Llama Llama!

 A few weeks ago I visited a petting zoo at Lester's Farm! There were a bunch of adorable animals such as, bunnies, baby goats, sheep, cows, baby chicks, a pig, but my favorite of all was the baby Llama!

Baby Llama!

A baby Llama is also called a "cria", which is the Spanish word for "baby". Llama moms are pregnant for about 11 months and stand up while giving birth. The baby Llama can usually walk and eat within an hour of being born!

I was very excited to meet this baby Llama! I pet him and his fur was super fuzzy and soft. I also fed him some grass, which is one of their favourite snacks.



Mommy and Baby Llama!

Llamas like to be around lots of other Llamas! These animals are domesticated, meaning there are no wild Llamas. They are related to camels and were domesticated from a wild camel called a "Guanaco".

Manta Rays!

Rays in general are amazing and beautiful creatures. Manta Rays in particular are the biggest of the Rays. They seem to glide effortlessly through the water, with graceful movements. Manta Rays are also very mysterious animals to us, because there are a lot of things that humans do not know about them.

cute and squishy!

beautiful markings on underside.

Manta Rays have unique patterns on their undersides; the colors are different depending on the area they are from. For example, Manta Rays from the eastern Pacific often have mostly black undersides, while Manta Rays from the western Pacific are usually white underneath.

Manta Rays are known to jump high out of the water! The meaning of these jumps is unknown, but possible reasons could be:


- communication with other rays
- mating ritual
- avoiding predators/disturbances
- they are just having fun!

Manta Rays nibble on plankton, krill, fish larvae, and other small organisms. They obtain their food through a filtering process as they swim. As the Manta Ray swims through the ocean, the water is filtered through its gills, trapping any particles.


Small fish often feed on parasites on the Manta Rays' skin. This is a mutualistic symbiotic relationship, where the small fish obtain food and the Manta Ray is cleaned of harmful parasites. 


Manta Rays also migrate to find food, although their exact route is unknown. 

Dragonfly!



Dragonflies are super cute insects. Because they are insects, they have 6 legs. They also have compound eyes, which means they have thousands of little eyes in one location. Dragonflies can detect movement very easily.








Dragonflies can fly really fast, up to 60 kilometers per hour! As they fly over ponds and lakes, they catch little bugs, like flies and mosquitoes, to eat. Dragonflies can also mate while flying!








Dragonflies have four beautiful wings. Today, while sunbathing next to a pond, a dragonfly landed on me! I could feel its little wings against my skin. A few years ago, a dragonfly landed on me while eating a bug!

A Special Post: Cute Plants!

I realized that animals are not the only cute living things in the world, so this post is about cute plants!

My favourite plant is the Lamb's Ear because it's so soft and fuzzy. This plant has little white and purple flowers. It's originally from Turkey and Iran, but can now be found in warm places all over the world. Many people tend to like it because of the soft, fuzzy leaves.



The leaves are extremely soft!

The plant is called "Lamb's Ear" because the leaves are covered in soft white hair.

These plants are sometimes considered "invasive", because they grow so easily in many places and can spread very quickly.










Another one of my favourite plants is the Dandelion. A lot of people dislike the Dandelion because it can also grow quickly and easily, like the Lamb's Ear, but Dandelions have so many cool features. They can adapt to many environments and their seeds look fuzzy!




Fuzzy-looking seeds!

The seeds are light and fluffy, so they can easily be blown by the wind. This is one of the reasons that Dandelions spread so quickly.



All parts are edible!

Another cool thing about Dandelions is that they are completely edible! The leaves taste best when picked before the flowers appear (in early Spring), and the flowers are great for making Dandelion wine. Dandelion roots can be made into a coffee alternative!

Roly Polies!

I called them "Carpenters" as a kid, but "Roly Polies" is way cuter. Their latin name is Armadillidium, because they look like little Armadillos. The most common name is "Pill Bug", but they are not actually bugs! They are crustaceans, like shrimp or lobsters. Most crustaceans live in water, and even though these tiny little guys live on land, they like keeping moist too. They live in damp and dark places.



Cute and Tiny!

Roly Polies are not insects for a few reasons:

1. They have seven pairs of legs (bugs have three pairs)

2. They have more than three body segments

3. No waxy covering on their bodies

These cute animals like to munch on bark, algae, and plants, especially decaying ones, like leaves that have fallen off a plant. They help break down plants into small pieces and into nutrients for the plants to use. This means they recycle the dead plants into food!

