Beautiful Animals

This is more cute than beautiful, but had to post it somewhere for Osso:


Corgidiles

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!

I've a bias against cute corgi breeding - as opposed to ranch corgis or mixes - and another bias against dogs in costumes, while making marginal room for Wegman.
What a bitch!

Snort, thanks for the thought!

Is there evidence of bred-for-cuteness as opposed to regular healthy corginess? (I can't tell, I think all corgis are cute.)

I've no stats, just murmurs around a town where there were corgis. Me, I'd never seen one before that poor dog across the street (heavily used street) from my window. Since he was my neighbor (temporary nurses' housing) I tried to get acquainted but he reacted negatively, as well he should. I called him Sparky.
So I was primed when my business partner called me to look at the humane society ad in the local Sunday paper. What a homely dog he was, in that photo. They told me to hurry when I called.

The a2k person who knows corgis very well is Tartarin, McBeans on abuzz.
I have taken it that there is a clear trend to breeding re short noses and lap dogginess, but I haven't read about all that in ages. Tartarin knew a lot about breeders and so on.

She's the one who told me Pacco was perhaps an Oregon dog from a certain breeder.

Going home to the UK after a 6 month deployment....



"When I grow up I wanna be a military dog"....

dj, I can't pick a favorite. I love them all. It's getting to the point where I see a bunny or otter and think of you--and smile. Thanks.

osso, The former owner of that cat should be arrested, fined, whatever for animal cruelty. Love the stork building the nest. A big nest for a big boid.

soz, I'm not big on clothing on animals, but that picture is adorable. Thanks, kid.

Barry, What a gorgeous dog. I'm drooling all over the computer. The puppy ain't bad either. Thanks mucho.

Male painted bunting:

A spotless adult cheetah at the Athi Kapiti Conservancy in Kenya – the sighting is thought to be first in almost a century. Photograph: Guy Combes/BNPS

A rare 'spotless' cheetah has been photographed in Kenya by wildlife photographer Guy Combes, who got within around 50m of the big cat.

Combes, originally from Dorset but now based in California, had heard tale of the spotless leopard and travelled to the Athi Kapiti Conservancy in search of it but gave up after days of fruitless searching.

"I didn't think it likely that we would find the cheetah and went back to Nairobi. I then got a call saying it had been seen again so I spent another two days searching," he said. Eventually he spotted the animal.

"I was really excited as we managed to get about 50 yards away. It was was a staggeringly beautiful animal. I didn't expect to see it at all, the area we were going to search was 100,000 acres without borders and it could have easily been beyond that."

John Pullen, curator of mammals at Marwell Wildlife in Hampshire, who has examined the photographs, described the sighting as "quite rare". He said: "There are some spots still evident over the back area but most are missing. The spots or markings on all wild cats are in fact the skin colour and the hair growing from that part of the skin takes on the colouration, so if you shaved off the hair the pattern would be the same. This is really like a rare skin issue where something has happened to the genetic coding that would give the normal pattern."

Combes captured the images last year but has shown it now after photographs of a strawberry-coloured leopard photographed in South Africa emerged. It also comes as footage and images of a white killer whale spotted off the eastern coast of Russia surfaced.

• © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/25/spotless-cheetah-pictures-wild

Izzie, that looks like a hybrid between a lion and a cheetah. The head looks too small for the body.


http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2012/Photos-of-the-Day-04-26/%28photo%29/479992

Cousin Al always said he wanted a spotless reputation. I think he's gone too far.

Amazing, Izzele. Never saw such a thing in my life. A cheetah with no spots! Muchas gracias, querida.

tsar, Most cheetah's heads look too small for their bodies. The small head contributes to their speediness. It breaks the wind like an arrow. However, I admit that the unspotted cheetah looks a bit on the beefy side. The baby mongoose lemur is thudworthy. You shoulda warned me. I'm fading. Hanging on to consciousness by a hair. Thanks for the cutie, kid.

Violet backed starling:

That's a very interesting animal. It doesn't look like a pure bred cheetah to me. It looks a bit too stocky. It's possible it's a hybrid, or that the genetic errors associated with coloration are also linked to its stockiness as well.

Looks like this red billed ox picker's got the best seat in the house.


Aww! Four-week-old Cherub the baby White Faced Scops Owl has a furry guardian: Kiera a German Pointer.

Is it just me, or does Cherub look just a taddy bit disgusted with the attention?

Ostriches look out from their enclosure at Taronga Western Plains zoo in Dubbo, Australia. The popular 35-year-old zoo is set in 3 sq km of bushland and is home to more than 700 animals.
Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Tree swallows perch on a branch during a spring snowstorm in the US town of Pembroke, New York state.
Photograph: David Duprey/AP

Still staring at the unspotted cheetah. Rosborne, the fur on its belly makes it look bigger. But the fur on it's belly is also uncharacteristic of cheetahs. Whatever it is, it's tres interesting.

firefly, Those birds hitch rides all over the savana. Symbiosis. Owl and dog are an unusual pair. Thanks mucho.

Hey roger, The boid doesn't mind the attention. The problem is that it's daytime. I look like that too (sans feathers) when I wake up before I'm ready.

olga, The ostriches made me laugh. Goofy looking birds, but in a good way. I'm skeptical about the swallow pic. Not skeptical that they're swallows and not skeptical that it's snowing. But I am skeptical that the picture was taken in the spring. Why? I have a friend in upstate New York. She wrote and told me about the snow they've been having. She said the strange thing was to see trees and bushes with green leaves covered over and weighted down with the snow. No leaves on the branch. And a wonderful picture, spring or not. Thanks.

Respendent quetzal (yes, I'm on a colorful bird kick):

If you block out the head, this looks an awful lot like a female lion.

more..

Anybody seen Heeven lately?

Ah, the emu. I miss her, too.