Isegoria

Today’s dose of cute comes thanks to China’s Year of the Pig celebrations:

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua news agency, a dozen of Dongba pigs from Thailand, which are said to be small and agile, compete in a swimming game at a park in Nanchang, in east China’s Jiangxi province, on Saturday February 3, 2007. China is preparing to usher in the lunar New Year – the Year of the Pig — in the Chinese zodiac, falling on February 18 this year.

They’ve also got pigs in silly outfits jumping through hoops.

Today’s dose of cute comes from this Baby Koala with its mother, at the Tama Zoo in suburban Tokyo.

Today’s dose of cute comes from Polar Bear Cub Knut in Berlin:

Berlin zoo employee Thomas Doerflein plays with polar bear cub Knut in this undated picture, released on January 24, 2007. Knut, born on December 5, 2006, has had to be hand fed by Doerflein after its mother Tosca refused the baby.

Today’s dose of cute comes from this Real Life Bambi and Thumper photo, taken by German photographer Tanja Askani.

Lala, the penguin who goes shopping, was rescued by a Japanese fisherman years ago. Now Lala lives in an air-conditioned room and walks to the fish store each day, wearing a penguin backpack. The video is quite kawaii.

Today’s dose of cute comes from an Orphaned Squirrel Monkey named Loki — an excellent name for a monkey, by the way:

Orphaned squirrel monkey Loki clings to his toy duck at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, in this Jan. 19, 2006, file photo. Loki, who lost his mother shortly after birth eight weeks ago, has been hand raised by zoo staff and will be introduced to the rest of the Squirrel Monkey’s when once he is weaned and learns to regulate his body temperature.

Today’s dose of cute comes from this Wet Panda in the Munich Zoo:

The young Wet Panda peeks from a hole in his stump home at the Zoo in Munich, southern Germany, Friday, Dec. 1, 2006. The female panda bear was born last June, has spent the last months in the litter box and is now exploring her enclosure. Wet Pandas have their home in the Himalayan mountains.”

Today’s dose of cute comes from this puma cub:

Two-month-old North American Puma cub Baron plays with a plush tiger in a zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk November 24, 2006. Baron was breastfed by a dog because its mother refused to feed it.

This Cute Overload is, well, a cute overload. The bunny is just the beginning.

Today’s dose of cute comes from a wee li’l Penguin in Blue Shoes:

A penguin called Elvis wears a new pair of blue shoes at the Antarctic Centre’s Penguin Encounter display in Christchurch, November 7, 2006. Elvis and 16 other penguins who arrived at the International Antarctic Centre in September have been given specially designed shoes after several penguins developed sore feet in their new home, according to Antarctic Centre director Richard Benton. Picture taken November 7, 2006.

It took me a while to realize what this cute li’l animated Kiwi was up to. Very cute, but very sad, too. Watch it.

(It was Dony Permedi‘s master’s thesis in a visual arts program.)

Take one Polar Bear, add foreshortening, and you have today’s dose of cute:

A polar bear climbs on a tundra buggy near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, Friday, Nov. 3, 2006. The bears are slowly congregating along the coast, anticipating the winter freeze-up of Hudson Bay. When the bay freezes, the polar bears can get onto the ice to hunt their favorite meal, ringed seal.

Yahoo! News has an entire slide show of polar bear photos. They’re such delightfully cute man-killing carnivores…

As Olivier points out, “The first thing you notice about today’s paper by mirror-neurons famous Giaccomo Rizzolatti’s team, just published in PLoS biology, is that it is sooooooo cute.”

Why? Because it demonstrates that baby monkeys make faces.

Today’s dose of cute comes from this Jaguar Cub at La Aurora Zoo in Guatemala City:

A child watches a jaguar cub at La Aurora zoo in Guatemala city, in 2003. The United States announced its biggest ever “debt-for-nature” swap, forgiving 24 million dollars of Guatemala’s foreign debt to Washington in exchange for a pledge to protect tropical forests in the central American nation.

Lioness adopts third baby antelope:

A lioness in Kenya has adopted another baby oryx — her third in as many months, game wardens at the northern Samburu National Park have reported.

The lioness is said to allow a female oryx several minutes each day to feed the new-born calf.

The oryx would normally represent a tasty meal to a lion, but this is not the first time the lioness has placed a calf under her protection.

One was seen in her company in December last year, but it was eaten by other lions after two weeks. Another calf was taken away from her in February and placed in a zoo because it showed signs of malnourishment.