The Cute Animal Pics/Videos Thread

[by the sea]

 

Bless his hairy, long-suffering soul   !  To paraphrase that old song from South Pacific (yes, Mertyl, I love old musicals ... what can I say ??  ) "there is nothing like a dog" !    

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Aaawwww the kitteh loves his doggie pal. Trying to give 'em a baffith.

[jesskayding]

What's funny is the dogs response. This must be a daily occurrence. He just pretty much sits there while getting pounced on and cleaned.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The kitten will calm down soon enough, so the dog's patience will be rewarded.

 

[by the sea]

Honestly had no idea I was so drawn to hedgehogs (hedgehogs   ?? ) but they are so incredibly cute !  These little guys are called Tenrecs and like the last batch I posted ... look at their little faces !! 

 

 

Debbie

[jesskayding]

Looks prickly.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

But look at those smiles!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I'd never heard of tenrecs, but looked them up, and it turns out that they're an entire genus more closely related to "aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants, and sea cows" than they are to "shrews, hedgehogs, or otters."  And as placental mammals, they're not really related to marsupials either -- so the possum look-alike tenrec at the top of this page is a mere coincidence.

 

[by the sea]

Oh Carol ... did you see that in Mauritius they eat tenrecs   ??  Poor little protein sources !!   I've always wanted to go to Mauritius but think I might confine my dreams of far-away-places to the Seychelles instead.  And biomedics might want to use them in medical research !?!?    Sheesh !  Run away cute little spiky creatures ... run away.  

 

Debbie

[jesskayding]

I'd never heard of tenrecs, but looked them up, and it turns out that they're an entire genus more closely related to "aardvarks, hyraxes, elephants, and sea cows" than they are to "shrews, hedgehogs, or otters." And as placental mammals, they're not really related to marsupials either -- so the possum look-alike tenrec at the top of this page is a mere coincidence.

 

 

 

Elephants you say.... Interestin'.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh Carol ... did you see that in Mauritius they eat tenrecs   ??  Poor little protein sources !!   I've always wanted to go to Mauritius but think I might confine my dreams of far-away-places to the Seychelles instead.  And biomedics might want to use them in medical research !?!?    Sheesh !  Run away cute little spiky creatures ... run away.  

 

Debbie

 

Yeah, I was trying to ignore that part! 

 

You might want to avoid France as well, then -- they eat both cute li'l snails and big cuddly horses!

[Ruthyone]

Love these tigers.......

 

[by the sea]

 

 

You might want to avoid France as well, then -- they eat both cute li'l snails and big cuddly horses!

 

 

I've actually eaten snails in France and admit to not being too bothered by it at all.     I personally would draw the line at horses, though.  I am, however, happily carnivorous and just try really hard not to think about Miss Piggy and Elsie the Cow and all the other creatures which made the ultimate sacrifice to become my supper !    

 

Debbie

[Carol the Dabbler]

Well, you might actually enjoy tenrec stew, then! 

 

[T.o.b.y]

 

I've actually eaten snails in France and admit to not being too bothered by it at all.     I personally would draw the line at horses, though.  I am, however, happily carnivorous and just try really hard not to think about Miss Piggy and Elsie the Cow and all the other creatures which made the ultimate sacrifice to become my supper !    

 

I say, either eat them all or none. Why is a pig okay but a horse not?

 

I'm very confused about eating animals, anyway. On the one hand, it's natural. We're animals, and we eat other animals, just like all sorts of other species do. On the other hand, we don't really need to, and the conditions under which the animals we eat live and die are decidedly unnatural. Plus this "oh they're so cute" on the one hand and "oh they taste so good" on the other hand is somewhat schizophrenic, isn't it. Then, even if you don't eat meat, you're still responsible for animals being killed because it's not hard to imagine what happens to the cows who don't give milk or the fowl that don't lay eggs. So if you really want to do some good, I guess you have to be vegan. And even then, you'd need to avoid leather and things like that. And even then, you're indirectly responsible for killing animals because they're driven out of their natural habitat to make room for our fields and villages and cities and processing plants, and we pollute their water and so on and so forth.

 

So I don't know. We're hopeless, I guess. I try to eat less meat. I don't buy it, but if I'm a guest somewhere, I don't make a fuss, and I don't care whether it's from a cow, a pig, a horse, a dog or an I don't know. I do buy dairy products, though, I just look pretty closely at where they come from.

 

It's all a muddle. (That's one of my favorite quotes from a Dickens novel).

