Beautiful Animals

they also serve, who stand (or sit) and wait

Lucy the potto checks on her new baby that was born on December 8, in the Nocturnal House at The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

watched a BBC documentary on the Cuckoo last night, pretty interesting bird, ruthless but interesting

It is a brood parasite, which lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species, particularly of Dunnocks, Meadow Pipits, and Eurasian Reed Warblers.
At the appropriate moment, the hen cuckoo flies down to the Reed Warblers' nest, pushes one Reed Warbler egg out of the nest, lays an egg and flies off. The whole process is achieved in only about 10 seconds.
Cuckoo chicks methodically evict all host progeny from host nests. It is a much larger bird than its hosts, and needs to monopolise the food supplied by the parents. The Cuckoo chick will roll the other eggs out of the nest by pushing them with its back over the edge. If the Reed Warbler's eggs hatch before the Cuckoo's egg, the Cuckoo chick will push the other chicks out of the nest in a similar way.

At 14 days old, the Cuckoo chicks are about three times the size of the adult Reed Warblers. The numerous and rapid hunger calls of the single cuckoo chick, and to a lesser extent its coloured gape, encourage the host parents to bring more food.
Cuckoo chicks fledge after about 20–21 days after hatching, which is about twice as long as for Reed Warblers. If the hen cuckoo is out-of-phase with a clutch of Reed Warbler eggs, she will eat them all so that the hosts are forced to start another brood.

And cuteness and wonderfulness abound.

Sorry, gang. Too tired to do a back and forth to respond to each and every picture. (It's 8:40 a.m. I'm going to sleep soon.)

Thanks to each and every one of you for posting. Youda best.

Shhhhhhhhh, the bunnies are going to join Roberta in a nap

rest well

Rosy Lipped Batfish (yes, it's real, no photoshop)


Here's a different view:

Various Manta Rays and Golden Rays

Awwww bunnies a meditating to another plane of sleepiness....

Dj? Those cuckoos are brutal birds. Anything for survival it seems.

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Mingus, the enigmatic rockstar of the documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.

Are those for real bunnies? They look like stuffed toys that have come alive!

i believe they are, it's funny, hinghead posted a link to the bunny a day site, roberta mentioned she was going to bed, and the sleeping bunnies were the picture of the day

I don't remember hearing about a potto before, so I looked them up -



Found inside the jungles of Africa, Pottos may appear like some sort of smaller, arboreal bear relative, but they are really primates. They may be nocturnal and feed on tree sap, fruit and little creatures. Due to their sluggish movements, pottos are vulnerable to numerous predators, and have an incredibly different protective method; they’ve got enlarged neural spines on its vertebrae, which protrude from your neck and shoulders. These spines have pointy tips and seem to become employed as some form of unlikely weapon, using the primate “neck-butting” its enemies and maybe, just producing alone challenging to swallow. The spines may also function as some variety of shield, safeguarding the potto’s neck from the killing bite delivered by some predators, generally aimed at the neck or back on the head.

(seem to be a few words missing..)

http://www.top10source.com/10-mammals-that-have-the-best-defense.html

My, my big kitty what long sharp teeth you have!

http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2010/Photos-of-the-day-12-21/(photo)/326341

Thanks for the potto research osso - the remind me a little of sloths - who are also massively cool.

How precious that is!

Rather well, if unimaginatively, named - are those legs? It looks like a UFO with an attitude problem.

Whenever I see those two little bears the song "Kung Fu Fighting" runs through my head and it's really hard to make it stop.

No. Those are [modified] fins. Fish don't have legs.