syndrome.” But after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea. To make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found. Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin’s Trails told Upworthy, “We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later \[after entering the training facility\]. For about a month, we hung flyers, set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings.” Things were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn’t give up hope though. “Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming,” Raymond shares. “This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings.” ![lost dog rescue, dog reunion, Anakin's Trails, Husky rescue, pet recovery](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-380.jpg) The recently-found Nova Jo smiles at the camera. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc5NDE4Nzg2Nn0.nLQcAqiHocQG_OO6Drxd6oU9ts2iQvvnVAAEd96jNWI/img.jpg?width=2000&height=1500&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C248%2C0%2C707) As of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley’s sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin’s Trails. “There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up,” Raymond said. “SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court.” The work Anakin’s Trails does isn’t easy and since it’s a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family. If you’d like to donate to Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so [here](https://venmo.com/u/anakinstrails). This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![Video of a chicken laying an egg has people rethinking their breakfast](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/ANNIE-TOP-SPLASH-124.jpg?w=900)](https://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-chicken-lay-an-egg/) Photo credit: [Canva](http://canva.com/photos) – Hens lay about one egg per day, on average. [Animals](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/animals/), [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) ## [Video of a chicken laying an egg has people rethinking their breakfast](https://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-chicken-lay-an-egg/) “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!” [Annie Reneau](https://www.upworthy.com/author/annie-reneau/) *** 4/7/2026 Have you ever watched a [chicken](https://www.upworthy.com/chickens-freak-out-their-owner-when-they-all-suddenly-freeze-in-place-at-feeding-time/) lay [an egg](https://www.upworthy.com/why-we-eat-chicken-eggs-duck-eggs-and-quail-eggs-but-not-turkey-eggs-ex1/)? Think hard before you answer. Many of us may instinctively say, “Of course I have!” but then realize we’ve only seen movie scenes or [cartoons](https://www.upworthy.com/gen-xers-miss-their-sacred-saturday-morning-cartoons-and-debate-which-one-was-the-best/) depicting [hens laying eggs](https://www.upworthy.com/scientists-just-solved-the-chicken-and-egg-debate/). Few of us have actually witnessed a real egg come out of a real hen in real life. Even fewer of us have seen it the way the folks at [@chickenwifehappylife](https://www.tiktok.com/@chickenwifehappylife/video/7620177276075920654) captured it. One of their chickens hopped onto a workbench and laid her egg right on the table in front of them. No nesting-box privacy for this lady. She wanted to show the world what she goes through to lay a single egg, and frankly, she has every right. ## Watch a hen lay an egg: Now see if the comments match what you were thinking: “Was I the only one that wasn’t sure exactly where the egg was going to pop out of?” “Great. Now I feel awful eating eggs. She went through all that and I just come along and see breakfast. Damn.” “Totally makes sense why chickens are so mean. If I had to go through childbirth every day of my life, I’d be a raging lunatic too!” “I never stopped to appreciate the eggs I consumed. After watching this, I have more respect for eggs and the chickens that lay them.” ![A hen sits in a nest with an egg](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/4.jpg) A hen sits in a nesting box with an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) “Girl… I promise not to complain about the price of eggs. Please take a day off, you deserve it.” “I’d be pissed if I had to lay an egg every day.” “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!” The overwhelming sentiments people shared were: (1) “Wow, I have truly never watched a hen lay an egg before,” and (2) “Wow, I will never take eggs for granted again.” Some also said, “I don’t know if I want to eat eggs anymore,” rethinking their breakfast choices. ## Does it hurt a chicken to lay an egg? Watching this hen lay her egg on the workbench had people feeling for her. It’s a bit reminiscent of giving birth, especially with her bearing down and “singing the egg song” just before it popped out. ![A hen bearing down to lay an egg](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/5.jpg) A hen prepares to lay an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) [According to The Humane League](https://thehumaneleague.org/article/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs), most experts agree that laying eggs is not generally painful for hens. How do they know? Here are [the specifics:](https://thehumaneleague.org/article/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs) “The reason it is hard to answer this question with complete clarity is because, of course, chickens cannot tell us for sure whether they’re experiencing pain when laying eggs. There are some signs, but we have to be careful not to misread them. For example, for a long time humans (including that first century Roman writer, Columella) believed that the sound many chickens make before laying indicated pain. However, studies found that the sound was instead an “[egg song](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1963.tb01156.x),” which could have a number of explanations, including happiness and scaring off predators. Another study found that [when a hen “sings” it is more likely to be associated with contentment](https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v089n03/p0510-p0524.pdf), while cackling aligns with danger.” Naturally, there are things that can go wrong during the egg-laying process that can make it painful. Signs that a hen is in distress while laying include wheezing, distressed squawking, not eating or drinking, isolating, hunching over, drooping, avoiding movement or activity, and slow or awkward movements. Most of the time, however, a hen will recover immediately after laying an egg and go on with life as if nothing happened. ## How often do chickens lay eggs? Hens basically lay eggs daily, but that’s a bit oversimplified. The [University of Wisconsin–Madison](https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/life-cycle-of-a-laying-hen/) notes that hens ovulate, releasing an egg yolk, every 24 to 26 hours. It then takes about 26 hours for the egg white and shell to form around the yolk. As a result, hens typically lay one egg per day, but the timing shifts later each day. Once in a while, a hen will also “skip” a day or two. Hens did not originally lay more than 300 eggs a year, however. Through centuries of selective breeding, humans have “engineered” chickens to become more prolific egg layers. Many people have concerns about the well-being of hens used in the industrial production of eggs. Even when we try to make ethical choices about the food we consume, the details are not always clear. Labels on egg cartons, such as “organic,” “cage-free,” and “pasture-raised,” can be confusing, but Certified Humane offers an [explainer](https://certifiedhumane.org/decoding-carton-buy-clean-humane-eggs/) that helps demystify these terms. Whatever egg choices we make, seeing the laying process may at least give us a newfound respect and gratitude for the hens who lay them. [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![Dog mom shares adorable video of the ‘chores’ her pit bull pup thinks she’s doing](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-102.png?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/pitbull-pup-does-chores-ex1/) Photo credit: via [Stiv XTZ/Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/american-pit-bull-terrier-puppy-on-window-pane-close-up-photo-137020/) – A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman. [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/), [Pets](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/pets/) ## [Dog mom shares adorable video of the ‘chores’ her pit bull pup thinks she’s doing](https://www.upworthy.com/pitbull-pup-does-chores-ex1/) No one can call her a freeloader. [Tod Perry](https://www.upworthy.com/author/tod-perry/) [Upworthy Staff](https://www.upworthy.com/author/upworthy-staff/) * 4/5/2026 [Dogs](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/dogs) are naturally driven by a [sense of purpose](https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/therapy-dogs-love-their-jobs-your-pup-cut-out-it-ncna878676) and a need for belonging, which are all part of their [instinctual pack behavior.](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/dogs) When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family. But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, [dogs have fewer chores](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-accidentally-exposes-where-the-husband-s-been-when-wife-takes-him-for-a-walk-ex1) they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A [doggy mom](https://www.tiktok.com/@rhubarbthedoggo/) in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pit bull-Lab mix does around the house. The mom says Rhubarb has chores because “we didn’t raise a freeloader.” ## Working like a dog 1\. Makes sure the laundry doesn’t get cold Translation: Sits on top of the clean laundry, ready to be folded. 2\. Unlicensed therapist Translation: Gives us kisses when we’re tired or feeling down. 3\. Supervise repairs Translation: She gets in the way when you’re in a compromised, uncomfortable position with a wrench in your hand. 4\. Alerts us when there’s an intruder Translation: Stands at the window and barks furiously at the mailman. 5\. Keeps mum’s spot warm** Translation: Lays in her spot on her favorite chair in the living room. ## Rhubarb’s fan club Here are some of the comments inspired by the video. “He’s carrying that household on his back. Give him a raise.“ “Obviously the most valuable member of the household.“ “Rhubarb needs a little vacation from working so flipping hard\!“ “Hardest worker there ever was.“ “He’s carrying that household on his back.“ Here’s to Rhubarb, for earning his keep, and being adorable while doing it. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![Travel expert reveals the one free room upgrade you should always ask for](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Hotel-1200.jpg?