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Today's Adorable Animal Video

5/3/2018

Kitten and lizards. Let's just say that the lesson we learn today is that when you are poised in stalking mode, so intent on your foe, deep in total tunnel-vision, sometimes when you're an inexperienced kitten you lose sight of the big picture...

It is a perfectly fine conclusion, but I suspect you'll probably wish that this ran longer to see even more of how all this fully turns out. But...well, it's plenty enough.

Perhaps if one could put a balloon caption on the final image, it might be, "What'd I do??" Though linguists might write a treatise on the subject and give it a different overall title. But I don't want to give it away, to I'll post that below the video. So, for now, we'll live it with the final caption -- "What'd I do??"

Here's the addendum:

As I said, this video might serve as a multi-media illustration to go along with a research project by a linguists, titling the paper, "On the Derivation of the phrase, 'Scaredy Cat.'"

Today's Adorable Animal Video

4/6/2018

Not much to add to this, other than it falls in to the Hugs for Everyone Division. I'm not sure if the most common comment while while this will be, "Awwww" or "You're kidding me??!"

This video is a beautiful reminder of how we should treat ALL animals □ pic.twitter.com/cyAFo8q7DM
— The Humane League (@TheHumaneLeague) October 19, 2017

Today's Adorable Animal Video

3/3/2018

I don't know if "adorable is the exact right word, but it's a hoot. And appropriate as we're upon the Academy Awards tomorrow. This is a cat watching a horror movie.

It's easy to anthropomorphize animals, and so it's hard to tell, it being a cat and all, exactly what it's actually reacting to (certainly it hasn't gotten caught up in the story and dialogue), there's nonetheless something that seems oh-so valid about this, aware of the tense music, facial expressions, tentative movements, who knows? -- all the more so since, at about 50 seconds in, we hear a brief line of dialogue which identifies not only what famous horror movie this is, but classic, terrifying moment...

(For those who can't decipher it, I'll explain below, so as not to give it away. Not only for the the fun of discovery in this video, but also the surprise in the movie itself for those who haven't seen it and plan to.)

im at work crying at this video of a cat watching a horror movie pic.twitter.com/kfwd0G1HKY
— ZORAH SECURE DA BAGDAROS (@METALTEARSOLID) March 1, 2018

Okay, here's an explanation of what movie the cat is watching -- and what specific scene is taking place on the screen.

I'll give the answer below...

By the way, as I noted above, the scene is a big plot twist, so if you haven't watched the movie yet and plan to -- and don't want the twist given away -- only read the first paragraph below and stop there.

The movie that is being played here is the Psycho, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

As for the scene, this the sequence where Lila, the sister of Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh) has come to town to find out what's been going on with her sister, who she hasn't heard from. With Norman having been temporarily diverted, Lila has sneaked into the house and is creeping down the stairs, where she spots his mother, Mrs. Bates, in a chair, with her back to Lila. And it's there where she turns the chair around and makes one of the most famous, scary discoveries in Hollywood movies. With which the cat here appears to agree...

Today's Adorable Animal Video

1/31/2018

We'll enter this into the "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" Division --

In case u needed something to make ur day better pic.twitter.com/YTehKZ6DsX
— Baby Animals (@BabyAnimalPics) January 28, 2018

Today's Adorable Animal Video

10/13/2017

I'd seen this video before and loved it -- but the text description that this person, Paul Bronks, added to it gave it such a great perspective that I love it even more.

It looked impossible and to an ordinary cat it would be. But Jeff was no ordinary cat. pic.twitter.com/F72raTuxCt
— Paul Bronks (@BoringEnormous) September 22, 2017

Otters, Otters, Otters, Otters

9/29/2017

Apparently there's a real thing called Sea Otter Awareness Week. It should live forever, but no matter. Regardless of its existence, this from the Oregon Zoo was just added to my list of favorite tweets. I retweeted with a comment that I don't know who writes the Zoo's tweets, but the person should get a raise.

Otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters otters pic.twitter.com/WAKrKTQDYS
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) September 27, 2017

Today's Adorable Animal Video

8/3/2017

It's difficult to say something is officially one's favorite cat video, since with the Internet that might be an impossibility to define. But this is in that category.

It's on an endless-replay loop, but that's okay since you'll probably want to watch it over again, repeatedly...

Ded. pic.twitter.com/megUmNqFVd
— Kevin Fox □ (@kfury) August 2, 2017

Today's Adorable Animal Video

8/25/2016

I don't think this completely qualifies as an "adorable video," though the end may justify it, so we'll go with that.

A tour boat in British Columbia was doing some whale watching when they spotted a dozen orcas swimming around -- but then went into hunt mode. Soon after, a terrified but pretty smart baby seals leaped onto their boat to escape them.

However, feeling that it was safe, it jumped off back into the water. But quickly realizing its hasty mistake, it jumped back on, yet again, and snuggled to a safer spot. (The people posting the video suggest that the baby seal may have fallen off.)

A problem for those on the boat was that the baby seal was close to the motor, and so they didn't want to turn it on. There's a jump in the video, and it appears that the baby seal tried again to get back into the water (or fell off...), and again realized it was a mistake...but this time seems to be hiding underneath the motor. All the more problematic.

And then there's yet another jump in the video, but from the description of an article I read, what appears to have happened is that the baby seal got back on the boat, and was far enough away from the motor that the tour boat could start up again and get out of the area. And once safe, and as the people posting the video write, after the orcas gave up after 35-40 minutes, they released the baby seal back into the water.

Of course, there's no way of knowing the fate of the little fellow, but one can hope that such a determined and clever creature found his way back to his clan, or they to him. Or found a new one. Or just went off on an adventure. Or...

Today's Adorable Animal Video

5/31/2016

In Bexhill, England, a baby fox fell down a drain pipe. It was too far away to reach, so the rescue workers waited until it tried to find a way out itself and got close enough to grab.

All the while, the young fox's mother (sorry, "mum" this is England, after all) came by to watch surreptitiously, at a distance, keeping an eye on the proceedings.

When they were able to get the little fox out, it will so covered in muck that they decided to clean it first, before putting it an an open animal carrier. They then placed the carrier out in the open of the backyard, so that the mother could come by to help -- and as soon as she does, the baby fox realizes that all is well and...

Well, just take a look at it all --

Gorilla of My Dreams

3/2/2016

This is a charming video that becomes even more touching, about a man and his daughter who go into the jungle to see if they can find a couple of gorillas who they raised in captivity but released to the wild many years earlier, when the girl was very young, wondering how the gorillas will be and wondering if they'll even remember the man, let alone the young girl.