Beautiful Animals

So, we're back to the B&O.

For old times' sake. Sigh. The good ole days.

Sea otters tend to remind me of some old time movie guy with a gruff voice. Love dem.

A black woodpecker takes care of some newly hatched chicks in Cheolwon-gun, South Korea. The plumage of this crow-sized woodpecker is entirely black apart from a red crown. In males, the entire crown is red, but in females only the hindcrown.
Photograph: JEON HEON-KYUN/EPA

Professional wildlife photographer Andy Rouse won the Cherry Kearton Medal and Award by the Royal Geographical Society RGF, for this penguin photo. The annual award recognises the contribution made by a wildlife photographer to photography, conservation and bringing geography to the masses.
Photograph: Andy Rouse / Rex Features/Andy Rouse / Rex Features

THINK ABOUT THE POOR MOTHER HEDGEHOG WHO JUST GAVE BIRTH TO THIS "CHIMNEY BRUSH"

Awwwww!
How beautiful!
Though without a doubt a prickly critter to give birth to.
No argument there!

I was going to start a thread under the title, Ugly Animals:

Needless to say I changed my mind.

Only in a breech birth.

A griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) at a centre run by the Black Vulture Conservation Foundation (BVCF) near Campanet, Mallorca.
Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

olga, It's not easy being a bird. Great pic of the woodpeckers. And a spectacular picture of the penguins. Those vultures are amazing hoverers. Thanks, kid.

FM, I think I read a long time ago that porcupine spines are soft and wet inside the womb. They stiffen and get spikey after the kid is born. I'm assuming that this applies to hedgehogs as well. If not, gigantic ouch. And the baby is a cutie, even if it's not soft to the touch. Thanks.

tsar, How thoughtful of you to post that picture on this thread. OK. I'll cut the sarcasm. Tarantulas on their own can be beautiful. Overwhelmed and ultimately killed by a fungus--not so beautiful. But interesting in a ooky sort of way. I say thanks on general principle.

An arachnid in better shape. A peacock spider:

Whitetail buck jumping a fence:

Spectacular photos, Ceili. Absolutely spectacular. Thanks mucho.

Cuckoo wasp:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/commuters-get-caught-in-a-flock-of-ducks-in-taizhou-china-a-839588.html

tsar, I'm bemused. Not so sure about those commuters. Love dem ducks. Thanks, kid.

Berry's bobtail squid:

Knysna loerie:

Siberian tiger (the biggest PC on the planet):