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/travel-expert-reveals-the-one-free-room-upgrade-you-should-always-ask-for/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) – The one free room upgrade you should always ask for. [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/), [Travel](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/travel/) ## [Travel expert reveals the one free room upgrade you should always ask for](https://www.upworthy.com/travel-expert-reveals-the-one-free-room-upgrade-you-should-always-ask-for/) Want a larger room with a better view? [Tod Perry](https://www.upworthy.com/author/tod-perry/) *** 4/4/2026 Having a great experience [at a hotel](https://www.upworthy.com/womans-heart-stopping-experience-at-a-hotel-reminds-everyone-to-lock-the-latch-behind-them-rp5/) is all about the small things: an easy check-in and check-out, crisp [sheets](https://www.upworthy.com/how-often-wash-sheets-ex1/), and—most importantly—a USB charger by the TV that actually works. [Jamie Fraser](https://www.insider.co.uk/news/historic-estate-robert-bruce-link-21438950), the owner of a private-use estate in [Scotland](https://www.upworthy.com/scottish-purple-burglar-alarm-ex1/), recently shared a way for travelers to make their stay a little nicer, for free. Fraser revealed a [travel secret to Metro](https://metro.co.uk/2026/03/14/this-seven-word-question-get-a-better-hotel-room-absolutely-free-27427736/): “Corner rooms are often slightly larger than standard rooms because of the [building](https://www.good.is/engineers-rotate-11-000-ton-building-by-90-degrees-with-employees-working-inside-in-extraordinary-video/) layout. They also usually only share one wall with another [guest](https://www.upworthy.com/kindergartener-invites-bus-driver-she-adores-as-her-special-guest-to-graduation/), meaning they can be noticeably quieter, which many travelers really appreciate after a long journey.” ## Ask for a corner room upgrade Better yet, corner rooms are often available free of charge. They’re typically not listed any differently from other rooms of a similar size and are assigned based on hotel capacity. > [View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUbn-dbkW0R/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Traveling Phil (@phildsilk)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUbn-dbkW0R/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading) Traveling Phil, an [Instagram travel influencer](https://www.instagram.com/phildsilk/), agrees. In a video, his wife explains that corner rooms offer four distinct features: two walls of windows, more square footage, increased natural light, and often better views. It’s the “same price” for a “better experience.” Another perk of a corner room, according to [Your Mileage May Vary](https://yourmileagemayvary.com/2025/06/04/are-the-corner-rooms-in-hotels-really-bigger/), is reduced foot traffic. Being farther from the elevator means fewer late-night footsteps, and you may also be closer to an emergency stairway in case of a safety issue. ![hotel, hotel upgrade, traveler, luggage, woman in hotel](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Hotel-3.jpg) Woman in a hotel room. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) “When hotel architects and designers start to cut up floors into bays, the rooms in the center of the floors—specifically near elevators, stairwells, and utility closets—will have less room because of space being cut to help service the building,” Karl von Ramm, general manager of The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, told [Southern Living](https://www.southernliving.com/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329). He added that your best chance is “typically corner rooms or rooms along the front side of the building, where stairwells and utilities are typically not present.” ## How to get a corner room for free According to Traveling Phil: - Book a standard room (don’t overpay upfront) - Check in later in the day (after room shuffle) - Politely ask, “Do you happen to have any corner rooms available?” - Mention it’s a special occasion (even just a getaway) - Smile. Energy matters. Whether you’re hoping to upgrade to a corner room or a suite, you can increase your chances by telling the person at the front desk it’s a special occasion. “In the luxury hotel industry, we are always looking for a reason to celebrate and elevate the guest experience,” Lizzie Davidson, Thompson Houston’s area director of revenue, tells [Southern Living](https://www.southernliving.com/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329). “Mentioning your special occasion—such as a birthday, anniversary, or maybe even just a simple staycation escape with your loved one—always goes a long way at the reception area or concierge team.” So next time you check into a hotel, make this simple request—it likely won’t be much trouble for the staff. That way, you can make your trip a little extra special knowing you’ve secured a better view and a quieter room for the same price. [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/3.jpg?w=900)](https://www.upworthy.com/depressed-obese-golden-retriever-becomes-new-dog/) Photo credit: [Canva](http://canva.com/photos) – Golden Retrievers are known for their friendly nature. [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/), [Pets](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/pets/) ## [An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.](https://www.upworthy.com/depressed-obese-golden-retriever-becomes-new-dog/) Frannie is a case study in hope and possibility. [Annie Reneau](https://www.upworthy.com/author/annie-reneau/) *** 4/4/2026 When Annika first brought [Frannie](https://www.instagram.com/frannies.fight/), an eight-year-old [Golden Retriever](https://www.upworthy.com/golden-retriever-runs-into-vet-ex1/), into her home, [the dog](https://www.upworthy.com/woman-shares-the-magical-human-like-thing-her-dog-does/) couldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female [of her breed](https://www.upworthy.com/which-dog-breed-is-goofiest/). Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of [doggie life.](https://www.upworthy.com/rescued-dog-human-connection-ex1/) [Rover’s Retreat,](https://www.instagram.com/rovers_retreat/) a dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down. Annika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,” [she wrote](https://www.instagram.com/p/C17JnlwRs95/). “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car. They faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps. “One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika [told The Dodo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg). “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.” At first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it. Slowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog. For a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was [frolicking in the snow](https://www.tiktok.com/@franniesfight/video/7339674538776481066) on her own. By March, she was able to [walk a full mile](https://www.tiktok.com/@franniesfight/video/7350747125770226987). She still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog. Annika told [The Dodo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg) she had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.” In December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an [update on Instagram:](https://www.instagram.com/p/DEA-2nWTPrm/) “We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.” Frannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told The Dodo. What a beautiful gift for both of them. You can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/frannies.fight/). [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![Elder female sperm whales seen acting as midwives in historic new video](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-14.jpg?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/elder-female-sperm-whales-seen-acting-as-midwives-in-historic-new-video/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) – A sperm whale. [Animals](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/animals/), [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) ## [Elder female sperm whales seen acting as midwives in historic new video](https://www.upworthy.com/elder-female-sperm-whales-seen-acting-as-midwives-in-historic-new-video/) “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” [Jacalyn Wetzel](https://www.upworthy.com/author/jacalyn-wetzel/) *** 4/2/2026 Science lovers got a treat recently when new research on sperm whales was quietly released. Researchers not only witnessed the birth of a baby sperm whale, but also saw elder females, including the grandmother, acting as midwives. Very few species assist with birth outside of humans, but it seems sperm whales can now join that short list. [Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative)](https://www.projectceti.org/) released two studies on sperm whales in journals Nature and Science respectively. [Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-27438-3) covers the different vocalizations of the whales during this teamwork process, while [Science](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady9280) discusses the collaborative birthing approach by the whales. ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-13.jpg?w=1024) A sperm whale. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) The sperm whale’s birth was first captured via drone in July 2023. Now that the video has made its way to social media, viewers cannot get over witnessing the whales act as midwives. Typically, scientists don’t get to witness sperm whales’ behavior during birth, likely because they give birth far from shore and avoid boats during this vulnerable process. With the increasing use of drones, however, scientists can now capture moments like this without disrupting wildlife. In the video, other whales—one identified as the grandmother—surround the birthing whale, named Rounder. Not all of the supporting whales were from the same pod as the mother, but they joined to help ensure the calf’s safe arrival. Because whales are mammals, they can’t breathe underwater. For this reason, baby whales, also known as calves, are born tail-first. Like other mammals, newborn whales instinctively try to breathe, so exiting the birth canal headfirst could result in drowning, according to [National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/sperm-whale-birth-video). Scientists have been following this pod for a while, so they’re familiar with the whales in the family. As they watched the drone footage from the boat, they were able to identify who was present. Still, the sight of this unique birthing circle shocked the scientists. ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-15.jpg?w=1024) A sperm whale near the water’s surface. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) While birthing her calf, Rounder was flanked by her sister, Accra, and Atwood, an elder female. Behind the mom-to-be was her mother, Lady Oracle, her aunt Aurora, a juvenile whale named Ariel, and four other unknown female whales. The whales had dual roles: when the calf was born, the assisting whales formed a tight cluster and raised the baby out of the water so it could breathe. They took turns holding the calf out of the water for three hours. During that time, the females that were not actively lifting the calf to the surface were fending off nosy animals. Once the baby was safe and swimming alongside its mother, the other whales began to depart. > [View this post on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWfElH8D6d_/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading) One of the scientists, Shane Gero, told National Geographic, “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” The same could be said for people coming across the video online. One person wrote, “Women supporting women! Bring it on!” Another person called out humans, saying, “I think they lied , who said survival of the fittest or only the strong survive. Everything in nature is about collective care. Even other animal species be helping each other. Also even when its predators they only take what they need.” This commenter admired the teamwork, writing, “I love how whales put so much energy into each other, but it’s even more exciting that members outside of the family pod were being so helpful. I’m invested!” “This is so frigging cool,” another person gushed. “I love how nature really wants nature to succeed. Absolutely 100% lit. Thanks for this!” [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![82-year-old Kentucky farmer rejects \$26 million AI data center offer](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/3_da658d.png?