 

[by the sea]

To quote another old song ... "it is a puzzlement" for sure.  I don't know why I can eat beef , pork , turkey or chicken (I worked in a chicken coop once and can't think of a single other purpose for chickens, I have to say ... well, eggs, I guess) and even had my first and only pheasant a year or so ago and not dogs, cats, horses or tenrecs ... given that I know what the meat is ... it's a mental block of some sort, I'm sure, but not something I expect to work really hard at fixing.   It might have something to do with growing up with pets and the "cute" factor but I think pigs are cute and cows have the most amazing eyes !  I'm appalled by deer hunting even though I know that populations have to be thinned out and want to cry when I see a dead anything at the side of the road ... poor creature foraging for food in it's fast-disappearing territory getting run over by a car.  I can't reconcile this dichotomy between thoughts and practices, so, like so many other struggles, I look at it, and try to let it pass without judgment.  LA LA LA and it's gone !    I've been taking a course on Mindfulness and I think it might be catching on.  

 

Debbie

[jesskayding]

They make such a cute couple.

[Carol the Dabbler]

(I worked in a chicken coop once and can't think of a single other purpose for chickens, I have to say ... well, eggs, I guess)

While I will freely admit that chickens aren't as "cute" as, say, ducks (I adore ducks!), they do serve humans in ways other than meat or eggs.  For example, I hear that they're really good at eating orchard pests that would otherwise tunnel into your apples and plums.  And roosters make good alarm clocks.

 

But even more important, they surely have a purpose of their own, even if we're not aware of it.  I know you didn't say anything like the following, but I've heard some people say that we have to eat meat, because that's what the animals are here for.  While I can certainly understand making a religious argument that it's OK to eat meat, I fail to see why that would actually require anyone to do so.

 

I personally believe that each of us is free to decide what we're comfortable with, and hopefully why. 

 

[by the sea]

LOL !     First of all, I have to go on the record as saying that chickens, in large numbers, are completely intractable.  Bear in mind that I was only trying to move them from one place to another and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do ... a whole day in that chicken coop did not endear our feathered friends to me, I have to admit.  I don't want to hang around with them  but it's a personal thing and I have no problem with chickens having a right to life.    As for people figuring they are required to eat meat because that's what animals are for, it just goes to show that it's possible to take information and beliefs and interpret things in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways.  We're very creative with that !  

 

Debbie

[Carol the Dabbler]

... chickens, in large numbers, are completely intractable.  Bear in mind that I was only trying to move them from one place to another and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do ....

Kinda like herding cats? 

 

[jesskayding]

[Caya]

Dunno, for me the line is easy: dogs and horses are mates. It's similar with me for rabbits, because we once had pet rabbits. Didn't someone once quip about not eating animals she'd been "personally introduced to"?

 

But please note that I have nothing but the highest respect for vegetarians and vegans of all stripes and colours. I recognize that your stance is morally far superior to mine, and I wish I had the willpower to become one myself.

 

Also, I second Debbie's notion that chickens are breathtakingly dense creatures, worse so in groups. Not to say that all birds are (crows can act amazingly smart) but chickens are the embarrassing cousin of the bird family .

[by the sea]

 

... chickens, in large numbers, are completely intractable.  Bear in mind that I was only trying to move them from one place to another and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do ....

Kinda like herding cats? 

 

 

I've never done that.    I have a neighbor who feeds all the neighbourhood strays and feral cats ... the properties back onto woodland and there are many of them ... so one of these days  it might come to that.  The "cat" lady lives next door to the "raccoon" lady, who rescues and fosters orphaned and injured raccoons ... in a residential area, no less !  ... so it's a possibility that herding skills of any sort might come in handy !  

 

Debbie

[Carol the Dabbler]

Dunno, for me the line is easy: dogs and horses are mates. It's similar with me for rabbits, because we once had pet rabbits. Didn't someone once quip about not eating animals she'd been "personally introduced to"?

Well, there was a western movie where a young fellow asked an old cowhand what his horse's name was, and the old guy replied that he never named anything that he might have to eat.

 

Also, I second Debbie's notion that chickens are breathtakingly dense creatures, worse so in groups. Not to say that all birds are (crows can act amazingly smart) but chickens are the embarrassing cousin of the bird family .

That's probably a result of being bred for other characteristics, like meatiness and high egg production -- i.e., it's our fault, not theirs. Domestic turkeys are even denser -- they're so incredibly dumb that they'll actually strangle themselves by sticking their heads through the little holes in ordinary chicken-wire fences (thus the invention of special turkey wire).

 

[Alex the Dabbler]

I love animals, which is why I stopped eating them 24 years ago.  Speaking of cute animals, here are our two youngest after we first introduced them to each other four years ago: