Awesome Animals

Do you know what’s better than looking at pictures of roly-poly dogs on the internet? A heavy metal song that pays tribute to these adorably chonky and well-fed pooches, courtesy of YouTuber Frazee Wooster. He needs to do a version for all the other round boys.

If you’ve ever wondered how big a blue whale is compared to a human, check out Goji Center’s video, which compares the relative sizes of various marine life. What makes it more interesting is that the animated chart also includes extinct sea creatures. We had no idea that there was a 120-foot-long jellyfish out there.

Musician The Kiffness is back with another great remix. This time, he added a smooth and chill beat and vocals to the endearing half-growl sounds of Alexander Zekudzze La La La Dog. Everyone sing along! La La, La La La, La La La La La, La La La La La! Encore!

West Elm’s ceramic animal planters make a great gift for animal lovers. They add a touch of whimsy and cheer to any space, and designer Rachel Kozlowski’s dapper owl, bunny, and fox remind us of one of our favorite Wes Anderson movies, Fantastic Mr. Fox. They measure appx. 5″ to 6″ high. Sold individually.

Animal lover and trained zookeeper Maya Higa of the Alveus Sanctuary introduces us to some of the many non-releasable exotic animals they help care for. But rather than just look at them, she interviewed them using an appropriately tiny microphone. Watch episode one here.

Ever wonder “What if the Starship Enterprise was manned by cats?” Us neither. Nevertheless, this 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle casts felines in several of Star Trek’s most beloved scenes. A tabby plays Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock is a Mexican Hairless, and Chief Engineer “Scotty” Scott is (duh) a Scottish Fold. Beam me up, Kitty!

Rémy Vicarini likes to make tiny helmets for his cat Cathode. His collection of 3D-printed headgear includes a bicycle helmet, an astronaut helmet, and a LEGO knight helmet. We also have no idea how Cathode sat still for the working Iron Man helmet. Good kitty.

Among the various residents of the San Diego Zoo are a number of delightfully pink flamingos. For fun, the zoo shared footage of the lanky birds as they poke their heads beneath the water in search of food. The flamingos have filtering plates in their mouths which sort out tasty morsels like tiny shrimp and other small critters.

Octopi thrive on shellfish and other small sea creatures. But when an octopus thinks it can gobble down a mantis shrimp, it gets quite the surprise from the powerful crustacean. Nat Geo WILD captured this amazing footage of the terrifying shrimp as it protects itself and delivers blow after blow on its eight-legged foe.

If Valdimar Jóhannsson’s movie Lamb lives up to its intense trailer, it looks like it’s gonna be one wild ride. It follows the story of a childless couple in Iceland who adopt a newborn lamb on their farm, but after they start treating the animal as a member of the family, it may just end up ripping them apart.

Japanese artist Yamanono makes incredibly lifelike miniature animals from felt. Here, they create a brown and white tabby cat from the fluffy textile. The whole process is fascinating to watch, from hand-painting eyeballs to painstakingly placing individual hairs on kitty’s head. They’ve got something for dog lovers too.

Not every pig is as cute as Babe. Some of piggy’s boar, warthog, and babirusas cousins are downright scary looking. ZeFrank takes us inside the world of wild pigs to learn about these smart and savvy animals, and the surprisingly hardcore lives they live.

Smithsonian Channel’s Epic Animal Migrations journeys to the west coast of Mexico to witness two spectacles of nature. The first: millions of pelagic red crabs rising to the surface to dine on plankton. The second: thousands of giant eagle rays gliding beneath the waves – some emerging from the water into the air.

Hopefully, you had a happy and relaxing 4th of July, and your beach vacation wasn’t interrupted by any terrifying monsters from the ocean. While a great white shark would definitely be bad, this great black kitty could really ruin your holiday.

Musician The Kiffness continues his trend of remixing funny-sounding cats, this time creating a groovy backbeat for the gurgly Numnum Cat. After making his solo remix, he was once again joined by musicians from around to globe to add a little international flavor to the track.

Photographer Jens Heidler of Another Perspective offers a series of crisp close-up stills and video footage of animals and insects, revealing incredible details not visible to the naked eye. Check out his video on flash diffusers for some tips on capturing great macro images.

The Kiffness seems to have found a new niche – turning videos of unusual cat behavior into music. After amusing us with his Alugalug Cat remix, he’s back with a remake of The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights accompanied by Sneeze Cat. Seriously, would somebody get this kitty a Zyrtec?

A while back, engineer Mark Rober built an obstacle course to try and keep squirrels from getting to his birdseed. Ultimately, the smart squirrels figured it out, so he decided to up his game with a far more complicated maze that’s even trickier to navigate. Will the squirrels get their claws on Mark’s nuts again?

Artist Alex Solis created this hilariously warped “children’s” book which features cute and fuzzy animals doing what they do in real life – eating other smaller, cuter and fuzzier animals. Solis also made a coloring book along the same lines.

While it’s nowhere nearly as large as the world’s largest penguin, the 16″ long, 10-pound frog known as Beelzebufo was still an impressive creature. PBS Eons explains the few things we know about this giant, blobby amphibian that was native to Madagascar.

Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, Olivia Munn, Pom Klementieff, Rodrigo Santoro, and Tricia Helfer lent their voices to this animated short film that shines a light on the horrific practice of testing cosmetics on animals. Created for The Humane Society of the United States. Written and directed by Spencer Susser.

Utah artist Andrew Chase creates truly impressive metal sculptures of animals, each of which includes, as he puts it “heavy, greasy, and lethally sharp edges.” Many of his creations even have articulated joints, so they can be put into different poses.

When it comes to superstitions, letting a black cat cross your path right up there on the list. Mitzi the black cat comes with her own soundtrack as she walks across a keyboard, performing an appropriately creepy and dissonant piece of horror movie music to set the stage for any bad luck she might be bringing.