Weekly Dose of Cute
cwilcox | August 20, 2009Animals don't have to be adorable adults to be cute when they're kids. A classic example, as pointed out by my favorite French blogger (who also happens to have a fascination with parasites), is the sloth. As adults they're underwhelming in the cuddle department (unless you're a weirdo like me who thinks just about everything is cute). But as babies they're just darned adorable!Like their name suggests, the six living species of sloths which live exclusively in Central and South America tend to be slow-moving, even to the point of seeming lazy. But that lack of energy isn't without purpose.…
cwilcox | August 13, 2009I find it harder and harder to top the amazing cuteness provided by ZooBorns (a must-follow if you come here for cuteness!). They had these two youngsters there this week: On the left may look like a common duckling, but this little Meller's Duck is highly endangered. You won't find it flapping around the ponds and lakes around home - that is, unless your home is Madagascar, where the ducks are endemic to. At first conservation for the species was hindered because, outwardly, it looks very similar to the extremely common Mallard. Thinking the ducks in the area were nothing unique, people didn…
cwilcox | August 1, 2009Ok, so I've kinda missed a week or two.
What? None of you noticed? Oh. Nevermind then.
Wait a second, I see someone noticed. Just look at that face - so sad that I didn't post a Weekly Dose of Cute last week!
c/o the ever-adorable Zooborns
This unhappy cub is one of four lovely little 2 month olds being raised by the San Diego Zoo's all too happy staff. Cheetahs are amazing animals. They're able to reach speeds of up to 75 mph in short bursts, and are able to accelerate from 0 to 70 in about 3 seconds. Unfortunately, like so many large cats, their future is uncertain. Their numbers have…
cwilcox | July 15, 2009When I saw this little girl over at Zooborns, I couldn't help but fall completely in love! Isn't she just the cutest little doll?! Best yet, the Belfast Zoo, where this little angel was born, is currently having a naming contest for the little girl.In case you didn't know, this beautiful baby girl is a Malayan Tapir, the largest of the four species of these strange-looking creatures. As an adult, she'll gail the distinctive "saddle" marking of her kind (see Right). The lucky momma carried this baby girl for just over a year before giving birth on June 22nd.
Unfortunately, like so many of the…
cwilcox | July 6, 2009OK, everyone. I'm back. I swear. I know, I know - It's been awhile. But we've finally settled in here in Hawaii and are having a blast enjoying the gorgeous weather and new surroundings. Sorry I've neglected you all for so long - I know, I'm a jackass.
No wait, that's these little guys:
OK, to be fair, they're only 1/2 jackasses - they're 1/2 donkey, 1/2 zebra. They're Zonkeys - or zebrasses, zebronkeys, zeasses, zeedonks, zebadonks, zenkeys, donbras, donbris, or deebras... not one of which is a technically correct term for them. The better terms, to those who claim to know such things, are…
cwilcox | June 22, 2009Yeah, yeah, I've done these little guys before. But come on - just watch the video. I dare you to claim that you are not overwhelmed by the Cute.
HT Zooborns, again. Those guys kick some serious ass when it comes to finding the world's cutest animals
cwilcox | May 25, 2009These little tykes were only discovered last year. They're so cute, they made The International Institute for Species Exploration's Top 10 Newly Discovered Species for 2008.
Standing a whoppin' 1/2" tall, these little Satomi's Pygmy Seahorses, Hippocampus satomiae, are the smallest known species of seahorse (just edging under the previusly smallest Hippocampus denise by about 2 mm). With its tail stretched out straight, one of these seahorses would only measure about 1/2 the width of a penny. The previously unknown specimens were found off the coast of Indonesia and were named after the…
cwilcox | May 10, 2009Ok, so this week's cutie might not be everyone's favorite to cuddle with, but standing at only a few millimeters, it's definitely cute. Just look at how small he is compared to a human thumb! I mean, he's positively tiny. Besides, you have to like him a bit because he's brightly colored! So he's small and pretty - what more could you ask for?
hat tip Ugly Overload Photos by Jurgen Otto
This vibrant little spider is the Peacock spider, Maratus volans. The peacock spider is also called the flying spider, as some thought that brilliant-colored flap was used somehow for flight or gliding. Alas,…
cwilcox | May 3, 2009My brother's name is Kian, but ever since we were kids I've called him Kiwi. So, of course, I couldn't resist this little image, in light of his birthday:
Source: Daily Telegraph
Isn't it adorable? A wittle baby kiwi!
