Beautiful Animals

Mountain lion already wearing his winter coat.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2013/Photos-of-the-day-09-10#728839

Baby squirrel

vonny, Thanks for the foxes and the beautiful mare and foal. The lion pic made me smile. Nothing but a big kitten.

timur, Isn't it bad enough that I thud and plotz? That my heart cockles get overheated? Now you take my breath away with these magnificent, stunningly beautiful birds. Thanks.

(This thread will be the death of me.)

saraciao, Welcome. I'm glad you love all animals. I'm a fan too. Yes, dolphins are smart and beautiful, and they do leap high in the air. They can be sweet, but they can also be dangerous. I like chameleons, too. I like how their eyes move in different directions at the same time. You can thank vonny for posting the dolphin and chameleon pics. (Thanks, vonny.)

Reg, Doozy pinniped pic. Thanks, kid. Also gracias for the wonderful cougar/puma/mountain lion.

tsar, Dem pandas is too much. I'm concerned about this one. My mother always told me never to eat while I was lying down. Be careful panda.

HH, OMG. Too precious. Glad it's being looked after.

Twin black leopard cubs:

I'm no FBM - his photos are superb - but here's my attempt at snapping a spider in my garden this week. Just a bog standard English garden spider, but I'm quite proud of it!

And here's my bog standard English Labrador Retriever - my darling Megan, aged ten and a half.

I never know about you people. Bog standard probably means pretty nice, right.

Von has seen this little new cutie - of ours but I see this as a beautiful animal. Megan is beautiful .

It means pretty average - but I was using it as a gentle dig at my previous post about a spider. I didn't know what type of spider it was, so just said bog standard, meaning pretty average or ordinary. Whereas with Megan, my darling dog, it was a mild dig at my previous post about the spider - oops, not very clear is it! Sorry - just me!!!

You explained just in time. I was about to compliment your bog standard pup. Glad I didn't.

That's looking very good, vonny! I think people who haven't tried taking shots of really small things don't realize how hard it is. I think you nailed that one

Sorry, Roberta.

I'm very worried about being the cause of your eventual premature demise.

I'll cease from now on being a klutz.

Zie ga zink.

My first action will be to provide some cooling for your overheated cockles:

But Megan looks like a superstar stellar pooch to me. Just as classy and beautiful and would make a welcome member to that absolutely stunning fox family.
~~

Thanks, FBM. From you, that is high praise indeed! Much appreciated. I love spiders, but don't often get the chance to take photos of them. However, this one obligingly descended from a tree, almost into my lap - love his markings, and the cross on his back. Seeing your photos of various insects has made me a lot more interested in looking at them - through fresh eyes, I guess.

Blobfish 'wins' world's ugliest animal contest
The Ugly Animal Preservation Society, in the UK, has named the gelatinous, deep sea fish the world's most "aesthetically challenged" animal.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0912/Blobfish-wins-world-s-ugliest-animal-contest

Is it just me, or does everyone feel this way - I see an animal that looks, for want of a better description, a bit different, and I immediately feel protective of it - want to give it a big hug and tell it that I think it's beautiful? I just cannot see any animal as being truly ugly - even Timur's last post is, to me, rather lovely, bless it. As for the blobfish - ah bless, such a sad face!

This got a run on breakfast news this morning - there was also talk of the 'Scrotum Frog'. I can't bring myself to look it up.

Does anyone know what this is?

Off the top of my head, I'd say a rock hyrax. Gonna go check.

Back. I still think it's a rock hyrax.