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Amanda Stronza is an anthropologist, professor, and photographer, who is passionate about wildlife. She later on discovered a way to give respect to the animals, by creating beautiful memorials for dead animals she comes across during her field works.

“Years ago, I was doing my PhD research in the Peruvian Amazon, I found a field mouse outside my hut. He was clearly in some kind of distress,” Stronza recalls during her interview with Bored Panda. “I scooped him up and started to care for him as gently as I could.”

Days later, the mouse started apirating milk through his nose and Stronza can do nothing as she watched him die in her arms.

“He was one mouse I cared for and loved. He was a sentient being, albeit a tiny one, with feelings and fears and pleasures and thoughts I could never know. He had a life. He was special. Because they are all special,” she adds.

Here are some memorials she had done, and each of their heartbreaking stories.

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Where I live in Texas, armadillo jokes are as common as armadillos. There’s one about the chicken crossing the road “to show the armadillo how it’s possible.” There’s one about armadillos being “Texas speedbumps.” I get it. It’s ok to make light of dark things, to find humor in sadness. It’s kind of a beautiful, funny thing humans do. But I’ve heard so many people say they’ve never seen a live armadillo in Texas, only dead ones on the road. That gives me pause. How many nonhuman beings do we see only when they’re dead? And then do we even see them at all? Armadillos make me love living in Texas. Every time I see one, a live one, my heart skips a beat. They are like magic to me. The dinosaur tail. The squiggly ears. The exquisite armor–like tiny, noble knights. If only their armor could protect them from our cars. My dear friend found this one on his bike ride to work (yes to biking to work!), and he texted me. Maybe that seems weird–a friend writing to tell me he found a dead armadillo. But he knew I’d want to go pull him from the road, give him a proper farewell, worthy of a knight. Within minutes of circling him with beauty under a tree, a lone vulture came, ready to complete the cycle. I’m sorry, little one. I wasn’t laughing. #SeeThemAll #rip #animalmemorial #armadillo #armadillosofinstagram #texas #wildlife #texaswildlife #circleoflife

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