endangered species

We like weird stuff and we adore animals here at This Blog Rules – by the way, did you even know these animals exist? Brush up on your zoology knowledge, then come back to be entertained, baffled, and amused by the ten cute guys and gals on our list of weird cute animals. There are birds, rodents, foxes, and even a wolf in the gallery below. Check them out and let us know who your favorite is, in the comment section!

10. Pileated Gibbons

This animal species is native to Thailand, more specifically, Cambodia and Laos. At the moment, there are approximately 32.000 individuals left in the wild. This means that the Union for Conservation of Nature has declared them endangered. Like most gibbons, these cute little fellows are arboreal, and live in monogamous pairs.

9. The Tufted Deer

This deer gets its name from the noticeable tuft of hair on its forehead. Also, the males have fangs! It lives in central China and in the north-east of Myanmar. At the moment it’s being overhunted and it’s losing its habitat.

8. The Patagonian Mara

In terms of weird cute animals, it doesn’t get that much better than the Patagonian Mara, a relatively large rodent, part of the mara family. They also call it Patagonian cavy, Patagonian hare, or dillaby. It kind of looks like a rabbit and it lives in Argentina, including, of cours Patagonia. An interesting thing about this species is that it’s monogamous.

7. The Irrawaddy Dolphin

You can find this item on our list of weird cute animals in the Bay of Bengal, as well as in other parts of Southeast Asia. It swims rather slowly, i.e. at around 20 to 25 km per hour, but can speed up when chased by a boat. Another interesting thing about it is that it competes with other species, as observed in experiments involving the Orcaella and the humpback dolphin.

6. The Mexican Axolotls

This animal is also known as the Peter Pan of animals. Just look at it, how can this not be considered cute? This type of salamander looks like it is always smiling. It can be found in Mexico’s Lake Xochimilco, and it spends most of its time underwater. Its unusual appearance comes from its ability to regenerate body parts.

5. Amur Leopards

Leopards are universally considered cute, but the Amur leopard is undoubtedly the most beautiful leopard on the planet. Sadly, this animal, native to southeastern Russia is on the brink of extinction. Only 19 to 26 specimens are left in the wild. The Amur leopard is also known under the name of Manchurian, Far East or Korean leopard.

4. Sand Cats

Are you familiar with the smallest wild cats on the planet? The sand-cats have the size of domestic cats and they can be found in northern Africa and central Asia. They enjoy arid locations, but their habitats are being threatened. Although this animal species is endangered, four sand cat kittens have just been born in the Zoological Center of Tel Aviv.

3. The Superb Bird of Paradise

With a name like this and such lavish colors, how could we not have included the superb bird of paradise on our list? It lives in the rainforests of New Guinea, it’s relatively small (only 26 cm), and, interestingly enough, there’s a pretty low count of females in the species.

2. The Gobi Jerboa

This rodent lives in China and Mongolia, in the temperate deserts and grasslands of the area. It was discovered in 1925. It’s considered the most desert loving of all Jerboas, but it’s extremely rare. For the moment, only 163 sightings of the Gobi jerboa have been made (in contemporary times). However, the actual number of specimens remains unknown.

1. The Fennec Fox

We couldn’t have topped off our list of weird cute animals with anyone else but the absolutely adorable fennec fox (known simply as the fennec). It’s a nocturnal animal, very small, but with those hilariously huge ears, which they use to fan off the heat. Makes sense, when you consider the fact that it lives in Sahara and northern Africa.

Landline Phones

What Animals and Other Things Might Become Extinct in the Near Future

Do you remember the days when every home had a landline phone? Some of them were even hung up on walls. If you were outside and needed to make a call, you could look for a phone booth. The way in which cell phones have become so commonplace in the world means seeing landline phones is becoming a rare event. They will slowly get phased out even more over the coming years.

Redheads

Animals and Other Things That Might Become Extinct

You don’t tend to think of people as being on the list of things that might become extinct, do you? As a red haired person myself, I worry when I see reports of our imminent demise. Will a giant meteor kill us all off? Perhaps we will fall foul of a deadly disease that attacks our freckles? Part of the answer lies in the fact that recessive genes will make red hair disappear. That theory appears to have been debunked but now there is a new one. We have red hair to help us improve Vitamin D production without much sun exposure. It is now claimed that global warming will kill off the need for redheads all over the world. Why can’t mother nature just leave us alone?

The Cross River Gorilla

I’ve been trying to put off the critically endangered animals list for as long as I can. It really depresses me to think about these things. Look at the beautiful creature in the picture. He might not be a redhead, but he’s still cool. Sadly, it is believed that less than 300 Cross River Gorillas are still around. They live around the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. Hunters and land development mean that they probably won’t be around for too much longer.

Hand Written Postcards and Letters

Ok, onto cheerier stuff for a minute. When was the last time you sent a hand written postcard or letter? Unless I’m very much mistaken it was sometime around “never.” The rise of email, text messages, Skype, Facebook and other types of technology means that sitting down and writing “Dear Fred” or “wish you were here” is no longer popular. Is this a good thing? Personally, I would rather receive a long and interesting letter than a generic Facebook status update. But, I can’t be bothered to write anything these days so I won’t complain too much.

The Javan Rhinoceros

Hunters and land developers are again the main enemies of this chap. There are none of them alive in zoos across the planet. The population in the wild is believed to number no more than 40.

10 Weird Cute Animals We Love