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/kentucky-farmer-rejects-26-million/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) – Horses on a farm. [Conservation](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/conservation/), [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) ## [82-year-old Kentucky farmer rejects \$26 million AI data center offer](https://www.upworthy.com/kentucky-farmer-rejects-26-million/) The incredible story of Ida Huddleston in Mason County. [Kat Hong](https://www.upworthy.com/author/kat-hong/) *** 4/2/2026 Imagine getting a phone call out of the blue from a stranger offering you \$26 [million](https://www.upworthy.com/wheel-of-fortune-unfair-fail-ex1/) for part of your [farm](https://www.upworthy.com/moyembrie-farm-prison-reform/). For most of us, that would be a [life-changing](https://www.upworthy.com/womans-request-for-life-changing-sentences-is-a-gold-mine-of-wisdom/), [champagne-popping](https://www.upworthy.com/108-year-old-woman-longevity-champagne/), are-you-serious-right-now? moment. But for 82-year-old Ida Huddleston of Mason County, [Kentucky](https://www.upworthy.com/appalachian-mom-gives-impassioned-speech-about-abortion-ban-in-kentucky/), it was something else entirely: [an insult dressed up in dollar signs](https://local12.com/news/local/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati). Ida’s answer? A hard no, and trust me, she didn’t lose a wink of sleep over it. ## A legacy that can’t be bought Ida is a part of the Huddleston family, who have [farmed this land for 200 years](https://www.foxnews.com/media/kentucky-family-says-turned-down-26m-from-ai-giant-keep-farmland-fed-nation). That’s two centuries of early mornings, muddy boots, and honest work. Over generations, they’ve raised cattle, grown soybeans, and planted corn on their 1,200-acre property outside Maysville. But it’s not just land stewardship. During the Great Depression—when jobs disappeared and families lined up just to get a meal—[the Huddlestons grew wheat.](https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati) They helped keep bread lines operating across America when people had almost nothing left. This land didn’t just feed the family; it fed the nation. ![kentucky, farmer, generation, ida, huddleston](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/1_6b953c.png?w=819) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) – The Huddleston family has been farming in Kentucky for 200 years. So when a representative from [an unnamed Fortune 100 tech company offered \$60,000 per acre](https://www.thebullvine.com/dairy-industry/60000-an-acre-a-fortune-50-ai-company-offered-the-huddlestons-26-million-for-their-kentucky-farm-they-refused/)—about ten times the current market rate—Ida’s daughter, Delsia Bare, simply [said](https://local12.com/news/local/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati): “Stay and hold and feed a nation. \$26 million doesn’t mean anything.” Notice the wording. She didn’t say “nothing.” She said \$26 million doesn’t mean anything. ## The tech giant at the door The company that offered \$26 million for the Huddlestons’ property [has never revealed its identity](https://www.newsweek.com/kentucky-family-turns-down-26m-for-ai-data-center-11736205); local officials were required to sign non-disclosure agreements just to learn who was making the offer. What we do know: The company [planned to convert half of the Huddleston farm](https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/woman-farmer-family-turning-down-25-million-datacenter-490480-20260324) into a large “hyperscale” AI data center campus covering 2,000 acres outside Maysville. These facilities are enormous. They devour electricity. And [a single ginormous data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day](https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption): roughly what a city of 50,000 people uses. However, the company did promise this: [400 permanent jobs in exchange for community support](https://people.com/mother-daughter-turn-down-over-usd26-million-to-sell-their-farms-to-tech-giant-11925285). Ida wasn’t buying it. “They call us old, stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” she [told WKRC-TV](https://local12.com/news/local/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati). “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.” She called it a scam. And to be honest, the repeated pressure campaigns—multiple offers, persistent calls, and what she described as “[mind harassment](https://people.com/mother-daughter-rejected-26m-offer-sell-farmland-to-build-data-center-say-others-havent-11934396)”—don’t exactly reflect good faith. ## A community that agrees Ida isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness here. Since 2017, [Mason County has lost one-fifth of its farms](https://moneywise.com/real-estate/kentucky-farming-family-rejects-26m-offer-from-ai-giant). Neighbors throughout the region share her concerns about what an industrial mega-campus would do to their rural way of life: their water, their soil, their sense of home. And they’re fighting back. A grassroots group called “[We Are Mason County](https://wearemasoncountyky.org/)” has [filed a lawsuit](https://datacentertracker.org/) claiming the county’s zoning laws lack a proper legal framework for data centers. Their attorney noted that [approving this rezoning would directly conflict with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan](https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/03/30/stories-from-the-states-ky-farmer-on-fight-against-hyperscale-data-center-in-mason-county/). In other words, this isn’t over. ## What this land means For Ida, the decision was never really about money. Her late husband built their house with his own hands. She feels his presence every time she walks the fields. The land holds her family’s past and, she hopes, their future. “I said, ‘No, mine is priceless.’ What I’ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,” she [told WXIX-TV](https://www.kbtx.com/2026/03/26/family-rejects-26m-ai-company-keep-farmland-being-turned-into-data-center/). In an era when everything seems to have a price—and the biggest tech companies in the world have the resources to buy nearly anything—there’s something quietly remarkable about a woman who simply says: no, not this. Ida says she intends to die on that land, on her own terms, surrounded by 200 years of family history. Some things really are priceless. [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) - [![Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after 150 years. Scientists say it changes everything.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/5_005118.png?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/galapagos-tortoises-return-150-years/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) – A baby tortoise. [Animals](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/animals/), [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) ## [Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after 150 years. Scientists say it changes everything.](https://www.upworthy.com/galapagos-tortoises-return-150-years/) They’ll play an important role in restoring the ecosystem. [Kat Hong](https://www.upworthy.com/author/kat-hong/) * 4/1/2026 [Extinction](https://www.upworthy.com/200-new-animal-species-discovered/) isn’t like leaving for a [long trip](https://www.upworthy.com/millennial-dad-vs-boomer-grandfather-ex1/) or [studying abroad](https://www.upworthy.com/american-teachers-share-teaching-abroad/). When it happens, [there’s no coming back](https://www.upworthy.com/fireflies-extinction/). The moment a [species disappears](https://www.upworthy.com/greater-glider-endangered-ex1/), it takes with it millions of years of evolution and an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of life on Earth. That’s it. Bye! Gone forever. Which is why [what happened on February 20](https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/news/all-news-stories/158-endangered-tortoises-released-onto-floreana-island-galapagos-for-first-time-in-over-180-years/), on a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean feels so extraordinary. A species that, by all accounts, should have been extinct returned home. That morning, rangers on Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands set down their packs and [gently placed 158 juvenile giant tortoises onto the wet ground](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wn1jrzk4go)—the first of their lineage to set foot on the island in roughly 175 years. These animals weren’t supposed to exist. Their subspecies was declared extinct in the 1850s. The forces that wiped them out—overhunting, invasive predators, habitat destruction—are exactly the kinds that usually can’t be reversed. But this time, somehow, they have been. ## First, here’s what was lost Long ago—before whalers, settlers, feral cats, and invasive rats—[Floreana Island was home to as many as 20,000 giant tortoises](https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-galapagos-giant-turtles-released-0b024b4742b6b47c5ae7b60ac5b097cd). These weren’t just large, slow animals living out their days in the sun. They were ecosystem engineers that carved trails through the vegetation, swallowed whole fruits and deposited seeds miles away, planting forests with every lumbering step. The island’s entire web of life depended on these tortoises. ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/8.png?w=819) A tortoise. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) [Then the whalers came](https://atmos.earth/science-and-nature/humans-wiped-out-floreanas-giant-galapagos-tortoises-now-theyre-bringing-them-back/). In the 1800s, passing ships discovered that giant tortoises were essentially the perfect food supply for long sea voyages. They could survive in a ship’s hold for months without food or water. [A single vessel could haul away 700 tortoises in one visit](https://www.andeandiscovery.com/floreana-island-galapagos/). Altogether, passing ships took [an estimated 100,000 tortoises](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/galapagos-floreana-tortoises-darwin) from across the Galápagos. And then, sometime around 1850, [the Floreana tortoise was simply…gone](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/giant-tortoises-vanished-from-the-galapagos-floreana-island-more-than-150-years-ago-now-conservationists-have-brought-them-back-180988238/). On top of that, humans had brought rats, cats, dogs, goats, and pigs with them—devastating the surrounding environment. These new animals destroyed native vegetation and ate tortoise eggs. A [massive wildfire in 1820 didn’t help either](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free/). By the time anyone thought to do something, it was too late. Or so everyone thought. ## A wild tale In 2008, scientists exploring Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island [noticed something strange](https://www.galapagos.org/newsroom/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise/). Some of the tortoises had an unusual shell shape: the unique saddleback shell associated with Floreana. They conducted DNA tests, and the results were nearly unbelievable. These tortoises carried the genetic fingerprint of the “extinct” Floreana lineage. It turns out that centuries earlier, those same whalers who had stripped Floreana of its tortoises had [occasionally offloaded live tortoises onto Isabela Island](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/floreana-giant-tortoise-reintroduced-to-galapagos-island-after-almost-200-years), as provisions to be retrieved later or to lighten their ships. Some of those tortoises survived, bred, and passed their genes on for nearly 200 years. The Floreana tortoise had been hiding in plain sight the whole time. [Scientists sprang into action](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free/). They selected 23 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano that showed the strongest Floreana genetic signal and brought them to a breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. Starting in 2017, they carefully bred them over generations, patiently guiding their lineage back toward its original form. By 2025, they had more than 600 hatchlings. ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/1_101181.png?w=819) A tortoise with a distinctive shell pattern. