Beautiful Animals

An increasingly rare sight in the wild, that of the European hamster, this one transporting food in its bulging cheek pouches around the central cemetery in Vienna, Austria. They are critically endangered in many individual European countries, largely because they are considered to a farmland pest or are trapped for their fur.
Photograph: APA/GmbH/Rex Features

Awwwwwwwwwwww!

Yes.
Don't you just love the chunky cheeks?

Afternoon New York....
A juvenile red-tailed hawk is perched on a headstone, Friday, July 27, 2012, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

A pair of young gannets huddle with one another, appearing to wear a garland of wildflowers on the Bempton Cliffs near Bempton, east Yorkshire. In 1967 there were just 22 breeding pairs, but as many as 8,000 were recorded in 2009. The UK's coastline is crucial for northern gannets, with roughly 60% of the world's population nesting here.
Photograph: Steve Race/RSPB/Reuters

olga, The cheeks look bigger than the hamster. Very cute. What a stunning picture of the gannets. Stunning! Soft colors. Wonderful. Thanks.

Howya doin', London? Great pic of the bird. I was at that cemetary many years ago. Didn't see a big beautiful bird. I'd remember.

Baby orangutan sending a mixed message. The thumb is up, but the facial expression doesn't say thumbs up.

He's doing a great imitation of Dick Cheney, Roberta. There may be a career for that kid in Las Vegas.

Tickle, tickle, tickle....



Oh stop! Make it stop! I'm gonna wet my fur! Stop!

Thuds ahoy!!

Really, the resemblance to Dick Cheney is remarkable.

Hah, BFN, love this pic. I especially like the expression on the face of the lioness in the background. If lions were eye-rollers, I think she'd be rolling hers.

HH, Is that a real bunny? I think the baby primate was posted here a few days ago. No problem with repeats. Such a glorious photo. Really beautiful. Now I'm gonna ask if that's a real duck. Tres gawgeous. I'm a fan of raccoons. Smart, cute, adaptable. Thanks, kid.

Eastern black swallowtail butterfly:



Eastern diamondback rattlesnake:

Duck is real boida, my fuzzy brain says they're called Mandarin ducks - they're not uncommon on the Canal Du Midi. Wikipedia confirmation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_Duck

OMG Baby wombat thuds!

Listed as 'Lionfish Antennata' which is a weird mix of common and latin names - and I'm not convinced it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterois_antennata but it looks cool!

HH, You've outdone yourself and have left me speechless. An uncommon occurrence. I knew it was a Mandarin duck. It just looked too perfect. A great pic, I guess. The biggest PC==a Siberian tiger. Tres wonderful. I'm guessing that's a baby leopard. Too cute. On the edge of a thud. The whale pic is magnifico. Wow. Beautiful pinnipeds. I positively love the mother and baby elephant sequence. Not easy being a mother. And not easy being a kid. Truly wonderful. Thanks for the wombat thud warning. Fast and cute. I'm not convinced either about the lionfish. But it's more than cool. It's kewel (two syllables.) The goat pic is glorious. Muchas gracias for them all.

firefly, As I said to Hingehead, it ain't easy being a mother. The three pics your posted make me smile. Vunderbar. Thanks mucho.

Bongo antelopes: