Happy Thought for 24 March 2023

Have a Happy Thought: 

It’s been too long since I’ve just sent you cute photos for a Friday.

So here you go. Meet two animals that are downright adorable.

 

The Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides). Native to eastern China and the very southeast of Russia, these cuties are actually related to foxes, but then went and made themselves look like little bandits. (Look, seriously, ignore the fact that I only learned about these because they may have been one of the vectors for Covid-19. The point is, they’re cute.)


Alt text: a close-up photo of a furry animal with a blunt snout, black nose against a light grey muzzle. most of its face has very dark fur, up to just above its deep brown eyes. the rest of its fur is a light grey. it has round, fluffy ears on the top undefined

 By Foto: Bernd Schwabe in Hannover - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29433030

 

Secondly, we’ve got the Olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina). These delightful fluffballs are actually related to raccoons (unlike the raccoon dog), and are native to Columbia and Ecuador. Now, I’m showing you a picture of an adult olinguito because I’m pretty sure it’s nearing illegal-levels of cute to share pictures of baby olinguito. Seriously. Google “olinguito baby pictures” and if you don’t make a noise out loud you may want to check that your heart is still beating.


Alt text: A furry animal lying on a tree branch. It has medium-brown short fur, a snub nose and round ears nearly on the sides of its head.

Photo/Foto por: Mark Gurney https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/factsheets/olinguito-0

 

 

(no) thanks to the search for the origins of Covid-19 for bringing our attention to Raccoon Dogs

And thanks to this great interview of Professor Kris Helgen about his work to describe new mammal species, for introducing us to the olinguito (and, of course, mentioning how cute the babies are!!)

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