Comments

  2. christinereece says

    CANNOT…RESIST…

    PZ wins. Red pandas are the most adorable critters on the planet.

  6. dexitroboper says

    It’s still a vertebrate. It’s even a mammal. You’ve just raised the white flag with this one.

  10. sc_5b5039dd39eec895ccc71934d4e6783f says

    See, what’s funny is that the red panda’s binomial, Ailurus fulgens, literally means… shining cat. Checkmate, squid boy!

  11. sc_5b5039dd39eec895ccc71934d4e6783f says

    …which is not to say that red pandas are anything but the coolest animal in the world, which is definitely true. (Jackdaws are a close second.)

  14. aflac84 says

    Well played PZ. Well played.

    On another note… a question. Red pandas are related/ same family as raccoons, right? Or am I just making things up in my head.

  15. pensnest says

    I’m sorry, PZ, but adorable as the panda is, it cannot win. There’s a webcam of seven two-week-old kittens which has had me making bat-like noises of Awwwwwwww since I found it earlier today. I… don’t think it’s beatable.

  16. ChasCPeterson says

    Red pandas are classified as the only extant members of their own family, Ailuridae. Their closest relatives are the families Procyonidae (raccoons etc.), Mustelidae (weasels, badgers etc.) and Mephitidae (skunks). This hypothesis is current, afaik.

  21. says

    Ohhhhhh baby red pandas. We had them at my zoo – well not “mine” but the one where I was a zookeeper for a few years. Adults too, not surprisingly, and they’re pretty damn cute themselves.

    One time when I was on an evening shift I was taking a look at the outdoor gorilla exhibit when a visitor came up and asked me what’s the little red racoon-like animal in the exhibit. Wha…? There isn’t one. Where? He showed me where. The red pandas had escaped and crossed half the zoo and gone into the gorilla one.

    Never a dull moment.

  23. Sili says

    Meh.

    –o–

    The red pandas had escaped and crossed half the zoo and gone into the gorilla one.

    I guess that’s a feature of these critters. Ours did the same thing years ago. Save for the fact that we don’t have gorillas, so they just went to town instead.

  24. drbunsen le savant fou says

    Thanks, PZ. I needed that video today :)

    pensnest:

    There’s a webcam of seven two-week-old kittens

    Citation needed! :D

  25. Aquaria says

    Ever so cute.

    I had a cat that looked close to this. Different shape of the head and ears of course, but the red body and striped poofy tail would be my Duchess Socks kitty all over again.

    Hey–cut me some slack for the name. I was eight. It made perfect sense at that age to name a cat something so goofy.

  27. Aquaria says

    Oh– a Scottish fold kitten. Not doing anything, no less and

    The purring! OMG the purring! I’m dying of the cuteness!

    Even when they’re not playing or romping, kittens are SQUEEEEEEE cute.

    So there.

  28. Ava, Oporornis maledetta says

    The red panda baby would lose to a Bengal tiger kitteh, my biggest want of all time.

  29. mehitabel, wotthehell wotthehell says

    PZ wins. Red pandas are the most adorable critters on the planet.

    This is incorrect. Everyone knows that if cats have to lose to anything, it will be to baby pygmy marmosets.
    The red panda is a shrewd move, but I followed Aquaria’s link, and kittens still win.

  32. says

    Okay, this is officially way cuter than anything my cats have ever done. It’s not exactly fair though, because baby animals>adult animals any day.

    And then he started attacking nothing at the end! So adorable!!

  35. Marie the Bookwyrm says

    Aaarrrggghhhh!!!!! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but any links I copy don’t work. (Seriously frustrated here.)

    Go to Almost Diamonds, then do a Search on Oh, Fer Cute.

    Pallas Cats, Pallas Cats, Pallas Cats. That’s all I have to say. :)

  36. RFW says

    Are red pandas like meerkats? Cute to watch, but beware: they bite and don’t make good pets at all.

    True, my cat Cuddles will nip your fingers when she’s frantic for the cat treat you’re holding between them, but she doesn’t break the skin and she’s vaccinated against rabies.

  37. nonny says

    It’s in the order Carnivora. You’re getting closer to cats all the time. Just like a black hole of cuteness, they’ll suck you in.

    It is adorable. So fluffy!

  39. Furr-a-Bruin says

    Sorry, PZ; I’m with dexitroboper. You switched from squid to adorable furry mammals so I’d say you’ve conceded.

  41. cicely says

    Red pandas are, indeed, adorable; they just aren’t quite as adorable as baby kittehs.

    They do run a good second place, though.
    –

  43. fastlane says

    Cute, but cute ranking still goes like this:

    1) Kittehs
    2) Baby Otters
    3) everything else furry