Today in Cute: Hand-Feeding Grapes to a Baby Beaver

Have some grapes around and want to get rid of them quick? Leave it to beaver.

Or, rather, feed them to this baby beaver. Her name is Hazel, and she lives at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington (pdza.org).

This Puppy Wants Its Doggie Bed Back From that Damn Cat!

Don't you just hate it when all you want to do is curl up in your bed but something's standing in your way? In the case of this adorable French bulldog puppy, it's a cat that's standing in the way! Kitty has claimed the doggie bed, and doesn't want to give it up. Will our intrepid puppy manage to get that damn cat out of its bed? Let's find out:

7 Kittens, Synchronized

Here's a video to make you smile: seven Maine coon kittens, sitting together, watching a shiny object that they simply can't turn away from, and moving in synchronized fashion:

This Dog Snores Like They Do in Cartoons and Old Comedies

The dog in this video is an English bulldog. Its owner posted the clip to YouTube with the comment, "My English Bulldog, Apollo, snoring after a long day at the beach. He often snores like this." What does the headline mean? Well, you'll know exactly what it means after you listen to Apollo the bulldog snoring:

Engineer's Dog Uses Catapult to Play Fetch By Himself

Here's a cute video of a dog playing fetch all by itself, without the need for any human to throw the ball it is fetching. How? His owner, an engineer, built a catapult for the dog to use. And the dog learned how to use it!

The video quality is terrible, but you'll enjoy it anyway:

Watch Disabled Baby Goat Adorably Using Custom-Made 'Wheelchair'

This cute little guy is named Frostie the Snow Goat. Yep, that's what they call him. Frostie arrived at a sanctuary farm in New Zealand in very bad shape: he had a joint disease that rendered his back legs useless.

So sanctuary personnel made a sort of wheelchair for Frostie, to carry his back legs. And he drags himself around on two legs and two wheels pretty good!

The best news about Frostie is that, with antibiotic and other medical treatment, he's getting better. Maybe he won't need his wheelchair much longer.

Kanzi the Bonobo Builds Fire, Toasts Marshmallows (and Other Amazing Feats!)

This short video clip is one of the most mind-blowing things I've seen in a long time. It's from a BBC program called Monkey Planet and it shows Kanzi (who is a bonobo, one of the two members of the chimp family) ... well, just watch:

This is how it starts, people. THIS IS HOW IT STARTS! Actually, the opposite is true: Now we know why Planet of the Apes is such an impossible story — they all get diabetes.

Kanzi is remarkable in many more ways that just for his ability to build a fire, strike a match and roast marshmallows. Kanzi is a 34-year-old male who spent much of his life at the Language Research Center at Georgia State University. Kanzi showed an aptitude for understanding language from a very early age, and also for using tools. He understands more than 200 words. He now lives at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa, and has a son born in 2010.

Kanzi's son is named Teco, and appears with Kanzi in this clip:

Alas, Teco, according to Wikipedia, exhibits signs that in humans might be diagnosed as autism or a related disorder.

Here is reporter Lisa Ling "interviewing" Kanzi for a report that aired on Oprah:

Here's another clip of Kanzi building a fire and roasting marshmallows:

The following video shows some of the language research done with Kanzi (and also shows him cutting onions with a knife). "Kanzi's language comprehension has been demonstrated in research using novel sentences — phrases that preclude the learning of specific responses."

There are many more clips of Kanzi on YouTube.

How Many Carrots Can This Hamster Stuff in His Mouth?

There are seven baby carrots in the little try in front of this hamster. How many of them to you think it can stuff - whole - into its mouth? Let's find out:

The little fella got five in there before he ran out of room. He's like a baby-carrot-disappearing magician.

Husky Makes Friends with Rehabbing Meerkat

A husky dog and a meerkat are unlikely friends. How would they even meet? Huskies are cold-weather dogs, meerkats scamper across African savannah. But the Rostock Ritz Desert Lodge in Namibia has a has a pet Siberian husky named Bond, and the lodge also rehabs injured local wildlife. The lodge explains on YouTube:

"One of the Meerkats from our rehabilitation project finds our Siberian Husky, Bond, to be a very interesting guy, but makes sure to show him who is boss. Bond has an amazing character and has never harmed any of his little 'friends'. These meerkats are formed into families with other meerkats previously kept as pets, and are then released into the wild when they are ready."

Cat So Happy Its Human Has Come Home

Cats have a well-earned reputation for aloofness. But the cat in this video had been home alone for three days while its human traveled. Don't worry - it wasn't hungry, its bowl was still half-full. Kitty is just ecstatic to see its owner again - it comes racing down the stairs, meowing the whole way, demanding attention:

Unlikely Buddies Horse and Cat Nuzzle in the Barn

What happens when a cat heads into the barn and meets up with a horse in its stall? Well, if you're this cat and this horse, you nuzzle one another. The horse - a 3-year-old colt - in particular seems to appreciate the cat's presence, even using its upper lip near the end of the video to "pet" the cat:

Squirrel Buries Nuts in Man's Clothing

This video was filmed by a guy sitting on a park bench in New York's Battery Park, where he found a furry little friend: one of the local squirrels. He gives the squirrel a nut, and the squirrel takes the nut and tries to bury it in the guy's clothing. He puts one in the hood of the hoodie the guy is wearing, another in his pocket.

