Awesome Animals

The whole idea of having your animals do your chores for you seems very Flintstones to us. Here, a monkey takes care of some dirty plates – hopefully before it starts to fling its own poo.

The first feline nanny we saw was really patient and tolerant, but Stewie the cat takes a more active role – he uses his mystical cat powers on a crying baby to put the young one to sleep.

This mesmerizing ad for BBC One plays clips of beautiful wildlife and breathtaking scenes of nature while naturalist David Attenborough narrates the lyrics to What a Wonderful World.

I am Stealth Cat. I am invisible. You cannot see me. You cannot – okay you can see me. Never mind, I shall now make my escape and vanish right before your eyes. Now you see me, now you don-

The December weather’s got us feeling sluggish and sleepy, but it looks like it’s done that and then some to these cats. A stupid video for a sleepy Sunday by YouTuber theindiemachines.

A monkey gets snatched from its native habitat to be sent on a mission into space. A charmingly animated CGI short with a clever twist, by Eric Villeneuve, Antoine Rouleau and Emmanuel Gatera.

Here’s what makes dogs awesome: with their infinite capacity to be surprised, to appreciate and to enjoy, they take great pleasure from the simplest of things. This video helped cure our holiday blues.

Come on, it’s fun and only a minute long: check out this Bearded Dragon playing Ant Crusher; she, like all of us finely skilled gamers at TA, is definitely not happy when she loses. (Thanks Aric!)

Unlike the one-hit killing machines in Skyrim, this bear is fond of people, and knows how to exchange greetings the human way. He’s one of two Kodiak bears at the Olympic Game Farm. More here.

Another clever viral video from Pedigree featuring a group of caroling dogs. Assuming it was done without audio trickery, we’re calling it awesome. Otherwise, happy barking holidays anyhow.

Still haven’t found gifts for your pets for the holidays? Dogmeat toys are packaged and shaped like cuts of meat. They’re nontoxic and completely safe. Not safe enough to eat though.

Poor Bella has Megaesophagus, a syndrome that makes it difficult to properly swallow. Her special chair helps her sit up and use gravity to bring food and fluids to her stomach. More here.

Whereas humans enjoy the companionship of tame dogs, baboons at a dump in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia kidnap feral puppies to raise as members of their families. Looks like the apes really are rising.

Etsy shop Sharp Shirter specializes in humorous and quirky animal graphics. Their Cardinal Warrior graphic is particularly enchanting. The designs are also available as pullovers, hoodies and prints.

Did you know that a kangaroo was faster than a greyhound? Guess we missed that day in school. Learn something new every day with this speedometer-inspired tee by Thomas De Santis.

If only all dogs were as behaved at bath time as Casper right here. He knows that his owner wants to keep him cool, clean and pampered. We cringed when the soapy water got in his eyes though.

What do you do when you’ve got three polar bears coming at you? You could run the other way, or you could have cojones the size of bowling balls and chase them off with a big bone.

Last October, the gorilla enclosure at the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Australia was tested out by… two guys in gorilla suits. Visitors were treated to an unbelievable display of fake gorilla behavior.

An octopus at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve slithered out of the water and left something for its visitors. We think it said, “I’ll give you this in exchange for my privacy. No? Dammit.”

Remember the hair dryer-fighting cat? His name is Oskar; he was born without formed eyeballs and thus can’t see. Here’s Oskar when he was 8 weeks old, getting his first toys – balls with bells inside.

(NSFW: Language) Witness the chaotic capabilities of dogs. It took just one of these creatures to throw an idyllic day at the park into a herd-displacing, traffic jam-inducing, curse-riddled chase.

Two cats enter, one cat leaves. Or something like that. Watch as these two feline opponents work on their best pro-wrestling moves in the SmackDown ring. Let’s get ready to… awwwwww.

Mountain biker Rossimo37 and his dog Lily zip around Trailside Park in Utah. Lily is such a bundle of energy that she keeps up no matter where her master’s speeding bike roams.