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) Dr. Jen Jones, chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust, [described the moment](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wn1jrzk4go) as “truly spine-tingling,” adding that it validated two decades of collaboration among scientists, charities, and the local community. ## But wait—they didn’t just show up and release tortoises Before a single tortoise set foot on Floreana, the island needed years of preparation. Remember, Floreana had been overrun with invasive rats and feral cats, the same forces that drove the tortoises to extinction in the first place. They needed to go. In October 2023, the Floreana tortoise team [launched a massive eradication campaign](https://www.galapagos.org/newsroom/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise/) with helicopters, aerial baiting, and ground traps. Oh, and here’s a crucial aspect that’s often overlooked: [the island’s approximately 150 residents were actively involved in this endeavor](https://www.islandconservation.org/integrating-community-and-conservation-on-floreana/), not mere spectators. Before the baiting began, [community members](https://eetrust.org/projects/restoring-floreana-island/) set up protective enclosures for their pets to prevent harm. Farmers adapted their agricultural practices to best serve the project. Locals also helped with the trapping. The results were almost immediate. Native Galápagos rails—small birds that disappeared from the island entirely because of rat predation—have [already started coming back on their own](https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/nature-recovery-galapagos/?srsltid=AfmBOopvzmhnRvqgZ8m5XPFIVdXxT7NsG5OviZFUAgQEcQHVm97xwD9e). Nature, it turns out, is extremely ready to bounce back the moment you give it a chance. ## And they’re watching every step Each of the 158 released tortoises carries a GPS tracker that pings its location every hour via satellite. On top of that, [NASA Earth observation data is overlaid](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-is-helping-bring-giant-tortoises-back-to-the-galapagos/) to map vegetation, rainfall, and soil conditions across the island. Scientists use all of this information to build habitat models that can project ecosystem conditions decades into the future, which matters a lot when you’re dealing with an animal that can live over a century. ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/6_df639e.png?w=819) Slow and steady wins the race. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) The plan is to [release 25 to 100 more tortoises each year](https://www.islandconservation.org/homecoming-floreana/), with each group’s release location guided by data on where current tortoises are thriving. Slow and steady. Rather fitting, really. ## This is just the beginning The 158 tortoises are Phase One of a plan to reintroduce 12 locally extinct species to Floreana over the coming decade. Next up? The [Floreana mockingbird](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2865062/), a fascinating species that arguably inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when he visited the island in 1835. Sadly, it now only exists on two tiny offshore islets. After that: [Darwin’s finches](https://www.islandconservation.org/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos/), Galápagos racer snakes, the [lava gull](https://www.islandconservation.org/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos/) (the world’s rarest gull), and, eventually, the [Galápagos hawk](https://www.islandconservation.org/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos/), the apex predator whose return would signal a fully restored food chain. Each species added to the island increases the likelihood that the next will succeed. That’s how ecosystems work. And honestly, it’s a pretty good lesson for the rest of life. [Keep Reading →](http://%post%) ![Astronaut, Christina Koch, the Orion, spacecraft, "Spaceship Earth"](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Earth.jpg?w=300) [Wholesome](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/wholesome/) ## 9 reasons the Artemis II space mission keeps bringing people to tears ![conflict resolution, communication tips, how to stop an argument, Amanda Ripley, relationship advice](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Argument.png?w=300) [Science](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/) ## Expert shares the 1 sentence that can instantly stop an argument from boiling over ![body image, body positivity, Brazilian wax, medical embarrassment, genital anxiety](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Featured-Image.png?w=300) [Health](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/health/) ## Waxers, doctors, and nurses share their unfiltered inner thoughts about your ‘privates.’ ![gotya, gotye somebody that I used to know, gotye dance, cdk dance, somebody that i used to know dance, somebody that i used to know music video](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/origin-105.png?w=300) [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/) ## Netherland-based dance troupe performs epic routine to “Somebody That I Used to Know” ![laundry, laundry stain, pit stain, sweat stain, stain removal](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Untitled-design-26.png?w=300) [Skills](https://www.upworthy.com/category/skills/) ## Wife shares exactly how she claimed laundry ‘victory’ on her husband’s work shirt pit stains ### Get stories worth sharing delivered to your inbox. Advertisement ## Featured [All Featured Stories →](https://www.upworthy.com/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/) ![love on the spectrum, netflix, relationships](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/WP-Heather-TOP-SPLASH-85.jpg?w=300) [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/) ## Marriage counselor uses viral ‘Love on the Spectrum’ moment to explain triggers in relationships Heather Wake ![fast food, McDonald's, making soil, growing vegetables, food](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-08-at-2.32.52-PM.png?w=300) [Nutrition](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/nutrition/) ## Man grows vegetables with soil he created from McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and KFC meals Jacalyn Wetzel ![sexual assault awareness month, sexual assault, mental health, college students, culture](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-47.jpg?w=300) [Education](https://www.upworthy.com/category/skills/education/) ## Woman uses an auditorium full of students to reframe how we think about sexual assault Jacalyn Wetzel ![iced coffee, iced coffee recipe, homemade iced coffee, cheap iced coffee, affordable iced coffee](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Untitled-design-25.png?w=300) [Skills](https://www.upworthy.com/category/skills/) ## Trucker shares his 49-cent iced coffee recipe that ‘lasts all morning’ and frugal foodies call a ‘win’ Emily Shiffer Upworthy shares the best of humanity every day through stories that remind us of what we all have in common. Company [About](https://www.upworthy.com/about-us/) [Contact](https://www.upworthy.com/contact-us/) [Shop](https://books.disney.com/book/upworthy-good-people-stories-from-the-best-of-humanity/) [Newsletter](https://www.upworthy.com/newsletter/) [Editorial Masthead](https://www.upworthy.com/editorial-staff/) [GOOD (Sister Site)](https://www.good.is/) Topics [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/) [Family](https://www.upworthy.com/category/family/) [Nature](https://www.upworthy.com/category/nature/) [Science](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/) * © Copyright 2026 [Privacy Policy](https://www.upworthy.com/privacy-policy) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/upworthy/) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/upworthy/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/upworthy) - [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@upworthy) - [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/upworthy) ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1676218835946757&ev=PageView&noscript=1)
Readable Markdown	One of the funniest and most bizarre things about being a human being is that we really know very little about what’s going on. Sure, many religious people are confident they know why we exist, where we came from and what happens after we die, but there isn’t [a whole lot of evidence](https://newrepublic.com/article/116251/best-arguments-gods-existence-dont-challenge-atheists) to suggest they’re correct. However, even though we are at the center of an incredible mystery, most people are happy to go about their days without worrying about the basic nature of our existence. This has always been very strange to me. Why isn’t the nature of existence the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind the moment they wake up? There is one thing we do know for sure: that we are all going to die one day. Some people believe that once we flatline we may get invited to heaven where we get to spend all eternity playing the harp, reuniting with old friends and relatives, and enjoying a pain-free, joyous existence. But as the TV show [“The Good Place”](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/01/good-place-michael-schur-finale-metaphor-television/605884/) suggests, living a perfect life, free of suffering or challenges, eventually becomes pretty forking boring and pointless. *** Mark Twain said it best in [“Letters from the Earth”:](https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2019/09/deranged.html) His heaven is like himself: strange, interesting, astonishing, grotesque. I give you my word, it has not a single feature in it that he actually values. It consists—utterly and entirely—of diversions which he cares next to nothing about, here in the earth, yet is quite sure he will like them in heaven. Isn’t it curious? Isn’t it interesting? Many also believe that if there’s a heaven, there’s also hell where the folks who had a good time on Earth wind up. But wouldn’t that get boring, too? Just as one can get accustomed to living in constant beauty, one probably gets acclimated to the heat and suffering down below. There are also some who believe in reincarnation, so every time we die we are born again as a different species. Cool if you’re a dolphin, bad news if you’re a dung beetle. Then there are those who believe that nothing supernatural happens. Your consciousness shuts off and things are a lot like before you were born—absolute nothingness. That’s the least interesting option, but [according to science](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven), the most likely. Reddit user throwawayacctlmaooo wanted to find out what posters on the forum thought about life after death, [so they asked,](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/t4wevt/what_do_you_legitimately_believe_happens_after_we/) “What do you legitimately believe happens after we die?” They received a ton of responses that were outside of the usual “go to heaven/go to hell” variety. What’s cool is that the posts show that a lot of people have widely divergent ideas about what happens after we die. Here are some of the best responses to the biggest question in life. ### 1\. You’re a wave “No idea, but there is this quote from the TV show ‘The Good Place’ that I really like and have found comfort in. “‘Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave. “And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.’” — AlexEventstar ### 2\. Our energy moves on “Our energy — just like that of every living thing before us — will go on and become new things. Soil. Plants. Lions. Toilet paper. Space ship wheel arches. Dragonfly toes. We’re all just part of the same system. Neither manufactured nor destroyed. We’re just transferring that bestowed upon us from all those before. Death is life.” — four\_\_beasts ### 3\. You’ve been there before “Just like before you were born. Not good, not bad, just non-existence.” — SniffCheck ### 4\. No need to fear ”In the great words of Mark Twain: ‘I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” — Eva\_\_Unit\_\_02 ### 5\. One more time “When I think about it, I come to this very same conclusion. And that terrifies me. The only thing that is a little comforting for me is that, according to some research and according to some people who have experienced Near Death, just before full-on ‘nothingness,” you relive your life one last time, with an emphasis on the best moments in your life, all being overwhelmed with a feeling of love.” — MrXANA91 ### 6\. Isn’t this reincarnation? “I think we just keep on hitting a randomize button and we manifest into something else, again and again endlessly.” — FarOutSonOfLung ### 7\. The great nothing “In my opinion, nothing. Like being under anesthesia but never waking up and ceasing to exist.” — throwayaacctlmaooo ### 8\. Choose your own adventure “I’d like to think we reset like a game and we could choose whether we get reborn or go to some sort of heaven or something.” — No\_But\_Yes ### 9\. We’re energy “I’d honestly like to believe that we all become energy. We move around the universe, maybe even become one with it until we are reincarnated again as something else on earth or a different planet.” — cheese-emperor ### 10\. Salamanders “I think we are all reincarnated as salamanders.” — Kyky716 ### 11\. New universe? “I believe we go to another universe but