The guy exclaims a couple times when the squirrel finds skin (and lets slip an expletive or two). He might want to inquire about a tetanus shot. But otherwise he's quite taken with his new squirrel friend.

See also:
Squirrel buries nuts in dog's hair

Huge Elk Herd Crosses Road ... but Will the One Straggler Catch Up?

Why did the elk cross the road? To make a good YouTube video. This one was posted by Austin Stonnel and shows a large herd of elk jumping a fence and crossing a road. But there's one straggler who just can't quite make the fence jump. Will he ever get across? Will he catch up to the herd?

Stonnel's comments: "Huge herd of elk crossing the road in Bozeman, MT near Yellowstone. I have never seen a herd this big. Poor little guy at the end...leave no elk behind."

Cute Cat Stands Up, Waves Paws to Ask for Food

Most of this video shows a cat lazily laying about. But around the 1-minute mark, something adorable happens: kitty stands up, waves its paws, rubs them together, and asks for food. Then he does it again a few seconds later. It's worth the wait!

Big Boxer Named Baxter Battles Sprinkler

This boxer is named Baxter, and Baxter ain't afraid of no sprinkler head!

Golden Retriever Adopts Baby Chickens

Do dogs and chickens get along? Well, the chickens are baby chicks, and the dog is an 11-year-old golden retriever named Champ, the answer is yes!

The video was posted to YouTube by the dog's human, Candice Sedighan, who explains:

My 11 year old Golden Retriever Champ lets these baby chicks cuddle up to him and burrow into his fur for extra warmth.

But this isn't the first dog-chick adoption we've seen. A year ago, there was a video posted to YouTube showing a retriever mix and his adopted brood of 10 chicks:

Magician Performs Magic Tricks for Dogs, Dogs Adorably Flummoxed

Do dogs appreciate a good magic trick? Well, whether they "appreciate" magic is unknowable - but they certainly react to magic tricks. How do we know? Because magician Jose Ahonen did a magic show for dogs. He palmed doggie treats, then made them disappear. The dogs don't know what to think! Actually, they're probably thinking, "hey, gimme my darn treat!"

Here's Part 1 of magic tricks for dogs:

I'm just a bit surprised at the dogs' reactions. The magician still has the treats, they didn't literally vanish. Given time, the dogs would probably sniff them out.

As it is, these magic tricks look a lot like simply teasing the dogs. But don't worry! Magician Ahonen stresses that each dog in the videos received a treat before the magic trick, and another one afterward.

Here is Part 2 of magic for dogs:

Nothing Makes This Dog Madder than ... a Leaf

This looks like a big ol' tough dog, the kind of dog you wouldn't want to mess with. But you know who's not afraid of that dog? The little leaf that lands in front of a window in the family's sun room.

The dog's owner, Senyin, writes on YouTube: "My boxer, Leonardo, was barking. Went to go look and found out he was scared by a leaf."

Leaves. You can't trust 'em!

Cute Kitten is Sooooooo Sleepy

The kitten in this video is soooooo sleepy. It doesn't want to go to sleep, mind you, but it just can't help itself. It keeps nodding off. Then it jerks awake. Then it nods off.

And at one point in the video, you can clearly hear kitty purring. Yep, kitty is in a happy place. She just can't keep her eyes open to enjoy it.

Colombian Official Turns Down Ambassadorship to Brazil; Why? It's Too Hot There for His Dog

Angelino Garzon is the vice president of Colombia. But he's decided not to run for re-election on the ticket with President Juan Manuel Santos in elections on May 25. So what will the Veep do next? Well, one thing he won't be doing is moving to Brasilia, Brazil and serving as Colombia's ambassador to its major trading partner.

It's too hot there for his dog.

Pointing to a photo of his long-haired German shepherd, Garzon explained to the magazine Semana, "I have turned down the ambassador job because the dog you see on that picture is very hairy and the hot climate of Brasilia could harm its health."

According to the BBC, "Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin has issued an apology to Brazil, a major trading partner. She described the incident as 'very embarrassing'."

Hey, the man loves his dog more than he loves the idea of being ambassdor to Brazil.

Many people are only familiar with the short-haired German shepherd, but long-haired German shepherds are, indeed, very hairy, thick-coated dogs. Here's a video of a long-haired German shepherd hanging out with his cat buddy (and these two are getting long much better than the Colombian and Brazilian diplomatic staffs probably are today):

(Originally seen on The Dodo, via BBC)