After the war, they moved Corporal Wojtek to Scotland where he lived at the Edinburgh Zoo until he passed of natural causes in 1963.

While he was there, Polish soldiers would come by to visit him, and he'd not only recognize when people were speaking to him in Polish, but he'd actually recognize old members of his unit when they came around to see him.

As a Pole, I feel obliged to add a few notes about Wojtek:

1) He learned to smoke by copying soldiers. Same with drinking alcohol, marching etc. He also refused to take cigarettes that weren't lit.
2) As Poland was under occupation at the time, our government-in-exile did tend to be a bit more... lax when it came to rules of enlisting. In this case, the commander of the Polish II Corps, Władysław Anders, was the one to officially enlist him. Seeing as he went through the same hardships as his men (being imprisoned by the Soviets in horrible conditions followed by a long travel through Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa once released), he understood that Wojtek was good for morale.
3) He caught a spy by accident (which was part of the reason why he ended up getting the rank of Corporal).
4) After the war, he lived out the rest of his life in Edinburgh Zoo, where he would often be visited by his former comrades, who would (to horror of zoo staff) jump into his enclosure to wrestle with him. He passed away in 1963, aged 21.
5) He wasn't stuffed after passing, instead there's a whole lineup of monuments in his honor, most of them in Poland, but they can also be found in Edinburgh, London, Imola (Italy) and Cassino, among others.

There even is a book about Wojtek, "Wojtek the Bear – Polish War Hero", written by Aileen Orr. I don't have it with me right now, but off top of my head, it should have some photographs.

IIRC one of the reasons wildfires in SoCal can get so bad is because some guy imported Eucalyptus trees, I think for lumber originally, so now there's basically living firebombs everywhere.

"it's Makin' my Overies Scream" Damn, stiff competition here lads!

As a fun bonus there's the channel Dumb Doggo - Beetles, Spiders or Crustaceans

Woitech caught an enemy spy twice. Basically Woitech liked showers and was often in the shower tents whenever they'd let him and that section was the part of their base setup with the least security. Once a nazi spy and once an Italian spy (Italy allied with Germany in WW2) tried to sneak in an infiltrate the base through there and encountered a bear. Everyone who was supposed to be there already knew about Woitech so when some guy no one recognized was screaming bloody murder about, ehem, the young private. They knew the person was a spy.

The poison doesn't hit the same if it doesn't come straight from the branch

2:55 how did Wojtek smoke? Simple. Soldiers would place a lit cigarette in his mouth and he would take one puff and proceed to eat the cigarette. He could even recognise if the cigarette given to him was lit or not and if he was given unlit cigarette, he would spit it out 🤣 he had a refined pallet 🤣

Some more facts about Wojtek

His name is a shorter version of the name "Wojciech" which translates to "joyful soldier"

He was bitten by a scorpion, but he made a recovery which could only be considered a miracle, because I believe that's the only time when a syrian bear survived that

He loved drinking, but he had a really weak head when it comes to alcohol

He was appointed as a passenger in a jeep, but when he grew up, he was reassigned to a technical vehicle, so he could be with the rest of the company at all times

6:00 most eucalyptus oil sold is cured to remove it's poisonous parts.

Pistol shrimp used bubblebeam💥
It's SUPER Effective

The more and more Xena talks about her uh preferences I think maybe it's a good thing I don't know her personally 😂

0:25 Suddenly I'm happy to be fuzzy!

The more I see of her, the more I miss home. Lovely work Xena ^^

YAY more of the southern girl reacting to MoreParz❤

8:19 a dummy, but a cute one tho

Xena and her editor give Markiplier and Lixian vibes

Probably the most out of pocket Vtuber I've seen in a while, I love it

the bear didn't really smoke the cigarettes, he would just swallow them. Though he insisted they be lit beforehand. It's also worth noting that him carrying ammunition was not some soldier throwing boxes on his back, it was him getting bored and mimicking the soldiers, picking up the boxes himself and carrying them towards the artillery. And no, they did not stuff him, he does have multiple statues though

Xena: if you have arm hair i will bite you


Me: tf my wax or my razor