that’s just wishful thinking.” — Zarek\_Pumpkineater ### 12\. Incomparable infinity “I’m under the impression that death is a separate experience we can’t comprehend. Like someone with vision will never truly know the concept of blindness or someone with hearing will never know the concept of deafness. “You only experience it while you’re doing it and I am currently experiencing being alive as a human. You don’t know what it was like before you were born because you’re obviously alive. Just like you don’t know deafness because your ears work. Beyond that, I believe the universe is in endless million-trillion year long cycles of growth and collapse and the fact that I exist at all means, throughout infinity, I am a guaranteed mathematic outcome and must repeat again.” — bermudalily ### 13\. Nothing “Nothing. It’s the only answer that makes sense. We ARE our thoughts. Our thoughts are in our brain. When we die, our brain shuts down. So our thoughts no longer exist. Anybody who believes in any form of an afterlife really needs to explain how we can have thoughts without our brain. And if they believe that’s somehow magically possible, why do we have brains while still alive?” — joeri1505 ### 14\. You become fertilizer “The same as when trees, plants, or other animals die, we decompose & feed the earth for something else to grow.” — skev303 ### 15\. May the source be with you “What I like to believe is that all life comes from a specific energy source and is returned there once we die. Sort of like a big pool of life, where all souls merge after death and cycle back into the world to be reborn. As for what we experience in that form I have no idea. But the entire world lives and functions on cycles, from the food chain to the weather cycle, eveywhere you look there is a cycle to maintain it. So it only makes sense life would work the same way.” — doopster77 ### 16\. Star stuff “Your surviving family gets all teary, then buries or burns your lifeless body. As the years pass, what atoms once made you, you, become all mixed up in other things, until much later on when the sun dies and engulfs the earth and all its atoms in a final dance of atomic death. Because we are all made of stars, and to them we will all return.” — dbryar This article originally appeared on 3.4.22 - [![A safe, stable home can change lives for the better. Here’s how Habitat for Humanity wants to make that possible for everyone.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/CAMB-1_e5018b.jpg?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/habitat-for-humanity/) Homeowners celebrate the completion of their new home in Cambodia's Siem Reap Province alongside Habitat for Humanity volunteers and staff. A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. Since 1976, [Habitat for Humanity](https://www.habitat.org/) has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. ![Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity's 2025 Carter Work Project.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/image.jpeg?w=1024) Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project. Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The [MicroBuild®](https://www.habitat.org/our-work/terwilliger-center-innovation-in-shelter/microbuild) Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide [affordable appliances and building materials](https://www.habitat.org/restores) to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. ![Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/USGA-1.jpg?w=1024) Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia. Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents. Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement: - Speaking up on [social media](https://www.instagram.com/habitatforhumanity) about the growing housing crisis - Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity [build](https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/near-you/find-your-local-habitat) in your local community - [Travel and build](https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/travel-and-build) with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe - Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you [donate](https://www.habitat.org/open-door/activate), you can create your own personalized door - Shop or donate at your local [Habitat ReStore](https://www.habitat.org/restores) Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. *Visit* [*habitat.org**/open-door](http://habitat.org/open-door)to learn more and get involved today.* - [![Dog lost for months in the wilderness recognizes her owner in the most tearful reunion](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-381.jpg?w=980)](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-spent-months-in-wilderness-ex1/) Training a family pet can be hard, especially when you have an active [breed](https://www.upworthy.com/top-dog-breeds-best-for-kids) that needs a certain level of stimulation. Some dogs are good to go after a few training sessions with a local trainer at a pet supply store, while others may require more personalized training in home. There are even [some pet parents](https://www.upworthy.com/grieving-son-travels-2650-miles-to-mississippi-humane-society-to-rescue-parents-dog-ex1) who opt to send their dogs to a sleep away training program that requires the dogs to live at a training facility for several months before coming home. Many times these programs are expensive and used as a last resort option, when the other training programs aren’t providing the dogs with the skills they need to live safely with their family. This decision to send your fur baby off to a facility for months at a time is not an easy one to make, but with your pets’ best interest in mind, you [put your faith in someone](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-rescued-from-romanian-forest) who specializes in the care your pup needs, and keep your fingers crossed that it pans out. In 2024, one family thought they were doing what was best for their Huskies by sending them to a training facility. It’s unclear what prompted the family’s concern after dropping their four dogs off with their trainer, but after months of looking for their dogs with no luck, they contacted [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091548831343). ![lost dog, dog rescue, Anakin's Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team, pet recovery, dogs, pets](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-379.jpg) Oakley, the first of the dogs to be found, shortly after being trapped. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc2OTc3MTYwNH0.8fMhOUU3vUmHnk8TlQHWUMX0vdvpT_pSEkG1luKd9-o/img.jpg?width=1200&height=800&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C1319%2C0%2C697) The dogs, which were from Ohio, where their owner Andrea lives, were entrusted to an unnamed animal training facility in Greenville County, South Carolina. It was suspected that the training facility dumped the dogs in the woods without contacting the family to retrieve their beloved pets. Thankfully, Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team uses drones and other techniques to help locate lost dogs and give them an idea of where to place their traps, and they were eventually able to help recover the lost pups. The first of the Huskies, Oakley, was found and reunited with Andrea after spending a whopping five months surviving in the wilderness. In a clip posted to TikTok, we see that poor Oakley was clearly unsure of the situation when she first spotted her human. It almost appeared that she was afraid of being in trouble. Anakin’s Trails referred to this as “lost dog syndrome.” But after a few seconds of uncertainty, the pooch fully recognized her human mom and could not contain her excitement. Understandably—neither could Andrea. To make things even better, just a few days after Oakley was reunited with her family, her sister Marley was also found. Ashley Raymond, Founder and Director of Anakin’s Trails told Upworthy, “We got involved after the owners found out about them being dumped about a month and a half later \[after entering the training facility\]. For about a month, we hung flyers, set food stations with high quality bait with surveillance cameras, and strategically placed them where we got sightings. Before long, we began getting sightings.” Things were looking up for the agency after the sightings, but then the region experienced a beast of a hurricane. Hurricane Helene was massive, hitting Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia making the rescue of these remaining two pets a bit more difficult. The animal recovery organization didn’t give up hope though. “Then, the hurricane happened and pushed them 16 miles down the road to another town. We basically had to start from scratch in an entire town, and that’s just what we did. After about 2 weeks of that, we finally nailed down the yard where they kept coming,” Raymond shares. “This time, we set our custom made kennel trap up. After they came once to it, we set it live the very next night. Around 10:30 that evening, Marley and Oakley walked in! Oakley got trapped, Marley ran off. Two nights later, Marley came back and we trapped her. We called the owner and she came down for the reunion for both on 2 different evenings.” ![lost dog rescue, dog reunion, Anakin's Trails, Husky rescue, pet recovery](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-380.jpg) The recently-found Nova Jo smiles at the camera. Photo credit: [Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team](https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy81NDE4NjU2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc5NDE4Nzg2Nn0.nLQcAqiHocQG_OO6Drxd6oU9ts2iQvvnVAAEd96jNWI/img.jpg?width=2000&height=1500&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C248%2C0%2C707) As of October 2024, the third dog, Juno, Marley and Oakley’s sister, is still missing, and their dog mom, Nova Jo, had been found but has still not been reunited with her human, according to Anakin’s Trails. “There is a fourth dog. She was dumped with the other three, but she ran up to someone days after being dumped and was picked up,” Raymond said. “SC has a 5 day stray hold unfortunately. So any dog that you find in the state of SC and no one comes forward in 5 days, it’s technically yours. So they are fighting that in court.” The work Anakin’s Trails does isn’t easy and since it’s a nonprofit, they rely on donations, which is how they were able to help provide Andrea a hotel room when she came to be reunited with her dog. And how they are able to help many others reunite with the four-legged member of their family. If you’d like to donate to Anakin’s Trails Stray and Pet Recovery Team so they can continue their work, you can do so [here](https://venmo.com/u/anakinstrails). This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. - [![Video of a chicken laying an egg has people rethinking their breakfast](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/ANNIE-TOP-SPLASH-124.jpg?w=900)](https://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-chicken-lay-an-egg/) Photo credit: [Canva](http://canva.com/photos) – Hens lay about one egg per day, on average. Have you ever watched a [chicken](https://www.upworthy.com/chickens-freak-out-their-owner-when-they-all-suddenly-freeze-in-place-at-feeding-time/) lay [an egg](https://www.upworthy.com/why-we-eat-chicken-eggs-duck-eggs-and-quail-eggs-but-not-turkey-eggs-ex1/)? Think hard before you answer. Many of us may instinctively say, “Of course I have!” but then realize we’ve only seen movie scenes or [cartoons](https://www.upworthy.com/gen-xers-miss-their-sacred-saturday-morning-cartoons-and-debate-which-one-was-the-best/) depicting [hens laying eggs](https://www.upworthy.com/scientists-just-solved-the-chicken-and-egg-debate/). Few of us have actually witnessed a real egg come out of a real hen in real life. Even fewer of us have seen it the way the folks at [@chickenwifehappylife](https://www.tiktok.com/@chickenwifehappylife/video/7620177276075920654) captured it. One of their chickens hopped onto a workbench and laid her egg right on the table in front of them. No nesting-box privacy for this lady. She wanted to show the world what she goes through to lay a single egg, and frankly, she has every right. ## Watch a hen lay an egg: Now see if the comments match what you were thinking: “Was I the only one that wasn’t sure exactly where the egg was going to pop out of?” “Great. Now I feel awful eating eggs. She went through all that and I just come along and see breakfast. Damn.” “Totally makes sense why chickens are so mean. If I had to go through childbirth every day of my life, I’d be a raging lunatic too!” “I never stopped to appreciate the eggs I consumed. After watching this, I have more respect for eggs and the chickens that lay them.” ![A hen sits in a nest with an egg](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/4.jpg) A hen sits in a nesting box with an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) “Girl… I promise not to complain about the price of eggs. Please take a day off, you deserve it.” “I’d be pissed if I had to lay an egg every day.” “We should have a moment of silence every time we crack an egg as respect. That was some work!” The overwhelming sentiments people shared were: (1) “Wow, I have truly never watched a hen lay an egg before,” and (2) “Wow, I will never take eggs for granted again.” Some also said, “I don’t know if I want to eat eggs anymore,” rethinking their breakfast choices. ## Does it hurt a chicken to lay an egg? Watching this hen lay her egg on the workbench had people feeling for her. It’s a bit reminiscent of giving birth, especially with her bearing down and “singing the egg song” just before it popped out. ![A hen bearing down to lay an egg](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/5.jpg) A hen prepares to lay an egg. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) [According to The Humane League](https://thehumaneleague.org/article/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs), most experts agree that laying eggs is not generally painful for hens. How do they know? Here are [the specifics:](https://thehumaneleague.org/article/is-it-painful-for-chickens-to-lay-eggs) “The reason it is hard to answer this question with complete clarity is because, of course, chickens cannot tell us for sure whether they’re experiencing pain when laying eggs. There are some signs, but we have to be careful not to misread them. For example, for a long time humans (including that first century Roman writer, Columella) believed that the sound many chickens make before laying indicated pain. However, studies found that the sound was instead an “[egg song](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1963.tb01156.x),” which could have a number of explanations, including happiness and scaring off predators. Another study found that [when a hen “sings” it is more likely to be associated with contentment](https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v089n03/p0510-p0524.pdf), while cackling aligns with danger.” Naturally, there are things that can go wrong during the egg-laying process that can make it painful. Signs that a hen is in distress while laying include wheezing, distressed squawking, not eating or drinking, isolating, hunching over, drooping, avoiding movement or activity, and slow or awkward movements. Most of the time, however, a hen will recover immediately after laying an egg and go on with life as if nothing happened. ## How often do chickens lay eggs? Hens basically lay eggs daily, but that’s a bit oversimplified. The [University of Wisconsin–Madison](https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/life-cycle-of-a-laying-hen/) notes that hens ovulate, releasing an egg yolk, every 24 to 26 hours. It then takes about 26 hours for the egg white and shell to form around the yolk. As a result, hens typically lay one egg per day, but the timing shifts later each day. Once in a while, a hen will also “skip” a day or two. Hens did not originally lay more than 300 eggs a year, however. Through centuries of selective breeding, humans have “engineered” chickens to become more prolific egg layers. Many people have concerns about the well-being of hens used in the industrial production of eggs. Even when we try to make ethical choices about the food we consume, the details are not always clear. Labels on egg cartons, such as “organic,” “cage-free,” and “pasture-raised,” can be confusing, but Certified Humane offers an [explainer](https://certifiedhumane.org/decoding-carton-buy-clean-humane-eggs/) that helps demystify these terms. Whatever egg choices we make, seeing the laying process may at least give us a newfound respect and gratitude for the hens who lay them. - [![Dog mom shares adorable video of the ‘chores’ her pit bull pup thinks she’s doing](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/origin-102.png?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/pitbull-pup-does-chores-ex1/) Photo credit: via [Stiv XTZ/Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/photo/american-pit-bull-terrier-puppy-on-window-pane-close-up-photo-137020/) – A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman. [Dogs](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/dogs) are naturally driven by a [sense of purpose](https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/therapy-dogs-love-their-jobs-your-pup-cut-out-it-ncna878676) and a need for belonging, which are all part of their [instinctual pack behavior.](https://www.upworthy.com/tag/dogs) When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family. But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, [dogs have fewer chores](https://www.upworthy.com/dog-accidentally-exposes-where-the-husband-s-been-when-wife-takes-him-for-a-walk-ex1) they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A [doggy mom](https://www.tiktok.com/@rhubarbthedoggo/) in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pit bull-Lab mix does around the house. The mom says Rhubarb has chores because “we didn’t raise a freeloader.” ## Working like a dog 1\. Makes sure the laundry doesn’t get cold Translation: Sits on top of the clean laundry, ready to be folded. 2\. Unlicensed therapist Translation: Gives us kisses when we’re tired or feeling down. 3\. Supervise repairs Translation: She gets in the way when you’re in a compromised, uncomfortable position with a wrench in your hand. 4\. Alerts us when there’s an intruder Translation: Stands at the window and barks furiously at the mailman. 5\. Keeps mum’s spot warm Translation: Lays in her spot on her favorite chair in the living room. ## Rhubarb’s fan club Here are some of the comments inspired by the video. “He’s carrying that household on his back. Give him a raise.“ “Obviously the most valuable member of the household.“ “Rhubarb needs a little vacation from working so flipping hard\!“ “Hardest worker there ever was.“ “He’s carrying that household on his back.“ Here’s to Rhubarb, for earning his keep, and being adorable while doing it. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated. - [![Travel expert reveals the one free room upgrade you should always ask for](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Hotel-1200.jpg?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/travel-expert-reveals-the-one-free-room-upgrade-you-should-always-ask-for/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) – The one free room upgrade you should always ask for. Having a great experience [at a hotel](https://www.upworthy.com/womans-heart-stopping-experience-at-a-hotel-reminds-everyone-to-lock-the-latch-behind-them-rp5/) is all about the small things: an easy check-in and check-out, crisp [sheets](https://www.upworthy.com/how-often-wash-sheets-ex1/), and—most importantly—a USB charger by the TV that actually works. [Jamie Fraser](https://www.insider.co.uk/news/historic-estate-robert-bruce-link-21438950), the owner of a private-use estate in [Scotland](https://www.upworthy.com/scottish-purple-burglar-alarm-ex1/), recently shared a way for travelers to make their stay a little nicer, for free. Fraser revealed a [travel secret to Metro](https://metro.co.uk/2026/03/14/this-seven-word-question-get-a-better-hotel-room-absolutely-free-27427736/): “Corner rooms are often slightly larger than standard rooms because of the [building](https://www.good.is/engineers-rotate-11-000-ton-building-by-90-degrees-with-employees-working-inside-in-extraordinary-video/) layout. They also usually only share one wall with another [guest](https://www.upworthy.com/kindergartener-invites-bus-driver-she-adores-as-her-special-guest-to-graduation/), meaning they can be noticeably quieter, which many travelers really appreciate after a long journey.” ## Ask for a corner room upgrade Better yet, corner rooms are often available free of charge. They’re typically not listed any differently from other rooms of a similar size and are assigned based on hotel capacity. Traveling Phil, an [Instagram travel influencer](https://www.instagram.com/phildsilk/), agrees. In a video, his wife explains that corner rooms offer four distinct features: two walls of windows, more square footage, increased natural light, and often better views. It’s the “same price” for a “better experience.” Another perk of a corner room, according to [Your Mileage May Vary](https://yourmileagemayvary.com/2025/06/04/are-the-corner-rooms-in-hotels-really-bigger/), is reduced foot traffic. Being farther from the elevator means fewer late-night footsteps, and you may also be closer to an emergency stairway in case of a safety issue. ![hotel, hotel upgrade, traveler, luggage, woman in hotel](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Hotel-3.jpg) Woman in a hotel room. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) “When hotel architects and designers start to cut up floors into bays, the rooms in the center of the floors—specifically near elevators, stairwells, and utility closets—will have less room because of space being cut to help service the building,” Karl von Ramm, general manager of The Loutrel in Charleston, South Carolina, told [Southern Living](https://www.southernliving.com/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329). He added that your best chance is “typically corner rooms or rooms along the front side of the building, where stairwells and utilities are typically not present.” ## How to get a corner room for free According to Traveling Phil: - Book a standard room (don’t overpay upfront) - Check in later in the day (after room shuffle) - Politely ask, “Do you happen to have any corner rooms available?” - Mention it’s a special occasion (even just a getaway) - Smile. Energy matters. Whether you’re hoping to upgrade to a corner room or a suite, you can increase your chances by telling the person at the front desk it’s a special occasion. “In the luxury hotel industry, we are always looking for a reason to celebrate and elevate the guest experience,” Lizzie Davidson, Thompson Houston’s area director of revenue, tells [Southern Living](https://www.southernliving.com/how-to-get-best-hotel-room-without-paying-more-11703329). “Mentioning your special occasion—such as a birthday, anniversary, or maybe even just a simple staycation escape with your loved one—always goes a long way at the reception area or concierge team.” So next time you check into a hotel, make this simple request—it likely won’t be much trouble for the staff. That way, you can make your trip a little extra special knowing you’ve secured a better view and a quieter room for the same price. - [![An obese, depressed Golden Retriever couldn’t even stand up. Watch her become a new dog.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/3.jpg?w=900)](https://www.upworthy.com/depressed-obese-golden-retriever-becomes-new-dog/) Photo credit: [Canva](http://canva.com/photos) – Golden Retrievers are known for their friendly nature. When Annika first brought [Frannie](https://www.instagram.com/frannies.fight/), an eight-year-old [Golden Retriever](https://www.upworthy.com/golden-retriever-runs-into-vet-ex1/), into her home, [the dog](https://www.upworthy.com/woman-shares-the-magical-human-like-thing-her-dog-does/) couldn’t even stand up on her own. She weighed 125 pounds—twice what a healthy weight would be for a female [of her breed](https://www.upworthy.com/which-dog-breed-is-goofiest/). Any movement at all took Herculean effort. Frannie was depressed, which wasn’t surprising, as she was missing out on all the joys of [doggie life.](https://www.upworthy.com/rescued-dog-human-connection-ex1/) [Rover’s Retreat,](https://www.instagram.com/rovers_retreat/) a dog rescue in Los Angeles, rescued Frannie from a miserable life of sleeping on concrete. She had sores on her tail and massive calluses on her legs. She also suffered from hypothyroidism and was scheduled to be put down. Annika got the call and responded immediately. “We didn’t even think or have a plan,” [she wrote](https://www.instagram.com/p/C17JnlwRs95/). “We just got in the car to go get her because the one thing we knew was that she did not deserve to die.” It took four people to get Frannie into the car. They faced a steep uphill climb. Frannie had no energy and exhibited no personality to speak of. But her new family was determined to help her find herself, so they picked her up to take her outside daily, even just for a few assisted steps. “One day, we were throwing the tennis ball around, and she perked her ears up,” Annika [told The Dodo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg). “And we were like, ‘That’s weird! She’s been so sad and miserable this whole time.’ So we threw it towards her and she just went nuts.” At first, she caught the ball with a cushioned stool under her belly and backside to support her. But after slowly increasing her exercise every day, she began standing on all fours and catching the ball without any assistance. Then she began to take a few steps to chase after it. Slowly but surely, Frannie was getting healthier—and learning to be a dog. For a while, she could only walk to the end of the driveway. But by February 2024, Frannie was [frolicking in the snow](https://www.tiktok.com/@franniesfight/video/7339674538776481066) on her own. By March, she was able to [walk a full mile](https://www.tiktok.com/@franniesfight/video/7350747125770226987). She still had a ways to go with her weight, but the contrast from where she started was night and day. With help from her diligent family and therapeutic rehab treatments like walking on a water treadmill, Frannie kept getting healthier. By August, eight months after not even being able to stand, she had lost 50 pounds and was a whole new dog. Annika told [The Dodo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJzTICtvAGg) she had previously cared for another obese Golden Retriever, Georgia, whom she had rehabilitated and later lost. “Something inside of me was like, ‘Georgia sent this dog to me,’” she said. “I got to fight for her.” In December 2024, a year after she came to live with Annika, the family posted an [update on Instagram:](https://www.instagram.com/p/DEA-2nWTPrm/) “We are so happy to celebrate one whole year of Frannie!! In the last 12 months, she didn’t just lose 58 pounds—she gained so much! She learned how to get up on her own, how to walk, how to run, how to chase tennis balls, and even tackled the water treadmill like a champ! She discovered what it means to be loved and cared for, and most importantly, she gained her forever family and a whole new lease on life.” Frannie continues to improve and thoroughly enjoy being a dog. “I still see her getting happier every day,” Annika told The Dodo. What a beautiful gift for both of them. You can follow Frannie’s ongoing journey [on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/frannies.fight/). - [![Elder female sperm whales seen acting as midwives in historic new video](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-14.jpg?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/elder-female-sperm-whales-seen-acting-as-midwives-in-historic-new-video/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) – A sperm whale. Science lovers got a treat recently when new research on sperm whales was quietly released. Researchers not only witnessed the birth of a baby sperm whale, but also saw elder females, including the grandmother, acting as midwives. Very few species assist with birth outside of humans, but it seems sperm whales can now join that short list. [Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative)](https://www.projectceti.org/) released two studies on sperm whales in journals Nature and Science respectively. [Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-27438-3) covers the different vocalizations of the whales during this teamwork process, while [Science](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady9280) discusses the collaborative birthing approach by the whales. ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-13.jpg?w=1024) A sperm whale. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) The sperm whale’s birth was first captured via drone in July 2023. Now that the video has made its way to social media, viewers cannot get over witnessing the whales act as midwives. Typically, scientists don’t get to witness sperm whales’ behavior during birth, likely because they give birth far from shore and avoid boats during this vulnerable process. With the increasing use of drones, however, scientists can now capture moments like this without disrupting wildlife. In the video, other whales—one identified as the grandmother—surround the birthing whale, named Rounder. Not all of the supporting whales were from the same pod as the mother, but they joined to help ensure the calf’s safe arrival. Because whales are mammals, they can’t breathe underwater. For this reason, baby whales, also known as calves, are born tail-first. Like other mammals, newborn whales instinctively try to breathe, so exiting the birth canal headfirst could result in drowning, according to [National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/sperm-whale-birth-video). Scientists have been following this pod for a while, so they’re familiar with the whales in the family. As they watched the drone footage from the boat, they were able to identify who was present. Still, the sight of this unique birthing circle shocked the scientists. ![sperm whale, whale birth, whale midwife, whale video, joy](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/WP-Jacalyn-TOP-SPLASH-15.jpg?w=1024) A sperm whale near the water’s surface. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos/) While birthing her calf, Rounder was flanked by her sister, Accra, and Atwood, an elder female. Behind the mom-to-be was her mother, Lady Oracle, her aunt Aurora, a juvenile whale named Ariel, and four other unknown female whales. The whales had dual roles: when the calf was born, the assisting whales formed a tight cluster and raised the baby out of the water so it could breathe. They took turns holding the calf out of the water for three hours. During that time, the females that were not actively lifting the calf to the surface were fending off nosy animals. Once the baby was safe and swimming alongside its mother, the other whales began to depart. One of the scientists, Shane Gero, told National Geographic, “All the biologists on the boat were losing their minds.” The same could be said for people coming across the video online. One person wrote, “Women supporting women! Bring it on!” Another person called out humans, saying, “I think they lied , who said survival of the fittest or only the strong survive. Everything in nature is about collective care. Even other animal species be helping each other. Also even when its predators they only take what they need.” This commenter admired the teamwork, writing, “I love how whales put so much energy into each other, but it’s even more exciting that members outside of the family pod were being so helpful. I’m invested!” “This is so frigging cool,” another person gushed. “I love how nature really wants nature to succeed. Absolutely 100% lit. Thanks for this!” - [![82-year-old Kentucky farmer rejects \$26 million AI data center offer](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/3_da658d.png?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/kentucky-farmer-rejects-26-million/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) – Horses on a farm. Imagine getting a phone call out of the blue from a stranger offering you \$26 [million](https://www.upworthy.com/wheel-of-fortune-unfair-fail-ex1/) for part of your [farm](https://www.upworthy.com/moyembrie-farm-prison-reform/). For most of us, that would be a [life-changing](https://www.upworthy.com/womans-request-for-life-changing-sentences-is-a-gold-mine-of-wisdom/), [champagne-popping](https://www.upworthy.com/108-year-old-woman-longevity-champagne/), are-you-serious-right-now? moment. But for 82-year-old Ida Huddleston of Mason County, [Kentucky](https://www.upworthy.com/appalachian-mom-gives-impassioned-speech-about-abortion-ban-in-kentucky/), it was something else entirely: [an insult dressed up in dollar signs](https://local12.com/news/local/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati). Ida’s answer? A hard no, and trust me, she didn’t lose a wink of sleep over it. ## A legacy that can’t be bought Ida is a part of the Huddleston family, who have [farmed this land for 200 years](https://www.foxnews.com/media/kentucky-family-says-turned-down-26m-from-ai-giant-keep-farmland-fed-nation). That’s two centuries of early mornings, muddy boots, and honest work. Over generations, they’ve raised cattle, grown soybeans, and planted corn on their 1,200-acre property outside Maysville. But it’s not just land stewardship. During the Great Depression—when jobs disappeared and families lined up just to get a meal—[the Huddlestons grew wheat.](https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati) They helped keep bread lines operating across America when people had almost nothing left. This land didn’t just feed the family; it fed the nation. ![kentucky, farmer, generation, ida, huddleston](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/1_6b953c.png?w=819) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) – The Huddleston family has been farming in Kentucky for 200 years. So when a representative from [an unnamed Fortune 100 tech company offered \$60,000 per acre](https://www.thebullvine.com/dairy-industry/60000-an-acre-a-fortune-50-ai-company-offered-the-huddlestons-26-million-for-their-kentucky-farm-they-refused/)—about ten times the current market rate—Ida’s daughter, Delsia Bare, simply [said](https://local12.com/news/local/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati): “Stay and hold and feed a nation. \$26 million doesn’t mean anything.” Notice the wording. She didn’t say “nothing.” She said \$26 million doesn’t mean anything. ## The tech giant at the door The company that offered \$26 million for the Huddlestons’ property [has never revealed its identity](https://www.newsweek.com/kentucky-family-turns-down-26m-for-ai-data-center-11736205); local officials were required to sign non-disclosure agreements just to learn who was making the offer. What we do know: The company [planned to convert half of the Huddleston farm](https://www.unilad.com/news/us-news/woman-farmer-family-turning-down-25-million-datacenter-490480-20260324) into a large “hyperscale” AI data center campus covering 2,000 acres outside Maysville. These facilities are enormous. They devour electricity. And [a single ginormous data center can consume up to five million gallons of water per day](https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption): roughly what a city of 50,000 people uses. However, the company did promise this: [400 permanent jobs in exchange for community support](https://people.com/mother-daughter-turn-down-over-usd26-million-to-sell-their-farms-to-tech-giant-11925285). Ida wasn’t buying it. “They call us old, stupid farmers, you know, but we’re not,” she [told WKRC-TV](https://local12.com/news/local/northern-kentucky-family-declines-26-million-bid-data-center-plans-advance-maysville-ai-tech-technology-construction-farm-farmland-property-deal-purchase-sell-google-meta-amazon-mason-county-market-value-cincinnati). “We know whenever our food is disappearing, our lands are disappearing, and we don’t have any water, and that poison. Well, we know we’ve had it.” She called it a scam. And to be honest, the repeated pressure campaigns—multiple offers, persistent calls, and what she described as “[mind harassment](https://people.com/mother-daughter-rejected-26m-offer-sell-farmland-to-build-data-center-say-others-havent-11934396)”—don’t exactly reflect good faith. Ida isn’t a lone voice in the wilderness here. Since 2017, [Mason County has lost one-fifth of its farms](https://moneywise.com/real-estate/kentucky-farming-family-rejects-26m-offer-from-ai-giant). Neighbors throughout the region share her concerns about what an industrial mega-campus would do to their rural way of life: their water, their soil, their sense of home. And they’re fighting back. A grassroots group called “[We Are Mason County](https://wearemasoncountyky.org/)” has [filed a lawsuit](https://datacentertracker.org/) claiming the county’s zoning laws lack a proper legal framework for data centers. Their attorney noted that [approving this rezoning would directly conflict with the county’s comprehensive land-use plan](https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/03/30/stories-from-the-states-ky-farmer-on-fight-against-hyperscale-data-center-in-mason-county/). In other words, this isn’t over. ## What this land means For Ida, the decision was never really about money. Her late husband built their house with his own hands. She feels his presence every time she walks the fields. The land holds her family’s past and, she hopes, their future. “I said, ‘No, mine is priceless.’ What I’ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,” she [told WXIX-TV](https://www.kbtx.com/2026/03/26/family-rejects-26m-ai-company-keep-farmland-being-turned-into-data-center/). In an era when everything seems to have a price—and the biggest tech companies in the world have the resources to buy nearly anything—there’s something quietly remarkable about a woman who simply says: no, not this. Ida says she intends to die on that land, on her own terms, surrounded by 200 years of family history. Some things really are priceless. - [![Giant tortoises return to Galápagos island after 150 years. Scientists say it changes everything.](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/5_005118.png?w=1024)](https://www.upworthy.com/galapagos-tortoises-return-150-years/) Photo credit: [Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) – A baby tortoise. [Extinction](https://www.upworthy.com/200-new-animal-species-discovered/) isn’t like leaving for a [long trip](https://www.upworthy.com/millennial-dad-vs-boomer-grandfather-ex1/) or [studying abroad](https://www.upworthy.com/american-teachers-share-teaching-abroad/). When it happens, [there’s no coming back](https://www.upworthy.com/fireflies-extinction/). The moment a [species disappears](https://www.upworthy.com/greater-glider-endangered-ex1/), it takes with it millions of years of evolution and an irreplaceable thread in the fabric of life on Earth. That’s it. Bye! Gone forever. Which is why [what happened on February 20](https://www.darwinfoundation.org/en/news/all-news-stories/158-endangered-tortoises-released-onto-floreana-island-galapagos-for-first-time-in-over-180-years/), on a remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean feels so extraordinary. A species that, by all accounts, should have been extinct returned home. That morning, rangers on Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands set down their packs and [gently placed 158 juvenile giant tortoises onto the wet ground](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wn1jrzk4go)—the first of their lineage to set foot on the island in roughly 175 years. These animals weren’t supposed to exist. Their subspecies was declared extinct in the 1850s. The forces that wiped them out—overhunting, invasive predators, habitat destruction—are exactly the kinds that usually can’t be reversed. But this time, somehow, they have been. ## First, here’s what was lost Long ago—before whalers, settlers, feral cats, and invasive rats—[Floreana Island was home to as many as 20,000 giant tortoises](https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-galapagos-giant-turtles-released-0b024b4742b6b47c5ae7b60ac5b097cd). These weren’t just large, slow animals living out their days in the sun. They were ecosystem engineers that carved trails through the vegetation, swallowed whole fruits and deposited seeds miles away, planting forests with every lumbering step. The island’s entire web of life depended on these tortoises. ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/8.png?w=819) A tortoise. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) [Then the whalers came](https://atmos.earth/science-and-nature/humans-wiped-out-floreanas-giant-galapagos-tortoises-now-theyre-bringing-them-back/). In the 1800s, passing ships discovered that giant tortoises were essentially the perfect food supply for long sea voyages. They could survive in a ship’s hold for months without food or water. [A single vessel could haul away 700 tortoises in one visit](https://www.andeandiscovery.com/floreana-island-galapagos/). Altogether, passing ships took [an estimated 100,000 tortoises](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/galapagos-floreana-tortoises-darwin) from across the Galápagos. And then, sometime around 1850, [the Floreana tortoise was simply…gone](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/giant-tortoises-vanished-from-the-galapagos-floreana-island-more-than-150-years-ago-now-conservationists-have-brought-them-back-180988238/). On top of that, humans had brought rats, cats, dogs, goats, and pigs with them—devastating the surrounding environment. These new animals destroyed native vegetation and ate tortoise eggs. A [massive wildfire in 1820 didn’t help either](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free/). By the time anyone thought to do something, it was too late. Or so everyone thought. ## A wild tale In 2008, scientists exploring Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island [noticed something strange](https://www.galapagos.org/newsroom/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise/). Some of the tortoises had an unusual shell shape: the unique saddleback shell associated with Floreana. They conducted DNA tests, and the results were nearly unbelievable. These tortoises carried the genetic fingerprint of the “extinct” Floreana lineage. It turns out that centuries earlier, those same whalers who had stripped Floreana of its tortoises had [occasionally offloaded live tortoises onto Isabela Island](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/floreana-giant-tortoise-reintroduced-to-galapagos-island-after-almost-200-years), as provisions to be retrieved later or to lighten their ships. Some of those tortoises survived, bred, and passed their genes on for nearly 200 years. The Floreana tortoise had been hiding in plain sight the whole time. [Scientists sprang into action](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/galapagos-tortoise-once-believed-extinct-is-now-roaming-free/). They selected 23 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano that showed the strongest Floreana genetic signal and brought them to a breeding center on Santa Cruz Island. Starting in 2017, they carefully bred them over generations, patiently guiding their lineage back toward its original form. By 2025, they had more than 600 hatchlings. ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/1_101181.png?w=819) A tortoise with a distinctive shell pattern. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) Dr. Jen Jones, chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust, [described the moment](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wn1jrzk4go) as “truly spine-tingling,” adding that it validated two decades of collaboration among scientists, charities, and the local community. ## But wait—they didn’t just show up and release tortoises Before a single tortoise set foot on Floreana, the island needed years of preparation. Remember, Floreana had been overrun with invasive rats and feral cats, the same forces that drove the tortoises to extinction in the first place. They needed to go. In October 2023, the Floreana tortoise team [launched a massive eradication campaign](https://www.galapagos.org/newsroom/gibbs-on-floreana-tortoise/) with helicopters, aerial baiting, and ground traps. Oh, and here’s a crucial aspect that’s often overlooked: [the island’s approximately 150 residents were actively involved in this endeavor](https://www.islandconservation.org/integrating-community-and-conservation-on-floreana/), not mere spectators. Before the baiting began, [community members](https://eetrust.org/projects/restoring-floreana-island/) set up protective enclosures for their pets to prevent harm. Farmers adapted their agricultural practices to best serve the project. Locals also helped with the trapping. The results were almost immediate. Native Galápagos rails—small birds that disappeared from the island entirely because of rat predation—have [already started coming back on their own](https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/nature-recovery-galapagos/?srsltid=AfmBOopvzmhnRvqgZ8m5XPFIVdXxT7NsG5OviZFUAgQEcQHVm97xwD9e). Nature, it turns out, is extremely ready to bounce back the moment you give it a chance. ## And they’re watching every step Each of the 158 released tortoises carries a GPS tracker that pings its location every hour via satellite. On top of that, [NASA Earth observation data is overlaid](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/nasa-is-helping-bring-giant-tortoises-back-to-the-galapagos/) to map vegetation, rainfall, and soil conditions across the island. Scientists use all of this information to build habitat models that can project ecosystem conditions decades into the future, which matters a lot when you’re dealing with an animal that can live over a century. ![galapagos, tortoises, island, conservation, science](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/6_df639e.png?w=819) Slow and steady wins the race. [Photo credit: Canva](https://www.canva.com/photos) The plan is to [release 25 to 100 more tortoises each year](https://www.islandconservation.org/homecoming-floreana/), with each group’s release location guided by data on where current tortoises are thriving. Slow and steady. Rather fitting, really. ## This is just the beginning The 158 tortoises are Phase One of a plan to reintroduce 12 locally extinct species to Floreana over the coming decade. Next up? The [Floreana mockingbird](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2865062/), a fascinating species that arguably inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution when he visited the island in 1835. Sadly, it now only exists on two tiny offshore islets. After that: [Darwin’s finches](https://www.islandconservation.org/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos/), Galápagos racer snakes, the [lava gull](https://www.islandconservation.org/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos/) (the world’s rarest gull), and, eventually, the [Galápagos hawk](https://www.islandconservation.org/groundbreaking-ecological-restoration-initiative-begins-on-floreana-island-galapagos/), the apex predator whose return would signal a fully restored food chain. Each species added to the island increases the likelihood that the next will succeed. That’s how ecosystems work. And honestly, it’s a pretty good lesson for the rest of life. ![Astronaut, Christina Koch, the Orion, spacecraft, "Spaceship Earth"](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Earth.jpg?w=300) [Wholesome](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/wholesome/) ## 9 reasons the Artemis II space mission keeps bringing people to tears ![conflict resolution, communication tips, how to stop an argument, Amanda Ripley, relationship advice](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Argument.png?w=300) [Science](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/) ## Expert shares the 1 sentence that can instantly stop an argument from boiling over ![body image, body positivity, Brazilian wax, medical embarrassment, genital anxiety](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Featured-Image.png?w=300) [Health](https://www.upworthy.com/category/science/health/) ## Waxers, doctors, and nurses share their unfiltered inner thoughts about your ‘privates.’ ![gotya, gotye somebody that I used to know, gotye dance, cdk dance, somebody that i used to know dance, somebody that i used to know music video](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/origin-105.png?w=300) [Culture](https://www.upworthy.com/category/culture/) ## Netherland-based dance troupe performs epic routine to “Somebody That I Used to Know” ![laundry, laundry stain, pit stain, sweat stain, stain removal](https://www.upworthy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Untitled-design-26.png?w=300) [Skills](https://www.upworthy.com/category/skills/) ## Wife shares exactly how she claimed laundry ‘victory’ on her husband’s work shirt pit stains
Shard	174 (laksa)
Root Hash	3593961702568576174
Unparsed URL	com,upworthy!www,/what-happens-when-we-die-rp/ s443