Beautiful Animals

Too cute. There aughta be laws against this sort of thing. I'm ODing on cute.

Before I lose consciousness completely, here's another cutie:

The Geiger counter for cuteness is OFF THE SCALE!
Me eyes are bleeding with love for this rabbit!!

It certainly wasn't my intention, tsar, to cause you physical harm. Get a grip.

Curious cheetah cubs investigate a tortoise in the Maasai Mara, Kenya
Picture: Andy Rouse / Rex Features

A seven-month-old male lion cub named Godfrey paws at the camera at an animal orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya
Picture: AFP/GETTY

You turned that picture upside-down, right?

someone certainly did

amazing photograph. It's eery but mesmerizing.

That was an absolutely delightful video of otter mum teaching otter baby how to swim, High Seas.
Very funny.
And thank you Roberta, for alerting me to it. I wouldn't have missed that for quids! Otters are just irresistible, aren't they?

Oh poor poor turtle, even if the cheetahs can't reach him inside his shell then next hour will be a living hell as he will be helpless as their toy as long as they want to play with the turtle ... until they get bored and walk away.

Wonderful video..


on the coyotes, I'd worry they'd be hit by cars.. but I suppose they are pretty wily.

Irish, I have a feeling that many carnivores investigate tortoises and turtles. Then they leave. A few don't leave--the big ones. Wonderful photo. Thanks.

tsar, I appreciate your concern for the tortoise. Maybe he's all safe and snug in his shell feeling kinda smug.

Euro, A haunting and fascinating photo. Thanks.

olga, How could I forget that you love otters? And could I let a video like the one High Seas posted go by without letting you know? No, I couldn't.

osso, I suspect that plenty of coyotes and other wild animals that wander around end up as road kill. I also suspect that the ones that hang out near people-inhabited areas get the traffic thing figured out.

Deer mostly end up as road kill. In many years of driving in CA, NY, and TX freeways I never saw a dead coyote on the road - they must really be wily. Do you permit black humor on your thread? This is an actual recording made by the FAA some years ago at Burbank airport (near Van Nuys, near LAX):

Thanks to your whale thread I have this hauntingly beautiful photograph of a right whale curiously examining an Australian diver - they seem to have no fear of us, which is probably why these wonderfully intelligent creatures are now the most endangered of the entire whale family:

High Seas, I'd rather not think about road kill. But I suppose it's better to eat it than just leaving it to rot.

The whale picture is spectacular. But I'm uncomfortable about people getting close to whales in this way. I saw a film in which there appeared to be a pleasant underwater encounter between a diver and a whale. Pleasant until the whale grabbed the diver's foot in its mouth and took the diver for a little ride (downward). I saw another film in which people were having another pleasant underwater encounter with a whale. The whale turned to swim away and accidentally hit someone with its tale. The person who was hit was knocked unconscious.

Speaking of whales, here's a narwhal:

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2010/Photos-of-the-Day-12-15/(photo)/324908

Tail, not tale.

I think I'm gonna have to get my brain checked--again. Sigh.

Tsar, Outstanding shot. Thanks, kid.

We've had pictures of sharks. Crocodiles and alligators. Whales. All kinds of underwater menaces. Never mind the guys with the big teeth. Watch out for these--box jellyfish. Thud.

I didn't notice you intriguing Freudian slip the first time. His story must have been a whopper of an epic masterpiece to KO a diver....