Beautiful Animals

Barry, Excellent horse pic. I won't comment on the bull fighting pic except to say that I always root for the bull. The g'night pic is charming. Love it.

Agama:

Why don't they just end this barbaric practice of bull fighting? And I never knew bullfighting was associated with France either....

tsar, Don't get me started. Didn't know about France either.

Another tanager. This one is silver-throated:

Kinkajou:

the daily (bushy)B & O

A puffin with a mouth full of fish prepares to feed its chicks on Skomer Island, off the coast of Pembrokeshire in west Wales.
Picture: CRAIG JONES/BARCROFT MEDIA

Twin polar bears rest at Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China. The twins were born on January 7 this year, making them the first girl-and-boy twin polar bears surviving in China.
Picture: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features

A young fox cub gazes up at her mother after she'd returned home from a hunt. The scene was snapped by photographer Max Waugh in Jackson, Wyoming.
Picture: Max Waugh / solent

His crib is smokin'!

A great tit which has built its nest in a cigarette bin at the RSPB's Fairburn Ings nature reserve in Castleford, Yorkshire
Picture: PA / RSPB

Gads, I loved that video. (Memories of Roosevelt elk in a meadow..)

dj, Have you noticed that otters seem to stick their tongues out a lot? Everybody's got an opinion. Maybe they don't like having their picture taken. Quien sabe?

Irish, Poifect puffin. They are amazing looking birds. (Never met a bird I didn't like.) The bear babies are too cute. Look at the size of that paw. That's gonna be a big bear. Love the little fox and the big fox. There's a kinda "hey, ma" look on the little kit's face. I think the bird with the nest in the ashtray showed some poor judgment. Nobody's perfect.

Iridescent beetle (sorry, I don't know the species):

the daily B & O

No more for you, Ludwig: A bird park keeper pins a tawny owlet to the table as she feeds its siblings tasty animal bits in Steinen, Germany.
Photo: Rolf Haid / AFP / Getty Images/via SFGate

Hahaha...that one on the far right is hilarious!

Those owls are wonderful characters Osso.
~~

I was contemplating making an Ugly Animals thread as a counterpunch to this one but I choose to submit these guys here. Personally, I think these guys are evil but I guess some people might find them beautiful.

First learned about these guys from a Fresh Air interview:
Where To Find The World's Most 'Wicked Bugs'
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135638924/where-to-find-the-worlds-most-wicked-bugs

The giant Japanese hornet:

http://www.avivhadar.com/2009/03/01/giant-japanese-hornets-they-scare-you-to-death/

The emerald cockroach wasp:

Turns the cockroach into a zombie bug.

Morning New York....


10 Downing Street's resident cat, Larry (who was a rescued cat), wears a Union Jack bow tie as he's photographed in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street, London April 28, 2011. Downing Street will host a street party today to celebrate the royal wedding of Britain's Prince William to Kate Middleton.

dj, Excellent B&O today. I usually don't like outfits on animals, but the bunny is wearing a harness rather than a jacket. Liking the otters in the water.

osso, I love those owls. What faces and fuzz. Merci.

tsar, I'm hard pressed to think of any animal as ugly. I'm even harder pressed to think of any animal as evil. They just do what they're programed to do. The emerald cockroach wasp is a beauty--to me. Thanks for the pics.

Barry. Without the tie, I'd never be able to tell that Larry's a Brit. Glad to hear that he'll be partaking in the wedding celebration. No g'night?

I'll see if I can find one.

Not until after the wedding.