More cool facts about Roly Polies:

• They don't pee!
• They breathe through gills
• Their blood is blue
• They roll into a ball when poked!

Baby Owls!

This is a special post for Marie-Claire, who suggested baby owls.

Cuddle cuddle.

Owls are found almost everywhere in the world, except Antartica and parts of Greenland. These cute birds have big, round eyes, for seeing at night. Owls can rotate their head almost all the way around in a circle!  This helps owls see because they cannot move their eyes from side to side.

Cute little owly hiding in a tree.

Most owls spend their time by themselves, and are usually active at night. They sleep all day and wake up at night to catch rodents and little birds. There are a few owls that fly around in the day, and some that are most active around dawn and dusk.

Some owls have special feathers that make the bird's flight silent! The edges of some of their feathers are jagged, which reduces the noise from the flapping wings. This means that they can sneak up on their food!

The Poll Winner: the Aye-aye!

A few weeks ago I posted a poll asking which animal you wanted to see next. Here's some info about the winner: the Aye-aye.

(Photo credit: Tom Junek)

The Aye-aye is a primate, and more specifically, a lemur. These fuzzy animals are  nocturnal and primarily live in rainforests on the East coast of Madagascar.

(www.madagascarpartnership.org)

This lemur searches for food during the night, starting shortly after sunset. Aye-ayes eat nuts, seeds, fruit, fungi, and nectar, but the main parts of their diet are insects and larvae. The Aye-aye taps on the tree bark to listen for hollow areas. After finding the perfect spot, the lemur will tear open the tree bark and stick its long skinny finger inside to grab its food.

Aye-ayes are great jumpers and climbers, and barely spend any time on the ground. They usually only leave the forest canopy in times of deforestation, so they can look for food. This means that Aye-ayes sometimes wander into human villages, which normally results in a bad situation for the lemur. Locals consider the Aye-aye a bad omen, and often kill any they come across. For these two reasons, Aye-ayes are considered threatened, in terms of conservation status.

Cute "Herptiles" a.k.a Reptiles and Amphibians!

I took a brief pause from Snailia cause I was so busy: looking for a new house, applying for summer jobs, and studying for final exams. But now I'm back with a whole lot of cuteness!

A bunch of you voted on the poll over the past few weeks and the Aye aye won! But i'm going to save that cute primate for my next post because I wanted to share some info about cool reptiles and amphibians (called "herptiles").

Baby Jesus Lizard

This is a "Jesus Lizard", named so because these reptiles can run across water. They have a little bit of skin between their toes to help them stay above water as they run. Jesus lizards can run on the water for about 4 and a half meters. After that they begin swimming!






Running across water!

These lizards are normally found in tropical conditions, but have begun to expand their populations because of their ability to burrow in sand or leaves to stay warm.

  

Red-eyed Tree Frog holding on!

This Red-eyed Tree Frog is an amphibian, which means that the babies live in water and the adults live on land and breathe air.They can be about 5cm to almost 8cm in length. Baby frogs are usually a brown color but they turn green as they get older. Red-Eyed Tree Frogs have 3 eyelids! These frogs live in trees and are great jumpers.






Check out my pages (above) for more cute things, such as cute jobs that I have worked, cute animal games, other cute websites, or my newest page: cute animal crafts!

Raccoon Dog!

You voted on the poll and the Raccoon Dog won! I first heard about this super cute animal from the television show Life of Mammals, hosted by David Attenborough. Raccoon Dogs are not actually related to Raccoons, they just look alike. Raccoon Dogs are found throughout Asia and Eastern Europe.

Raccoon Dog mommies can have a lot of babies at one time, about a dozen and sometimes more! The babies have short fur when they are born and cannot open their eyes for about a week or so. They usually stay at home with their dad, while the mom looks for food.

Raccoon Dogs like to hibernate in the winter. Before it becomes too snowy the Raccoon Dogs eat a lot of food to become chubby. During hibernation they live from their stored fat. They sleep and cuddle in burrows all winter long to stay warm. The babies, who are not as fluffy as the parents, sleep in the middle of the cuddle pile.

So fluffy!

These fluffy animals like eating a variety of food, such as insects, rodents, birds, fish, eggs, frogs, berries, nuts, fruit, and plants. It all depends on what is available around them. Raccoon Dogs are not picky eaters!

The Adorable Sea Otter!

Fuzzy!

Sea Otters live mainly in water, as their name indicates, but they can walk on land too.

