Dik-diks are basically tiny African deer whose name comes from the chirping sounds they make. And if that's not adorable enough, then just wait until learn that they mark their territory with their tears (okay technically it's a secretion from the preobital gland but still).

So here are some completely unsolicited dik-dik picks, courtesy of the UnsolicitedDiks Twitter page.

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— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 17, 2020

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— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 20, 2020

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— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 13, 2020

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— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 10, 2020

Top image via Sharp Photography / Wikimedia Commons Read the rest

For four years, photographer Louis-Marie Preau would lie motionless underwater for hours at a time to get this perfect shot of a Eurasian beaver carrying a branch back to its lodge. Read the rest

At least five plus a backhoe, if the cow managed to stick its head in a tree. North Yorkshire Fire probably did not train for this, but they saved the cow regardless. Read the rest

Joey Muha is a heavy metal drummer of enormous skill and verve and long, beautiful flowing locks who has filled his Youtube channel with dozens and dozens of videos of him drumming along to songs that don't, at first blush, lend themselves to heavy metal percussion. But he proves conclusively that heavy metal drumming makes all music better. Read the rest

Looks like Disney wasn't lying when they portrayed forest animals helping clean homes.

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I like giraffes.

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Leia is a beautiful dog whose sharp eyes spotted a struggling fellow mammal on the beach. Leia's owner recorded his rescue of the little guy. Read the rest

This. Looping. Forever. Read the rest

Many lolcats and other memes use images of animals displaying the Flehmen response. Because we tend to anthropomorphize animals, we associate this response with similar hilarious human facial expressions. But what is it? Read the rest

Buttercup is a duck who was born with a deformed foot. So the Feathered Angels Waterfowl Sanctuary and NovaCopy scanned and printed a copy of Buttercup's sister Minnie's foot! You can watch him walk for the first time wearing the prosthetic below. What a lucky duck. "Duck Foot" (Bust) Read the rest

This fantastically pink slug, Triboniophorus aff. graeffei, is only found on Mount Kaputar, a mountaintop in New South Wales, Australia. According to scientists, the slugs and several other strange species are from the days when this region was a damp rainforest. When Mount Kaputar erupted 17 million years ago, it preserved a very unusual ecosystem. "A series of volcanos and millions of years of erosion have carved a dramatic landscape at Mount Kaputar National Park, creating a fascinating world with some very colourful locals," writes the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service on its Facebook page. More info in the Sydney Morning Herald. (Thanks, Gabe Adiv!)

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Members of UKC Japan care for dogs rescued from inside the exclusion zone, a 20km radius around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (REUTERS)

As regular Boing Boing readers will recall, I traveled to Japan some months back with PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien to produce a series of stories about the aftermath of the March 11 quake/tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed.

In the course of reporting our story about Safecast's crowdsourced efforts to monitor radiation, we encountered abandoned pets inside the evacuation zone.

Reuters today published an article about new efforts to save animals abandoned by families forced to flee their homes after the nuclear disaster.

"If left alone, tens of them will die everyday. Unlike well-fed animals that can keep themselves warm with their own body fat, starving ones will just shrivel up and die," said Yasunori Hoso, who runs a shelter for about 350 dogs and cats rescued from the 20-km evacuation zone around the crippled nuclear plant.

The government let animal welfare groups enter the evacuation zone temporarily in December to rescue surviving pets before the severe winter weather set in, but Hoso said there were still many more dogs and cats left in the area.

"If we cannot go in to take them out, I hope the government will at least let us go there and leave food for them," he said.

Inset: Mr. Hoso, who is also director of the United Kennel Club Japan (UKC Japan), speaks in front of a destroyed house in Namie town, inside the 20km exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, January 28, 2012. Read the rest

[Video Link] (thanks, Joe Sabia!) Read the rest

[Video Link]

Things I did not know before viewing this adorable video shot by Surrey Wildlife Trust Mammal Project Officer Dave Williams:

1) The dormouse, a little rodent species you'll find in Britain, hibernate in the winter in nests they hide on the ground.

2) The dormouse spends up to one-third of its life in hibernation, and typically begin that winter "sleep" when the first frost hits, and their food sources are gone.

3) They lose about a quarter of their body weight during hibernation.

4) The word "dormouse" comes from the Anglo-Norman dormeus, which means "sleepy (one)"

You can donate to support the Surrey Wildlife Trust's nature conservation work here.

(via @joeljohnson, photo: Dave Williams, Surrey Wildlife Trust) Read the rest

[Video Cat]

Today's weird animal viral video is, like all great examples of the genre, equal parts funny, creepy, cute, and sad. Apparently, the cat in this video is having a fear/anxiety/aggressive reaction to the presence of a young girl (sounds like under 5 years old?), a friend of the daughter of the guy who shot the video. Or I don't know, hairball?

I've never seen this behavior before, and wonder how the owners might best deal with it. But also, I couldn't stop laughing.

And is that a Maine Coon? They're usually so mellow and sociable.

(thanks, Tara McGinley) Read the rest