Nov. 18, 2015: We’ve scoured the Web to find the best and most compelling animal stories, videos and photos. And it’s all right here.

Firefighters in Ocala, Florida, rescued an adorable puppy from a culvert Tuesday.

Crew Saves Puppy From Drain

Firefighters in Ocala, Florida, came to the rescue of one adorable puppy Tuesday afternoon. The crew was responding to a call from a concerned citizen who could hear the chocolate Labrador Retriever’s cries coming from a culvert. The firefighters managed to coax the puppy, who’s believed to be less than 6 months old, to a spot where they could reach her and pulled her out. The crew enjoyed some snuggles and a photo shoot with the pup before bringing her to the Marion County Animal Services Center. No microchip was found on the puppy — but she has a home waiting if she needs one. One of the firefighters said he wants to adopt her if her owner doesn’t come forward. — Read it at Florida’s Ocala and see photos from Marion County Fire Rescue

Study: Monkeys and Humans May Share Roots of Language

A study led by the U.K.’s Newcastle University finds that both humans and monkeys have an area in the front of the brain that recognizes when sequences of sounds in language occur in the correct order, or an unexpected order. The researchers had both humans and monkeys learn a made up language, and then scanned their brain activity as they listened to new sequences that either had a “legal” or “illegal” order. The results suggest that a region in the front of the brain in both species monitors the organization of that is heard, which is important to understanding the evolution of language. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. — Read it at Science Daily

Proteins May Be Key to How Animals Navigate

A pair of proteins may unlock the mystery to how animals, including pigeons, bees and sharks, use the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate, according to a new study. Lead researcher Dr. Can Xie, a molecular biophysicist at Peking University in Beijing, said computer modeling and experiments show how an iron-containing protein his team calls MagR couples with Cry, a light-sensitive protein in the eye, and that both the MagR polymer and MagR/Cry protein complex can actually respond to magnetic fields. "The protein complex spontaneously aligns in the direction of external magnetic fields," Xie said. But Professor Michael Walker of the University of Auckland, who has been studying magnetic sensing for decades, calls the new findings a “very tentative suggestion.” The study was published in the journal Nature Materials. — Read it at Discovery News

Mishka was reunited with her owner this week after being missing for 7 years.

Woman Reunited With Missing Dog

Paula Graff’s dog was 3 years old when she disappeared from her Ohio backyard seven years ago. But she says she always prayed someone would find the dog’s microchip and return her. This week, it finally happened. Graff, who now lives in Tennessee, got a call from the Animal Friends Humane Society in Hamilton, Ohio, saying her dog had been brought in as a stray. Graff was reunited with little Mishka on Tuesday. "She’s my heart. She always has been. That’s why I never gave up,” Graff said. The dog’s microchip had slipped down to her side from her shoulder blades, but the shelter’s persistent employees were able to find it. Graff said she’s grateful to whoever has cared for her 10-year-old dog in the years since she disappeared. “I can’t even describe how happy I am to see her." — Watch it at Cincinnati’s WLWT

Stormy the Kitten Rescued in Texas

We’ll leave you with another sweet rescue by firefighters. A Good Samaritan in San Antonio, Texas, called 911 Sunday when he could hear a kitten crying from a storm drain while he was stopped at a traffic light. The frightened kitten wouldn’t allow the firefighters near her, so they created a makeshift trap and were eventually able to rescue her. They named her Stormy and brought her back to the station with them, giving her a cozy place to stay until the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services was able to pick her up Monday morning. "She has a very sweet nature and just wants to be held," the fire department wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. Stormy will be up for adoption once she’s big enough. — Read it at San Antonio’s KENS5