Sea otters do not have a thick layer of fat to keep them warm, like most marine mammals. Instead, they have a lot of really fuzzy fur! They spend a lot of time grooming their fur to make sure that cold water doesn't seep into between the hair and make them chilly!

Sea Otters even blow air in between their fur to dry it!

So much cuteness in one place!

While Sea Otters are not super sociable, they do like sleeping near each other. Sometimes they even hold paws to keep from drifting away!

This is a super cute video of a Sea Otter eating. They like to crunch into sea urchin, clams, mussels, and snails. Otters put a rock on their belly and smash their food against the rock to break open the shell!

Sleepy Sea Otter

Sea Otters take a lot of naps throughout the day. Sometimes they wrap a piece of kelp around their body to stay in one place while they sleep.

Baby Sea Otters!

Mommy Sea Otters groom their babies so much that their fur is super douper fluffy. They are so fluffy that the babies float on the water!

Hedgehogs!

Baby Hedgehog!

Hedgehogs are really popular as pets, cause their so adorable! They are also popular because they are fairly easy to take care of and can be very playful.

Hedgehogs have stiff spines, which are actually hollow hairs. These little spines are not poisonous. The hedgehog can lose spines though, through "quilling", when they shed their baby spines for adult ones.

Hedgehogs are good runners, swimmers, and even good climbers. 


They also make really cute noises, such as snuffles or squeals.

Hedgehog in a cute ball.

To defend themselves, hedgehogs roll into a tiny little ball so that all their spines are sticking out. 


These cute spiky balls like eating insects, frogs, snakes, bird eggs, berries, mushrooms, and melons.

In places where hedgehogs are found naturally, many people like to encourage hedgehogs in their garden. People will often leave snacks for these cute animals and even make holes in their fences as doorways. 

Baby Pygmy Animals!

Since I've become unemployed, I have so much more time to update my blog! 

Today's post is about pygmy animals, which are tiny versions of big animals, making them extra cute!

Maybe one day I'll pet a baby pygmy hippo!

A baby pygmy hippo! 

These hippos live in Africa in forests and swamps. They mostly keep to themselves and are more active in the night (nocturnal). Like bigger hippos, they like living in the water, and will sometimes give birth there. 


These adorable little hippos love munching on grass and fruit. They sneak out of their river hiding spot around dusk to eat. Sometimes pygmy hippos sleep in dens or burrows in the river bank. Although, no one knows if the hippos actually make these homes themselves.

So tiny!

A baby pygmy tarsier!

Pygmy tarsiers were thought to be extinct since the 1920's until recently in 2008 when these cute little animals were rediscovered. 

They are nocturnal primates who live in Indonesia and are only about 9 to 10 cm long!

They have long tails and nails on their teensy hands for gripping onto trees. Tarsiers nibble on insects and sleep vertically in trees during the day.

Pygmy Marmosets are the smallest monkeys in the world (although pygmy tarsiers are tinier, but are not monkeys, just primates). They are abut 14 to 16 cm in length! These tiny monkeys makes their homes in the rainforests of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.


Pygmy marmosets use different whistles and calls to talk to family members. Sometimes these calls give warnings of approaching danger.


These super adorable monkeys eat insects, fruit, tree sap, and leaves.

Pygmy goats are originally from West Africa and have since been domesticated. 


These mini goats like chewing on grains and grasses. 


They live for about 10-15 years and are very popular as household pets or in petting zoos. 

Wombats are Weird and Cute!

If you don't know what a wombat is, then get ready for cute!

Wombats have short legs, ears, and tails, similar to pikas (which I talked about in my very first post). They are marsupials, like koalas and kangaroos. Wombats live in foresty and mountainy areas of Australia and Tasmania. They also live in areas called a "heath", which is covered in dwarf, or really tiny, shrubs.

Wombats move pretty slowly and have slow metabolism. It can take about two weeks for a wombat to digest its food!

Two cute and cuddly wombats! Wombats are so cute that I even have a stuffed toy wombat :)












Wombats like nibbling on herbs, shrubs, bark, roots and grasses. They have the perfect teeth for chewing through tough vegetation.







Wombats dig their own burrows to live in, which sounds pretty cozy and cuddly to me. They have big front teeth and claws so they can make these homes.

When a predator tries to catch a wombat, the fuzzy little animal will run into a tunnel and block the entrance with its bum! Their bum area is made of cartilage, so it's hard and cannot be bitten through!





A mommy and baby wombat, staying close for company.

Wombats are so cool that they even have their own holiday, October 22nd!