Other Animal Appreciation Thread

[♥ Lily ♥]

Beautiful Wolves (Wolves have been on this planet longer than humans!)

[♥ Lily ♥]

Beautiful and intelligent dolphins

[♥ Lily ♥]

Beautiful Snow Leopards; it took millions of years of evolution to produce such magnificent and beautiful animals -
yet mankind has driven them to near extinction within a few mere generations.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Thumbelina ~ The Worlds Smallest Horse

The world’s smallest horse is just 17 inches tall, barely larger than a house cat.
Born on a farm owned by a couple who breeds miniature horses,
Thumbelina was tiny even compared to the rest of the couple’s horses,
who typically reach about 34 inches in height when fully grown.
She weights just 60 pounds and her size has been attributed to dwarfism, making her “a miniature of a miniature”.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Bee Hummingbird

The diminutive bee hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world –
or at least, the male is; females are slightly larger.
Native to Cuba, the bird weighs in at a mere 1.8 grams and reaches a length of about 2 inches.
The human retina can’t even detect the rapid 80-beats-per-second movement
of this extremely small creature’s wings,
and it’s easy to mistake it for an insect if you’re not looking carefully at it.
Its nest is smaller than a doll’s teacup and its eggs are smaller than coffee beans.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Leptotyphlops Carlae Snake

The world’s smallest snake was discovered in Barbados in August of 2008.
Named Leptotyphlops carlae, the snake is as thin as a spaghetti noodle
and an adult can curl up comfortably on a quarter.
The species is believed to be rare, since its habitat is being replaced by buildings and farms.
Scientists believe that this Barbados snake is either at or near the smallest possible size that a snake can be.
It likely feeds primarily on the larvae of ants and other insects.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Philippine Tarsier

The bug-eyed, furry little Philippine Tarsier has been called “the world’s smallest monkey”,
but it’s not actually a monkey at all.
Scientists have loosely classified them as primates for lack of anywhere else to put them, since they’re extremely unique.
They spend all day sleeping in cavities and hollows formed in tree trunks and emerge at night to hunt insects.
They average 3 to 6 inches in length with another 5 to 11 inches in their tail.
Fun fact about the tarsier: its eyes are literally bigger than its stomach.

[JohnnyB]

[♥ Lily ♥]

Pygmy Marmoset

The tree-dwelling pygmy marmoset is the world’s smallest monkey,
with adults only reaching up to 5 inches in length and 6 ounces in weight.
And when they’re babies, like these albino twins born at the Frösö Zoo in Ostersund, Sweden in 2006,
they’re exceedingly tiny and unbelievably cute.
Pygmy marmosets, whose natural habitat is the western Amazon rainforest of South America,
make a lot of loud noises for their tiny size – their whistles and squeals travel far throughout the jungle.

[♥ Lily ♥]

Paedocypris Carp

The Paedocypris carp is the smallest known fish in the world, found in the peat swamps of Sumatra in 2006.
Adults grow only to about 7.9 millimeters.
This unusual species has a rudimentary skull which leaves the brain exposed, and it feeds primarily on plankton.
Scientists warn that the species is at great risk of extinction due to the destruction of Indonesian peat swamps for palm oil plantations.