Few people know that looking directly into a pug’s eyes can substantially elevate your endorphin levels while simultaneously lowering your blood pressure. Don’t ask me how that works. It’s science. Anyway, here are some pictures I found of a pug … Continue reading
Also from Mother Nature Network, the story of a pigeon whose friendship saved an injured monkey’s life:
This macaque was rescued from Neilingding Island in China after his mother abandoned him and left him for dead, according to the Daily News. His recovery was dragging until he made friends with this pigeon, and now the two are rarely apart.
Here’s a picture of a monkey riding on the back of a dog:
It’s just a fun word to say, you know? Aardvark.
Aardvark.
Aardvark.
Aardvark.
Where was I? Oh yeah, I was going to show you pictures of an aardvark.
Aardvark.
Dangit!
© Caters News Agency/Via thefeaturedcreature.com
They’re really only cute as babies, because they grow up into something that looks like a mad scientist mixed the genes of a pig, a rabbit, and Jabba the Hutt. But while they’re young, they sometimes drink from bottles, and it’s adorable (it would be better if they could just feed in the wild, but the widespread suckage of the human race occasionally leads to cute moments such as these):
Image courtesy Busch Gardens/ Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc./ Via abcactionnews.com
Some members of the animal kingdom never seem to earn the description of “cute.” I suspect that we tend to find cuteness in creatures that are more similar to us than dissimilar, although I’m too lazy to see if science backs me up on that. We would therefore be much more likely to find a mammal (e.g. a dog, cat, rabbit, sloth, or manatee) cute than, say, an amphibian or reptile (e.g. a tree frog, gecko, or chameleon). We would definitely find mammals and reptiles cuter than arthropods (e.g. spiders, lobsters, beetles, horseshoe crabs, or millipedes), at least as a general rule. Cephalopods seem to be an outlier (e.g. cuttlefish and octopi).
I do have a hypothesis as to why we feel this way about bugs and their close relatives: we tend to find small things cute when they are not ordinarily small, like puppies, kittens, and finger monkeys. Most bugs are already small, so while a baby hedgehog that can fit in the palm of your hand might be adorable, a bug that is the same size might actually be terrifying. The same goes for cephalopods, actually. A giant squid is not cute by any stretch of the imagination, but a tiny octopus might be adorable.
So what happens when an arthropod that we expect to be large is actually small? Can that be cute? Well, here’s a lobster that is about the size of some dude’s finger. You tell me if it’s cute:
Via yourocklobster.com
Something that we normally expect to be about the size of our hand, like a crab, might become cute when it is small enough to perch on a finger: Continue reading
The sight of a cat dressed in a shark costume riding a Roomba around the kitchen will never, ever get old.
Unless you’re dead inside or something.
Even Forbes has discussed shark-cat, albeit in a way that makes me suspect the writer’s grandkids taught him how to use the internet so he could write the article.
Just give in to the power of shark-cat.
Scientists have discovered a “new” species of carnivore, the olinguito, in South America. I say “new” in quotes because the animal is not new, just the discovery. The olinguito has probably been scampering around the jungle for eons, not caring that humans had not assigned it a genus and species (Bassaricyon neblina, in case you’re curious).
To be fair, the olinguito is pretty adorable.
![By Mark Gurney [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Olinguito_ZooKeys_324_solo.jpg "By Mark Gurney [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
The olinguito gets its name from the classically-beautiful actress Lena Olin:
![Bobby Mcdobbin [CC BY-SA 2.0], on Flickr](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/146895823_93b89def6b.jpg "Bobby Mcdobbin [CC BY-SA 2.0], on Flickr")
Wait, that’s not right. It gets its name from the olingo, a close-relative that also lives in South America, and is presumably slightly bigger than the olinguito. I don’t know if the olingo gets its name from the Olin family, but I sort of doubt it.
Lest you get carried away with the olinguito’s cuteness, keep in mind that it is a member of the family Procyonidae, part of the order Carnivora. So while it is in the same taxonomic orders as puppies and kittens, its closest well-known relative is the raccoon.
Photo credits: Mark Gurney [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons; Bobby Mcdobbin [CC BY-SA 2.0], on Flickr.
Via Mother Nature Network, a few cute tree-dwellers:
A koala (too obvious, perhaps?):
A kinkajou (cuter than the name might sound):
This silky anteater curled around a branch (obviously cute): Continue reading
She wants to share the toy with May, but I guess she just lacks the muscle memory to let go of it once she’s got it.
She’s got some epic moves, and can corner like nobody’s business.