Kiwis are nocturnal, flightless birds that are indigenous to New Zealand - there are 5 species currently recognized. In the wild, the father takes care of the egg after it's lain (laid?). But you have to give props to Kiwi Moms, too: the Kiwi's egg is so large compared to its mother that it would be like us giving birth to a toddler. And just think how much hell we go through…
cwilcox | April 8, 2009I'm on vacation, so I haven't been watching the internets for cute things as closely as normal. But this guy stuck out, and I'm sure you'll see why:
c/o Zooborns
OMG THE WITTLE BABY SEA LION IS TOO CUTE!
cwilcox | March 30, 2009I admit I'm a sucker for cute, furry things. But even those of you who prefer the scaly creatures have to be won over by these little fur balls:
Photo credits: Jason Collier/SeaWorld Orlando, c/o Zooborns
These are some of SeaWorld Orlando's newest arrivals: a pack of four Asian Small-Clawed Otter pups. The Asian otters (Aonyx cinerea) are the smallest otter species in the world, reaching only 0.9 m (roughly 3 feet) from nose to tip of the tail when fully grown. Like other otters, they live in rivers, creeks and estuaries. These otters are unique in that they capture food with their paws…
cwilcox | March 25, 2009If Dracula started out this cute, I bet people wouldn't have wanted to put a stake through his heart:
Albeit these aren't blood-suckers... They're baby fruit bats. Fruit bats, sometimes called Mega Bats or Flying Foxes, actually range in size depending on species, but can get to as large as 16 inches tall with a 5 foot wingspan. As the name implies, they eat fruit and nectar, and are major seed distributors and pollinators where they live.
How do I say it... oh yeah. I WANT ONE.
cwilcox | March 11, 2009How about this for an unlikely but adorable meeting:LA Times Blogs
C'mon - you know you've always wished to see the unbelievable cuteness of both a tiger and a dolphin together. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom staff introduced the six month old tiger cub to the friendly bottlenose dolphins during the tiger's daily walk around the park. Personally, I wish I could have been there - you can just see the intelligence and curiosity in all parties involved. I bet the tiger is trying to figure out how to play with the odd-looking feline on the other side of the glass...
cwilcox | March 1, 2009Everyone has that "awkward" phase in their youth. It's too bad ours isn't this cute!
From Flickr
cwilcox | February 22, 2009Gotta love Zooborns for always finding great cute baby photos. I think these guys are simply the cutest in that weird, funny-looking sort of way!
They're Tawny Frogmouth chicks. Below is an image Allie took when we went behind the scenes at SeaWorld of an adult. They're similar to owls, but are not true "owls". They are raptors, like owls, but they catch their prey with their beaks instead of their talons and have a few physiological differences. Like many species of birds, they're monogamous, and will stick to their mate until death do them part. And, as far as conservation is concerned,…
cwilcox | February 9, 2009I don't really have an intro to these guys, as they're just too cute for words!
They're baby fennec foxes, for those of you who aren't familiar with those large ears. The fennec fox lives in the Sahara desert, where they use those massive acoustic organs to both hear its prey from far away and cool off. It's nocturnal, and hunts rodents, insects and just about anything it can get its adorable little paws on. Interestingly, it's one of the only species of Fox that is able to be properly kept as a pet - just ask Jeff Corwin - but most areas require special exotic animal permits to do so. Of…
cwilcox | February 2, 2009OK, keeping with the wildlife theme: I recently found a photoset on Flickr called Tiny Things On Fingers.
So yeah, here's a nice little subset.
Baby Sugar Glider. Look at the paws on that guy! He's got hulk hands.
I don't care what you say. Even baby insects, like this mantis here, are cute.
Nothing cuter than a baby pygmy anything, like this baby pygmy marmoset.
A baby octopus to make the hearts of the mollusk-lovin' boys at Other 95% and the cephalopod-obsessed PZ Myers skip a beat.
cwilcox | January 26, 2009This week's cute is a newborn Sifaka (Propithecus coronatus) named Tahina from a French Zoo. She's a beautiful baby girl, whose name means "needs to be protected."
In the wild, this little girl would be carried in her mother's mouth until she was strong enough to hold onto her fur by herself. Devoid of a mother, the little lemur was given a teddy to cling to. Like all lemur species, Sifakas are found only on Madagascar, and are on the verge of extinction. This little girl is one of only 17 in captivity, and her species natural habitat is shrinking every day. The IUCN Red List states the wild…
cwilcox | January 20, 2009If you're a fan of once-a-week info bites like my Sci-Fi Parasites or Doses of Cute, you should check out Biochemical Soul's new Adaptation of the week. It's sure to be a great new weekly digest of adaptations at their finest!
cwilcox | January 19, 2009What do you do when you've lost your mom?
... Find the next closest thing.
c/o www.dailymail.co.uk, click to link to story
Which, in the case of hedgehogs, is apparently a cleaning brush. These little youngsters are reportedly attracted to the bristles because they smelled like their outdoor home and feel like mom should.
I admit, I might be partial to this story because I had hedgehogs as pets as a kid. They're marvelously wonderful animals. Sure, they smell, but so does a ferret - and their little piggy noses make them so much cuter than those little weasels.